Steele's dossier: 'Clown show' or the greatest Russian coup?

In retrospect, the “clown show” dossier was put together ingeniously. First, the identity of the ultimate client (DNC/Clinton) was kept secret long enough for it not to ruin the show. Second, in Steele the Russians had someone with a modicum of respectability to gain access to American government and media; and, in the media and professional bureaucracy, they had an army of Trump-haters ready to believe anything.

For the Kremlin, it all meant the Holy Grail of a sorely wounded United States.

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/510635-steeles-dossier-clown-show-or-the-greatest-russian-coup#bottom-story-socials

Attorney General Barr: There Are no Predicates for Spying

A review of the public record demonstrates that the Russia investigation rested on a house of cards assembled by high-level officials to prevent Donald Trump’s election or to ensure that his administration would fail. This conclusion rests on mainstream media accounts, primarily of The New York Times. The Russia probe imposed a considerable cost in terms of international status, domestic tranquility, political paralysis and a challenge to the outcome of a democratic election. It weakened the Trump presidency to the benefit of his political opponents, and boosted Vladimir Putin’s claim of the crookedness of American democracy.

go to Washington Times

The Steele Dossier Is either Trash or a Russian Trojan Horse?

Victory has many mothers; defeat is an orphan. The Steele dossier is now officially an orphan. It served its purpose and must disappear from the scene.

In the tens of thousands of words that the New York Times devoted to the history of the collusion investigation in the last few days, the words “Steele” and “dossier” do not appear once.

go to the Hill

For now, Trump dossier creates more questions than answers

Until Steele and Fusion GPS answer who funded the Trump dossier and address the veracity of its sources, we are left with four options:

First, the Trump dossier is a legitimate account of a Trump-Russia collusion, despite key parts of it being discredited. Second, the dossier is an initiative of influential Democrats to destroy Trump with fake intelligence fabricated without help of the Kremlin.

Third, the dossier is a joint product of Democratic and Kremlin interests with which the Democrats destroy Trump and the Russians discredit American electoral politics. Fourth, the dossier is a standard disinformation attack by the Kremlin to discredit not only Trump but American democracy in general.

Let’s hope the dossier’s authors will come clean so the American people know the truth.

go to The Hill.com

Comey Gives the New York Times a Black Eye While Selective Leakers Leave the People in the Dark

The (abridged) exchange with Senator Risch (R-Idaho) proceeded as follows:

RISCH: You talked with us shortly after February 14th, when the New York Times wrote an article that suggested that the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians. Do you remember reading that article when it first came out?

COMEY: I do.

RISCH:  After that, you sought out both Republican and Democrat senators to tell them that, hey, I don't know where this is coming from, but this is not the case. This is not factual (my italics). Do you recall that?

COMEY: Yes.

RISCH: So, the American people can understand this, that report by the New York Times was not true. Is that a fair statement?

COMEY: In the main, it was not true. And again, all of you know this (my italics). Maybe the American people don't.

Most damning in this exchange is Comey’s cynical “you know but the American people don’t.” Where is the outrage that the media collusion narrative was based on a falsehood of which U.S. senators were aware? The Times has issued no retraction and lamely states that “the immediate sources could not be reached” but “they have indicated that they believed the account was solid.” The anonymous sources can believe what they want, but the FBI head thinks otherwise.

go to Forbes.com