Thread: One character that c/d reemerge in the plot is Carter Page. Yes him. He’s seen as irrelevant, even though the FBI seeing him as a Russia agent!
But the biggest tell of his relevance: Trump hasn’t used Page as a scapegoat? Instead, he’s defended him. What gives? 1/
But the biggest tell of his relevance: Trump hasn’t used Page as a scapegoat? Instead, he’s defended him. What gives? 1/
Page has convinced everyone he’s an idiot and irrelevant. He’s no doubt an idiot but there maybe a touch of method to his madness. Think of a really dumb Keyser Soze. 2/
Not only do we know the FBI thought Page was a Russian agent (thanks Nunes!) but he’s a key figure in the dossier. He went to Moscow in July and Budapest in Sept as a campaign advisor and coordinated those trips w/ the campaign. 3/
But this also makes Page the perfect scapegoat! You want collusion - here it is! He’s the collusion you all have been looking for! 4/
Trump c/d say: “The FBI says Page was a Russian agent. He was trying to infiltrate our campaign just as the Russians tried to infiltrate the FBI or CIA. We were victims! And when we fond out, we fired him! You want collusion, that’s your collusion!” 5/
Everyone w/d also totally buy it! B/c everyone can see Page is an idiot. And it makes sense. 6/
But instead of scapegoating Page, Trump and co. have done the opposite. They’ve tried to defend Page and say he is a victim. He was wrongly FISA’d! The Nunes memo was effectively about defending page and... 7/ vox.com/policy-and-pol…
Most recently, after Cohen and Manafort started cooperating in Sept, Trump and Nunes spent a week talking about declassifying part of the Page FISA application. They only pulled back when the NYT Rosenstein story broke. 8/ npr.org/2018/09/17/648…
But why the effort to frantically defend Page? Well, remember we know his FISA warrant was renewed 3xs, meaning it was yielding results to justify renewal! The dossier also says Page was used a go b/w the Trump camp and Russia. 9/ themoscowproject.org/dispatch/nunes…
So perhaps Trump can’t scapegoat Page b/c 1. The Feds literally have the tapes! 2. Manafort and others are cooperating. So instead, you need to defend him and say he was wrongly spied on in the first place. 10/
