Update on Trump-Russian Steele Dossier: Senate Testimony Report Now Public

Trump still claims this is “Fake News” a “Hoax” a “Witch Hunt”

(Does this sound like a worried man or not)

The public can decide for themselves since 
we the people do have a compelling need to know

(Dossier testimony is linked below)

Update from the POTUS bedroom (as expected) with highlights from Roll Call here:

President Donald J. Trump slammed Senate Judiciary ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for releasing the transcript of Fusion GPS leaders’ testimony to the panel (links below in original post) calling her “sneaky” and suggesting — without evidence — she might have broken the law.

Feinstein said she made the transcript public because she felt the American people had the right to know what the firm’s leaders said about a dossier of Russia-related information about Trump. 

But she did so over the objections of panel Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA), angering other Republicans and the White House.

Trump’s tweet: “The fact that Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, who has on numerous occasions stated that collusion between Trump/Russia has not been found, would release testimony in such an underhanded and possibly illegal way, totally without authorization, is a disgrace.” 

He then added about her seeking another term of office: “Must have tough Primary!”

Significant facts about the expected Trump tweet storms: They mostly come during his reportedly “extended Executive time” – that is additional time he takes in the mornings and evenings when he tweets, makes calls, and watches cable news (mostly 99% on FOX).” Why is that do you suppose? Seems he is not slated to start his official day until his 11 a.m. intelligence briefing, according to the White House.

I note: Our productive president, um? Yeah, sure – carry on Crude Donald. 

Oh, BTW: Trump gives everyone a derogatory insulting nicknames, so Crude Donald is my moniker for him. 

He is not only crude but nasty and ugly, and gross, and well just an awful human being.

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ORIGINAL POST STARTS FROM HERE:

The Trump-Russian Dossier Released and Critical Key Parts from My Reading at Various Links (all of us are still studying the testimony):

Christopher Steele told the political research firm that hired him, Fusion GPS, that what he uncovered from Russian sources was serious enough to bring to the attention of U.S. law enforcement authorities (according to a transcript released today by Sen. Feinstein). The transcript is from the 9-hour, 312-page interview/testimony that Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Seven Initial Key Discoveries:

1. Steele went to the FBI with the initial reports that would later form the dossier on alleged Trump-Russia ties as early as June or July 2016, Simpson testified a Simpson said: “Chris said he was very concerned about whether this represented a national security threat and said ... he thought we were obligated to tell someone in government. He thought from his perspective there was a security issue about whether a presidential candidate was being blackmailed by the Russians.”

2. Simpson went on to say that he neither encouraged nor discouraged Steele about going to the FBI, adding; “This was like, you know, you're driving to work and you see something happen and you call 911” implying that Steele likened the sense of responsibility like an attorney has in some cases to report a crime if they learn of one.

3. Steele eventually met with an FBI legal attaché in Rome in September 2016, more than two months after the initial outreach. Steele later told Simpson that he believed the FBI would consider his information credible because the bureau had corroborating intelligence, including from a human source within the Trump organization.

4. Simpson did not identify the source in his Judiciary Committee testimony.

5. However, in the late stages of the 2016 presidential campaign, Steele broke off contact with the FBI with Simpson saying he did so believing the FBI was taking him seriously enough.

6. One reason for that was a story in The New York Times on October 31, 2016, that said the FBI hadn't found any connections between Trump world and the Russian attack on the election. Simpson said: “Chris severed his relationship with the FBI out of concern that he didn't know what was happening inside the FBI and there was a concern that the FBI was being manipulated for political ends by the Trump people.”

7. Fusion GPS was first hired in 2015 by a conservative donor (BuzzFeed) to investigate Trump's background in the early stages of the Republican presidential nominating process. Later, as Trump's pathway to the Republican nomination became more assured, the firm was hired by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC to continue that research then since Trump was the GOP nominee (and Oppo is not uncommon from all sides in a hot race). Then as part of continuing that opposition research (Oppo) Fusion GPS hired Steele (the former MI-6 Russia desk).

GOP then steps full bore, which is SOP for them, whenever they hate a story, dislike a report, or any credible person, or whenever they don't believe or trust the facts when they conflict with their views and opinions.

Current example: Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have issued a criminal referral last week for the dossier principal author, Christopher Steele. The say that they had reason to believe Mr. Steele had lied to federal authorities about his contacts with the media and urged the Justice Department to investigate.

I Ask: What proof or evidence does Grassley-Graham have to prove their belief or reason(s) not to trust Steele and the Dossier contents?

Committee DEMS call the Grassley-Graham criminal referral request a partisan distraction, and I add: It’s a cheap political stunt.

Then again, that’s the way the GOP operates – duck, dodge, deny, distract and if that fails try some BS effort like this. 

The GOP have mastered that skill and are good at it. Their base's attitude mirrors that same BS – and that is to only trust the GOP story line and not anyone or anything else. Just ignore the facts and rely on FOX type of propaganda.  

So, for the avid reader here is the entire Senate Simpson Fusion GPS testimony report (312 pages given on August 22, 2017) in .pdf format.  Call it some light reading. 

Thanks for stopping by.