Ex-spy Admits Anti-Trump Dossier Unverified

[kybkh]

Seems like a big news story that I have heard nothing about in the MSM all morning. Is this what they call burying the lead?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... unverifie/

Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the infamous anti-Donald Trump dossier, acknowledges that a sensational charge his sources made about a tech company CEO and Democratic Party hacking is unverified.

In a court filing, Mr. Steele also says his accusations against the president and his aides about a supposed Russian hacking conspiracy were never supposed to be made public, much less posted in full on a website for the world to see on Jan. 10.

[kybkh]

Are you fucking kidding me?

The Dossier used by the FBI to "tap" Trump Tower is proven to be false and nobody considers this discussion worthy?? What am I missing?

[adwinistrator]

Are you fucking kidding me?

The Dossier used by the FBI to "tap" Trump Tower is proven to be false and nobody considers this discussion worthy?? What am I missing?

That's your takeaway from this article? The dossier, in it's entirety, has now been proven false?

Have you read the dossier? All 35 pages? It raw intel reporting.

From day 1, it was unsubstantiated and unverified. Some parts have been substantiated with further investigation, but most of it has not. We don't have Steele's sources.

The article you've linked has one new conclusion in it's reporting:

Barristers for Mr. Steele and his Orbis Business Intelligence firm filed their first defense against a defamation lawsuit brought by Aleksej Gubarev, chief executive of the network solutions firm XBT Holdings.

Mr. Steele acknowledges that the part of the 35-page dossier that identified Mr. Gubarev as a rogue hacker came from “unsolicited intelligence” and “raw intelligence” that “needed to be analyzed and further investigated/verified.”

Here's the single paragraph on page 35 that refers to Aleksei Gubarov.



So in Steele's own words in his dossier "[redacted] reported that over the period...". Now he states in court that what he reported was raw intel that "needed to be analyzed and further investigated/verified".

Seeing as he characterized this section as what someone else reported, and was not his own statement of analysis, I'd say that holds water.

[kybkh]

OK, so "raw intel", otherwise known as hearsay, is all that's needed to tap political opponents communications?

[adwinistrator]

OK, so "raw intel", otherwise known as hearsay, is all that's needed to tap political opponents communications?

I would guess the answer is no.

Whatever the FBI and CIA had collected before or after receiving this dossier, they were able to substantiate enough of if, in their eyes, to conclude that they should continue the investigation and seek FISC warrants.

From my understanding, their first attempt at FISC warrants was denied, they narrowed the scope, then were approved.

Some people think the first attempt included people still working for the Trump campaign, or Donald Trump himself, whereas the second attempt was only people who were no longer officially on the campaign. That's all guesswork and rumor, but would make sense according to the rest of the reporting on the investigation.

[de officiis]

Yes, the FISC...that bastion of due process/fourth amendment protection

[TheReal_ND]

lol

Also, the only weird thing about the original FISA warrant that was denied is it's one of only a handful out of hundreds or thousand iirc. Probably because taping a presidential candidate was deemed too insane for even FISA. Maybe they cooked the intel up for the second go. That's my guess.

[pineapplemike]

Director Comey gave testimony before an oversight committee today about a variety of topics including the dossier, I was listening here and there most of the morning, this was a highlight, Sen. Chuck Grassley really digs into him as the video goes on

[heydaralon]

The War Nerd has been covering this Russia stuff for quite awhile. He is has written some thoughtful stuff about it. Also Andrew Cockburn has a great article on this whole thing.

[Ph64]

I'm sure the majority of people who eat up the MSM brainwashing/propaganda completely believe in Putin/Russia's ties to Al-qaeda and Syria's nuclear bombs. We must stop Assad's nuclear program!

Oh, wait... We haven't heard those... YET.