Thread by @ClimateAudit

a few days ago, a compilation of Fusion emails with US reporters, attached as an appendix to a Durham motion, was accidentally placed unsealed in court records. It was quickly saved e.g. here
scribd.com/document/57173…
In this thread, I'll try to summarize what is NEW vs "old".

We've already seen many Fusion emails with reporters. In the appendix to Seago deposition (filed Oct 28, 2021 in DC case 2021 CA 000683 2), we already saw Oct 2016 correspondence betw Fusion and Foer, Hamburger, Hosenball, Isikoff, Lichtblau, Mosk and mention of corr with Winer.

The Durham appendix includes correspondence with eight reporters: Foer, Hamburger, Hosenball, Isikoff, Lichtblau, Mosk plus Jay Solomon and Steven Mufson (the latter two don't seem to have published).

All of the referenced correspondence thus far pertains to the Alfa Bank hoax. We can be sure that there are many emails from Fusion to these and other reporters about Steele dossier, Manafort black ledger etc., but they aren't included in these documents.

in the Seago deposition, all of the referenced emails are from October 2016, whereas the Durham exhibits include emails as early as May 2016 and as late as November 2016.

while Fusion coordination with these reporters is not "new", there are some important NEW details in the emails in the Durham appendix.

first, there is an interesting exchange in May and June 2016 with Franklin Foer, who, as already known, had colluded with Fusion in October 2016 in publication of the seminal article on the Alfa Bank hoax

on May 16, Foer corresponded with Fritsch and Jake Berkowitz about Carter Page (then known as Trump associate thru Trump's Foreign Policy advisers) and Richard Burt, who (Foer said) was on Alfa Bank board) - Alfa already having a bullseye painted on them.

a couple of days later (May 18), Foer reported to Fritsch and Berkowitz on profiles of Merrill Lynch board members in 2003 when Page involved with Merrill.

more tomorrow

by May 2016, Fusion was already being paid by the DNC.

on June 24, 2016, Fusion received Steele Report 80, Danchenko's first report for DNC and Fusion. Paragraph 3 of Report 80 contained the notorious pee tape allegation, attributed to Source D, who, in para 2, was said to have "organized and managed his recent trips to Moscow".

Paragraph 4 of Report 80 stated that Sources E and F, staff at Ritz Carlton Hotel, supposedly "confirmed" the paragraph 3 allegations. We now KNOW that it was Charles Dolan who met hotel staff in connection with planning of Oct 2016 YPO convention and had innocent tour.

we also know that, parallel to his gig with Orbis/Steele, Danchenko was acting as a translator/facilitator for Dolan and YPO convention. In Paragraph 4, Danchenko clearly cannibalized some places and dates from Dolan to construct intel porn - according to his typical MO.

although Steele later told FBI that Source D of paragraph 3 was "Millian", the description of "Source D" purports to point to someone in the Agalarov camp, which was involved in the 2013 Miss Universe event, not to Millian who was nowhere near the event.

one would think that even the FBI, supposedly world's premier law enforcement agency, would have asked Steele how "Millian", who was not at 2013 event, could have inside knowledge. Or how Danchenko got info from Millian in June when Millian wasn't on his radar until July. But no.

then, in Jan 2017, when Danchenko told FBI that "source" of paragraph 3 rumors was actually Ivan Vorontsov, not Source D, one would have thought that FBI would try to get explanation of who (and why) Vorontsov was falsely replaced by Source D. But no.

and when FBI learned that supposed source of paragraph 3 rumors was Vorontsov - who FBI had actually interviewed in June 2016 about DANCHENKO at almost exactly the same time as Danchenko's trip to Moscow, one would think that FBI would have five-bell misgivings on story. But no.

this is context to a Jun 27 email from Fritsch to Fusion stenographer Foer, saying that Millian was "key" and that he was "clearly kgb" based nothing more than Millian's attendance at a language program at large Belarus university. Fusion thus began painting a bullseye on Millian

next day (Jun 28), Foer sent Fusion a draft of an article implementing Fusion/Dem strategy purporting to portray Trump as Putin's bitch -
a libel that seems to have originated with Chalupa and pro-Ukraine zealots as early as April. slate.com/articles/news_…

it's interesting to revisit Foer's commissioned hit piece. It even cited a speech to Brookings Institute by Joe Biden about Ukraine in May 2015, 15 months after US coup, while Biden family (Hunter) was already being paid off by a Ukraine oligarch.

brookings.edu/wp-content/upl…

Foer's article dutifully dirtied up key characters in Fusion's demonology - keep in mind that this is before Steele dossier and before Wikileaks drop (July 22). He began with dirtying up Manafort as "Kremlin" puppet.

Foer's characterization of Ukraine events left out the most important parts of the story. Ukrainian politics in 2010 and 2014 elections were deeply divided along regional and language lines: Yanukovych was from Russian-speaking Donetsk, a location too familiar to us now

Yanukovych had been elected president on a platform which included promises to protect language rights of minority regions (mostly Russian-speaking) - a policy vehemently opposed by Ukro-nationalists centered in western Ukraine (especially Lviv, a hotbed of Ukro-nazis).

in Feb 2014, while Russia was preoccupied with hosting Sochi Olympics, US backed violent riots in Ukraine, the vanguard of which was C14, Pravy Sektor and other Ukro-nazis, that forced Yanukovych to flee Ukraine. US, with Biden as viceroy and Nuland on point, installed new regime

in the next two months, Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk voted to separate from Ukraine, now dominated by the Ukro-"nati"onalists installed by US.

the Kyiv regime (which, without Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk was dominated by Ukro-nationalists) then launched military action against Donetsk and Lugansk, taking about half of their territory, including Mariupol which was occupied on behalf of Kyiv regime by notorious Azov Battalion

needless to say, Yanukovych, the democratically elected president who had been deposed by US-backed coup, was from Donetsk, one of the regions that separated.

obviously, the effects of the rash actions by Obama-Biden administration under cover of the Sochi Olympics, linger to this day.

next, Foer took a shot at Carter Page, a military veteran who long advocated normalization of relations with Russia. This was just before Page's July 7-8 speech at New Economic School in Moscow and before Danchenko smeared Page in Steele dossier. Page was already a Fusion target

Foer then took at aim at Flynn and Richard Burt - recall that Burt had been discussed in May 2016 correspondence between Fusion and Foer, where Burt's association with Alfa Bank had been discussed.

later. Foer linked to a hit piece on Trump by David Cay Johnston, a reporter who walkafyre has identied as a Fusion associate. Walkafyre speculated that Johnston was recipient of three 2016 payments redacted in Fusion ledger.

https://twitter.com/walkafyre/status/1189303975759224833

re-reading Foer's article (coordinated with Fusion), it is remarkable to observe the almost frenetic concern of Dems that "Russians" might be in possession of Clinton documents and use them in campaign. Guccifer 2 and Assange were both on their radar.

Foer also linked to Clinton-related documents published by Guccifer 2, who, consistent with Dem and Clinton campaign tactics, Foer attributed to "Russian intelligence"

Foer, as part of Fusion's effort to get ahead of any hack of Hillary's 33,000 "missing" emails, asserted that Russians were particularly active in publicizing hacked documents. (This was NOT Elias' initial reaction in May 2016).

Foer's single example was the remarkable phone call between Victoria Nuland and Ambassador Pyatt in Feb 2014, on eve of US coup removing Yanukovych, in which Nuland and Pyatt decide who will be in puppet govt installed after coup.

Nuland's choices included notorious neo-Nazi Tyahnibok, shown below being warmly greeted by US viceroy in Ukraine, Joe Biden.

next tranche of Fusion emails was in late July, in e wake of drop of DNC emails on Jul 22 (Fri). After frenetic discussions, on Jul 24 AM, Mook, building on Russophobia already promoted by Fusion, claimed that DNC hack was carried out by Russian state in order to help Trump

prior to Mook's declaration of official Dem rationalization of DNC emails, major US media had been reluctant to touch the hack (by 2020, techniques for suppressing information negative to Dems were far more advanced and thorough)

over the next few days, Fusion coached the usual suspects (reporters) as they shaped the narrative on DNC emails. Simpson painted a target on Millian for Tom Hamburger of WaPo, author of multiple stories in this window.

on Jul 25, Mark Hosenball of Reuters, a Fusion associate, sought further information on Millian (prob responding to Jan 24 Fusion missive). Hosenball also sought info on Carter Page, who was subject of just published Steele memorandum that fabricated Sechin and Diveykin meetings

next, Durham includes Jul 26 correspondence between Fusion and Jay Solomon of WSJ, in which Fritsch pushed the fraudulent Steele dossier stories about Carter Page. See Report 94 (Jul 19).

Jay Solomon (or a WSJ associate) sought a comment on allegations from Carter Page. This appears to be Page's first awareness of the Steele dossier fabrication against him - a topic that obviously became larger over next 2 years.

Jul 26 was important day in Millian narrative.
Danchenko, who approached Millian by email a week earlier, traveled to New York, planning to instigate a meeting with Millian, but Millian was still in Asia. Frustrated, Danchenko called RIA reporter Zlodorev, who told him bad news

Fusion had also been using Matthew Mosk of ABC, one of its most consistent associates, to work Millian. Mosk had contacted Millian by email and was arranging an interview in a few days (after Millian returned to US on Jul 27).

meanwhile, Danchenko submitted Report 95, containing primary description of supposed collusion betw Trump and Russian intel, including a devil's bargain in which Russia hacked in exchange for Ukraine sanction relief. It was relied on in ICA and Page FISA.

Danchenko attributed the "information" in Report 95 to Source E, who was identifiable and identified as "Millian". Who Danchenko had never met or even talked to. In retrospect, it seems that Danchenko falsely claimed to his fellow conspirators that he had met Millian.

this was inconsistent with Danchenko's usual methodology of attributing fabricated stories to people that he had actually me with. (E.g. Danchenko did meet with Vorontsov and Abyshev on June 15)

on July 29, Tom Hamburger of WaPO pushed back on Glenn Simpson, saying that they checked with their Moscow sources, who said "that Page met with Sechin or Ivanov. "It's bullshit. Impossible."

Yet neither CIA nor FBI seem to have done any similar reality check on dossier's wild stories about Page. In 2000, Brennan said "since [dossier] wasn't CIA or FBI document, there was no way to dig down and to learn about the accuracy and validity and reliability of those sources"

Nor, to my knowledge, did either Hamburger or Washington Post ever report or otherwise disclose that their sources in Moscow had rejected Steele dossier stories about Carter Page as "bullshit" and "impossible", instead standing by as lies and propaganda propagated in darkness.

there remarks by Brennan are from 2020. Apologies for typo saying "2000" which is obviously wrong.