
Putin Rides Again
(credit: The Art of Buddy McCue via Scissorhead B-4)
Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS co-founder) privately testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in August. Simpson had requested that Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck ‘I am not a NAIL’ Grassley release the transcript of his testimony but Grassley refused. Sen. Dianne Feinstein released the 312-page transcript.
As we all know, Fusion GPS hired former British spy Bond. James Bond Christopher Steele to compile a dossier on Donald Trump, as an assignment for the Washington Free Beacon (WINGNUT GROUND ZERO). Later the DNC funded the research.
I started reading the transcript last night (not done yet), but here’s some factoids:
- Steele went to the FBI in July 2016 because he thought the Russians could blackmail Trump. (And the implication here is that there is something, um, blackmailable [is too a word!] about Trump, though not in this testimony.)
- Simpson said that Steele did this of his own volition, no one at Fusion GPS made him do it.
- The FBI told Steele that it already knew this from another source, so they took Steele seriously. (Two sourced independently confirmed each other.)
- Simpson thought that the source was from inside the campaign (“the calls are coming from inside the house!,” so to speak. I’m guessing that the source inside the campaign George Papadopoulos, via the Australian Ambassador.)
And here’s the politics of it (WaPo, emphasis mine): “The 312-page transcript shows that Republican staffers on the committee repeatedly pressed Simpson about whether he had political motivations … Simpson acknowledged that he didn’t like Trump as a candidate but said his job was to find facts, not to push an agenda.”
Also/Too: one of the things that the news stories are noting is that someone was (allegedly) murdered in relationship to this dossier. Names of people who worked on it are redacted to protect them.
“Somebody’s already been killed as a result of the publication of this dossier and no harm should come to anybody related to this honest work.” — Simpson’s lawyer, Joshua Levy.
I should add, thank you Senator Feinstein. That was a good and correct thing to do, and I’m sure Chuck Grassley is mad as hell.
UPDATE 1: Yup, DiFi hit a nerve:
The fact that Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, who has on numerous occasions stated that collusion between Trump/Russia has not been found, would release testimony in such an underhanded and possibly illegal way, totally without authorization, is a disgrace. Must have tough Primary!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018
UPDATE 2: …and that nerve is jangling:
The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues. There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, & yet on and on it goes. Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republicans should finally take control!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018
This goes a long long way towards atoning for the various dick moves that DiFi has perpetrated over the decades. I’d give all my Quatloos to have seen Grassley’s face when he learned the news. I’d borrow another 1000 (at ruinous Ferengi interest rates) to have seen trump’s 🙂
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BDR, that was my thought too. I think DiFi is up for re-election this year, and my sense is that she will have a real primary challenger. She needs some street cred.
Regardless of why she did it, serious props to her for doing it. Grassley is probably furiously mowing his lawn.
Rgds,
TG
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I’d give all my Quatloos to have seen Grassley’s face
I’d have given all my quatloos to have seen the back of Grassley’s pants when he heard DiFi did the workaround.
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Stable Genius in Chief, the world has been laughing ever since you took possession of the WH. But, it is so you to shift the blame to the Dems. But the truth is out there. Nice try.
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I keep waiting for the day when Comrade Stupid tweets something impeachable. I believe we’re getting very close.
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Amazing, isn’t it? Lookit Booman’s review of the publicly available evidence to date: Contra Trump, Collusion Is Already a Slam Dunk and Josh Marshall’s take: “The big question of whether there was collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign has been answered for anyone who has their eyes open. They did”.
And yet the Orange Shithead keeps issuing these bizarre, blanket denials. How unhinged is his “everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion”? Is this The Big Lie at work? Or has he somehow convinced himself that it’s black is white?
Man do I want this traitorous fuck to go all the way down, and his complicit, corrupt party with him.
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