Reuters: Jeb Bush hired Christopher Steele to find dirt on Trump, according to the BBC. Steele wrote the Trump Dossier.
— John Stoehr (@johnastoehr) January 12, 2017
Not only weirder than we imagine, but weirder than we can imagine…
… Steele was initially hired by FusionGPS, a Washington-based political research firm, to investigate Trump on behalf of unidentified Republicans who wanted to stop Trump’s bid for the party’s nomination. The BBC said on Wednesday, “He (Steele) was compiling this report on behalf of initially Trump’s opponent Jeb Bush,” referring to one of Trump’s 16 opponents in the 2016 Republican primary.
The BBC subsequently said on Thursday that its correspondent misspoke…
And JEB! decided to drop the issue because… the confidence that it would leak without his interference? A familial unwillingness to draw attention to The Craft? The old-WASP distaste for open talk about ‘bedroom matters’?
… Steele was kept on assignment by FusionGPS after Trump won the nomination and his information was circulated to Democratic Party figures and members of the media…
Who no doubt assumed, correctly, that if any Democrat brought it up, the Very Serious Media Villagers would’ve been calling for the whole party to be banned from the ballot.
Steele’s dealings with the FBI on Trump, initially with the senior agent who had started the FIFA probe and then moved to a post in Europe, began in July. However, Steele cut off contact with the FBI about a month before the Nov. 8 election because he was frustrated by the bureau’s slow progress.
The FBI opened preliminary investigations into Trump and his entourage’s dealings with Russians that were based in part on Steele’s reports, according to people familiar with the inquiries.
However, they said the bureau shifted into low gear in the weeks before the election to avoid interfering in the vote…
Unless such interference could kneecap the Hell-Beast Hillary, of course.
Ah, well, hope springs eternal…
House Intel Committee voted to allow ALL House members access to classified hacking report, briefing by CIA, FBI, DNI, NSA chiefs on Friday
— Deirdre Walsh (@deirdrewalshcnn) January 11, 2017
This is big. Dramatically increases the number of people who can leak classified details from the report. https://t.co/SfZLJDD4nn
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) January 11, 2017
sukabi
Here’s to leaking like a sieve.
CaseyL
I honestly don’t think Congress will impeach Trump because they agree with everything he’s doing. The fact that he’s Putin fingerpuppet at best, and possibly an actual Russian asset, means absolutely nothing to them. The GOP has devoted itself to destroying America – why should they care if Putin helps them out?
danielx
@CaseyL:
I don’t think it’s even about destroying America, except insofar as you or I would see it, except as an incidental. The have the power now, they like wielding it, and this is the best chance they’ve had or ever will have to weld the levers of powers into their hands and destroy the legacies of the Great Society and the New Deal. Whether the policies and laws of those eras work or not at a cost the country can afford (it easily can) is immaterial. They are contradictory to the philosophy of the Republican Party, which at seventh and last is advancing the interests of its wealthiest backers. Anything which threatens to take a dime from their pockets is anathema to be fought to the last ditch.
CM
“However, they said the bureau shifted into low gear in the weeks before the election to avoid interfering in the vote…”
More and more, it is looking like the key figure in deciding the outcome of the election was FBI Director James Comey. Trying to think of what word or phrase to use here for what he both did and didn’t do: Dereliction of duty? Coup? Treason?
Much attention has been devoted to the Democratic Party, a lot of it in the form of circular-firing-squad-type analysis. Somehow more attention needs to be directed to the Republican Party — its leaders such as Jeb! and the other hapless clown candidates, its people in positions of actual authority such as Comey and McConnell, and its voters (who, after all, chose Hair Furor, AKA the Caudillo of Mar-a-Lago, AKA the pussy grabber).
Not sure any of this is of interest, other than as relevant to the autopsy of the carcass of the USA.
Aleta
Would this be happening without Buzzfeed’s decision? Seems like Congress (obviously) won’t act on principle, but only on their perception of voters’ perception of them if they don’t.
JordanRules
Fascinating. So much is changing so fast. I feel like there’s a top spinning faster and faster. It’s starting to get wobbly and really off balance as it darts around the table coming close to the edge repeatedly.
Didn’t expect this much detail, this soon, about how this has all gone down from an intelligence standpoint.
I hope our allies are using all their resources in the background to help stem this ugly tide. All hands on deck.
Joyce H
CaseyL and danielx, you guys need to calm down a little.
Agree with everything he’s doing? SERIOUSLY? He’s daily proving himself to be a ranting maniac and making it more difficult for anyone to take him seriously as a leader to follow. He’s making them look bad! And I think they’re starting to realize that he will make a promise and break it within a matter of minutes. He is absolutely untrustworthy. No, he’s not going to do everything they want him to do, and THEY are not going to do everything they want to do.
Geez, does anyone remember 2005? Bush was reelected with over 50% of the vote and had both the House and Senate and was certain that he had a Mandate and the Republicans could do anything they wanted. Remember that? They were going to privatize Social Security. What happened to that? They could absolutely have passed a partial privatization of Social Security – they had the House and the Senate and a President who would sign the legislation.
What happened was that the idea was monstrously unpopular. And the Democrats wouldn’t go along. The Republicans wouldn’t pass an unpopular plan that adversely impacted voters without any Democratic cover, and the notion just faded away.
Yes, we need to be worried, and yes, the Republican Congress can do a lot of damage. But I don’t think they’re going to do all the horrible things they’d like to do, so long as they can’t get Democrats to go along with them. Because the House has to face the voters every TWO YEARS! They get too far from the will of the public and even with the grossest gerrymandering, they’ll be ousted in a wave election – and then the Democrats can take back the House and Senate and impeach that toxic clown themselves.
What I’m more and more expecting is that Trump will either be impeached or removed via the 25th, and then Pence will try to quietly do a lot of the stuff the Republicans want to do. They’ll try to tiptoe through their agenda rather than the ranting bullroaring of a Trump, and that will require even more vigilance.
But geez, they’re not all powerful, and they know it, whether or not you do.
Origuy
Jenna and Barbara Bush wrote a letter to Malia and Sasha Obama.
Aleta
If this were a bad TV show, now that the kids believe they have control of the businesses they would begin leaking him into exile.
If a cartoon, Melania Natasha would be detected and flee.
SiubhanDuinne
@Origuy:
That was a nice thing to read. Thank you.
Mary G
@Joyce H: I agree that the doom and gloom while I share it, is counterproductive if it keeps us from resisting. Republicans had the last congress and couldn’t agree amongst themselves on practically anything. No budgets, nada, nothing, nil, zip. The only things that passed bcc were done with Democrat votes. Now that they are responsible for everything, it’s going to become pretty clear that they’re incompetent morons. Ramming through the ACA Bill in the wee hours, cutting off dissent with ceaseless gavel banging will make a great commercial for Democratic candidates, but it won’t get made if we withdraw and sit on our hands weeping . We have to fight even harder now. I believe this could be the last gasp of the Republican party. Their insanity will be out in the open.
Mai.naem.mobile
The Fucking FBI. Fucking Jim Comey knew this shit. He fucking knew this shit,probably more than the CIA and NSA did. Jim Comey thought it was okay to have a president with these issues? Even possibly have these issues? Talk about putting party before country. Barack Obama must feel like a moron for appointing the asshole. Comey should be hung by his balls.
p.a.
@Mai.naem.mobile: Maybe he’s compromised? Buy I come down on the side of treason.
Anne, do you ever sleep?
Aleta
ETA At President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, which saw record breaking attendance numbers, more than 3,000 charter buses registered for parking permits in the city that day.
CarolDuhart2
It may be Eddie Munster’s greatest wish, but repealing Social Security is massively unpopular with anyone over 40. And people over 40 vote regularly. I’m surprised that Congress wants to even go over the cliff with him at all. A sane Congress would table such a suggestion for good and just go and nibble at the edges of Obamacare.
Mark-NC
But, but, but – the emails. The emails said that the DNC favored Clinton over Sanders – THAT is the scandal. What’s all this crap about Jeb having info on Trump? Just a distraction (yes this is snark :)
jonas
@Joyce H:
They. Don’t. Care. As long as they get Roe v. Wade overturned and push through a bunch of tax cuts, Trump could grow a Hitler mustache and stomp puppies to death at each press conference and they’d come up with some excuse to stick with him.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Joyce H:
Isn’t that the big Republican complaint about why Obama is so terrible and mean; he refused do their bad policy so he would take the blame?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@jonas: .
Oh good lord, are you not paying attention? If they wanted Roe v Wade killed wouldn’t they have done it during the Bush admin??? Do you not understand the last thing in the world the Evangelicals want is Roe verse Wade overturned because that’s the thing that keeps grandma sending them their her social security check and voting R no mater how much she loathes the candidate, to save the little babies????
Up until Scolia’s death the Supreme Court had a conservative Catholic majority and they wouldn’t touch it, think about that.
JGabriel
Not really that surprising. We knew the Steele memos originated from an oppo research gig funded by one of Trump’s primary opponents, and that Steele was a former MI6 agent (even though we didn’t know his name until yesterday).
Of all the GOP Primary contestants – since Republicans eventually nominated a reality game show host, I’m going to treat the GOP Primary as the game show it was – the Bushes were the ones with the most, and longest-standing, connections to the US and international intelligence communities.
Miss Bianca
@Origuy: Wow, what a sweet and wonderful letter.
burnspbesq
Never forget that the median Republican voter is the guy who thought repealing Obamacare wouldn’t affect him because he got his health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
JGabriel
@CM:
Coup.
Reasoning:
Dereliction doesn’t quite fit; Comey didn’t walk away from his post, he abused it.
Treason is closer, since his actions clearly led to Putin’s preferred outcome, but there’s no evidence (yet) that Comey was influenced by Russia or any other hostile states in his actions – unless we consider the Republican Party to be a domestic enemy hostile to America’s values and interests (as I do).
That leaves Coup. The actions Comey took led to the undemocratic election of his party’s Presidential candidate to the highest office in the land. For the time being, *Coup* is probably the most accurate description of what Comey accomplished.
Of course, that’s not gonna stop me from calling it treason.
misterpuff
@JGabriel: Coup d’twat
Doug Gardner
@misterpuff: Call off the search – we have a winner! Well-played, Sir. Your internet will arrive in an email, oh, um, wait…is the internet tubes or trucks? This just in, we have Sen. Ted Stevens – (R – Hell) on the phone from the afterlife.
JGabriel
@misterpuff: Heh.
Or: Coup d’Twit. Or Coup d’Tweet.
Edited to Add:
Which, now that I look at it, seems like it has a certain Latinate structure to it:
Vidi, Vici, Vicum.
Coup d’Twat, Coup d’Twit, Coup d’Tweet.