Thread by @themarketswork

1) My latest @EpochTimes - Focus in Spygate Scandal Shifts to CIA and John Brennan
theepochtimes.com/focus-in-spyga…

2) Some observers, including this publication, have pointed out for over a year that Brennan appears to have played a key role in the scandal that’s become known as Spygate.

Now, actions taken by Brennan and the CIA appear to have become a central focus of investigators.

3) Lindsey Graham told @MariaBartiromo that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz was “doing a very in-depth dive about the FISA Warrant application” and “the behavior regarding the counterintelligence operation.”

4) Graham said the IG’s report would be coming out in “weeks - not days, not months” and would prove to be “ugly and damning"

Graham noted that the IG’s report had been delayed because “every time you turn around, you find something new.”

5) @LindseyGrahamSC : “You know, I really am very curious about the role the CIA played here. We know that the FISA Warrant application was based on a dossier prepared by Christopher Steele...But this whole intelligence operation - what role did the CIA play.”

6) Graham then went a step further:

“Who knew about this in the White House? Here’s a question: Was President Obama briefed on the fact that they were opening up a counterintelligence investigation against the Trump campaign? I’d like to know that.”

7) Brennan played a key role in establishing the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign—including making repeated use of questionable foreign intelligence.

8) Brennan has testified to Congress that any information, specifically “anything involving the individuals involved in the Trump campaign was shared with the bureau [FBI].”

Brennan also admitted that it was his intelligence that helped establish the FBI investigation.

9) John Solomon of The Hill, who has extensively covered the Spygate scandal, told Bartiromo in an interview that he was hearing that “John Durham and Bill Barr are focused on the part before the FBI officially got started on July 31, 2016.

10) Focus on the Spring of 2016 is notable given that during this time, Brennan appeared to employ the use of reverse targeting on members of the Trump campaign.

Reverse targeting refers to the targeting of a foreign individual with the intent of capturing data on a U.S. citizen

11) As this foreign intelligence—unofficial and outside of traditional channels—was gathered on the Trump campaign, Brennan began to feed his gathered intelligence to the FBI.

Repeated transfers of intel from Brennan pushed the FBI towards establishing a formal investigation.

12) Solomon also discussed the role of Josef Mifsud, who told George Papadopoulos in March 2016 that Russia had Hillary Clinton emails

Solomon noted that he had recently interviewed Stefan Roe, Mifsud’s lawyer, who told him that Mifsud “had long worked with Western Intelligence”

13) Bartiromo closed by asking Solomon the same question she put to Graham, “Who do you think is the mastermind?”

Solomon responded in similar fashion to Graham, noting “I think the CIA. We have to take a closer look at them. We’re starting to see some sign of it.”

14) The Guardian, had previously reported on the early involvement of UK Intelligence and their interaction with the US intelligence community.

In the summer of 2016, Robert Hannigan, then-head of Britain’s GCHQ, traveled to Washington to personally meet with Brennan.

15) Around the same time, Brennan formed an inter-agency task force comprising an estimated six agencies and/or government departments.

Brennan appeared to describe the task force formation during an Aug. 17, 2018, interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow:

16) By spring '16, the Clinton email investigation was winding down.

Downer’s conversation w/Papadopoulos was reportedly disclosed to FBI on 7-22-16.

Information relayed to FBI—that the Russians had damaging information on Clinton—appears nearly identical to 1st Steele Memo.

17) Which raises a good question, recently posed by @nick_weil :

“When the FBI got the tip from Alexander Downer that the Russians had Hillary’s 33k emails, the appropriate action would have been to re-open Mid Year Exam, no?”

https://twitter.com/nick_weil/status/1162455593119993856

18) Rather than deciding to re-examine the Mid Year Examination which looked into Clinton’s handling of her emails and use of a private server, the FBI instead used this information to establish an investigation into the Trump campaign.

19) After Steele’s company was hired by Fusion GPS in June 2016, he reached out to the FBI through Michael Gaeta.

Gaeta would later be identified as Steele’s FBI handler.

Gaeta traveled to London on July 5, 2016 and met with Steele who provided the first memos in his dossier.

20) At the exact time that Gaeta was meeting with Steele, on July 5, 2016, FBI Director Comey announced the closure of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail system during her time as Secretary of State.

21) With the July 5th closure of the Clinton Investigation, many of the same FBI agents who had worked on the case were moved over to the agency’s July 31, 2016 counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign.

22) Although all investigative focus fell on the Trump campaign, the fact that Downer said that the Russians had Hillary Clinton’s emails appears not to have provided an impetus for the FBI to reopen the Clinton email investigation.

23) @DevinNunes , who has seen the Electronic Communication that was used to officially open the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation has publicly stated that “We now know that there was no official intelligence that was used to start this investigation.”

24) Brennan has claimed that he did not see the dossier until “later in that year. I think it was in December [2016].”

But this claim was countered during the July 16, 2018 testimony of former FBI Lawyer Lisa Page, when the following discussion took place:

25) Following Brennan’s briefing, Reid sent a 8-27-16 letter to FBI Dir Comey demanding an investigation—and that the investigation be made public.

Some details contained w/in Reid’s letter relate to Carter Page and match details contained only in the Steele dossier at the time.

26) Reid claimed that Page had “met with high-ranking sanctioned individuals while in Moscow in July of 2016.”

However, the first public allegations about this were not made until Yahoo News reporter, Michael Isikoff, published his article on Sept. 23, 2016.

27) Brennan testified his Go8 briefings were done “in consultation with the White House,” and that he gave the “same briefing" to all.

However:

Nunes: “John Brennan briefed Harry Reid on the dossier in August 2016. At the same time he never briefed me or Paul Ryan.”

28) The intelligence community assessment (ICA)—was released on Jan. 6, 2017 & was used to continue pushing the Russia-collusion narrative.

Notably, Adm. Mike Rogers, then NSA Dir, publicly dissented from the findings of the ICA, assigning it only a moderate confidence level.

29) Brennan has denied using the dossier in the ICA, but Brennan attached a two-page summary of the dossier to the intelligence community assessment that he, along with Clapper and Comey, delivered to Obama on Jan. 6, 2017.

30) Comey then met w/Trump to inform him of the dossier just hours after Comey, Brennan, and Clapper formally briefed Obama on both the ICA and the Steele dossier.

Comey only informed Trump of the “salacious” details contained w/in the dossier per agreement w/Clapper & Brennan.

31) Shortly after Comey’s meeting with Trump, both the Trump–Comey meeting and the existence of the dossier were leaked to CNN by James Clapper.

The House Intelligence Committee report on Russian election interference confirmed that Clapper personally leaked the information.

32) CNN published “Intel Chiefs Presented Trump With Claims of Russian Efforts to Compromise Him”.

The allegations within the dossier were made public, and with reporting of briefings by intelligence community leaders, instant credibility was given to the dossier’s assertions.

33) Immediately following the CNN story, BuzzFeed published the Steele dossier, and the Trump–Russia conspiracy was pushed into the mainstream.

/End