Joe Cooper
2018-02-15 16:52:05 UTC
WASHINGTON -- For years, I have been saying that the Clintons lie when
they do not have to, and that they tell a gigantic whopper when a little
white lie would be perfectly adequate. This time-honored observation
explains many of their past run-ins with the law.
Now, in the lurid aftermath of Hillary Clinton's surprising defeat by
Donald Trump, we see a variation of my observation playing itself out.
Eventually, it will probably land some of Clinton's associates in jail;
it will possibly snag even her. In 2016, despite being well ahead in the
polls, the Clintons committed various misdemeanors when they did not have
to, and they and their associates committed obvious felonies when simple
misdemeanors would have been perfectly adequate.
Let us begin by following the money. The Democratic National Committee
and the Clinton campaign were represented by the legal firm Perkins Coie.
At least $1.02 million went from Perkins Coie to Fusion GPS in 2015, an
obvious pass-through. Finally, it reached its destination: Christopher
Steele, an ex-British intelligence sleuth who was contemptuous of Trump,
had close ties with the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies, and
boasted of his worldwide connections with Russians, among others. He
reportedly took $168,000 as payment for his services. That the DNC and
Hillary Clinton's campaign were firmly under Clinton control has been
widely reported, most recently by former DNC head Donna Brazile in her
angry book about the campaign, "Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-Ins
and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House."
Now let us follow some of the characters in this emerging scheme. To
begin with, there is Steele feverishly flogging his famous "dossier." It
contains "salacious" material about Trump supposedly paying Moscow
prostitutes to evacuate on a bed in which President Barack Obama once
slept. The report is dubious because Trump is a well-known germaphobe,
and because he was born fully equipped to befoul a bed on his own. But
there is more. The dossier also contains information about Trump
conducting business in Russia, presumably while he was fully dressed.
Steele took this information to the FBI, which then took it to the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get permission to spy on
Carter Page, a low-level Trump adviser on foreign policy matters during
Trump's campaign. Actually, by the time the FISA warrant was issued on
Page, he no longer worked for the Trump campaign -- not that that
matters. Steele also went around peddling his dossier to members of the
media. It would seem to me that in doing so Steele broke the law, having
promised the FBI not to talk to the media. What is more, the FBI broke
the law; it apparently did not inform the FISA court of the provenance of
the material it provided and the material's funding sources. Ultimately,
Washington lawyers are going to be in high demand.
By the way, it appears that at least some of Steele's information could
have come from Russians, like the salacious stuff. So who has been
colluding with the Russians? Agents of Trump, or agents of Hillary
Clinton?
It is at this point I shall introduce another set of characters who could
have come from no other source than Clinton: Sidney Blumenthal and a man
that The American Spectator profiled last week, Cody Shearer. The latter
has not been heard of for some 20 years.
Shearer, The New York Times told us Saturday, "has been crisscrossing
Eastern Europe for more than six months to secure the purported kompromat
from a different Russian ..." Supposedly, Shearer was dealing with
Russians besides Steele's contacts. Incidentally, Shearer is only
identified by The Times as "an American political operative with ties to
the Democratic party." The Spectator identified him more completely as a
longtime "hatchet man" for the Clintons. We supplied evidence. Shearer
gave the fruits of his labors to Blumenthal, who handed them over to a
former employee of the State Department named Jonathan M. Winer, whom
Blumenthal had known for 30 years. These fellows go way back. Winer
insists that he did not share them with anyone at the State Department
but did share them with Steele, who noted their similarities with his
dossier. Steele then gave Shearer's material to the FBI, which presumably
showed it to the FISA court.
While the Clinton campaign took considerable care to cover its tracks
with its money trail, and the commingling of obvious Clintonistas like
Blumenthal and Shearer with less well-known characters such as Steele,
their efforts were not sufficient, as we can now see. Actually, they
rarely are. If the Clintons were expert crooks, they would not have been
caught so many times over the years. When caught, they always take refuge
with their political friends and the press. Perhaps this time they did
not think they would have to, for they were so far ahead in the polls. It
is bracing to think that if the Clinton campaign had won the presidency,
we would know nothing of their perfidy.
Source: http://bit.ly/2BvUoYG
Tick tock...
they do not have to, and that they tell a gigantic whopper when a little
white lie would be perfectly adequate. This time-honored observation
explains many of their past run-ins with the law.
Now, in the lurid aftermath of Hillary Clinton's surprising defeat by
Donald Trump, we see a variation of my observation playing itself out.
Eventually, it will probably land some of Clinton's associates in jail;
it will possibly snag even her. In 2016, despite being well ahead in the
polls, the Clintons committed various misdemeanors when they did not have
to, and they and their associates committed obvious felonies when simple
misdemeanors would have been perfectly adequate.
Let us begin by following the money. The Democratic National Committee
and the Clinton campaign were represented by the legal firm Perkins Coie.
At least $1.02 million went from Perkins Coie to Fusion GPS in 2015, an
obvious pass-through. Finally, it reached its destination: Christopher
Steele, an ex-British intelligence sleuth who was contemptuous of Trump,
had close ties with the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies, and
boasted of his worldwide connections with Russians, among others. He
reportedly took $168,000 as payment for his services. That the DNC and
Hillary Clinton's campaign were firmly under Clinton control has been
widely reported, most recently by former DNC head Donna Brazile in her
angry book about the campaign, "Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-Ins
and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House."
Now let us follow some of the characters in this emerging scheme. To
begin with, there is Steele feverishly flogging his famous "dossier." It
contains "salacious" material about Trump supposedly paying Moscow
prostitutes to evacuate on a bed in which President Barack Obama once
slept. The report is dubious because Trump is a well-known germaphobe,
and because he was born fully equipped to befoul a bed on his own. But
there is more. The dossier also contains information about Trump
conducting business in Russia, presumably while he was fully dressed.
Steele took this information to the FBI, which then took it to the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get permission to spy on
Carter Page, a low-level Trump adviser on foreign policy matters during
Trump's campaign. Actually, by the time the FISA warrant was issued on
Page, he no longer worked for the Trump campaign -- not that that
matters. Steele also went around peddling his dossier to members of the
media. It would seem to me that in doing so Steele broke the law, having
promised the FBI not to talk to the media. What is more, the FBI broke
the law; it apparently did not inform the FISA court of the provenance of
the material it provided and the material's funding sources. Ultimately,
Washington lawyers are going to be in high demand.
By the way, it appears that at least some of Steele's information could
have come from Russians, like the salacious stuff. So who has been
colluding with the Russians? Agents of Trump, or agents of Hillary
Clinton?
It is at this point I shall introduce another set of characters who could
have come from no other source than Clinton: Sidney Blumenthal and a man
that The American Spectator profiled last week, Cody Shearer. The latter
has not been heard of for some 20 years.
Shearer, The New York Times told us Saturday, "has been crisscrossing
Eastern Europe for more than six months to secure the purported kompromat
from a different Russian ..." Supposedly, Shearer was dealing with
Russians besides Steele's contacts. Incidentally, Shearer is only
identified by The Times as "an American political operative with ties to
the Democratic party." The Spectator identified him more completely as a
longtime "hatchet man" for the Clintons. We supplied evidence. Shearer
gave the fruits of his labors to Blumenthal, who handed them over to a
former employee of the State Department named Jonathan M. Winer, whom
Blumenthal had known for 30 years. These fellows go way back. Winer
insists that he did not share them with anyone at the State Department
but did share them with Steele, who noted their similarities with his
dossier. Steele then gave Shearer's material to the FBI, which presumably
showed it to the FISA court.
While the Clinton campaign took considerable care to cover its tracks
with its money trail, and the commingling of obvious Clintonistas like
Blumenthal and Shearer with less well-known characters such as Steele,
their efforts were not sufficient, as we can now see. Actually, they
rarely are. If the Clintons were expert crooks, they would not have been
caught so many times over the years. When caught, they always take refuge
with their political friends and the press. Perhaps this time they did
not think they would have to, for they were so far ahead in the polls. It
is bracing to think that if the Clinton campaign had won the presidency,
we would know nothing of their perfidy.
Source: http://bit.ly/2BvUoYG
Tick tock...
--
"Conservative actor James Woods let America know exactly what #DACA is
about in one devastating tweet that included a meme depicting Senate
Minority Schoolmarm Chuck Schumer saying, Its very simple to
understand actually If Americans wont vote for Democrats, then well
import people who will." (Scott Morefield)
"Conservative actor James Woods let America know exactly what #DACA is
about in one devastating tweet that included a meme depicting Senate
Minority Schoolmarm Chuck Schumer saying, Its very simple to
understand actually If Americans wont vote for Democrats, then well
import people who will." (Scott Morefield)