So here's some important information relating to the investigation by ex-USSS Dan Bongino (paraphrasing):
The FBI is refusing to provide the unredacted document that started this whole investigation into the Trump team.
Kim Strassel (WSJ) states that they're risking a contempt citation by refusing to provide this information about why they started it.
The reason why - is because the information was provided by foreign intel. Which is more frightening than it seems.
Not sure if you're aware but there are a few friendly governments who spy on each other, since states are not allowed to spy on their own citizens so they get their allies to do it and share intelligence (Five Eyes). Now that may be some of the information contained in this genesis document, which is why the FBI is so reluctant to un-redact this document as to how they started this investigation into Trump.
This investigation started based on some reporting from liberal outlets (including CNN), based on foreign governments who were cooperating with the US, notably the UK. Their intelligence services spying on the Trump team because the NSA, CIA and FBI could not legally do it. Now it makes sense why they're slow-walking this.
The UK's involvement in this spying on Trump is
catastrophic, because it's going to be embarrassing, it's going to be humiliating, it's going to overturn a lot of members of free countries, democracies (US, UK, Australia), their perception on what the intelligence communities were designed to do, it's going to shake the faith in the intelligence community. And the bombshell is this -
they wanted to spy on the Trump team, and they used a foreign government to do it, and that foreign government played politics with the United States to get their preferred candidate in there.
Putting this out there opens you up to significant criticism and conspiracy theory nonsense, but that's OK because I can back up with reporting based on left-wing assets like CNN, who have already reported that the British intelligence entities were spying on Trump. None of that is new.
I had assumed that this was a small component of it. I always knew there was a political component to the Obama/Clinton/DNC machine spying on Trump (obviously, they didn't want Trump in). But maybe the scandal is the level of British involvement. Maybe this whole thing started with a cooperative kind of wink and a nod with the British that they were going to do it. The genesis of the investigation WAS Obama officials and Clinton officials in fact pushing the British to do this for them. That's a huge revelation. Previously we were unaware of the level of British involvement, but were they integral players?
Imagine a conspiracy to rob a bank, and it turns out the getaway driver may have actually been the the mastermind of the plan the entire time.
Huge scandal: collaborating with a foreign government to take down Donald Trump. I'm convinced that's why they're slow-walking this case. Hat tip to Kim Strassel at the WSJ for exposing that that is probably why they will not release this genesis document. Because in this document there is information given to us by the British that was probably integral - one of the main reasons they spied on the Trump team.
What Is the FBI Hiding? (The bureau still won?t comply with an eight-month-old subpoena from Congress) by Kimberley A. Strassel
https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-is-the-fbi-hiding-1522970740
Let's lay it out:
New texts emerged from our lovebirds, FBI's Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Strzok who is an upper level manager involved in the Hillary Clinton email case and in the early stages of this counterintelligence investigation on Trump. Strzok and Page were having an affair, they were texting each other, these things have been coming out in drips and drabs, which has been uncovered as the result of Michael Horowitz's internal affairs IG investigation into the FBI's behavior during these cases.
So one of the texts that came out last night is DAMNING. Apparently on August 2nd, 2016, Strzok travels somewhere to meet with someone (name was redacted). He travels to.... London. We don't know where (also redacted). But in the texts he says the place he met with him was "the longest continually-staffed establishment in London" referring to the embassy. Which is.... the Australia House. Remember months before this, Alexander Downer who met with Papadopolous in early May is the Australian ambassador to the United Kingdom. It's hard to confirm who Strzok met with but it appears to be Downer, that should come out in the coming days.
Was this a legitimate conspiracy the entire time between friendly countries to the United States - Australians, the United Kingdom to take down Donald Trump? This is really spooky stuff. Let's put together some more pieces:
Alexander Downer who met with Padadopolous in that London bar (where it was alleged Papa told him about dirt on the Russians that sparked the FBI's interest), is a member of the Haglett(sp?) group, which is already known to be a home for former British MI6 agents. Downer left before all this, but it was reported that he was at functions with them and he still maintained those professional contacts. Keep in mind, all these points are contacts with the British government and the Australians involving people involved in the Trump investigation. This is terrifying stuff. We obviously already know Christopher Steele who produced the dossier on Trump was a former MI6 agent. We know that Robert Hannigan who was the head of the GCHQ (British NSA) met with John Brennan of the CIA in a director/director meeting and had some serious information. Keep in mind -
it was already reported that the British were spying on Trump. Hannigan suspiciously steps down right after the election when they find out Trump wins. The head of the British NSA? We now know that Christopher Steele in his effort to get the dossier into the American justice system, and to try to use some Republicans to do it, who does he use to get the information to Senator John McCain? A former British ambassador to Moscow, Sir Andrew Wood. We know that Rob Goldstone, the publicist who contacts Don Trump Jr and says he has some information about Hillary and emails from a Russian, is a British publicist. We know that Joseph Mifsud, the guy who tells Papadopolous that the Russians have dirt on Hillary, and Papadopolous tells Downer who tells American intelligence and starts this investigation (allegedly). We know that Mifsud has known to have rubbed elbows with prominent UK intelligence officials. Was Papadopolous baited or planted?
This is a big deal. Some think that the scandal here is Trump being spied on, however the real scandal the entire time may be foreign intelligence working with the United States government to take down a political figure. Those may seem like the same story but they're not. It's the same person involved, but the level of scandal, now it makes sense. Spying on Trump would have been a big deal, especially without the requisite probable cause and without a predicate crime.
But the fact the Unites States government may have intentionally, cooperated, without any evidence, with a foreign government, to spy on a major American political figure in the heart of an election - can you imagine a bigger scandal? This is really troubling stuff.
Was this a setup the entire time? I think the answer is obvious. But the real scandal now, is not what did Obama know and when did he know it (I think it's clear as day Obama knew Trump was being spied on), the question now is what did the British know, and when did they know it, and
WHO? This is going to be the question right now in this foundational document, this EC, genesis document about how this whole thing started.
To summarize: who called the FBI?
If the cops show up to your house and they say "hey we're getting reports that you were involved in a kidnapping" and you're like "WTF you talking about I've been chilling here", wouldn't you want to know - well, who said that??
The question now, and why they're hiding this EC document (and I believe Strassel's onto something). I believe it's going to be foreign governments and foreign intel people who were prodded, by the Clinton campaign and the Obama team, to basically launder and clean their involvement in the genesis of this investigation from the start, and I think they did it through the UK intelligence services and the Australians.
This is deeply disturbing stuff.