S*******i
发帖数: 2018 | 1 It turns out that Russia has sown distrust in the U.S. political system—
aided and abetted by the Democratic Party, and perhaps the FBI. This is an
about-face from the dominant media narrative of the last year, and it
requires a full investigation.
The Washington Post revealed Tuesday that the Hillary Clinton campaign and
Democratic National Committee jointly paid for that infamous “dossier”
full of Russian disinformation against Donald Trump. They filtered the
payments through a U.S. law firm (Perkins Coie), which hired the opposition-
research hit men at Fusion GPS. Fusion in turn tapped a former British spook
, Christopher Steele, to compile the allegations, which are based largely on
anonymous, Kremlin-connected sources.
Strip out the middlemen, and it appears that Democrats paid for Russians to
compile wild allegations about a U.S. presidential candidate. Did someone
say “collusion”?
This news is all the more explosive because the DNC and Clinton campaign hid
their role, even amid the media furor after BuzzFeed published the Steele
dossier in January. Reporters are now saying that Clinton campaign officials
lied to them about their role in the dossier. Current DNC Chair Tom Perez
and former Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz deny knowing about the dossier
arrangement, but someone must have known.
Perhaps this explains why Congressional Democrats have been keen to protect
Fusion from answering dossier questions—disrupting hearings, protesting
subpoenas and deriding Republican investigators. Two of Fusion’s cofounders
invoked their Fifth Amendment rights last week rather than answer House
Intelligence Committee questions, and Fusion filed a federal lawsuit on
Friday to block committee subpoenas of its bank records.
The more troubling question is whether the FBI played a role, even if
inadvertently, in assisting a Russian disinformation campaign. We know the
agency possessed the dossier in 2016, and according to media reports it
debated paying Mr. Steele to continue his work in the runup to the election.
This occurred while former FBI Director James Comey was ramping up his
probe into supposed ties between the Trump campaign and Russians.
Two pertinent questions: Did the dossier trigger the FBI probe of the Trump
campaign, and did Mr. Comey or his agents use it as evidence to seek
wiretapping approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of
Trump campaign aides?
Congressional investigators need to focus on the FBI’s role, and House
Speaker Paul Ryan was correct Wednesday to insist that the bureau comply
with Congress’s document demands “immediately.” Mr. Sessions has recused
himself from the Justice Department’s Russia probe, but he and Deputy AG
Rod Rosenstein can still insist on transparency. Mr. Ryan should also
reinstall Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes as lead on the Russia investigation
, since it appears the Democratic accusations against him were aimed in part
at throwing him off the Fusion trail.
All of this also raises questions about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s
investigation. The Fusion news means the FBI’s role in Russia’s election
interference must now be investigated—even as the FBI and Justice insist
that Mr. Mueller’s probe prevents them from cooperating with Congressional
investigators.
Mr. Mueller is a former FBI director, and for years he worked closely with
Mr. Comey. It is no slur against Mr. Mueller’s integrity to say that he
lacks the critical distance to conduct a credible probe of the bureau he ran
for a dozen years. He could best serve the country by resigning to prevent
further political turmoil over that conflict of interest.
The American public deserves a full accounting of the scope and nature of
Russian meddling in American democracy, and that means following the trail
of the Steele dossier as much as it does the meetings of Trump campaign
officials. | c*******e
发帖数: 5818 | 2 这反作用力 有点来的太快，太猛！
：It turns out that Russia has sown distrust in the U.S. political system—
：aided and abetted by the Democratic Party, and perhaps the FBI. This is an | m****n
发帖数: 2415 | | S*******i
发帖数: 2018 | |
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