closg00 wrote:nate33 wrote:That debunks nothing. Perhaps the surveillance made after the first FISA warrant justified further surveillance, but the first FISA warrant was not justified. You can't illegally snoop around for dirt on someone, and then eventually find dirt, and use that dirt to justify the illegality of the initial investigation. It's a fundamental premise of our Constitution. You need probable cause to perform the initial surveillance or else any evidence obtained is poisoned fruit.
Another important fact Nate, you can toss out Carter Page entirely and the Russia probe would have existed. Why? Because at the very end the Nunes Memo states:
“The Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016 by FBI agent Pete Strzok.”
So Nunes kind of does a *Cough*,
btw, it was Papadopoulos that got this thing kicked-off. *Cough*
Papadopoulos is the John Dean here, he sang his little heart out and he can testify to the collusion. Flynn will sing beautifully about the direction he took from Trump about the Russian sanctions and who knows what else. Everything will come out.
The "start of a counterintelligence investigation" is not the same as obtaining a Title I FISA warrant which could be utilized to tap all the communications from the Trump campaign.
If the FBI believed that Papadopoulos was sketchy based on one drunken conversation with an Australian diplomat, that's fine with me. I've got no problems with them looking into whatever information they can legally obtain from Papadopoulos and screen him. But one drunken conversation with a diplomat isn't enough to tap everyone's phones.
While we're on the subject of Alexander Downing. It's interesting to note that, from the original New York Times piece about his encounter with Papadopoulos, they had this curious comment:
Not long after, however, he opened up to Mr. Downer, the Australian diplomat, about his contacts with the Russians. It is unclear whether Mr. Downer was fishing for that information that night in May 2016. The meeting at the bar came about because of a series of connections, beginning with an Israeli Embassy official who introduced Mr. Papadopoulos to another Australian diplomat in London.
It is also not clear why, after getting the information in May, the Australian government waited two months to pass it to the F.B.I. In a statement, the Australian Embassy in Washington declined to provide details about the meeting or confirm that it occurred.
Why would Downer be fishing for information?
And, I'm sure it's just a wild coincidence, but Downer was a key figure in authorizing a Uranium One deal between Australia and Russia. What are the odds?