Clinton, Podesta And Others In Senate Crosshairs Over Dossier; Given Two Weeks To Respond

GOP Congressional investigators have written six letters to individuals or entities involved or thought to be involved in the funding, creation or distribution of the salacious and unverified "Trump-Russia dossier" believed to have been inappropriately used by the FBI, DOJ and Obama Administration in an effort to undermine Donald Trump as both a candidate and President of the United States. 

Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SCS) wrote six Judiciary Committee letters requesting information from: John Podesta, Donna Brazille, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Robbie Mook, the DNC, and Hillary For America Chief Strategist Joel Benenson.


A brief refresher of facts and allegations: 

  • The DNC and Hillary Clinton's PAC was revealed by The Washington Post  to have paid opposition research firm Fusion GPS for the creation of a dossier that would be harmful to then-candidate Donald Trump. 
  • Fusion commissioned former UK spy Christopher Steele to assemble the dossier - which is comprised of a series of memos relying largely on Russian government sources to make allegations against Donald Trump and his associates.
  • According to court filings, Fusion also worked with disgraced DOJ official Bruce Ohr, and hired his CIA-linked wife, Nellie Ohr, to assist in the smear campaign against Trump. Bruce Ohr was demoted from his senior DOJ position after it was revealed that he met with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson as well as Christopher Steele - then tried to cover it up. 
  • Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, denied under oath to the Senate Intelligence Committee that he knew about the dossier's funding, while Clinton's former spokesman, Brian Fallon, told CNN that Hillary likely had no idea who paid for it either. 
  • Current and past leaders of the DNC, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) also denied knowledge of the document's funding.
  • Podesta met with Fusion co-founder Glenn Simpson the day after the Trump-Russia dossier was published by Buzzfeed News. 

 

The Senate Judiciary Committee letters read in part: 

In October 2017, the Washington Post reported that Hillary for America and the Democratic National Committee had funded, via Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele's creation of a series of memos relying largely on Russian government sources to make allegations against Donald Trump and his associates. A letter from the law firm Perkins Coie acknowledged that, " [t]o assist in its representation of the DNC and Hillary for America, Perkins Coie engaged Fusion GPS in April of2016" and that "the engagement concluded prior to the November 2016 Presidential election

the Committee has been investigating the FBI' s relationship with Christopher Steele during this time his work was funded by Hillary for America and the DNC. The scope of our review includes the extent to which the FBI may have relied on information relayed by Mr. Steele in seeking judicial authorization for surveillance of individuals associated with Mr. Trump. It also includes whether any applications that may have been made for permission for such surveillance fully and accurately disclosed:

(1) the source of Fusion GPS's and Mr. Steele's funding;

(2) the degree to which his claims were or were not verified;

(3) the motivations of Mr. Steele, his clients, and his sources; and

( 4) representations about their contacts with the press.

The letter then goes on to list twelve questions - the last being a request for all communications between a list of 40 individuals or entities - including Christopher Steele, Bruce Ohr, Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, Glenn Simpson and former CIA Director John Brennan. 

The six recipients of letters have two weeks to comply with the following requests (note; "Hillary for America" is replaced by "the DNC" depending on who the letter is addressed to): 

1. Prior to the Washington Post 's article in October of 2017, were you anyone else at Hillary for America aware of Mr. Steele's efforts on behalf of the Clinton campaign to compile and distribute allegations about Mr. Trump and the Russian government? If so, when and how did you first learn of his activities on the campaign's behalf? Please provide all related documents.

2. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America receive copies of any of the memoranda comprising Mr. Steele's dossier prior to its publication by Buzzfeed in January of 2017? If so, how and when? Please provide all related documents.

3. Regardless of whether you or your associates received copies of the actual memoranda, did you or anyone else at Hillary for America otherwise receive information contained in the dossier prior to Buzzfeed publishing the dossier in January of 2017? If so, how and when? Please provide all related documents.

4. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America receive other memoranda written or forwarded by Mr. Steele regarding Mr. Trump and his associates that were not published as part of the Buzzfeed dossier? If so, how and when? Please provide all related documents.

5. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America distribute outside of the organization any o f the dossier memoranda, information contained therein, or other information obtained by Mr. Steele? If so, please list who distributed the information, what was distributed, and to whom it was distributed. Please provide all related documents.

6. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America communicate with any government officials - whether in the executive, legislative or judicial branches - regarding the dossier memoranda, information contained therein, or other information obtained by Mr. Steele? If so, please list the parties involved in the communication, the content of the communication, and the date and means of the communication. Please provide all related documents. References such as "anyone at Hillary for America" include all of Hillary for America's officers, employees, contractors, subcontractors, advisors, volunteers, and, of course, Secretary Clinton herself. Mr. Podesta January 25, 2018 

7. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America instruct, request, suggest, or imply that any individuals should pass along information to Mr. Steele or his intermediaries? Please provide all related documents.

8. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America communicate with members of the press regarding the dossier memoranda, information contained therein, or other information obtained by Mr. Steele? If so, please list the parties involved in the communication, the content of the communication, and the date and means of the communication. Please provide all related documents.

9. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America inform Secretary Clinton of Mr. Steele's efforts, whether by name or not, or of the allegations he was spreading? If so, who and when? Please provide all related documents.

10. Were you or anyone else at Hillary for America aware of Mr. Steele's contacts with the FBI or other government agencies prior to the 2016 election? If so, who? When and how did you or they become aware? Please provide all related documents.

11. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America encourage, whether directly or through intermediaries, Mr. Steele to initiate or continue contacts with the FBI or other government agencies? If so, who and when? Please provide all related documents.

12. For the period from March 2016 through January 2017, please provide all communications to, from, copying, or relating to: Fusion GPS; Bean LLC; Glenn Simpson; Mary Jacoby; Peter Fritsch; Tom Catan; Jason Felch; Neil King; David Michaels; Taylor Sears; Patrick Corcoran; Laura Sego; Jay Bagwell; Erica Castro; Nellie Ohr; Rinat Akhmetshin; Ed Lieberman; Edward Baumgartner; Orbis Business Intelligence Limited; Orbis Business International Limited; Walsingham Training Limited; Walsingham Partners Limited; Christopher Steele; Christopher Burrows; Sir Andrew Wood, Paul Hauser; 4 Oleg Deripaska; Cody Shearer; Sidney Blumenthal; Jon Winer; 5 Kathleen Kavalec; Victoria Nuland; Daniel Jones; 6 Bruce Ohr; Peter Strzok; Andrew McCabe; James Baker; 7 Sally Yates; Loretta Lynch; John Brennan.

Letter to John Podesta (links to all can be found here): 

Comments

J S Bach d edwards Jan 27, 2018 10:21 AM Permalink

* yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh * yawn * meh 

Satan's favored couple has been dodging justice for over 4 decades now.

When the blaze from the witch's pyre lights the sky... then write an article about it and I'll take notice.

In reply to by d edwards

Chupacabra-322 BokkeDavola Jan 27, 2018 10:43 AM Permalink

 

This is Criminal Treason & Seditious acts as well as Political Espionage involving the highest Compartmentalized Levels of the NSA, GCHQ, CIA, FBI, DOJ, IRS and perhaps other Agencies it’s Agents & Officials including the Office of the CEO “President”at the time Barrack H. Obama.

 

This entire Criminal Deep State Intelligence Operation was data mining formuling the first of its kind Parallel Construction Case consisting of a Criminal Deep State CIA, FBI, DOJ Scripted False Narrative / PsyOp With the objective ousting a sitting President via a soft coup.

 

The Criminal, illegal domestic surveillance of US citizens without a warrant or probable cause is only one symptom of many of how corrupt our government is at all levels.  Voters don't matter.  The deep state is not elected.  Money talks in Washington and the revolving door spins like a top.  Criminality & Corruption is so rampant, it is neither illegal or “hidden in plain sight” anymore. 

 

Criminal Congressmen can profit on insider information (no thanks to the Stock Act and Harry Reid who put a stop to it).  Special interests not only put their puppets in power and select their candidates before the election but write their own laws verbatim and hand them over to their puppets WHO DON'T EVEN READ THE TEXT THEY ARE PASSING!

 

This is not conspiracy folks.  This is the country you live in.  The only reason Trump is pissed about it is because it AFFECTED HIM!  If you think he cares about you, then you haven't been paying attention. 

 

Everyone except those who are supportive of a police state, and neo-feudalism are in for a rough time.  That is, of course, if this once great nation doesn't get turned into a pile of ash for starting WWIII - likely in 2018. 

 

Realize this didn't happen overnight and it didn't happen without the people's consent.  Folks didn't have a problem with special interests taking over our government despite repeat warnings from Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan and others.  Folks believed what the MSM spoon fed them.   People didn't bother to question or hold their leaders accountable.  They allowed their rights to be systematically stripped away with new legislation that made the constitution effectively obsolete.   This goes back to at least Wilson, the formation of the FED, the Counsel On Foreign Relations, Rockefeller, the Rothchild's, JP Morgan, .etc.  What wwe are experiencing now is the maturity of a Criminal corrupt government who no longer exists for the people it claims to represent and instead sees them as an obstacle (as Rex Tillerson so eloquently put it). 

All evil needs is for good people to remain silent.  The American people have remained collectively silent (divided, and distracted) for generations.  I do not see them uniting any time soon. 

Insane times indeed...

In reply to by BokkeDavola

MK ULTRA Alpha Lumberjack Jan 27, 2018 10:32 AM Permalink

Clapper is in too deep, he was in on the unmasking. And it was said at the end of Obama, Clapper was running his own intelligent network. Clapper has a lot to hide. This isn't because of ideological reasons, they all have to take out Trump or face criminal charges.

But Sessions isn't running the DOJ, his deputy, an Obama hold over, Rosenstein is running the DOJ and is the DOJ manager in charge of Mueller. It was Rosenstein who wrote a memo to Trump to fire Comey, and it was Rosenstein who appointed Mueller.

Sessions isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, and has started a personal vendetta against citizens who smoke weed. Plain and simple, Sessions has the power, left Trump out in the cold, not doing anything about FBI coup and working on HIS pet projects.

Sessions is detached from reality.

In reply to by Lumberjack

MK ULTRA Alpha MK ULTRA Alpha Jan 27, 2018 10:54 AM Permalink

And something new, Obama is lawyering up, it's reported, Obama is seeking council with legal teams in many countries.

Remember in Watergate over 40 people, many in the government went to prison.

And Hillary Clinton was on one of the legal teams to impeach Nixon. Now the democrats are caught in something far worse than anything I have seen in my more than 60 plus years on the Planet.

In reply to by MK ULTRA Alpha

bruno_the MK ULTRA Alpha Jan 27, 2018 10:55 AM Permalink

 

LANGLEY, VA—A report released Tuesday by the CIA's Office of the Inspector General revealed that the CIA has mistakenly obscured hundreds of thousands of pages of critical intelligence information with black highlighters.
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According to the report, sections of the documents— "almost invariably the most crucial passages"—are marred by an indelible black ink that renders the lines impossible to read, due to a top-secret highlighting policy that began at the agency's inception in 1947.

CIA Director Porter Goss has ordered further internal investigation.

"Why did it go on for this long, and this far?" said Goss in a press conference called shortly after the report's release. "I'm as frustrated as anyone. You can't read a single thing that's been highlighted. Had I been there to advise [former CIA director] Allen Dulles, I would have suggested the traditional yellow color—or pink."

Goss added: "There was probably some really, really important information in these documents."

When asked by a reporter if the black ink was meant to intentionally obscure, Goss countered, "Good God, why?"

Goss lamented the fact that the public will probably never know the particulars of such historic events as the Cold War, the civil-rights movement, or the growth of the international drug trade.

"I'm sure the CIA played major roles in all these things," Goss said. "But now we'll never know for sure."

In addition to clouding the historical record, the use of the black highlighters, also known as "permanent markers," may have encumbered or even prevented critical operations. CIA scholar Matthew Franks was forced to abandon work on a book about the Bay Of Pigs invasion after declassified documents proved nearly impossible to read.

"With all the highlighting in the documents I unearthed in the National Archives, it's really no wonder that the invasion failed," Franks said. "I don't see how the field operatives and commandos were expected to decipher their orders."

The inspector general's report cited in particular the damage black highlighting did to documents concerning the assassination of John F. Kennedy, thousands of pages of which "are completely highlighted, from top to bottom margin."

"It is unclear exactly why CIA bureaucrats sometimes chose to emphasize entire documents," the report read. "Perhaps the documents were extremely important in every detail, or the agents, not unlike college freshmen, were overwhelmed by the reading material and got a little carried away."

Also unclear is why black highlighters were chosen in the first place. Some blame it on the closed, elite culture of the CIA itself. A former CIA officer speaking on the condition of anonymity said highlighting documents with black pens was a common and universal practice.

"It seemed counterintuitive, but the higher-ups didn't know what they were doing," the ex-officer said. "I was once ordered to feed documents into a copying machine in order to make backups of some very important top-secret records, but it turned out to be some sort of device that cut the paper to shreds."

In reply to by MK ULTRA Alpha

Blankone MK ULTRA Alpha Jan 27, 2018 10:57 AM Permalink

Not to disagree but further question. What the () is wrong with Trump that he left Rosentein there to do sabotage and cover ups, why is Rosentein writting memo's directly to Trump with directions/course of actions, Sessions has the power but is chasing the evil weed so why does Trump not demand better and fire his butt yesterday and appoint someone who will get control of the FBI?

Why is Trump fighting to control damage by those from within his administration and in the process losing the opportunity for the "investigations" to uncover the true culprits? I have no issue in today's world with a president using tweets and such to communicate directly but there is no effective action. It is all loud mouth bratty bluster, whining and fake tough talk - as if from a little shit that needs to be bitch slapped for the hot air he is.

Trump has the position to DO something but doesn't.

In reply to by MK ULTRA Alpha

takeaction Ms. Erable Jan 27, 2018 10:22 AM Permalink

Is it really going to happen??? 

This graphic of these people would make a great bumper sticker "Enemy of the state".   Can you imagine all of these fucks on trial with somebody like Trey Gowdey cross examining in front of a jury....oh...the pay per view dream.

 

.

On a side note...I am especially happy to see that arrogant fuck Robby Mook...and "words can't describe" that animal Debbie Wasserman-shultz included.  These people look at us as "Plebes" and just get richer and richer on the tax payers dime.  Nancy Pelosi worth over $100 Million.  Maxine Waters Living in a $4.5 Million dollar House....Are you kidding me?  And they represent the people?  FUCK THEM.

In reply to by Ms. Erable

MK ULTRA Alpha Giant Meteor Jan 27, 2018 10:45 AM Permalink

Sessions isn't doing anything. And Mueller is speeding up the investigation before he is forced to resign because of the MEMO and the FBI texts, by speeding up, a make or break interrogation of Trump. Mueller has already interviewed over 20 white house staff and obtained over a million documents.

I don't watch TV, but I checked in to CNN, wolf blitzer, he was foaming Mueller was "closing in" on Trump, with headline "closing in". Newsweek is citing sources saying over 500 Trump impeachment parties were happening because Mueller is suppose to take Trump out. Watching CNN, was like living in another world.

Now we know, the FBI regularly manipulates presidential politics, this isn't the first documented time the FBI did this. In the face of the FBI text, which is being covered up by CNN, not even informing it's viewers what we've being exposed to, the fake news channels like CNN have it in for Trump and they're lying and creating as much fake news to manipulate the mind of the nation against Trump.

CNN can't tell it like it is, at one time, we could depend on CNN, years ago, but that's over, CNN is just a circus show.

 

In reply to by Giant Meteor

Bavarian Giant Meteor Jan 27, 2018 10:46 AM Permalink

Sorry but I'm down-voting all you pessimists claiming that nothing will come of this.  If you can't recognize the walls closing in, then the fuck with you - you're quite possibly a liberal fuck in denial for all I know.  

A shit storm is brewing of epic proportions and I'm tired to hear from all you that are so goddamn giddy to say "well, gee golly, they got away with it before...yuck, yuck, yuck!".  If you can't add any more to the conversation than that, then just stifle.  Fuckheads.

In reply to by Giant Meteor

Giant Meteor T-NUTZ Jan 27, 2018 10:43 AM Permalink

Histrionics, it is what ploticians do best .. I'd say crooked politicians, but that is a bit dedundant.

Or, if you like, we can call it, as the don does,  truthful hyperbole .. imagine that ..

Look,  she ain't swingin by any lampost , nor wearing prison orange , and by my count she's got a better than even chance, dying of old age ..

In reply to by T-NUTZ