Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified on Monday that the intelligence community couldn’t verify the claims of a 35 page dossier produced by former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele.
We couldn’t corroborate the sourcing, particularly the second and third order sources -James Clapper
Two weeks ago it emerged that the FBI never paid Steele an agreed upon $50,000 if he could back the dossier’s claims. Steele was hired by intelligence firm Fusion GPS to dig up dirt on then candidate Trump, an effort funded by #NeverTrump Republicans. Steele’s deal with the FBI was allegedly part of his efforts to shop the document around the US intelligence community – with none other than John McCain delivering it to FBI director James Comey.
Despite the low level of confidence in the document, the FBI then used the dossier as the basis for a FISA warrant request in September of 2016 spy on one-time Trump campaign associate Carter Page. The warrant was granted, and Page was surveilled – presumably along with everyone he was contacted.
Former DNI Director Clapper’s testimony yesterday serves to further confirm the document’s inauthenticity. When asked by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) whether he found the document to be credible, clapper responded “We didn’t make a judgement on that and that’s one reason why we did not include it in the body of our intelligence community assessment.”
Meanwhile, Carter Page, a one-time member of a Trump foreign advisory committee, has agreed to testify in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee – however he is refusing to turn over records pertaining to the investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 US election (which James Clapper said there was no evidence of yesterday). In a letter issued to the committee and the press, Page called them “illogical,” “groundless,” and “distasteful.”
“I would like to reconfirm for you that I am still cooperating with the Committee’s investigation in the form of a future open testimony,”
I am increasingly coming to understand that these proceedings have thus far followed the precedent of prior show trials, which have historically been used as a means of intimidation.
Page also stated in the letter that he has had no financial stake in Russia since divesting shares of Gazprom oil in August, noting that he took a large loss on the transaction. He then slammed Obama and Hillary Clinton for the decline in share price:
Given the complete disaster that the Clinton/Obama regime made of U.S.-Russia relations and the related problems they inflicted on private industry across the Russian economy, I held no other financial or real estate holdings related to Russia between June 16, 2015 and January 20, 2016,”
We look forward to Page’s testimony…
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How long is this expensive and wasteful farce going to continue?
“… none other than John McCain delivering it …” Where has big John Mac been lately? Has he had massive brain fart or something?