Christopher Steele, the author of the Russian collusion dossier, gave an extraordinary interview to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos this week where he stood by claims long debunked by past investigations. What was most striking about the interview was Steele effectively claiming that Michael Cohen, one of Trump’s most fierce critics, is still covering for Trump in denying a critical conspiratorial meeting with Russian intelligence.
The dossier alleged Cohen had “secret meeting/s with Kremlin officials in August 2016” in Prague. Cohen testified before the House Oversight Committee in 2019 that he had never been to Prague. The Special Counsel and the Justice Department were unable to confirm Steele’s claim despite exhaustive investigation. Indeed, American intelligence believed that Russian intelligence used Steele to pass along disinformation, including the use of a long suspected Russian agent as one of his critical sources.
In the interview, Stephanopoulos noted that “one big claim the dossier, the FBI, according to the Inspector General’s report … is not true, is the claim that Michael Cohen had a meeting with Russians in Prague.” He then asked “do you accept that finding that it didn’t happen?” Steele responded that he rejects the findings of Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz.
Now stop for a second and think about that. Cohen was given a deal by prosecutors and worked tirelessly to incriminate Trump in any way that he could. He even shilled for contributions based on that promise. This included an admission that he lied when he was still Trump’s lawyer. As part of his deal, Cohen could have easily confirmed the Prague allegation and said that he did meet with Russians. It would have been devastating to Trump. Instead, he continued to deny that it ever happened. He later wrote a book that called Trump every name in the book and said that he lied for him. However, he continued to maintain his long-standing denial that he has ever been to Prague or ever met with the Russians as alleged by Steele.
It is also worth noting that, if Cohen did travel to Prague, there would have been a record contradicting his sworn testimony. No such evidence was ever found in the form of customs records, passport stamps, tickets, or other easily obtainable sources. If it had, Cohen would have been charged with lying about that issue.
When confronted by the obvious disconnect, Steele just effectively shrugged and said Cohen is lying “because I think it’s so incriminating and demeaning and I think the other reason is he might be scared of the consequences.”
What? Cohen already incriminated himself. He pleaded guilty and went to prison. If he could substantiate this claim, he could likely have been given the deal of the century by Mueller. He would also have been heralded as a hero by Democrats. He would have been the John Dean figure that he always wanted to be in the scandal.
Notably, American intelligence warned the FBI that Steele was not viewed as a reliable source and noted that there was evidence that he was a dupe for Russian intelligence. This was brought out in the declassified footnote 350 of the intelligence assessment and addresses claims in the dossier regarding Cohen. Have a look at a key part of it:
[W]e identified reporting the Crossfire Hurricane team received from [REDACTED] indicating the potential for Russian disinformation influencing Steele’s election reporting. A January 12, 2017, report relayed information from [REDACTED] outlining an inaccuracy in a limited subset of Steele’s reporting about the activities of Michael Cohen. The [REDACTED] stated that it did not have high confidence in this subset of Steele’s reporting and assessed that the referenced subset was part of a Russian disinformation campaign to denigrate U.S. foreign relations. A second report from the same [REDACTED] five days later stated that a person named in the limited subset of Steele’s reporting had denied representations in the reporting and the [REDACTED] assessed that the person’s denials were truthful.
Steele’s explanation of Cohen’s denial borders on delusion and only further undermines his credibility.
Steele also stood by his account of the activities of Carter Page, who was never charged with any crime. Indeed, despite multiple investigations, no one could support Steele’s account of Page being a Russian agent or tool of Russian intelligence.
To the credit of Stephanopoulos, Steele was pressed on these contradictions. Unfortunately, there were no questions on aspects of the Durham investigation, including the alleged creation of the dossier as a vehicle of the Clinton campaign. Yet, it was lightyears beyond where the CNN left the recent interview with Clinton lawyer Marc Elias. Unlike CNN, Stephanopoulos did not ask Steele “what should we be doing differently?”
Steele was sued for defamation by individuals referenced in the Alfa Bank conspiracy theory. In July 2020, Steele was ordered to pay damages to bank officials who Steele claimed had delivered “large amounts of illicit cash” to Vladimir Putin. The court found that the claim was “demonstrably false.”
Let’s compare insurrections. A phony made up dossier created by the Democratic Party that was used to try to destroy our electoral system and remove a sitting President makes the so called January 6 insurrection look like child’s play. A fitting historical comparison would be Stalin taking power by destroying Lenin. There are those here who defend the indefensible. No need to name names.
You can’t name names. None of you use names
Lol dumb much ? It was actually started by a conservative news outlet. It really does not matter if the claims ate true or not because Trump still interfered with a Federal Discovery.
Squirrel
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/10/19/coming_into_focus_hillarys_secretive_russiagate-flogging_pair_of_super-lawyers_799168.html?utm_source=spotim&utm_medium=spotim_recirculation&spot_im_redirect_source=pitc&spot_im_comment_id=sp_fGGCea9F_rci200799168_c_1zjIGa1bhPzOsxY3LWuZPOJiz95&spot_im_highlight_immediate=true
Biden has been president for less than 10 months. And now this. We are in deep trouble in America
Supply chain crisis may force Biden to call in National Guard
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/10/20/supply-chain-crisis-may-force-biden-call-national-guard/
Notice how we have to get real news from overseas because our Pravda media won’t report it??
It is against my religion to provide them any web traffic so that they can sell to advertisers. No way Jose!
Estovir; explain EXACTLY HOW the supply chain problems were CAUSED by Biden, instead of the Trump Pandemic being allowed to get out of control, resulting in the Trump Recession, which caused factories to shut down due to illness and decreased consumer demand that lasted for over a year. How is Biden supposed to turn all of this around in 9 months’ time? It took Trump a slap 4 years to trash the successful economy inherited from Obama, resulting in the worse recession since the Great Depression, double-digit unemployment and schools closed for most of a year to in-person learning, not to mention small restaurants and other small businesses going under altogether.
Do you mean he is going to Federalize some state’s or multiple states’ militia (sorrybut save me from the Guardian)
So is the rest of the world. By the way Biden hasn’t changed anything. You are still under Trumpnomics. Enjoy the hyperinflation you voted for it .
The court found that the claim was “demonstrably false.”
“We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, but they are still lying.” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Americans are noticing that Democrats lie about everything. Biden’s White House is “demonstrably false”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/10/20/joe-biden-avoiding-interviews-approval-rating-continues-sink/
Joe Biden’s worst gaffes as he dodges interviews in bid to salvage sinking ratings
The president has given far fewer interviews by this stage than Barack Obama and Donald Trump and none to the major American newspapers
Joe Biden has given just 10 interviews in his first nine months in office, falling well short of his two immediate predecessors and pointing to a growing siege mentality engulfing the White House.
Donald Trump had done 57 interviews by this stage, and Barack Obama 131, according to Mark Knoller, a former CBS News White House correspondent who keeps track of presidential activities.
It comes as Mr Biden’s approval rating sank to 37 per cent, according to one poll. Another had him tied with Donald Trump if an election was held today.
Mr Biden has now not sat down for an interview for six weeks. While president, he has not spoken exclusively to the two main wire services, The Associated Press and Reuters, or political reporters from the Washington Post, New York Times or Wall Street Journal.
One of only three print interviews he has conducted was with his wife for People magazine, and another was for a book.
Mummy and daddy must be apoplectic watching your paltry and churlish attempt to disparage your superior, as you “twist” the truth.
“We raised you better!”
Oops!
_____
“I’m pleased to see that my old friend Christopher Steele, a/k/a Austin Powers, has crawled out of the pub long enough to make up a few more stories.”
“I eagerly await his next secret dossier which proves the existence of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and that Elvis is still alive.”
– Michael Cohen
_____________
“…in April 2016, Hillary…and…(DNC) hired Fusion GPS to investigate Trump,…”
“…Free Beacon stopped its backing in May 2016.”
In October 2015, Fusion GPS was contracted by conservative political website The Washington Free Beacon to provide general opposition research on Trump and other Republican presidential candidates. Separately, in April 2016, an attorney for Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) hired Fusion GPS to investigate Trump, while the Free Beacon stopped its backing in May 2016.[7] In June 2016, Fusion GPS subcontracted Steele’s firm to compile the dossier. DNC officials denied knowing their attorney had contracted with Fusion GPS, and Steele asserted he was not aware the Clinton campaign was the recipient of his research until months after he contracted with Fusion GPS.[19][20]
– Wiki
____
PREVARICATION MADE OF STEELE
“Probably – I wouldn’t put 100% certainty on it.”
“Mueller’s report concluded that a number of Steele’s claims could not be proven, including the alleged prostitute actions.”
When asked why Russia never released the tape, Steele said, “It hasn’t needed to be released … I think the Russians felt they’d got pretty good value out of Donald Trump when he was president of the U.S.”
“I’m prepared to accept that not everything in the dossier is 100 percent accurate,” Steele said in the interview. “I have yet to be convinced that that is one of them.”
“Do you think it hurts your credibility at all that you won’t accept the findings of the FBI in this particular case?” Stephanopoulos asked Steele while referring to the Cohen case.
“I’m prepared to accept that not everything in the dossier is 100 percent accurate,” Steele said in the interview. “I have yet to be convinced that that is one of them.”
Michael Cohen: “I’m pleased to see that my old friend Christopher Steele, a/k/a Austin Powers, has crawled out of the pub long enough to make up a few more stories,” told ABC News. “I eagerly await his next secret dossier which proves the existence of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and that Elvis is still alive.”
________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Author of controversial Trump Russia dossier speaks out: ‘I stand by the work we did'”
Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent behind the controversial “Steele Dossier” that gathered intel on possible links between former President Trump and Russia, has defended himself and his work against critics in his first televised interview. In an interview with ABC News, Steele opened up about the 17 reports he wrote that that make up the controversial document, which included unsubstantiated claims that Trump’s campaign conspired with Russian agents to influence the 2016 U.S. election.
“I stand by the work we did, the sources that we had, and the professionalism which we applied to it,” Steele told ABC News in an upcoming documentary, “Out of the Shadows: The Man Behind the Steele Dossier.”
In an interview that aired on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Steele said that he stands by the dossier and added that he believes the “kompromat” tape that allegedly shows Trump ordering prostitutes to urinate on a bed in Russia in 2013 “probably” exists.
“Do you still believe that this tape exists?” Stephanopoulos asked him.
“I think it probably does, but I would not put 100 percent certainty on it,” he added.
When asked why Russia never released the tape, Steele said, “It hasn’t needed to be released … I think the Russians felt they’d got pretty good value out of Donald Trump when he was president of the U.S.”
Steele’s report was heavily involved in the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s Russian ties that led to an investigation by former special counsel Robert Mueller.
Mueller’s report concluded that a number of Steele’s claims could not be proven, including the alleged prostitute actions. The report also highlighted a claim in the dossier that former Trump fixer Michael Cohen had met with Russian officials in Prague in 2016, saying that it was untrue.
“Do you think it hurts your credibility at all that you won’t accept the findings of the FBI in this particular case?” Stephanopoulos asked Steele while referring to the Cohen case.
“I’m prepared to accept that not everything in the dossier is 100 percent accurate,” Steele said in the interview. “I have yet to be convinced that that is one of them.”
Cohen, who is in prison and has worked with investigators on their investigations into Trump, responded to Steele’s comments.
“I’m pleased to see that my old friend Christopher Steele, a/k/a Austin Powers, has crawled out of the pub long enough to make up a few more stories,” told ABC News. “I eagerly await his next secret dossier which proves the existence of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and that Elvis is still alive.”
– The Hill
The authoritarian collective is running hot today, Turley throws another what-if and the cult go’s crazy. Turley’s spin and pretzel logic always inflames those who want it all to be true, and Turley uses it very effectively. If anything Cohen is protecting Cohen, he stuck his neck out for Trump and all can see what that got him.
That makes zero sense.
No real name, must be a CCP bot. Do not under any circumstances believe or answer this thing
Just to explain how this sort of interview comes about, Mickey Mouse News was not “given an interview” by Christopher Steele. Clinton’s PR people — probably including Fusion GPS people — are doing a rehabilitation campaign after the drubbing they and Steele took from Nunes (outed that Clinton paid Steele for these fabrications), the FBI (fired Steele), some Russian guys who are suing Steele in the UK, Mueller (never mentioned Steele), and Horowitz. Clinton went to his former lackey Stephanopolus, anchor at Mickey Mouse News, who put together this terrible show. But even Mickey Mouse News thought the whole thing was so unnewsworthy that rather than putting the pro-Steele/Clinton propaganda on its network on primetime 20/20 like Clinton wanted or even on its afterhours but networked Nightline, MMN put it on their third string streaming service.
According to the Turely post, the Russian guy won the law suit against Steele in the UK. Wonder if that was mentioned by Mickey Mouse News?
Why did Steele go on the Stephanopolis show? Why , to rehabilitate his resume; work must be drying up as he has demonstrated that he is an unreliable source.
It’s all about the money
I apologize to all the real readers and commenters on this blog and its comments section. I am the author of the words “fired Steele” posted about 50 comments ago, after which 10 guys all named Anonymous argued with each other about its meaning (or maybe one guy named Anonymous argued with himself or herself 10 times). Best I can tell, all the people NOT named Anonymous who replied to Anonymous understood what “fired Steele” meant and more important understood its context as it was only two words in a 75-word comment.
Isn’t it odd that none of the Anonyimi seemed to care about the context: that Nunes outed the fact that Clinton paid Steele (yes, indirectly if you want to parse that 50 more times, Anonymous) and that Horowitz debunked everything Steele said other than that Prague is in the Czech Republic.
Those were the other two factoids in that eight-word string in a 75-word comment. The overall comment pointed out that Dr. Turley is not commenting on a real news effort here. That Hulu crap by Mickey Mouse News was just crank propaganda put together by the same people who put the Steele dossier together and broadcast by the same fake news people who brought you Russiagate
Steele is a liar and a grifter. I be am not moved by anything he says. The true story here is that Snugglufagus, the useful idiot, bought it (figuratively and literally) and tried to resell it to America.
This is what passes for journalism today.
What do you expect from a Clinton operative??
Steele has been a very useful idiot for the Russians. Gleefully useful.
speaking of useful idiots, check out Matti Taibbi’s newest article:
“The Bidens”: Is The First Family Corrupt, Or Merely Crazy?
https://understandingdeeppolitics.org/the-bidens-is-the-first-family-corrupt-or-merely-crazy/
It confirms what we all feared: the government we presently have is the one the Founding Fathers sought to prevent by writing the US Constitution
“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
– William Casey, CIA Director 1981-1987
Jonathan – Are you accepting everything Cohen says about Trump now as true? Or just the stuff that helps Trump?
Because I would be willing to accept Cohen’s claim about no Prague meeting as true if you would accept everything else he says about Trump to be true. And if everything Cohen says about Trump is true Trump should be imprisoned for a long time.
They are not just relying on Cohen telling the truth. They looked and found no evidence that Cohen traveled to Prague. You can’t hide the fact that you traveled outside of the country especially when you know the time frame. I do not believe Steele or Cohen unless an assertion is backed by some other reliable evidence found or not found in the 2 year investigation. The story is debunked. Now let’s look at Hunter-Joe Biden shared bank account and ties with China and Russia for the next 2 years.
“Because I would be willing to accept Cohen’s claim about no Prague meeting as true if you would accept everything else he says about Trump to be true.”
We have another poster saying the things Jeff says, strange.
Could be Jeff is running from the Whoopie Cushion tag, offensive noise with no substance.
Junio, no one is taking Cohen’s word about anything.
The allegation that Cohen met with Russians in Prague has been discredited because there is ZERO evidence that he did. Not only did Cohen deny it, but there were no travel records, passport evidence, plane logs, or a period of missing time.
If Cohen had learned how to teleport or manipulate the space/time continuum, then he’d either be the richest man on the planet, or working for either the Avengers or Hydra. If he were working for the Avengers, then obviously Black Widow was running a play to sabotage the Ruskies using him as Dr Strange. If he were working for Hydra, and had these abilities, then all of Earth would be under his dominion.
Karen S.
That was probably the best plot line, written in three sentences, that takes Hollywood years to write.
Well done.
-Cheers!
Ahhh, thanks, Upstate Farmer!
Are you accepting everything Cohen says about Trump
Each statement is taken individual and weighted by the history to the person making the statement and defining what their self interests are.
If a person makes a statement that does not support their self interest that increase the probability of the statement being truthful.
“If a person makes a statement that does not support their self interest that increase the probability of the statement being truthful.”
How is it in a person’s rational self-interest to lie? A lie puts the liar at war with reality, and causes the person chaos and confusion. A lie undermines a person’s self-confidence and self-esteem.
A selfless person, on the other hand, is motivated to lie — as a policy. It’s called a “noble” lie (ala Fauci) — one that is supposedly justified because it’s for the “good” of others. “Will it please you if I lie about your clothing, your looks, your moral character? Fine. I’ll lie. Will it please others if I (falsely) agree with them? Fine. I’ll lie.” “Will it make others happy if I keep quiet (a lie by omission) about my beliefs? Fine. I’ll lie.”
You have the equation exactly backwards.
Are you accepting everything Cohen says about Trump now as true?
Turley’s point was clear; Cohen took every opportunity to get Trump and he was only believable on matters that he couldn’t lie about, like proving he had ever traveled to Prague.
These people (leftists) need to be excommunicated from society. It’s to the point where it’s no longer annoying or aggravating, it is now dangerous. I cannot believe I’m saying this, but.. “TRUMP 2024, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”.
Off topic:
Ten year olds and Bitcoins.
I was at a gathering of stock experts at a place on Wall Street. There was a ten year old boy asking questions of all the motley fool’s about why Bitcoin is bought by anyone in any manner.
What’s in a Bitcoin? Gold, silver, bits of something valuable at say a pawn shop?
They couldn’t answer.
How are they “mined”? Out of the ground?
No answers.
Who are “the miners”? No answer.
Why do they need electricity?
No answer.
For those committed to power at all costs, wokeness is designed to create tens of millions of permanent psychiatric patients, people who believe insane and unreal things like “men are women,” “printing money doesn’t cause inflation,” “human worth is determined by skin color,” “lockdowns are a sensible public health strategy,” and “true socialism has never been tried.” These false beliefs require enormous energy to prop up, and that’s where the political apparatus of the left comes in.
Wokeness is about creating a nationwide mental hospital of forever patients who never get better.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/07/23/wokeness-means-forcing-everyone-to-live-inside-the-prison-of-mental-illness/
This blog has a handful of these forever patients. There is no such thing as reasoning with them. They are stuck in an alternate reality and no amount of facts and evidence will get them out. The best thing we can do is not enable them. JT will always give them a forum to comment, but we should just leave them be.
“The best thing we can do is not enable them. JT will always give them a forum to comment, but we should just leave them be.”
******************
Amen, Olly. Frustration is the homage stupid pays to better intellects.
Georgie Porgy Clinton Spy. Starts own production company to Propagate lies
Feds do an early morning raid with media in tow (ala Roger Stone) on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. A man that told the FBI they were trying to make something of nothing in the whole Russia! sham, and knows were more ‘bodies’ are buried, gets the Jilian Assange treatment. At the same time Steele get a huge media interview.
I think everyone that in a new junkie knows the full truth about Russia! Like som one else noted yesterday, there are no coincidences.This “interview” gives ABC cover to claim they do even handed reporting, and since there was nothing of substance learned, safe to the leftists that make up the propaganda media. A win/win for ABC
deripaska doesnt own either of the two houses….. and dont forget–derpiaska worked w steele; he worked for mulers fbi on the robert levinson search in iran [and his handler was none other than….andy mccabe!]
CNN and Stephanopoulos intentionally gave Christopher Steele a huge public soapbox to gaslight the people of the United States, the interview was pure unadulterated propaganda aka Democratic Party activism hiding behind a false facade of journalism specifically aimed at manipulating the court of public opinion leading into to the 2022 political campaign season. It seems like the only tactic the Democratic Party has left to campaign with is keeping alive the anti-Trump hate and linking that hate to all Republican politicians.
I have an error in my comment the network that did the Steele interview wasn’t CNN it was ABC.
I knew it was ABC, I must have typed CNN because I was watching CNN when I was typing the comment.
I stand corrected.
Steve — understabdable mistake since CNN also lies about everything.
This
Steve,
Perhaps I’m on the wrong thread but it appears our discussion regarding Anonymous commenters has been deleted.
Perhaps Darren can explain why.
Perhaps Darren can explain why.
Olly, many moons ago, I ran a Roman Catholic list on the internet, back in the 1990s, using the software “majordomo” and the language known as PERL. I am not a computer programmer by training, and I ran my list on a friend’s server across the country, who guided me every step of the way. It was an unmoderated list, until Catholic liberals discovered it and all hades broke out. I eventually closed the list, though an archive still exists on the net, because the fighting, bickering, and eventual trolls took the joy out of running the list. I tried moderating it and hated it. When I closed it the members were disappointed, and it made the news in some Catholic periodicals. Darren is hopefully paid very well by Professor Turley, because frankly, the work that Paint Chips/ Anonymous and the other trolls generate, is thankless. I would never put up with it.
So whatever Darren does or does not do, just thank him for doing or not doing it. Don’t even question him because the background work he has to shovel to keep this forum “clean” is likely very ugly.
Don’t even question him…
Not happening. It does not matter if Darren is a volunteer or paid moderator. He has chosen to take on this challenge. I believe he does a very good job; JT chose wisely.
However, when I post comments that I believe are well within the only rules used by Darren to moderate the blog and they get deleted, then I will always question why.
Liars lie. Who’s paying Steele this time?