Oddly enough they did mange to find evidence that undermines their own conclusion with their final report on the Trump-Russia investigation, and absolutely undermines the claims made by Trump and Huckabee-Sanders that it’s “all a hoax.”
Finding #7 Russia conducted cyber-attacks on U.S. political institutions in 2015-2016.
Finding #8 Russian-state actors and third-party were responsible for the dissemination of documents and communication stolen from U.S. political organizations.
Finding #9 The Russian government used RT to advance it’s malign influence campaign during to 2016 presidential election.
Finding #10 Russian intelligence leverage social media in an attempt to sow social discord and to undermine the U.S. electoral process.
So the Russian government hacked, stole and strategically dumped private emails and false stories across Wikileaks, RT and Facebook against DEMOCRATS and Hillary Clinton in order to help TRUMP GET ELECTED. Interesting that they magically sanitize the fact that all the attacks were against Clinton and DEMOCRATS or to HELP TRUMP while generating their REPUBLICAN report on what happened, isn’t it?
But did they find that there were any Americans — y’know like Papadopoulos and Carter Page who were both told by Russian contacts that “We have thousands of Hillarys emails” before they were released to the public but didn’t report it to the FBI or Don Jr. who invited several Russians right into Trump tower to “Get their Dirt on Hilary”, or Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner who both have direct links to Cambridge Analytica who were paid by a Russian “oil company” to develop apps and algorithms to steal private data from American Voters and use that to manipulate them into turning against Clinton in favor of Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein and Donald Trump — that helped them?
Yeah, right, of course they didn’t.
This is how they state America responded.
America Reacts
Finding #11 The FBI’s notification to various hacking victims was largely inadequate.
Finding #12 Communication between Homeland Security and state election officials was impeded by state officials mistrust of federal government overreach coupled with an unprecedented level of Russian intrusions. [Because Republicans States refused to believe them!]
Finding #13 The Joint DNI and Homeland statement attributing election interference to Russia was ineffective. [Because Republicans Lawmakers refused to support the statement and join with Democrats to endorse it.]
Finding #14 The Executive Branch’s post-election response was insufficient [And Trump’s post election response of trying to drop sanctions that Obama put in place has been even more insufficient.
So “Obama did everything wrong”, right, got it. I mean he actually did everything short of declaring an open cyber war against Russia, but obviously it wasn’t enough.
Now that you got that off your chest what else?
Finding #17 The FBI opened an enterprise counter-intelligence investigation into the Trump campaign after receiving information related to Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos.
Ok, got that one too right.
Finding #18 As part of the enterprise counter-intelligence investigation into the Trump campaign, the FBI opened an individual counter-intelligence investigation into Carter Page.
Finding #19 The dossier formed by Christopher Steele formed an essential part of an application to the FISA court to obtain surveillance on Carter Page.
Yes, on both counts mostly because the Steele dossier confirmed what they had already heard about people like Papadopoulos and ultimately Russians told Page exactly what they told George about their being involved in the DNC hacks.
Finding #20 Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted Paul Manafort on several charges, none of which relate to allegations of collusion, coordination and conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Well, no Manafort wasn’t indicted for authorizing and supporting George Papadopoulos illegal efforts to reach out the to Russians, or the fact that the money laundering charges he was indicted on include funds that came from Putin-friendly Russian billionaire oligarch Oleg Deripaska, or the fact that he tried to give Deripaska a “private briefing” on the status of the Trump campaign as a way to “get whole” him over a financial dispute probably because — that’s what Muller wants him to flip and testify about in the same way that his partner Rick Gates has now flipped.
If he indicted him on that stuff now, it would mess up his future case against Trump and co.
Besides “collusion” isn’t a crime so disproving it doesn’t really mean anything, but “conspiracy” to commit or hide a crime as well as “aiding and abetting” a crime in progress or after the fact — are Felonies.
Finding #22 General Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI regarding his December 2016 conversation with Ambassador Kislyak, even though the FBI agents didn’t detect any deception during Flynn’s interview.
They didn’t need to “detect” his deception — they had been surveilling Kislyak and knew Flynn lied because they had transcripts of their conversations. So he didn’t give them a “tell”, but really almost nobody gives themselves up that easily.
Finding #23 Executive Branch did not notify Trump campaign officials that members of their campaign were assessed to be potential counter-intelligence concerns.
No, because that’s like telling the head of the burglary gang that you know they’re robbing houses before you’ve caught them in the act. However the FBI did in fact tell them that they were all potential targets for foreign intelligence services and told them they needed to reveal all contacts with foreign persons — which is something THEY. DIDN’T. DO.
Finding #24 The February 2018 indictment of the Internet Research Agency and Russian nationals exposes Russian actors and their intent to spread distrust toward the candidates and the political system in general.
No, not the just the “political system” in general, they also specifically targeted the Hillary Clinton campaign — what part of “Hurting Hillary by Helping Trump” don’t you get?
Ok yeah, sorry — all of it as we can see in the next section.
Finding #25 When asked directly, none of the interviewed witnesses provided evidence of collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Right.. Ok, Don Jr. accepted a meeting with what he was told was a representative from the Russian government as a part of “Russia’s support for Donald Trump” but somehow he didn’t “collude or coordinate” with them? Just taking the meeting was “collusion, coordination and conspiracy”, period. It also an FEC violation to try to accept anything of value to a political campaign from a foreign government — so just having the meeting was a potential crime.
The Act and Commission regulations include a broad prohibition on foreign national activity in connection with elections in the United States. 52 U.S.C. § 30121 and generally, 11 CFR 110.20. In general, foreign nationals are prohibited from the following activities:
- Making any contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or making any expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement in connection with any federal, state or local election in the United States;
- Making any contribution or donation to any committee or organization of any national, state, district, or local political party (including donations to a party nonfederal account or office building account);
- Making any disbursement for an electioneering communication;
- Making any donation to a presidential inaugural committee.
Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to an FEC enforcement action, criminal prosecution, or both
They didn't have to “get” the dirt on Hillary to violate the law, they just had to try — and at this point we all know that they certainly did try.
Papadopoulos went all the way to Russia to meet with members of the Russian government — with the full knowledge and approval of the Trump campaign including Manafort and Trump himself — but he didn’t “coordinate and collude” with Russians?
When a Russian news agency reached out to George Papadopoulos to request an interview shortly before the 2016 election, the young adviser to then-
candidate Donald Trump made sure to seek approval from campaign headquarters.
“You should do it,” deputy communications director Bryan Lanza urgedPapadopoulos in a September 2016 email, emphasizing the benefits of a U.S. “partnership with Russia.”
The exchange was a sign that Papadopoulos — who pushed the Trump operation to meet with Russian officials — had the campaign’s blessing for some of his foreign outreach.
Here’s thing about that: it was illegal. Trump campaign official Rear Adm. Charles Kubic, who had been part of Papadopoulos email chain about contacting Russia had cited legal concerns, including possible violations of U.S. sanctions against Russia and the Logan Act,
If his goal was to talk about business, that was against sanctions. if the goal was to talk about government or foreign policy that was a Logan Act violation because all these people were private citizens not government representatives during the campaign. So what exactly was putting all this effort into contacting Russians over — and why were so many people in the campaign, except of Kubik, just fine with it?
Papdopoulos was told about Russia having Hillary’s emails via the DNC hack but he didn’t report that information to the FBI, in fact he also told that to an Australian diplomat and the Australians reported it before he did — in fact, that’s part of what he lied to the FBI about — but he didn’t “coordinate” or “conspire” with the Russians?
Lying to help cover for them IS COORDINATING with them.
Steve Bannon was on the board of Cambridge Analytica while they were taking money from a Russian Oil company for the app which they used — as noted above in Finding #10 to“ leverage social media in an attempt to sow social discord and to undermine the U.S. electoral process.” — but he didn’t “coordinate” or “collude” or “conspire” with Russians?
In 2014, Steve Bannon – then executive chairman of the “alt-right” news network Breitbart – was Wylie’s boss. And Robert Mercer, the secretive US hedge-fund billionaire and Republican donor, was Cambridge Analytica’s investor. And the idea they bought into was to bring big data and social media to an established military methodology – “information operations” – then turn it on the US electorate.
It was Wylie who came up with that idea and oversaw its realisation. And it was Wylie who, last spring, became my source. In May 2017, I wrote an article headlined “The great British Brexit robbery”, which set out a skein of threads that linked Brexit to Trump to Russia. Wylie was one of a handful of individuals who provided the evidence behind it. I found him, via another Cambridge Analytica ex-employee, lying low in Canada: guilty, brooding, indignant, confused. “I haven’t talked about this to anyone,” he said at the time. And then he couldn’t stop talking.
By that time, Steve Bannon had become Trump’s chief strategist. Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, SCL, had won contracts with the US State Department and was pitching to the Pentagon, and Wylie was genuinely freaked out. “It’s insane,” he told me one night. “The company has created psychological profiles of 230 million Americans. And now they want to work with the Pentagon? It’s like Nixon on steroids.”
jared Kushner bragged about using Cambridge Analytica’s Russian funded Algorithms to help micro-target American voters and manipulate them away from Clinton and toward Trump, but he didn’t “coordinate” or “collude” with Russians? Everything he was doing there came from Russians efforts to impact American voters.
But then again, how would this committee expect that any of these people would admit these actions when they didn’t interview Papadopoulos at all?
When they interviewed Bannon he wouldn’t answer any questions about his actions during the campaign or transition. When they interviewed Don Jr he wouldn’t answer any questions about what he did or didn’t tell Trump while claiming “Attorney Client Privilege” when he’s not an attorney and wasn’t the client.
So of course they all “denied” it — who admits to anything like that openly?
Finding #26 The Committee found no evidence that [Resident] Trump’s pre-campaign business dealings for the basis formed the basis for collusion during the campaign.
Trumps pre-campaign relationship with Emin and Aras Agalarov was the basis for Rob Goldstone to contact them and help setup the meeting with Russian attorney Natalia Veselniskaya — but somehow his business dealings had nothing to do with it?
Michael Cohen and Felix Sater were trying to setup a Trump Tower Moscow deal during the election where Sater said “I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected…” but his business dealings had nothing to do with it?
Finding #28 The change to the RNC platform regarding Ukraine resulted in a stronger position against Russia, not a weaker one, and there’s no evidence Paul Manafort was involved.
They didn’t implement that platform because J.D. Gordon blocked it, then he lied about his involvement. Paul Manafort was involved in that he was also lying about it too.
Finding #29 There is no evidence that Trump associates were involved in the theft or publication of Clinton campaign-related emails [Oh my god, they said the “C” word!] although Trump associates had numerous ill-advised contacts with wikileaks.
Um, Papadopoulos was specifically told about it before any of it was released on Wikileaks, which is called being an accessory to the crime since he didn’t report it to anyone in law enforcement.
Carter Page was also told this by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich during this trip to Moscow and didn’t report it either.
Don Jr. vehemently denied Russia was involved in the DNC hack when Robbie Took brought it up — “they’ll say anything to be able to win this. I mean, this is time and time again and lie after lie. I can’t think of bigger lies.”— when he had no good reason to doubt it, and also after Papadopoulos had been told and he’d already had his private meeting to get “dirt on Hillary” from the Russians.
Trump directly ASKED THE RUSSIANS TO RELEASE HILLARY’S EMAILS — which is exactly like being “involved in their publication.”
Even after Alexander Nix of CA reached out to Julian Assange for copies of Hillary’s deleted emails so what do you mean they didn’t try to help “publicize’ them?
Finding #30 Carter Page did not travel to Moscow on in July of 2016 on behalf of the Trump campaign, but the committee is concerned about his seemingly incomplete accounts of his accounts of his activity in Moscow.
That’s because he’s lying. Plus even if it may not have been “on their behalf” it was specifically with their permission which was granted on the same day that Papadopoulos Russian contact agreed, as Manafort and Gates had discussed, to “send someone low-level in Trump’s stead.” And also if it had nothing to do with the campaign why was a Deputed Prime Minister telling him about how they had Hillary’s emails again?
Finding #31 George Papadopoulos attempts to leverage his Russian contacts to facilitate meeting between the Trump campaign and Russians was unsuccessful.
Only because Jeff Sessions “shut that whole thing down” when he heard about it, but then magically forgot about doing that when he testified before the Senate. Also I wouldn't call it “unsuccessful” since Page still managed to meet Dvorkovich and hear about “Hillary’s emails.”
Finding #32 Don Jr. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort attended a June 9, 2016 meeting where they expected to receive — but did not ultimately obtain — derogatory information on candidate Hillary Clinton from Russian sources.
Actually they did obtain that information via Wikileaks, right after they blocked the additional pro-Ukraine platform during the Republican convention, which happened to be linked to the sanctions that had been implemented against Russia over their actions in the Ukraine, and sanctions happened to be the primary subject during that meeting and clearly what the Russians wanted changed. The fact that they didn’t get the information during that meeting does not change the fact that after they showed that they were willing to give the Russians what they wanted, then repeatedly lie about it, showed they were willing to play ball — so the Russians went ahead and gave them what they wanted.
And of course all this passive aggressive behavior is hard to prove, that’s the point of it being so passive.
Finding #33 Don Jr. met briefly with a Russian government official at the 2016 NRA annual meeting, but the committee found no evidence that the two discussed the U.S. election.
That meeting was one that was supposed to with Trump himself with Jared Kushner had previously turned down, and then suddenly Don Jr. showed up. That government official Alexander Torshin is also reputed to be a gangster and may have funneled Russian funds into the NRA which was used during the election to support Trump — which happens to be exactly the kind of dirt that Don Jr. was trying to get about the Russians funneling money into the DNC and Hillary, only in this case the story is probably true.
Let me just say the rest of it goes on from there in more of the same vein.
Russia hacked and very certainly did just about everything they could to turn this election against Hillary Clinton short of directly hacking the voting machines and changing actual votes.
Trump campaign officials from the lowest level with Papadopoulos and Page, to Manafort, Kushner, Don Jr. and Michael Flynn had repeated personal contacts with Russians, financial relationships with Russians and were specifically told of illegal campaign and criminal actions by Russians over and over yet never reported any of it to anyone until they were busted by the media.
In fact, they actively lied about quite a bit of it.
Russians were actively messing with our election to hurt Clinton and help Trump — Trump campaign members knew it, we’re told it specifically and instead of reporting it or contacting the FBI they repeatedly tried to take advantage of it.
But they didn’t “collude or coordinate” any of this with any Russians?
I got one word for all that: Bullshit.
Just imagine for a second how things really should have gone.
Just imagine that Papadopoulos didn’t lie to the FBI because he didn’t have to, and that Australian diplomat Andrew Downer didn’t have to get him drunk in a London Wine bar because he’d already gone to the FBI and reported what the Russians had told him on his own in the same way that both Christopher Steele and Downer did?
That would have started the FBI investigation at least 3 months earlier before some of the hacks had even taken place and the instead of being a target Papadopoulos and the Trump campaign would have been informants and cooperating witnesses against Russian crimes. When the FBI contacted the DNC about a potential breach they would have gone right to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz instead of contacting the helpdesk first. Instead of Carter Page keeping what Dvorkovich told him a secret he had been an FBI informant at the time. Instead of Don Jr inviting Manafort and Kushner to meet with Veselniskaya they could have invited an undercover FBI agent who could have setup a sting operation to find out just what the Russians really had and exactly what they wanted in exchange for it. Instead of Don Jr. getting DM’s from Wikileaks where they asked if they could have some of Trump’s tax returns “so they wouldn’t look like they were siding against Hillary and for the Russians” [because they were] all of those contacts could’ve gone through the FBI. When Roger Stone received copies of the DCCC ground strategy from GOP strategist Aaron Nevins after it was sent to him by Russian Agent Guccifer 2.0, he’d taken that to the FBI too.
Imagine if Flynn had gotten permission from the Pentagon — as he was legally required to do — before going to Russia, sitting down for dinner with Putin and collecting $45k from RT? Imagine if he hadn’t lied about telling the Russian ambassador Kislyak they “would review everything” when it came to sanctions against Russia?
If that had happend Devin Nunes and MIke Conaway wouldn’t have to act like Trump’s defense lawyers and come up with excuses and mitigating arguments to justify what they did do, and why none. of. them. reported. any. of. this. and. then lied. about. it.
But then again, that would have required Papadopoulos probably getting Manafort’s permission and then probably the conspiracy behind their entire illegal effort to reach out to the Russians in the first place would have been exposed.
And why do the right thing or follow the law when it gets in the way of covering your own ass?
But then again if any of them, even a single one of them, had actually done the right thing instead of just doing everything possible to bash Hillary and take each and every advantage even if it might have been coming from in illegal foreign source — then they might not have won would they?