In 2013, three Russian spies tried to recruit Carter Page as a Kremlin asset. The FBI charged all three, deporting two with diplomatic immunity and imprisoning the third. Page was told what happened, and yet he kept trying to get in touch with the Kremlin. nytimes.com/2017/04/04/us/…
2/ So when the FBI learned Papadopoulos was secretly in touch with Kremlin agents, and was on the same national security team as Page—*Trump's* national security team—and Page made a suspicious trip to Russia during which he met Kremlin officials, what the hell would *you* think?
3/ Remember, this is in the context of the FBI knowing that Papadopoulos *was trying to get a Trump aide—himself or another—to meet with Kremlin officials*. This is in the context of the CIA telling everyone in DC Trump aides were illicitly meeting with Russian nationals abroad.
4/ The CIA knew this from allied intel agencies, just as it knew about Papadopoulos from the Australias. And of course both the FBI and CIA knew by August '16 that the Russians were attacking America's infrastructure.
Note that *none of these facts are from the Steele Dossier*.
Note that *none of these facts are from the Steele Dossier*.
5/ So the idea the FBI needed the Dossier to get a warrant on Page in *October* '16—with only a probable cause showing needed and with the FBI having much more non-Dossier intel than I've mentioned—is absurd. The GOP can't accept how suspicious Page looked—well, too bad for them.
6/ Here's the truth: it was *insane* for Trump to hire Page. It was *insane* for no one to have vetted him either before or after he was hired. It was *insane* for Sessions to let him go to Moscow. It was *insane* for him to lie to everyone about his trip. And the FBI *noticed*.
7/ The FBI *noticed* because all these things were happening while America was under Russian cyber-attack, and just because the GOP *didn't care* doesn't mean that the FBI didn't. And yes, they noticed when Trump invited Russia to commit crimes against Americas. They *noticed*.
8/ The FBI *noticed* that Trump had no business hiring Papadopoulos, and that the only explanation for either Page *or* Papadopoulos being chosen by Trump was that they were known to have potential or actual Kremlin contacts. The FBI *noticed* this without *any* help from Steele.
9/ What the GOP did today was project *its own blindness* on Trump and his "national security team" onto the FBI, which—*because it's not a partisan outfit*—wasn't blinded in that way themselves. But instead of lauding the FBI for *not* being blind, the GOP attacked them for it.
10/ I don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, or independent—if you believe the FBI *desperately needed the Steele Dossier* to meet the justice system's lowest standard of proof (probable cause) to get a surveillance warrant on Carter Page, *start watching the news, genius*.
NOTE/ Apparently my "n" key decided to work only intermittently during this brief thread. Of course there aren't two "Australias"—that word was "Australians." Just so, while there's a North and South America, the word I was trying to type there was not "Americas" but "Americans."
