Wm. P. Fitzhenry:
Russia this. Russia that. Collusion ad nauseam. Treason. Impeachment. Obstruction. Blame it all on Hillary and the Democratic Party Right?
Wrong.
Perhaps the most amazing part of this entire imbroglio is the total lack of attention paid to the genesis of the Fusion GPS Steele Dossier. That lack of attention can be directly traced to senior Republican leadership who seem quite content to sit back and watch the President on the hot seat day in and day out.
Important facts are being revealed due to two defamation libel lawsuits, one here in the U.S. and one in the U.K.: (McClatchy)
Now, two lawsuits — one in the United States and a second in the U.K. — are being brought by lawyers for Aleksej Gubarev, a Cyprus-based Internet entrepreneur whom Steele’s Russian sources accused of cyber spying against the Democratic Party leadership. The British court documents are legal responses in the British suit and do not reflect the entire docket. The British suit is related to a similar lawsuit in the United States, against online news site BuzzFeed.
While not a party to the lawsuit. the plaintiff is seeking to depose Sen. John McCain R-AZ about his role in the creation and dissemination of the Steele Dossier. Although McCain’s involvement has been known for some time, it has received along zero attention. But perhaps, his involvement provides clues to its origination.
The fact of the matter is Fusion GPS was first engaged by a Republican Presidential candidate during the early days of the primary race. This candidate’s campaign funded Fusion GPS to do opposition research on Candidate Trump. Basically, they wanted dirt on Mr. Trump, and used a firm affiliated with the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton to further that effort. It was only after this candidate decamped the primary race, that the Hillary campaign became involved and furthered the Fusion GPS Steele Dossier efforts. (McClatchy)
The British court document also confirmed that Washington research firm Fusion GPS, co-founded by former Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson, had been hired to conduct opposition research by one of Trump’s GOP primary opponents. Later, Democrats paid for the same research on Trump’s past and alleged Russian ties. (Emphasis added)
The Washington Times adds more on the Democratic contributions (Wash Times)
Since the dossier was circulated widely among Democrats, Mr. Page said, he believes the Clinton team possessed it and relied on it based on what some of Mrs. Clinton’s surrogates said publicly.“After the report by Yahoo News, the Clinton campaign put out an equally false press release just minutes after the article was released that afternoon,” said Mr. Page, who has tracked what he believes is a series of inaccurate stories and accusations against him.
Which Republican Presidential candidate started this hot mess? A clue might lie in how early on Sen. McCain became involved: (McCatchy)
According to a new court document in the British lawsuit, counsel for defendants Steele and Orbis repeatedly point to McCain, R-Ariz., a vocal Trump critic, and a former State Department official as two in a handful of people known to have had copies of the full document before it circulated among journalists and was published by BuzzFeed. The court document obtained by McClatchy confirms that Sir Andrew Wood, a former British ambassador to Moscow and a Russia adviser to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, discussed the 35-page dossier with McCain.
To date, there has been no investigation who that person is. But as Aesop said, “You are known by the company you keep.”
Ask yourself this: Which of the Republican presidential candidates was known to be closely aligned with Sen. McCain’s NeoCon foreign policy views? Which sitting Senator Republican presidential candidate also voted in lockstep on immigration with Sen. McCain. Which current Republican Senator 2016 presidential candidate virtually echoed all of Sen. McCain’s vitriolic distain for candidate Trump?
