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Jan 20 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
New: Russiagate cheerleaders now claim that the discredited Steele dossier was "tangential" to FBI's Trump-Russia probe.

But the available evidence calls into question the FBI's narrative on how the probe began -- as John Durham has already previewed. realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2022/…
FBI & State officials received Steele's allegations – some meeting with the Clinton contractor himself – and discussed sending them up the FBI chain weeks before July 31, 2016, the date the FBI claims it opened the Russia-Trump conspiracy investigation.
The FBI claims that the Crossfire Hurricane team did not receive the Steele allegations until Sept. 19. If that's true, then those leading the Russiagate probe were among the few high-ranking officials in Washington intelligence circles unaware of the dossier.
The FBI's narrative on how the probe really began requires us to believe an implausible scenario: they launched the most consequential conterintelligence probe in US history based on a "suggested... suggestion" containing zero specifics related to Russia's alleged DNC hack.
Upon officially opening Crossfire Hurricane on July 31, FBI officials immediately took investigative steps that mirrored the claims in the Steele dossier even though they were supposedly unaware of it.
In August, the FBI team opened probes of Trump campaign figures Carter Page, Michael Flynn, and Paul Manafort – all of whom are mentioned in the dossier – based on predicates that are just as flimsy as the original predicate: who "may have" received a Russian "suggestion."
If the FBI is telling the truth that Steele played no role in sparking the Trump-Russia probe, it would be a rare occasion: they've been caught lying about Steele multiple times, including to the FISA court.
I'll be hosting a @getcallin episode about this article and other news of the week, including the Ukraine crisis; the collapse of the Havana Syndrome story; and developments in Syria on Friday, January 21 at 6pm ET / 3 PM PT. Tune in and join here: callin.com/room/7-this-we…

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Aaron Maté Profile picture
Dec 12, 2021
New ⁦reporting on US bombings of Syrian civilians & how they were concealed. Story claims CIA officials objected, which may be true, but is hard to square with massive toll of their dirty war in Syria. NYT reporting on that will likely take decades. nytimes.com/2021/12/12/us/…
Look how easy it is for the US to massacre civilians. How many more don't we know about?

"...the [US] task force claimed the ferries were carrying enemy fighters, and he watched on [HD] video as it hit multiple boats, killing at least 30 civilians, whose bodies drifted away."
US culpability for killing civilians in its anti-ISIS campaign is far worse than NYT exposes. ISIS grew out of US invasion of Iraq; US then sat back as ISIS spread through Syria -- as leverage for the US goal of regime change, as Kerry privately admitted:
Read 6 tweets
Aaron Maté Profile picture
Dec 9, 2021
Today in Mexico City I was honored to receive an international journalism award from the Club de Periodistas de Mexico City, for my coverage of Russiagate in The Nation. Grateful to receive this in the company of so many brave journalists.
Thanks to @KatrinaNation for making it possible.

I want to dedicate this award to the memories of scholar Stephen F. Cohen and journalist Robert Parry of @Consortiumnews, two brave people who challenged Russiagate and the new Cold War, and inspired me greatly.
Shoutout to my @TheGrayzoneNews colleagues @MaxBlumenthal @anyaparampil @BenjaminNorton for their support & their inspirational work exposing actual foreign interference, US coups/dirty wars/sanctions worldwide especially here in Latin America.
Read 9 tweets
Aaron Maté Profile picture
Dec 7, 2021
If there is no evidence of a chemical attack in Douma, as OPCW scientists found before being censored, how did the victims die?

We don't know. But from new leaks, we do know that OPCW shunned forensic pathology, which could have helped solve the murders.
thegrayzone.com/2021/12/06/cor…
There isn't only no evidence of a chemical attack; there's also ample evidence of a cover-up of the OPCW team that determined that. Plus ample open-source evidence of staging in Douma.

Those who whitewash the OPCW cover-up are ultimately whitewashing a massacre.
Even if you choose to ignore the leaks showing no evidence of a chemical attack & an extensive cover-up, no one disputes that the Douma hospital scene was staged.
Read 4 tweets
Aaron Maté Profile picture
Dec 6, 2021
New: In a Syria chemical weapons probe, the OPCW shunned the investigative area of forensic pathology and censored a call to pursue it, leaks obtained by @TheGrayzoneNews reveal.

This denied the OPCW key expertise to help solve the Douma massacre.
thegrayzone.com/2021/12/06/cor…
This is the second installment in a new series on the corruption of science in the OPCW's Douma probe. Part 1 is here: thegrayzone.com/2021/11/22/cor…
Forensic pathology — the study of the cause and manner of death — could have helped solve how dozens of civilians in Douma lost their lives. Instead, senior OPCW officials thwarted it and suppressed an internal recommendation that it be pursued.
Read 5 tweets
Aaron Maté Profile picture
Dec 3, 2021
I PayPal’ed a friend but committed the grave sin of typing the name of a Baddie Country™️. So now it’s under review until I explain why I typed such a heinous word as “Syria.”
I am lucky. I’ll be able to complete my transaction once I explain to PayPal’s watchdogs. Syrians actually living under barbaric US sanctions who want to buy medicine, or take international exams, or basically do any kind of transaction have no such recourse.
Read 5 tweets
Aaron Maté Profile picture
Nov 30, 2021
OPCW chief Arias has made false statements about the inspectors who challenged his org's Syria cover-up. He's also given fake excuses to avoid addressing the scientific fraud involved.
(thegrayzone.com/2021/07/02/pre…)
(thegrayzone.com/2021/07/11/why…)

Now he's rewarded for a job well done:
Contrast the new term for Arias to how the OPCW treated the last Director General who actually challenged a US-led deception: when Jose Bustani stood up to the Bush admin on Iraq, they threatened him, bugged his office, & engineered his ouster:
That's from this interview: thegrayzone.com/2020/10/18/ex-…

Nearly 20 years after his ouster, Bustani tried to speak at the UN in defense of the OPCW whistleblowers. The US and allies responded by blocking his testimony: thegrayzone.com/2020/10/05/ex-…
Read 4 tweets

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