Below is my column in The Hill on the news that former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed in Florida as part of the Russian collusion investigation. Yes, there was a Russian collusion conspiracy, but not the one that the media relentlessly pushed during the first Trump term.
Here is the column:
This week, we learned that the probe into the Russian conspiracy theory in Florida is moving forward with the disclosure that former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed. What is different in this probe is that it is pursuing the real Russia conspiracy — the creation of a false narrative to kneecap the first Trump administration.
At issue is what could be the greatest political hit job in history. Of course, the growing evidence of this conspiracy continues to be buried by one of its key components: the media. Nevertheless, the “truth will out,” and it appears to be coming out in Florida.
Headed by Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, the investigation is building on information uncovered by House and Senate committees that was long buried by the Biden administration. That evidence appears to show a knowing effort to manufacture a Russian conspiracy hoax at the urging of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Ironically, the Washington Post and the New York Times received Pulitzer Prizes for their reporting promoting this Russian conspiracy hoax. The media spent years in wall-to-wall coverage of disproven allegations, including many claims made in the debunked Steele Dossier that had been secretly funded by the Clinton campaign.
The true Pulitzer Prize-worthy story was staring the media in the face the whole time: a conspiracy to create a false conspiracy narrative to elect Clinton and later to derail the Trump administration. The latter effort succeeded with help from top intelligence figures.
New York Times reporter Ken Vogel said at the time that Clinton Campaign General Counsel Marc Elias had denied involvement in the anti-Trump dossier. When Vogel tried to report the story, he said, Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman later wrote that “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”
The key period was shortly before the 2016 election. We now know that the campaign and its surrogates shopped the conspiracy to their contacts in the Justice Department and in the media. They found eager allies.
Shortly before the 2016 presidential election, Peter Strzok, a key figure in the investigation, texted FBI lawyer Lisa Page to assure her “that there’s no way [Trump] gets elected,” adding that they “can’t take that risk.” He added that they had it all in hand because “It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”
In fact, whether it was known to Strzok or not, there was an insurance policy in the works. In July 2016, then-CIA Director John Brennan briefed President Barack Obama on Hillary Clinton’s alleged “plan” to tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.”
Brennan is believed to be a target of the current investigation, including possible perjury before Congress.
In reality, within days of that briefing on how Clinton would create this conspiracy theory, the investigation began, just as the Clinton campaign hoped it would.
Early on, the FBI was told by the CIA that its sources — and the Steele dossier — were unreliable. However, key FBI officials continued the surveillance and the investigation targeting the Trump campaign and key figures. One official later pleaded guilty to lying to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court to continue surveillance without an evidentiary basis.
At the end of 2016, a CIA assessment found that “Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent U.S. election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure.” That presidential daily brief was scheduled to be published on Dec. 9, 2016, but the office of James Clapper, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, reportedly stopped the publication “based on some new guidance.”
Clapper later joined Obama, along with John Brennan, Susan Rice, John Kerry, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, and others, in a meeting that would ultimately inject the debunked theory directly into the media.
A new assessment was ordered that would detail the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.” Brennan reportedly handpicked the analysts who would apparently flip the earlier assessments without any credible intelligence to justify doing so.
Brennan picked Susan Miller to head the effort, a person who admitted she was “not a Trump fan.” In later social media postings, Miller engaged in unhinged screeds like, “This is awful! Further proof that Trump is a dictator.” She also wrote, “Good grief. As if we needed proof that MAGA types are nazis…” She responded to one foreign poster by saying, “Yes….the Hitler analogy is not lost on a bunch of us … sadly.”
Back in 2016, the rewritten assessment was quickly leaked to an eagerly awaiting media. It was the perfect hit job carried out by top Obama administration officials at the very end of their time in power .
In testimony on May 23, 2017, Brennan claimed that the Steele dossier “wasn’t part of the corpus of intelligence information that we had. It was not in any way used as a basis for the intelligence community assessment that was done.”
Yet the declassified material appears to contradict that sworn statement. Brennan allegedly not only discussed the dossier but also insisted upon its inclusion in the new assessment Obama had requested.
Brennan and his handpicked team went to extraordinary lengths to revive the conspiracy theory that they knew was the original objective of the Clinton campaign.
Analysts complained that the reliance on the Steele Dossier “ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment.” One CIA analyst told investigators that Brennan “refused to remove it, and when confronted with the dossier’s main flaws, [Brennan] responded, ‘Yes, but doesn’t it ring true?’”
Keep in mind that Obama ordered the new assessment at the very end of his term. There was a rush to complete the report before Trump took office after defeating Clinton. The effort seeded the Russian collusion hoax that would go on to consume much of Trump’s first term.
In other words, the scheme worked. But it required Brennan’s involvement, as well as that of others, including allegedly then-FBI Director James Comey. It also needed a fully invested media.
None of this will get anyone a Pulitzer, because the politics is wrong. However, it might just force the truth into the open. With Democrats promising to resume impeachments and investigations if they retake power in the midterms, it would be useful for the public to have a full understanding of what actually occurred last time.
It is time for the public to learn whether top Obama officials and the media pulled off the greatest political hoax in history.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
How would it be useful to the public to know all the nitty gritty about how this political infowarfare campaign was hatched, fed and watered, and spun into an effective narrative?
I’d argue we already know how clandestine, deceitful political infowarfare works, because we’ve seen that movie too many times. Unless Congress passes new legal tools empowering ordinary citizens to file Public Frauds lawsuits resulting in lightning fast discovery processes, it’s all just another round of endless infowarfare ping-pong.
The worst outcome (besides doing nothing to deter political whoppery) would be lawfare — where partisan officeholders use their investigative/prosecutorial powers to avenge abuse of the infospace by their opponents. That runs counter to 1A which forbids government prosecution as a countermeasure. The traction lies in civil action — lawsuits — for several key reasons:
• Any citizen can file suit, and people in govt. can be among the parties sued for waging a Public Fraud
• Citizens on a Jury (not elite bureaucrats in govt.) are the ones deciding fact from fraud
• Rapid discovery is the key to deterrence, since it strips away the wall of secrecy deceitful infowarriors hide behind
• The worst whoppers are going to come out shortly before elections or decisions to go to war — they must be exposed and neutralized in a very short time-frame in order that public decisions be informed by the truth.
Enough red-vs. blue lawfare. Let’s make it a contest between ordinary citizens vs. elite fraudsters intent on duping us. That’s the only way to escape from “taking sides” and the lawfare-double-standards approach to wrongdoing.
Pb, ordinary citizens v. Elite fraudsters ? You’ve used the c word. That’s not allowed and we don’t know what that is anymore until Justices decide accordingly as AI said- by popular opinion and not law. Will the Justices decide?
Thanks, you make sense.
The bulk of the Russian accusations were confirmed. They did engage in a campaign of disinformation to try to sway the election for Trump. They did hack the DNC. The Trump campaign was in contact with Russian agents. The only aspect that is still unknown is if Trump himself knew about any of this. Mueller and the Senate report was clear on all of this. The only “hoax” of the “Russian Hoax” was that it was a hoax.
Bottom line…Russia tried to gain favor and and undue influence with the Trump campaign in 2016, and those attempts were deflected. The final attempt was the Russian Foreign Minister meeting with Jared Kushner and Mike Flynn, pitching the establishment of a covert back channel out of view of NSA / CIA / FBI. You have to admit how audacious that was. To Trump’s credit, that effort went nowhere.
I don’t have to admit that because we don’t know. The actual extent of the contact between the Trump campaign and the Russians, and how much Trump knew is an unknown. If Trump truly cared, he would have reported the contact to the FBI himself. That is what a normal campaign would do.
If you dont know, then how can you declare it was confirmed?
Russia’s efforts are confirmed. What the Trump campaign did is unknown.
So you have no evidence and cannot confirm any wrong doing by the Trump campaign, neither did the Muller investigation, the report or Muller when testifying before Congress.
And to quote the NYTs “The investigation did not establish that members of the campaign had conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities, the Justice Department concluded. …”
The bottom line was that Russia successfully got members of its IRA to pose as Americans, who then got Facebook accounts, where they posted smack about Hillsry, and arranged local gatherings of Trump supporters.
Mike Flynn spoke to the Russian Ambassador as part of Trump’s transition team. But then Obama’s FBI caught him in a perjury trap, after which he fell on his sword.
The House Report concluded that the claim in the Intelligence Assessment that Putin interfered to help Trump was manufactured by the use of previously rejected intelligence and the omission of contrary facts. Please stop saying things are confirmed when they are not.
Daniel,
Thank you for bringing facts to the table.
It did not say that.
https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/final_russia_investigation_report.pdf
The Senate Report was clear that Russia did interfere.
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/sites-default-filesations-crpt-116srpt290.pdf
You are not citing the correct House report. I am referring to the one first disclosed last summer that examined in detail the intelligence assessment. It concluded precisely as I said. It had bern hidden until then.
That’s not the House Report I meant. I was referring to the classified report on the intelligence assessment that Tulsi Gabbard declassified and published last summer. It concluded precisely what I said.
Hillary actively sought Russian dirt on Trump, disguising her payments to Steele for tales from his Russian sources as “Legal Services,” while a Russian lawyer, in town briefly for an appeal of an oligarch’s defeat, arranges for a sitdown with Don Jr, on the promise of Russian dirt on Hillary.
So of course Hillary was blameless while Trump was in up to his neck.
And the Don Jr. meeting turned out to be a bait and switch. The lawyer wanted Trump to overturn the Magnitsky Act if elected, which in turn would reopen the flow of Russian babies to the US. No dirt was provided.
The only other “contact” between the Trump campaign and Russia was Manafort’s former right-hand-man, a Ukrainian-born ethnic Ukrainian who Manafort had hired ten years before as a translator, but soon became essential to the successful Yanukovych campaign.
Manafort got work from the new government, and left his man in charge as he returned to the states.
It was only natural that this guy would be curious about how his old boss was doing, and for Manafort to share polling data with him. Aafter alll, in ten years, neither the FBI nor the CIA had even hinted to Manafort that his right-hand-Ukie could be a Russian agent.
So Russia’s efforts are “confirmed,” and “the Trump campaign” is guilty of not self‑reporting, even though you admit you don’t actually know what they did. Fair enough, as far as it goes. But we do know what the Clinton campaign did: it secretly financed the Steele dossier through Perkins Coie, misreported the spending, and got fined by the FEC, and its paid oppo was laundered into FBI and IC work product that drove years of collusion coverage. If you are willing to indict Trump’s people on unknowns, why is there no room in your analysis for what is already on the record about Clinton world and the officials who turned that oppo into “intelligence”?
“To try to sway the election for Trump.” Not confirmed. This conclusion was manufactured by the intelligence assessment ordered by Obama.
I wonder what all you bigmouths here have done to make the USA a better place?
All you do is scream, insult and threaten each other here.
Seriously, the fault for our situation nowadays clearly lies at the feet of you pitiful geriatrics. You did nothing to prevent this state of affairs. Watched and laughed at liberals.
For 20+ years you all did nothing and now you’re in the 70’s and 80’s and hours a day anonymously raging at liberals, spewing hate and lies every f- Ing day, at anyone who doesn’t buy into your lies and stupidity.
You f-ed up the country with your cowardice, arrogance and stupidity, now you blame everyone but yourselves.
Such pitiful and laughable creatures you all are.
Make the USA a better place. Go away.
Sad but true.
If you actually read the good professor’s column, you would see it is exactly those people you are screaming at who are the ones who “f-ed” up the country. It is not our fault they just so happen to be Democrats. Republicans are not with out a degree of fault, but who is to blame for the condition of our institutions? Public education? Higher education? Various Blue ran cities and states on the decline?
Democrats and to a degree liberals.
As to what we have done to make America a better place?
We get up in the morning and go to work.
Cannot say that about Gen Z.
Those geriatrics may be the only history existing as they’ve lived it and didn’t get their info from chatgpt4.
I’m confused.
Turley proclaims that this “investigation” will finally reveal the “truth”.
How exactly will the “truth” be revealed without breaking the law???
This is a grand jury “investigation”.
No indictments are possible because the statute of limitations has long expired.
And grand jury testimony is secret.
So how exactly is the “truth” going to come out ????
Turley knows perfectly well that this “investigation” is completely pointless, because there is no legal mechanism for the grand jury testimony to be revealed.
So why is he saying this nonsense ????
Obviously he is just trolling you mindless MAGA morons to keep you buying his stupid book.
Lawyer? or just pretending to be?
Ongoing crime. Clock on SoL has not yet started, perhaps?
What does it take for the crime to be ongoing? One lie in a Congressional hearing? One lie to the press to continue the concealment? One relevant text or email between co-conspirators?
” How exactly will the “truth” be revealed without breaking the law??? ”
Why should we tell you, How?
SO you can stop it,
SO you can throw a Monkey Wernch in to it,
SO you can pontificate a new distracting Narrative.
SO you can let Them all get away with it. …
First, if they show an ongoing conspiracy then the statute of limitations has not run. Second, is that the best you can do – completely ignore the massive corruption that took place and only criticize the attempt to further expose it? You are a clown.
goodbeavis says: March 23, 2026 at 10:01 AM
“First, if they show an ongoing conspiracy then the statute of limitations has not run. ”
Is an “an ongoing conspiracy” the same as “an ongoing Cover-Up”. ???
While We’re at it, lets add Jeffery Epstein’s Connections to this practice.
“While We’re at it, lets add Jeffery Epstein’s Connections to this practice.”
Sure! Why not?
BOMBSHELL Bill Clinton/Epstein Info Drops
“Rep. Anna Paulina Luna appeared on Bill Maher’s show and confirmed what the Epstein document dumps have long hinted at: the former president wasn’t just flying on the Lolita Express — he was operating under an entirely different identity in the files.”
https://modernity.news/2026/03/21/bombshell-bill-clinton-epstein-info-drops/
This would be true unless this is the precursor to a RICO case in which case Jack Smith’s Florida witch-hunt, that is well within the SOL, brings everything from the very beginning into play.
Perhaps the relevant statutes of limitation have been tolled.
Hakeem “The Hack” Jeffries has vowed to again impeach President Trump if a Democrat majority is elected in November 2026. Susan Rice, a likely Russian collusion co-conspirator, among others, has publicly vowed to “go after” Trump and Trump allies if the Democrats win the presidency and the House in 2028. The Republicans have a short window to set the record straight for the electorate before the 2026 elections. Of those that are guilty of fabricating this sordid mess, they should take no prisoners.
How is it that all you reps. know the “Russia Hoax” it a crime waiting to be prosecuted, BUT haven’t an iota of proof?
That’s what is known as mass delusion.
Proof of what ? Did you read Turley ?
There is MASSIVE proof. What this Grand Jury are looking into is what Crimes were committed.
The collusion delusion involved MASSIVE and coordinated lying as well as cover-ups.
But all lies are not crimes and all crimes committed in 2016 are not still prosecutable today.
John Say,
Well said.
The good professor’s column is a good summary of evidence of a conspiracy.
Good summary, really? He’s just opining. Worthy of a Pulitzer you say. Seriously? You can’t write for squat, yet you know Pulitzer material when you see it.
You obviously can’t express yourself coherently in your comments, but you sure do know how to simp; always sucking-up to some clown who is a stupid as you.
Do yourself a favor, go back to slopping pigs and make bacon.
What Turley says is just innuendo. He’s not involved in the proceedings, he’s opining. Nothing more.
More demented garbage from the demented John Say.
What exactly is the point of this grand jury “investigation” ???
You seem to think that the purpose is to reveal what crimes were committed. Even if there were crimes committed, no indictments can be forthcoming because the statute of limitations has long expired. The grand jury proceedings are secret, so in the absence of any indictments, nothing can be revealed from this so called “investigation”.
So what exactly is the point ??????????
John Say, what “massive proof”?
There is no proof.
If there were “massive proof” of crimes, the Special Counsel (John Durham), specifically tasked with finding them, would have secured major convictions. Instead, his primary criminal cases against Igor Danchenko and Michael Sussmann resulted in acquittals.
A “coordinated lie” in the media is a political scandal, not a criminal conspiracy. The law requires a specific intent to violate a statute (like hacking or campaign finance), which investigators could not prove to a criminal standard.
Well said George. You’re the best commenter here. The others are pompous fools.
“Well said George. You’re the best commenter here.”
Our resident woke troll appears to be flexible enough to perform fellatio/cunnilingus on itself, or, if neither of those options is appropriate, to at least tongue its own anus.
But nothing will happen beyond throwing some janitor in jail. The statute of limitations was written to prevent government thieves and leaders gleefully working outside the constitution from the common mans law. So the truth comes out in time for the midterms, and the media buries the truth and blames Trump.
Apparently the SoL doesn’t start counting while the crime is ongoing. With a little luck the Russia Hoax conspirators may be SooL. But don’t hold your breath waiting for justice.
No one is above the law. Not Comey. Not Clapper. Not Brennan. Not Obama. Not Clinton. Not Biden. Not Strzok. Not Page. Not Or. Not McCabe. Not Lynch. Not Kerry. This was an attempted coup d’etat that failed but weakened a presidency. Now let me send myself an email saying Obama insisted everything be done by the book, by the book. Nothing suspicious about doing that. Isn’t it ironic that Hillary Clinton illegally listed payments for a manufactured dossier against Trump as “legal fees” when Trump was convicted in Manhattan of improperly listing payments as legal fees?
The only person above the law should be Donald Trump! The Epstein files should be released and everyone in them who is guilty of crimes should be prosecuted except of course Donald Trump.
MAGAs are loony. A legitimate investigation into Ruissian interfearance in an election is an attempted coup d’etat. But Trump’s weeks long illegal effort to overturn an election that resulted in an attack on the capital is not an attempted coup d’etat.
An investigation into Russian collusion that put the legitimacy of Trump’s election in doubt for more than two years before Mueller finally admitted he had nothing?
Then Schiff and the Vindmans preempted Biden’s campaign-destroying scandal o constructive receipt of $5 million in bribes — arguably a violation of the Emoluments Clause coming from a Ukrainian politician and former govt minister.
1. Questioning the legitimacy is not an attempted coup as long as there was no effort to prevent inauguration.
2. You really don’t want to go down the Emoluments Clause rabbit hole. Trump is 1000x worse on that than all the other president’s combined. He has literally taken billions.
Your point 1, how can that be, when dozens of election challenges were wholesale dropped by judges without even a cursory look? There are always election challenges, except for the 2020 election, the “most secure in US history.” How can you say it was secure if no one on the other side was able to scrutinize anything?
Your evidence of 2 is what?
“No one is above the law. Not Comey. ”
Given that this matter is being addressed in Florida, I am inclined to propose that a fitting punishment for Comey would be to utilize him as alligator bait in order to protect the road gangs. The sole issue is that I do not harbor such a strong dislike for alligators…
Professor, you column in The Hill is more worthy of a Pulitzer than anything the WaPo or the NYT wrote.
Why is it worth a Pulitzer there but not on his blog? Pulitzer huh? Its all just gossip.
Oh geez, still on this professor?
Turley is rewriting history by treating the Steele Dossier as the foundation of the Russia probe when, in reality, it was a peripheral document. The probe didn’t start with the Dossier; it started with George Papadopoulos boasting to an Australian diplomat about Russian “dirt.”
The FBI investigation was predicated on specific intelligence regarding Russian outreach to the Trump campaign, a fact later validated by a Republican-led Senate committee. By focusing exclusively on the flaws of the dossier, Turley ignores the proven reality of Russian interference and the legitimate national security concerns that necessitated the investigation in the first place.
Oh geez, still on this George? Um… didn’t know you were FBI George? And privy to such detailed facts from the NYT and WAPO? Or you just a conspiring another theory?
So X, The Washington Post and The New York Times have now admitting that the Steele Dossier was a made up hoax but you still cling with all your might to a salacious document paid for by the Democratic party and Hillary Clinton’s law firm. From Google: The 2019 Mueller Report did not establish a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. A key allegation, that Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen met with Russian officials in Prague, was determined to be untrue.
All of it was treason to undermine the success of the Trump administration. You sir are among those who would undermine the winning of an election in order to insure your future. You sir have been willfully among the conspirators and you are just as guilty as treason as they are. You sir do not fight for your country but instead you fight to hate your country. You’re nothing new. There will people
just like you who supported England during the American Revolution.
Tories, or Loyalists, were American colonists who opposed independence and remained loyal to England. We understand who you are.
Xray: While there may have been Russian “interference,” there was no Russian “collusion” with Trump.
The only collusion in this entire fiasco was committed by all the Obama bad actors giving life to a Clinton dirty trick.
” it started with George Papadopoulos boasting to an Australian diplomat about Russian “dirt.””
Correct – and Strzok interviewed Papadoulis and the AU Diplomat in Aug 2016 and despite desparation to go after he Trump campaign IMMEDIATELY concluded there was not “there there”.
“The FBI investigation was predicated on specific intelligence regarding Russian outreach to the Trump campaign”
False, you have paid absolutely no attention. Horrowitz, Durham, even Mueller found NONE of this – further the efforts to link the Trump campaign to Russia – aside from the also thoroughtly debunk “alpha bank hoax” all started AFTER Mueller was appointed SC and it was clear that the Papadoulis, Steel Dosier and Alpha Bank Hoax were garbage.
The effort to establish any link between The Trump campaign and Russia came AFTER Mueller’s appointment.
” a fact later validated by a Republican-led Senate committee.”
Absolutely a relatively hostile to Trump Republican Committee wrote a report without any evidence of substance to support it that included claims to this effect – but no actual evidence.
Mueller tried to prosecute a Russian Company in NYC for this and was laughed out of court by the Judge
“By focusing exclusively on the flaws of the dossier”
It is not the flaws in the steele dossier that are the problem it is the entire flawed and lawless investigation.
Most people KNOW the steele dossier was a clinton manufactured load of horseschiif – that the Only ACTUAL Russians tied to any of this were working for the Clinton Campaign.
Danchenko the actual author of the Steele Dossier was likely a Russian spy. The Alpha bank nonsense was a Hoax to collapsed fairly quickly under examination.
Whether it is the Roger Stone nonsense or the Paul Manafort garbage the only REAL connections to Russia were inside the Clinton campaign
“Turley ignores the proven reality of Russian interference and the legitimate national security concerns that necessitated the investigation in the first place.”
Beat That Straw man to death.
Russia attempts to interfere in ALL US presidential elections. 2016 was not even slightly unusual. Russias efforts were/are half hearted and inconsequential and ineffective.
Further they are tiny compared to the US interference in foreign elections.
Russia did not and has not altered the results of voting machines – though they have the ability to do so – nor BTW has any other nation.
Russia as well as China and possibly North Korea HAVE targeted US voter registration. We KNOW that the Russians have successfully accessed many Stated voter registration records.
We know that China was providing Millions of counterfeit Drivers licenses immediately prior to the 2020 election.
But todate there has NEVER been evidence that any of these efforts were to benefit Trump or that there was any involvement between foreign actors and any Trump campaign.
The same is NOT true of Democrats. We KNOW that Every democrat candidate since Obama received large amounts of overseas illegal campaign contributions via credit cards – mostly from the Mideast
And we KNOW which party is dead set against efforts to prevent election Fraud.
John Say,
Great comment.
Some additional evidence of election meddling, US intel hid Chinese 2020 election meddling from Trump because they opposed his policies, memo says
https://justthenews.com/government/security/analysts-hid-chinese-2020-meddling-intel-vulgarian-trump-over-opposing-his
What’s so great about?
Do you remember when Robert Mueller testified before Congress? He claimed that he had never heard of fusion GPS.
John say, that’s a lot of inaccurate conclusions.
“The effort to establish any link… came AFTER Mueller’s appointment.”
Nope. You’re woefully incorrect. The FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation began in July 2016, nearly a year before Mueller was appointed (May 2017). By early 2017, the FBI had already interviewed George Papadopoulos and Michael Flynn, and had obtained FISA warrants on Carter Page. You literally had it right at the beginning of your response then contradicted yourself later.
“Strzok immediately concluded there was “no ‘there there'” regarding Papadopoulos.”
Wrong again. You misrepresent the FBI’s stance. While the FBI didn’t find a “smoking gun” conspiracy on day one, the investigation shifted to Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn precisely because they did find unexplained contacts with Russian-aligned actors.
Papadopoulos eventually pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with London-based professor Joseph Mifsud regarding Russian “dirt” on Clinton. If there was “nothing there,” there would have been no reason to lie.
“ The Republican-led committee wrote a report “without any evidence.”
Nope.
The report specifically detailed how Paul Manafort (Trump’s campaign chair) shared internal campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, whom the committee identified as a “Russian intelligence officer.” This is a documented link that existed during the campaign, not a “post-Mueller” fabrication.
“ only real Russian ties were inside the Clinton campaign.”
Nope.
While the Clinton campaign funded the Steele Dossier (which used Russian sources), the Trump campaign had over 100 contacts with Russian-linked individuals, as documented in the Mueller Report. Both sides had “Russian ties,” but one side was the subject of a counterintelligence probe because they were the target of the interference.
John, your whataboutism is hilarious.
Have you found them peeeeeeeeee taps george?
Still waiting.
This whole affair stinks of dead fish floating in the Potomac. It makes Watergate look like chill’s play.
It reminds me of what Solzhenitsyn said about the Soviet regime:
“We know they lie. They know we know they lie. We know they know we know they lie. Yet, they continue to lie.” 🙄
It would be interesting to find out who “patient zero” was in this TDS pandemic, the first person in high office who decided that breaking institutions was a fair price to pay for breaking Trump.
What would the founding fathers say huh?
You got proof who was and who did what, what the intention was by that lawless cabal? We only know that simpletons like you keep pushing that one of many conspiracy theories. Did I say theory? Opps, meant stupidity.
This fiasco has been going on now for 8 years and not a single indictment. I wonder why?
Nearly all the actual facts are fairly well known to any who care.
There are several problems.
The first is that while leaking what is ACTUAL govenrment secrets is a crime.
Leaking lies is NOT. Almost all the Collusion Delusion leaks were also LIES.
The next problem is that the statute of limitations has run on much of this.
There is no doubt at this point that most of the participants blatantly lied to congress.
But most of that perjury is well past the statute of limitations.
You are full of shite Say.
Up your einous hay.
JS, leaking lies is not a crime? Prove that logically, good sir.
I don’t think you’re CHATgpt4, John Say.
OLLY,
They tried and failed to break Trump. He not only beat Clinton, he went on to get re-elected. If anyone is broke, it was Trump breaking Democrats. Just look at their crying to this day. Their hate and rage TDS comments. And yes, in their attempts to break Trump, not only did they break institutions, but changed laws, made up stuff and not just the hoax Steele dossier.
So. Break, changed, hoax, you got any facts for that obvious lie?
That’s really deep simp. One can see a lot of research went into that. Deserves a Pulitzer.
Go slop some pigs you simp.
My comment is deeper than anything you have ever commented on.
Mommy still doing your laundry? Daddy still have to work to pay for your internet?
The only only thing deep about you is the pig shite you slop all day. What does that taste like?
BTW. learn some grammar simp. Your lack of education is showing as usual.
If you knew anything about farming, you would know I don’t slop in pig manure. Clearly you do not know anything.
Is using “BTW” really grammar? And you should of capitalized the “L” in “learn some grammar simp.”
Have you learned the proper use of “by,” “buy,” or “bye,” yet? Or still waiting for mommy to teach you?
Once a pig farmer, always a pig farmer. Your comments are a heap of pig slop.
Grammar huh? Obviously you don’t know a Synonym and Antonym. I wish I was edumacated like you.
Gotta ask, how can you possibly recognize Pulitzer material when you can’t write for squat?
“Once a pig farmer, always a pig farmer.”
Whoa!!! That is just, like, so deep! /sarc
If you are so educated, why are you still living at home with mommy and daddy?
Why are you so mean spirited?
Alcohol.
Ad hominem is not argument – do you have an argument ?
Do you? Argue with yourself John. You always do.
There are no problems with Upstate Farmer’s grammar.
Grammar Maven,
Thank you for pointing that out.
When jellyfish has nothing else, jellyfish default is to resort to the “grammar” claim. That is how everyone knows jellyfish is losing.
ATS – you claim that UF is lying – but your claim is vague and general. What is UF lying about ?
We KNOW the Alpha Bank nonsense was a Hoax, as was the Steele dossier, and the
We KNOW that the source for Papadopoulos’s claims toi Downer was Mifsud – and Mi6 operative who tried to Honeypot Papadopoulos’s.
Regardless Papadopoulos had no contact with any real russians and no actual knowledge of Russian hacking – everything he said was fed to him by CIA and MI6
That is election interferance by the US and foreign intelligence services.
And We know the Steele Dossier was written by Denchenko – a likely Russia asset working indirectly for the clinton campaign and that the source for its claims was DNC Gossip – not Russia.
I didn’t say they broke him. The point is that the mission was and continues to be, to break him. Every thing else they break in the process is just collateral damage.
So what does the evidence show as the root cause? Who was TDS’s patient zero?
OLLY,
“Who was TDS’s patient zero?”
HRC?
Maybe. But “patient zero” for TDS, as Turley describes it here, is whoever first decided that sacrificing the legitimacy of the DOJ, FBI, and IC was an acceptable price for weakening Trump. Clinton’s shop lit the match; Obama‑era intel and media elites built the bonfire.
Obama. He saw his legacy being diminished and wanted to prevent that.
The really big deal is the Jan. 5th WH Meeting with Obama, Biden, Comey, Rice and others.
That was the moment in which a US president on his way out of office deliberately attampted to sabatoge his successor, and in which the various government agencies conspired to do go after a soon to be sitting president.
John, if the Jan. 5 Oval Office meeting is where the “TDS” infection went systemic at the top, then “Case Zero” for Crossfire Hurricane was that late‑July 2016 Australian tip about Papadopoulos bragging in a London bar that Russia had dirt emails on Clinton it could anonymously dump to help Trump. That whisper, filtered through friendly diplomats, was enough for the FBI to open a full counterintelligence case on a presidential campaign, even though we now know from the IG and Durham work how thin and uncorroborated that predicate really was. The pathology isn’t that one aide ran his mouth over drinks; it’s that senior officials seized on that as a pretext to justify tools they never would have unleashed on a favored candidate.
John Say, not true. You really have no idea how things work. You’re literally making things up.
According to the declassified email from National Security Adviser Susan Rice, President Obama explicitly stated that every aspect of the issue should be handled by the intelligence and law enforcement communities “by the book”. He reiterated that he was not “asking about, initiating, or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective”
The primary purpose of the meeting, as documented, was to discuss Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether there were national security reasons to limit the sharing of certain sensitive information with the incoming team. This was triggered by unusual communications between Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, which FBI Director James Comey described as a potential concern.
Investigations by both DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Special Counsel John Durham did not conclude that this meeting was a conspiracy to sabotage the successor. While Durham’s final report criticized the FBI for “confirmation bias” and a “lack of analytical rigor” in the broader investigation, he did not charge any high-level officials for the events of this meeting or find evidence of a “deep state” plot.
While Vice President Biden reportedly mentioned the Logan Act during the meeting, the Mueller investigation and subsequent reviews showed that the FBI’s decision to interview Flynn was based on his statements to agents being inconsistent with intercepted communications, rather than a top-down order from the White House to “go after” him.
The meeting followed a high-level briefing on Russian hacking. It is standard for an outgoing administration to consult with its law enforcement and intelligence heads on ongoing counterintelligence threats before a transition.
John, your conspiracy theory addled mind keeps concocting these wild claims from pure ignorance.
The more I think about it, I don’t think the people Turley is describing in the security and intelligence bureaucracy ever had TDS the way the base does. They had something colder: power, and a settled belief that anyone outside their club getting near the Resolute Desk is a threat to that power. Crossfire Hurricane was the grand containment plan, the bureaucratic antibodies moving to wall off the outsider. The Jan. 5 Oval Office meeting is where that plan is effectively blessed at the very top, and from there the leaks and spin start pouring into the press like SARS out of a lab. Once that cocktail of half‑facts, innuendo and “by the book” CYA emails escaped into the information stream with no immune system in the media or the institutions to check it, we did not just get a narrative, we got a full‑blown plandemic.
Excellent analysis, Olly!
Olly,
There’s a host of options, but I’m also looking outside high office, to who would benefit.
I truly believe the first TDS case is a split between James Carville and Rosie O’Donnell, James for his campaign controlling, and Rosie because she got miffed at Trump for a snide side comment (40 something years ago!) that she made it her whole being. Of the two, Carville still had Rodan and Obama’s ears, so they and their campaign/administration caught it from him, while Rosie naturally orbited the media, and Hollywood caught it from there.
Throw the lot, Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Hilray, Liz, many others in Jail. All the victims should sue them for all their worth, track their hidden funds etc.
It would be nice if at least one of these schemers was indicted, tried, convicted, jailed, and fined for manufacturing this disgusting pack of lies. But that has as much chance of happening as the probability, when I was a child, of getting my wish for a pony fulfilled.
“the fools who populate this blog.”
Fools and bots. It can be difficult to distinguish one from the other at times…
It seems that truth seekers aren’t in the media. History will tell the truth but it will be a long wait!
Obama is a great disappointment and it is now understandable why Trump lashes out for vindication. Hillary – well she has had a history of lying — going back to her earliest years — even her graduation speech from Wellsley! That alone should have been a warning to everyone — the ends do justify the means to her. And, evidently, to the NY AG and the judges.
Could any of us withstood the endless law suits that Trump and his family went through? Just imagine if he had declared himself a presidential candidate as a Dem! He would have been adored.
But here is the real problem — those in the media who hire the journalists knowing that they are looking for a story and not the truth. They are the real culprits.
Hate is a powerful motivator but it eats the hater just as much. Guess the song — “Money, money, money makes the world go round”! says it all.
I am graceful for this blog and to JT for alerting us to the facts — hard and as disappointing as they may be.
Now we wait and see what happens to Obama and Comey and Brennan … the wait might be a long time in coming!
“those in the media who hire the journalists knowing that they are looking for a story and not the truth. ”
Those are not “journalists”, those are “entertainers”, and have been for a very long time. That goes back at least as far as the advent of “60 Minutes”, and possibly much farther.
Which are you? I go with fool.
Well if Director Comey starts running short of funds for defending his legal misadventures maybe he should talk to Gen. Flynn about a loan.
Or Comey could talk to Elon Musk since he has volunteered to pay some federal employees’ salaries until this shutdown ends. But then again maybe not.
Do you know Comey’s wealth? Between $14 and $16 million (Legit.ng). Surely the DNC and its minions would be more than happy to help out.
There is big difference between the oppressor and the oppressed. Musk is no fool and knows the difference! Coney should call Obama and Hillary — they are very financially sound!
A nice recap of the events. But absolutely nothing will happen to those responsible.
There is little doubt that the claim that Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election was invented by the Clinton campaign and the Obama political and intelligence leadership. The question before the grand jury, however, is whether criminal charges can now be brought against any of the participants. The least complex of the potential charges involve making false statements to Congress within the last five years. The most complex require the establishment of a conspiracy for the deprivation of rights dating back to 2016, with the most recent acts of concealment being within the last five years.
And yet there is still doubt.
Daniel,
Well said.
I doubt any of these people will see the inside of a jail cell. I would be happy if the truth is all laid out and they were found guilty of conspiracy.
Everyone on both sides of the aisle know that the Russian hoax was totally contrived. And not a thing will happen to any of the guilty party. Poop or get off the pot.
It may take another 10 years but the truth will out. We already know what it is but the dam hasn’t broken yet. It will.
at which time the dems will have had the presidency and congress for those 10 years.
How is it “we all know why” when in fact no one knows anything as a fact?
If you were a lawyer you would then know that statement is meaningless. And yet you dump it here. Some lawyer you are.
On target WiseOldLawyer! The perpetrators will die of old age before ever serving a day in prison.
Ah, a simp has arrived.
Perpetrators? No one has been indicted, so legally there are no perpetrators, Old lawyer didn’t tell you that?
Ah the troll is awake. Comey was already indicted for lying under oath, perjury. Unfortunately, it was kicked back due to procedural errors. It wasn’t dismissed. In lieu of that, the DOJ has chosen to pursue the on going criminal conspiracy investigation. The evidence is glaringly obvious, the declassified documents support 100% the seditious conspiracy contrived by the Democrats. Yap all day little doggie, you’re a joke.
Much ado about nothing.
Sure it is. Repeating a mantra doesn’t make it true, but go ahead, we’re used to it.
Mantra? What’s the mantra? And you’re so well informed you know it to be fact?
Ah, the fools who populate this blog.
“the fools who populate this blog.”
Fools and bots. It can be difficult to distinguish one from the other at times…