From Yahoo
News this October 19, 2021 update on the Steele Dossier with this headline in a rather long post:
“Christopher Steele says there is a chance Russia fed him disinformation”
Christopher Steele admits “there is a chance” Russia fed him disinformation while he was compiling his discredited anti-Trump dossier in 2016. Steele was asked whether the Russians had played him or fed him disinformation in an ABC News documentary interview.
Steele said: “I think there is a chance. I think it’s very unlikely, and I’ll tell you why. Ultimately, any disinformation operation has an objective, and it would’ve been disinformation about Hillary Clinton. So, why then would they run a disinformation campaign that was derogatory about the person they preferred (Trump) to be elected?”
This is a key statement
from Steele that I address in my final remarks at the end of this post.
Further, Trump’s Ukraine Impeachment Witness, Fiona Hill, who was the Trump administration's former Russia expert at the NSC testified behind closed doors in October-November 2019 that Steele’s dossier: “Very likely contained Russian disinformation, and that Russia targeted both candidates in 2016.”
She Hill added: “They seed
misinformation, they seed doubt, they have everybody questioning the legitimacy
of a presidential candidate, be it a President Trump or potentially a President
Clinton. Steele is obviously out there soliciting information. What a great
opportunity to, basically, you know, present him with information that they’re looking
for that can be couched in some truth and some disinformation. Steele in 2016 was
clearly very interested in building up a client base which made him a target
for Russia. The dossier was a “rabbit hole” and that he could have been played
by the Russians, and it’s very likely that the Russians planted disinformation
in the dossier.”
The U.S. intelligence community concluded in 2017 that Russian military intelligence formerly the GRU now divided into the SVR & FSB since 1992 hacked thousands of DNC emails and provided them to WikiLeaks.
That claim was also bolstered by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
In his ABC interview, Steele stood by the dossier, including claims that have been refuted by the FBI.
Steele was asked if he thought it was a mistake to push allegations about the “pee tape;” former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen; or former Trump campaign associate Carter Page.
Steele said no, and added firmly: “None of those things, to my mind, have been disproven.”
The FBI received information that “indicated the potential for Russian disinformation influencing Steele's reporting.”
Declassified footnotes show that a report from a still-classified source in 2017, i.e., “That contained information about an individual with reported connections to Trump and Russia who claimed that the public reporting about the details of Trump’s [redacted] activities in Moscow during a trip in 2013 were false.”
That report also concluded the
allegations “…were the product of [Russian intelligence services] infiltrating
a source into the network of a [redacted]
who compiled a dossier of information on Trump’s activities.”
Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska
is known for his ties to President Vladimir Putin, as well as his prior
business relationships with Steele and former Trump campaign manager Paul
Manafort. A mansion in Washington, DC tied to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska
was also raided by the FBI on October 19, 2021.
The Senate Intelligence
Committee’s 1,000-page report last year also found that “the
Russian government coordinates with and directs Deripaska on many of his
influence operations.”
Steele and his company, Orbis Business Intelligence, worked for
Deripaska in 2016, helping recover millions of dollars the Russian oligarch
claimed that Paul Manafort had stolen from him.
Steele sought help in the anti-Trump research effort from Fusion GPS, and they hired Steele soon
after Trump got the GOP nomination.
The investigation found
“multiple links between Steele and Deripaska and indications that Deripaska had
early knowledge of Steele's work” and that Steele’s continued relationship with
Deripaska “provided a potential direct channel for Russian influence on the
dossier.”
Trump’s reaction to this is here
from the UK’s Daily Mail with this headline and snippets from Trump:
“It
was fabricated, made up” Trump slams Russia hoax after Durham indictment discredited
the Steele dossier ignoring Rupert Murdoch's advice to stop 'focusing on the
past”
· Trump spoke out after the latest arrest in John Durham's probe.
· Trump claimed the revelations proved his
innocence in the “Russia hoax.”
· “It was fabricated, made up in order to make me
look as bad as possible,” Trump said.
· FOX CEO Rupert Murdoch reportedly lamented
Trump's focus on the past telling him to move on.
My 2 Cents: First this
reminder of the many synonyms for the word disinformation:
Betrayal, deceit,
duplicity, falsehood, fraud, hypocrisy, lying, mendacity, treachery, trickery,
untruth, deception, dishonesty, distortion, evasion, fabrication, fiction,
forgery, inaccuracy, and misrepresentation.
Based on this statement by Steele posted above: I think there is a chance. I think it’s very unlikely, and I’ll tell you why I think Russia did plant disinformation.
As Steele said: “Ultimately, any disinformation operation has an objective, and it would’ve been disinformation about Hillary Clinton. Why would they run a disinformation campaign that was derogatory about the person they preferred to be elected?”
This is key because it possibly shows the Russians did not want either Trump or Clinton to win – just merely inflict as much doubt, anger, disgust, and damage to the credibility of our entire democratic election process.
Then, assume Russia did have compromising
info on Trump why not use it? I say, keep it reserve for when needed – their fallback
strategy to control him later if he were to win.
To me that is plausible
and very Putin-like. Keep in mind the true purpose of Russian disinformation as
I said before compared to misinformation:
Misinformation is stated or placed by a simple mistake not covertly
and not with any malice, intent, or definite purpose to cause conflict.
On the other hand:
Disinformation is purposely placed
with the full intent to cause harm, disruption, distrust, and chaos. In more modern
times it is used to covertly disrupt or topple established governments,
competing political systems around the globe for self-interests, and all for political,
military, financial, or more devious purposes, and to gain leverage.
The word “disinformation” is the English transliteration of the Russian word: дезинформация.
It is derived from the handbook used in the former “USSR Black Propaganda Department.”
That handbook documents
how Joseph Stalin coined the term, even giving it a French-sounding name and
falsely claiming it had Western origin, that
being a false statement itself.
Precise Russian use of the
word began in the now defunct USSR’s “Special
Disinformation Office” in 1923.
Another
example of its use was Operation
INFEKTION
(Operation: Infection) that was to spread harmful information that
said the U.S. had invented and spread AIDS.
I still contend
that Russian disinformation is at the heart of the Steele Dossier – all the lies
aside like now the latest from this story of Igor Danchenko reported on here
Law Fare (November 4, 2021) with this headline regarding his lies to
the FBI about the Steele Dossier and his planted false information:
“Igor Danchenko, Steele Dossier Source,
Indicted as Part of Durham Investigation”
His 39-page indictment is at the link. It shows, I believe that Russia did play a huge role in planting disinformation in 2016 – to either have their choice win, or if not, to totally discredit the election any way possible. This is very big news.
This story is NOT complete in my view – not by a long shot – wait and see.
Also, as I said I’m sorry this the post is so long – but it is sorely needed information that the public needs to keep abreast of. Now is the time that we need to keep a level head in these very troubling times to show, I believe what was done by careful Russian design and that which may be forthcoming in 2022, or surely in 2024.
We shall see.
As always, thanks for stopping by.
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