Thread by @richstanislaw

Abscam is antecedent.

2/ Abscam is worth considering as we look to how this all might go down. The FBI successfully carried out a remarkably complex, politically sensitive, & technically sophisticated multi-year public corruption investigation & sting operation which resulted in the conviction of...

3/ seven members of Congress (including one Senator). Also convicted were, one member of the NJ State Senate, several members of the Philadelphia City Council, the Mayor of Camden, NJ, and an inspector for the United States INS were also convicted.

4/ We now know the FBI opened an inquiry Into whether President Trump is a national security threat because he was/is secretly working on behalf of Russia, @realDonaldTrump responded w/ another twitter temper tantrum re the FBI & Mueller. The FBI has been here before w Abscam.

5/ Abscam came into full light on Feb 2, 1980, when hundreds of FBI agents informed the 30+ targets of the investigation. We may soon have a similar moment when multiple members of the Trump Crime Family are informed by FBI about the evidence against them.

6/ FBI hidden cameras capture Members of Congress accepting bribes from agents disguised as Saudis. Hence the name Abscam (Arab Scam).

7/ In order to open a Counterintelligence Investigation into President Trump, the FBI had to have significant evidence of a treat to national security. The lesson of Abscam is that the FBI is fully capable of investigating high-level government officials with discretion.

8/ So what is the evidence that pushed the FBI to actively investigate the @POTUS as a national security threat? They moved from suspicion to investigation after Trump fired James Comey on May 9, 2017. Bannon said this was the stupidest thing Trump did. That is a very high bar.

9/ On the following day, May 10, 2017, President Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov & Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. We do not know much of what was discussed in the meeting because Russian Tass News Service was the only journalists in room.

10/ We do know Trump passed on highly classified intelligence to the Russians about ISIS (that could be traced back to the Israelis). We also know he boasted to the Russians that firing “Nut Job Comey” eased pressure from the investigation.

11/ Putin has a transcript on the May 10th meeting, but no American was in the room for the hour-long meeting. The Russians would assume the meeting was bugged, but it is totally reasonable to assume that Donald Trump thought he was safe from surveillance in the Oval Office.

12/ We know also know Trump has concealed details of his face-to-face encounters with Putin from senior officials in the administration.

washingtonpost.com/world/national…

13/ The FBI that ran the Abscam sting would totally have listened in on the meeting between the Russians and a public official who is a likely threat to national security. And remember that Rod Rosenstein joked about wearing a wire around Trump.

14/ Theory: FBI bugged the Oval Office or otherwise surveilled Trump during his meeting with Lavrov & Kislyak We know they opened an investigation after the Comey dismissal. And the Comey shitcanning would’ve set off alarm bells.

15/ Since there was an ongoing Counterintelligence Investigation into odd computer link between Russian Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization, the FBI could’ve quickly expanded the investigation to include Trump the person.

16/ The ongoing investigations into Trump Org and people in Trump’s orbit (Page, Flynn, Papadopoulos, Mannafort, et al,) means the FBI could quickly execute surveillance of Trump’s private hour-long meeting with Russian’s in the Oval Office. That means there are tapes.

17/ During the Abscam sting, the FBI used elaborate supervenience techniques which included furnishing a rented apartment with antiques borrowed from The Smithsonian. They deployed hidden cameras, set up fake companies, & over two years collected enough evidence to convict 7 MoC.

18/ Almost all of the politicians convicted in Abscam were Democrats. And they used many of same defense tactics Trump is using today. Senator Pete Williams (D-NJ) publically smeared the FBI with charges of political bias (he supported Kennedy in the 1980 primary against Carter).

19/ Williams also said his bribery wasn’t a crime because it wasn’t successful. The jury saw through it. He was convicted.

20/ The FBI has been here before. Soon enough we will learn the details about precisely how Trump betrayed America and which of his minions were involved. It is no wonder Trump and his toadies--from Graham to Hannity--are freaking the fuck out. They know the FBI has them.

21/ In the 1970s members of Congress sold us out to what they believed were Saudis. Today the @POTUS is a Russian asset. Mueller has it all. The FBI knows what happened. We will get to see @realDonaldTrump in prison.