All of the Obama-era officials (specifically those who weaponized government in 2016 to target their political opposition) are using the “IC anonymous whistleblower” approach in an attempt to paint any current inquiry as Trump weaponizing the investigation of their coup effort. Any effort by President Trump to expose the 2016 misconduct is now spun to be President Trump weaponizing his office to target his political opposition.
The latest visible example of the corrupt team anxiety surfaces via a counter-narrative in a New York Times article claiming President Trump asked Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to assist AG Bill Barr and his 2016 review.
WASHINGTON — President Trump pushed the Australian prime minister during a recent telephone call to help Attorney General William P. Barr gather information for a Justice Department inquiry that Mr. Trump hopes will discredit the Mueller investigation, according to two American officials with knowledge of the call.
The White House restricted access to the call’s transcript to a small group of the president’s aides, one of the officials said, an unusual decision that is similar to the handling of a July call with the Ukrainian president that is at the heart of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump.
Like that call, the discussion with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia shows the extent to which Mr. Trump sees the attorney general as a critical partner in his goal to show that the Mueller investigation had corrupt and partisan origins, and the extent that Mr. Trump sees the Justice Department inquiry as a potential way to gain leverage over America’s closest allies.
[…] President Trump initiated the discussion in recent weeks with Mr. Morrison explicitly for the purpose of requesting Australia’s help in the Justice Department review of the Russia investigation, according to the two people with knowledge of the discussion. Mr. Barr requested that Mr. Trump speak to Mr. Morrison, one of the people said.
[…] Mr. Barr flew to Italy last week and met with Italian government officials on Friday. The Justice Department spokeswoman would not say whether he discussed the election inquiry in those meetings, but former Justice Department officials said that Mr. Barr would need to ask foreign countries for cooperation in turning over documents pertaining to the 2016 election.
[…] The Justice Department said last week that it is exploring the extent to which other countries, including Ukraine, “played a role in the counterintelligence investigation directed at the Trump campaign.” At the very least, Mr. Barr has made it clear that he sees his work treading into sensitive territory: how the law enforcement and intelligence agencies of the United States’ closest allies share information with American officials. (read more)
It’s obvious the people who ran these spy operations into the Trump campaign are nervous now. After years of denying spying; and after months of apoplectic pearl-clutching over AG Barr’s use of the word “spy”; even the New York Times finally had to admit in early August there was direct spying happening.
It must be first noted that Devin Nunes outlined the two-page “Electronic Communication” or “EC” from CIA Director John Brennan to FBI Director James Comey was not from official intelligence channels. Meaning the intelligence used to originate Crossfire Hurricane did not come through officials Five-Eyes intelligence communication.
When we reviewed the documents released by the Australian government, there was a disparity between the dates of George Papadopoulos meeting Australia’s High Commissioner Alexander Downer. The Weissmann report seemed to put the meeting as May 6th, 2016, but Papadopoulos and Downer (Australian docs) put the London meeting on May 10th.
Here’s the excerpt from Special Counsel Weissmann/Mueller report that describes the events. Note Weissmann assigns a meeting date of May 6th, 2016:
The paragraphs and the footnote direct the reader to assume a meeting between Papadopoulos and Downer on May 6th, and later the communication from Downer on July 26th, as the impetus for Crossfire Hurricane. However, there’s some strategic conflation in the presentation because Downer and Papadopoulos didn’t meet until May 10th.
Andrew Weissmann and Robert Mueller carefully word the paragraphs because they don’t want the background of the May 6th, 2016, event attached to western intelligence.
Sneaky.
When Weissmann/Mueller write: “On May 6th, 2016, 10 days after that meeting with Mifsud, Papadopoulos suggested to a representative of a foreign government“… they are not writing about Alexander Downer.
They are writing about an aide to Downer, Erika Thompson.
So there is a criminal investigation into Spygate which utilized foreign assets and now it’s “impeachable” or an “abuse of power” to seek foreign assistance in investigating the crimes? These desperate lowlifes are so predictable. PT probably also asked Britain, Italy, and Russia to assist as well. It should be noted that Durham also accompanied Barr to Italy. Ya think he’s found something out that warranted the trip? As for their little game with Rudy, he should tell them all the evidence was turned over to the DOJ for their criminal investigation. They want what he has because they don’t know if he has revealed all of what he has and the thought that in addition to evidence he has on Biden that he may have brought back the DNC server with him is terrifying to the seditious bastards.
And just like that the Australian nonsense gets blown out of the water. That was quick.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/09/30/breaking-australian-government-releases-may-28th-letter-destroying-new-york-times-narrative/#more-172442
@another vet:
Hey, it’s not Trump’s fault Obama and Hillary decided to use foreign governments to try and control the outcome of the election. This is simply where the investigations have to be conducted, but Democrats are deathly afraid of what will be revealed. It is unraveling at an alarming (to them) rate.
Hopefully, all those who are called to testify before Nadler’s and Schiff’s “parodies” will be able to say, “I can’t comment on that as it is part of an ongoing investigation.” That should ring familiar to them.
@Deplorable Me: Heard through the grapevines after the OIG’s Comey report to, “just wait because we ain’t seen nothing yet”. We’ll find out in a short time if that was a true statement, but it does track with other rumors about what’s coming out.
@another vet: Now we find the “whistle blower” checked the box that said he had first hand knowledge of his complaint. LIAR.
Prosecute.