nate33 wrote:closg00 wrote:Many of the Alternative Facts Russia probe narrative factually debunked in one place.
The Nunes memo actually revealed that the genesis of the FBI probe of Trump-Russia collusion was the activity of a Trump adviser (Papadopoulos) who had been apprised of dirt gathered by Russia on Clinton. It predated the FBI’s use of the Steele dossier, which is at the center of the grand alt-narrative, and showed that the FBI probe had been repeatedly validated by judges.
Republicans release a September 2016 text between the FBI’s Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, which said Barack Obama “wants to know everything we’re doing.” This is supposed to demonstrate Obama interference in the FBI probe of Clinton. But there was no Clinton probe at the time — it had been resolved in July (and was only reopened in late October). What’s more, associates of Strzok and Page say Obama actually wanted information on Russian meddling. This makes much more sense — and, if true, it shows that this “scandal” is that Obama wanted information on Russian sabotage of our democracy, which Trump still often maintains never happened.
Republicans darkly said another Strzok-Page text containing the words “secret society” signaled deep FBI corruption. Then the full text was released, and it turned out to be about calendars and appeared to be a joke.
Congressional GOP investigators are preparing to interview an informant who supposedly has the goods on the Uranium One “scandal,” in which Clinton supposedly authorized a deal in which Russia obtained uranium extraction rights in the United States, in exchange for kickbacks to the Clinton Foundation. But top Oversight and Intelligence committee Democrats just released a letter claiming that the Justice Department privately briefed committee staffers and told them that the Justice Department had actually dismissed the reliability of this informant in a separate investigation. To be fair, this has not been confirmed. But as it is, the idea that the Uranium One deal is a scandal has already been thoroughly debunked. And independent reporting is likely to confirm that account soon enough.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/02/09/devin-nunes-laughable-spin-to-protect-trump-crashes-and-burns/?utm_term=.350aa9d62fc8#comments
Democrats are trying to have it both ways. They turn Carter Page into the next Algier Hiss to justify spying on Trump. And then when we complain about the scant evidence they had against Page, they change the subject and focus on Papadopolous. The problem is Papadopolous is a harmless striver who wasn't even on the payroll of the Trump campaign. You can't wiretap a whole campaign because of a drunken conversation some volunteer has with an Australian diplomat.
Ahhh, WHO says the evidence against Page is scant and made it the central focus of the diversion and FBI smear campaign? That's right, it's the coordinated defense team of Nunes and Trumps propaganda army in conservative media that have done-so. Knocking-down the Page straw man by pointing out that the simple fact the Papadopolous triggered the investigation, is not changing the subject, its a fact. Nunes purposely avoided mentioning any of the other factors that led to Page's continued surveillance in his cherry-picked memo. In the Dem rebuttal they no-doubt provide much more of evidence conveniently left-out by Nunes, but guess what? Oops, Trump didn't release it, how convenient for him.
You have completely forgotten what this Russia probe is all about and what Mueller is investigating. The entire Nunes/Trump/Fox News effort is all about keeping the spotlight on the investigators and NOT what Trump and his people did or didn't do to help the Russian effort to get him elected. It's also about discrediting former MI6 agent Michael Steel whose dossier on Trump has alleged multiple Trump/Russian ties that have proven to be true.
*We know for a fact the Trump people knew that the Russians were involved in election meddling and had dirt on Clinton BEFORE the information became public.
*We know for a fact that Donald Trump lied about his peoples contacts with the Russians
*We know for a fact the Michael Flynn lied about his contacts with Russians
*We know for a fact the George Papadopolous lied about his contacts with Russians
*We know for a fact that Don Jr lied about why he met with the Russians
*We know for a fact that someone in the Trump campaign had the Republican party platform changed to reflect a Putin friendly position on the Ukraine
*We know for a fact that the congress passed a sanctions bill against Russia which Trump refuses to implement
*We know for a fact that the State Department has eliminated the office that enforces sanctions
There is of-course much more to the story and Mueller probably has MUCH more in the way of facts that have not come out because of the guilty pleas and witness interviews. Trump and his Roy Cohn Nunes, are desperate to keep the story about the "dirty FBI, Clinton, Obama, and anything else they can fling against the wall, as-long as we're NOT talking about what Page, Flynn, Papadopolous, Manafort, Don Jr, & Trump did with the Russians, during the election. Sorry, it's not working at all Nate but with Trump supporters.
it has to be a shock to the Republican system to be continually fed bull and all of a sudden start realizing there's an after taste.
