April 10, 2016 Obama
defends Clinton in an interview on “Fox News Sunday” but “guarantees”
that he will not interfere with the ongoing investigation into her
private email server.
Sept 13, 2016 It is revealed that Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff and adviser
at the State Department, was given a limited immunity deal by the FBI
during its investigation of Clinton’s private email server.
March 31 - Meeting of National Security Advisory Board
April 2016 - Free Beacon terminated Fusion GPS
May 6, 10 - Papa meets with Aussies
July 22 - DNC leaks via Wikileaks
July 28, 2016 - Aussie report to FBI
December - FBI determines Danchenko is main subsource
December - Obama asks for IC assessment
Dec 5 - CIA NIO for Russia on interference
January 5, Comey, Brennan, and Clapper meet with Obama, Biden, Asst AG Sally Yates, Rice
January 6, CBC meet with Trump
January 6 - IC Assessment released
January 9-10, Steele Dossier goes public
January 20 - Susan Rice memo
January 20 Trump inauguration
January 24 Flynn interviewed
January 24-26 Danchenko interviewed
January 27, 2017 Comey with Trump
March 1 NY Times report
March 2017 - Farkas incident
May 17 - Mueller appointed
The President brought up the Steele report that Comey had raised in the January 6, 2017 briefing and stated that he
was thinking about ordering the FBI to investigate the allegations to
prove they were false. Comey responded that the President should think
carefully about issuing such an order because it could create a narrative that the FBI was investigating him personally, which was incorrect.
-----------------------------------------------------
(1) Igor Danchenko is a Russian national, living in the U.S., Christopher Steele's "main sub-source", and responsible for the majority of the allegations in the Steele Dossier.
(2)
Durham's focus is on the Steele Dossier. One retort to the failure to
verify any of the Steele Dossier's substantive allegations is to claim, "well, the Russia collusion story is about much more than the Steele Dossier".
Actually, it's not. Virtually every part of the alleged collusion is
referenced in the various reports contained with the Dossier (which
consists of reports issued from June through September of 2016). The
only significant incidents not covered in the Dossier are the
Papadopolous-Mifsud meetings in the spring of 2016, which proved to be a
dry hole once investigators probed it (we'll discuss the details in a
subsequent post on the Durham report) and the Trump Tower NYC meeting in
June 2016 (for the details on that fiasco read this).
However, in the case of the latter it is possible that Clinton's
contractor, Fusion GPS, may have been aware of the meeting at the time,
as Glenn Simpson, who ran the company, knew the Russian lawyer who set
up the meeting because they were working together on behalf of a
Kremlin-connected oligarch who was trying to get sanctions revoked. In
fact, Simpson and the Russian lawyer met the day before and day after
the Trump Tower meeting. We also have crazy Roger Stone and his
pathetic partner, Jerome Corsi, desperately trying to get information
from Wikileaks in the summer of 2016 but (1) they never got it, and (2)
if the Trump campaign was colluding with the Kremlin, why couldn't they
get it directly from the Russians?
(2) In a subsequent piece I'll write more about Mifsud, whose role remains puzzling to me.
No Mifsud
No DNC Wikileaks
No big picture
No Flynn
Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaign
submitted to Merrick B Garland on May 12, 2023
contains classified appendix
March 2019 Mueller Report
"did
not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or
coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference
activities"
Durham appointed as Special Attorney on February 6, 2020 and Special Counsel on October 19, 2020
Scope
The
Special Counsel is authorized to investigate whether any federal
official, employee, or any other person or entity violated the law in
connection with the intelligence, counter-intelligence, or
law-enforcement activities directed at the 2016 presidential campaigns,
individuals associated with those campaigns, and individuals associated
with the administration of President Donald J Trump, including but not
limited to Crossfire Hurricane and the investigations of Special Counsel
Robert S Mueller, III.
"The Office structured its work around evidence for possible use in prosecutions of federal crimes . . ." (page 3)
"Although
a substantial majority of the individuals voluntarily cooperated with
the Office, some only provided information under a subpoena or grant of
immunity. Some individuals who, in our view, had important or relevant
imformation about the topics under investigation refused to be
interviewed or other cooperate with the Office [Comey, Priestap,
Strzok]" p4
480 interviews, one million documents
"A
statement that the investigation did not establish particular facts does
not mean there was no evidence of those facts" p 5, quoting Mueller
report - turnabout is fair play!
" . . . the law does not always
make a person's bad judgment, even horribly bad judgment, standing
alone, a crime. Nor does the law criminalize all unseemly or unethical
conduct that political campaigns might undertake for tactical advantage .
. . Finally, in almost all cases, the government is required to prove a
person's actual criminal intent . . . " p 5
"There are also
reasons why, in examining politically-charged and high-profile issues
such as these, the Office must exercise - and has exercised - special
care. First, juries can bring strongly held views to the courtroom in
criminal trials involving political subject matters, and those views
can, in turn, affect the likelihood of obtaining a conviction, separate
and apart from the strength of the actual evidence and despite a court's
best efforts to empanel a fair and impartial jury." p5 - bigger issue
for the USA
"If this report and the outcome of the Special
Counsel's investigation leave some with the impression that injustices
or misconduct have gone unaddressed, it is not because the Office
concluded that no such injustices or misconduct occurred." p6
Before
receipt of Papadopoulos info on July 28, 2016, "the government
possessed no verified intelligence reflecting that Trump or the Trump
campaign was involved in a conspiracy or collaborative relationship with
officials of the Russian government . . . neither U.S. law enforcement
nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual
evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the
Crossfire Hurricane investigation". p 8
Opened by Peter Strzok at
direction of McCabe" as full investigation "without ever having spoken
to the persons who provided the information", nor any review of its own
intelligence databases or those of other U.S. intelligence agencies.
"Had it done so . . . the FBI would have learned that their own
experienced Russian analysts had no information about Trump being
involved with Russian leadership officials, nor were others in sensitive
positions at the CIA, the NSA, and the Department of State aware of
such evidence . . ." At the time of opening the investigation, "the
FBI had no information in its holdings indicating that at any time
during the campaign anyone in the Trump campaign had been in contact
with any Russian intelligence officials." p 9
Notes Strzok and McCabe had documented hostile feelings towards Trump.
"The
speed and manner" in which the investigation was opened "also reflected
a noticeable departure from hos it approached prior matters involving
possible attempted foreign interference plans aimed at the Clinton
campaign." p9, including "possibly illegal financial contributions to
the Clinton campaign on behalf of a foreign entity" with defensive
briefings offered or no investigation at all. p 10
"These examples
are also markedly different from the FBI's actions with respect to
other highly significant intelligence it received from a trusted foreign
source pointing to a Clinton campaign plan to vilify Trump by tying him
to Vladimir Putin so as to divert attention from her own concerns
relating to her use of a private email server. Unlike the FBI's opening
of a full investigation of unknown members of the Trump campaign bsed
on raw, uncorroborated information, in this separate matter involving a
purported Clinton campaign plan, the FBI never opened any type of
inquiry, issued any taskings, employed any analytical personnel, pr
produced any analytical products in connection with the information.
This lack of action was despite the fact that the significance of the
Clinton plan intelligence was such as to have prompted the Director of
the CIA to brief the President, Vice President, Attorney General,
Director of the FBI, and other senior government officials about its
content with days of its receipt." p 10
Full investigations of George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn.
Sought
FISA warrants on Papa and Page. Papa unsuccessful, Page unsuccesful
"until the Crossfire Hurricane investigators first obtained" the Steele
reports. p 11
"Our investigation determined that the Crossfire
Hurricane investigators did not and could not corroborate any of the
substantive allegations contained in the Steele reporting." Steele
could not provide any such information even after being offered "$1
million or more by the FBI for such corroboration". Danchenko, when
interviewed in January 2017 could not offer corroboration of anything -
characterized his info as "rumor and speculation". p 11, more on p 13
What Danchenko told FBI was inconsistent with what Steele told FBI but FISA court never advised of inconsistencies. p 13
"The
FBI's own records and the recordings establish that Page made multiple
exculpatory statements . . . but the Crossfire Hurricane investigators
failed to make that information known to the Department attorneys or to
the FISC. Page also made explicit statements refuting allegations
contained in the Steele reporting about his lack of any relationship
with Paul Manafort, but the FBI failed to follow logical investigative
leads related to those statements . . . p 12
Unvetted and unverified Steele reports used within days in FISA application.
"Speaking in confidence to a compatriot in late July 2016, Source E, an ethnic Russian close associate of Republican US presidential candidate Donald TRUMP,
admitted that there was a well-developed conspiracy of co-operation
between them and the Russian leadership. This was managed on the TRUMP
side by the Republican candidate's campaign manager, Paul MANAFORT, who
was using foreign policy advisor, Carter PAGE, and others as
intermediaries. The two sides had a mutual interest in defeating
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary CLINTON, whom President PUTIN
apparently both hated and feared."
According to Durham, this report underpinned "the four FISA applications targeting Page". p12
DANCHENKO
Subject
of FBI counterintelligence operations from 2009 to 2011 triggered by
approaching two Brookings Institution employees about willingness to
supply classified information in return for cash. Preliminary
investigation became full investigation based on (1) being identified as
associate of two FBI counterintelligence subjects, and had previous
contact with the Russian embassy and known Russian intelligence
officers. Investigation closed in March 2011 after FBI incorrectly
thought Danchenko returned to Russia. p14 In Sept 2010 Danchenko and
wife bought one way tickets to Russia but he NEVER BOARDED THE FLIGHT!
131
According to Baltimore FO agents matter was unresolved -
believed Danchenko was "hiding in plain sight" in the U.S. while
frequently traveling overseas to be debriefed by Russian intelligence.
132
FBI never attempted to resolve the prior investigation
before opening him as a paid CHS (received more than $200,000). Never
disclosed prior investigation to Dept attorneys.
"It appears the
FBI never gave appropriate consideration to the possibility that the
intelligence Danchenko was providing to Steele - which, again, according
to Danchenko himself, made up a significant majority of the information
in the Steele Dossier reports - was, in whole or in part, Russian
disinformation." p14
Allegation that Sergei Millian was Source E
"The evidence uncovered by the Office showed that Danchenko never spoke
with Sergei Millian and simply fabricated the allegations that he
attributed to Millian." p16
Brookings associate introduces Danchenko to Steele in 2010. Danchenko retained by Steele in 2011. (127)
Initial interview with Danchenko on Jan 24-26, 2017, conducted pursuant to a grant of immunity arranged by his counsel.
In
multiple interviews "Danchenko was unable to provide the FBI with
corroborating evidence for any of the substantive allegations contained
in the Steele report" and said most of the info he provided to Steele
was "the product of casual conversations with people in his social
circle". (127)
Despite, this in March 2017 he became a CHS -
documentation "incorrectly noted that there was no derogatory
information associated with Danchenko and that Danchenko had not been a
prior subject of an FBI investigation" 133 Paid Danchenko 220K over 3.5
years. Between all sources D was making about $16,000 a month on
average from 2014 to 2021. Moreover, FBI proposed making further
payment of more than $300K in late 2020! FBI HQ continued to resist
efforts to have D closed as source 137 Assistant Director for
Counterintelligence at HQ that D "was being paid for information he was
providing that corroborated the Steele Dossier reporting"!!! 137 No one
Office questioned could describe what D provided for the $.
Finally,
in May 2019 FBI Validation Management Unit raised questions about
Danchenko including past investigation, and several falsehoods and
inconsistencies in his visa applications and immigration documents.
134-135 It was only then that FBI DC reached out to Baltimore - agent
"expressed disbelief when she first learned that Danchenko had been
signed up as an FBI source because, among other things, the FBI had not
resolved the prior counterespionage case" 135
After leaving
Brookings, Danchenko worked at a Virginia based-venture capital firm
(127) but in 2014 it declared bankruptcy (128). At the time, the firm
was sponsoring Danchenko's visa application to remain in the U.S.
Danchenko
reached out to acquaintance who ran Virginia based IT staffing firm.
Employer said he'd hire and sponsor Danchenko if someone else paid his
salary which Steele agreed to do. "Danchenko Employer was merely a front
to allow Danchenko to continue his work on behalf of Orbis [Steele's
firm], while at the same time allowing him to secure a work visa through
alleged employment with a U.S. based company". 128 His employer, an
ethnic Russian described Danchenko as "boastful . . . having low
credibility, and a person who liked to embellish his purported contacts
with the Kremlin". 128
Dachenko was being paid somewhere between 3
and 5K a month. In addition from January 2016 to June 2021 Danchenko
received over $436,000 in wire transfers from European businesses,
including Orbis This is in addition to his Orbis salary. 129
"The failure of the FBI to assess properly the prior counterespionage investigation of Danchenko is incomprehensible". 240
-------------------------------------
DOLAN
".
. . maintained relationships with several key Russian government
officials, including Dimitry Peskov p 14 (Press Secretary for Kremlin)
Dolan source of pee tale and "admitted that he fabricated the allegation about Manafort" p15
"The
FBI interviewed hundreds of individuals through the course of the
Crossfire Hurricane and later investigations, and yet it did not
interview Dolan . . ." p15
138-9 ". . . previously served as (i)
Executive Director of the Democratic Governors Association, (ii)
Virginia Chairman of former President Clinton's 1992 and 1996
presidential campaigns, and (iii) an advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2008
presidential campaign" 138 President Clinton appointed Dolan to two
four-year terms on the State Department's U.S. Advisory Commission on
Public Diplomacy. 139
Dolan assisted with PR firm Ketchum;s rep of
Russian Federation. Part of his responsibility was monitoring policy
discussions of U.S. based think tanks and reporting back to Russia. 139
Interacted frequently with Russian officials, particularly Dimitry
Peskov Press Secretary, and Alex Pavlov, Asst Press Secretary. In DC he
maintained relationships with Sergei Kislyak Ambassador and Mikhail
Kalugin, head of economics section, all of whom featured in the Steele
Reports.
Dolan served as advisor to the Valdai Club in Moscow "a
Moscow based think tank that is closely associated with Russian
President Putin and is viewed by many in the West as a vehicle for
Russian propaganda". 142
Dolan recruited in 2015 to help with
Moscow conference planned for October 2016 on investment opportunities
in Russia. To be held at Ritz Carlton. Dolan asked Danchenko to
assist. Dolan visits Moscow in June 2016. As further prep Dolan
attended three meetings at Russian Embassy in 2016 and communicated with
Embassy staff including Kislyak and Kalugin. 142
In June 2016
Dolan sent email to US acquaitance describing Danchenko "He is too young
for KGB. But I think he worked for FSB. Since he told me he spent two
years in Iran. And when I first met him he knew more about me than I
did." (winking emoticon) 143 In January 2017 he emailed an acquaitance
describing Danchenko as a "Russian agent" p160
Trump did stay at Ritz Carlton in 2013 but not in Presidential Suite then, or ever. 146
How
this was created - on August 19, 2016 Kalugin sends email to Dolan and
others telling them after six years he is returning to Moscow in
September. September a new Steele report states, "as a prophylactic
measure, a leading Russia diplomat, Mikhail Kalugin, had been withdrawn
from Washington on short notice because Moscow feared his heavy
involvement in the US presidential election operation . . ." 154
In
January 2017 Danchenko informed FBI that Olga Galkina was source for
several Steele report allegations. 163 and that she had a connection
with Dolan.
". . . Dolan was never interviewed, despite the
suggestion from both Steele and Galkina that Dolan could have
information related to the Steele Reports and the detailed analysis
undertaken by two FBI personnel assigned to the Mueller team." p160
In
June 2017 FBI interview Danchenko said of Dolan, "Yeah he likes Russia .
. . Uh, he's a bit naive in his, um liking of Russia". p162
". . .the FBI found no evidence that Cohen had met with Russian officials in Prague" 158
When
an FBI agent raised interviewing Dolan "with the Mueller Special
Counsel team, he was explicitly told not to interview Dolan". 164 Agent
said he aggressively pushed Dolan information and believed Andrew
Weissman was in at least one of the briefings.
Galkina interviewd
in Cyprus in August 2017 and appears forthcoming except when asked about
Dolan, 166, but when pressed finally identified him as someone she
passed Steele info on to.
In August 2017 two FBI analysts on
Mueller team briefed several people, including Jeannie Rhee and drafted a
case opening document for Dolan. 167-8 But on September 7 instructed
"to cease all research and analysis related to Dolan". One of the two
was transferred same day to another team.
In Sept 2017 they were
instructed to "cease work on attempting to corraborate the Steele
reports" 169 FBI analyst contemporaneous notes "explicitly state that
Mueller investigation leadership directed [them] to dedicate no
resources" to Dolan.
Request to open case on Dolan denied and it
was a "higher level decision" and case opening was to be deleted from
computer system. 170
FBI analysts "discussed whether the decision
not to pen on Dolan was politically motivated, given Dolan's extensive
connections to the Democratic party" 170 with one of the analysts
"speculated that the information on Dolan ran counter to the narrative
that the Mueller Special Counsel investigators were cultivating" 171.
Analyst believed this decision would be reviewed by OIG and uploaded
memorandum to three separate case files on the FBI system to make sure
OIG would have access.
"The FBI interviewed hundreds of
individuals through the course of the CH and Mueller Special Counsel
investigations, and yet, they did not interview Dolan or the other two
U.S. persons identified by Steele [in October 2016]. 172
WAS DOLAN FED INFO BY RUSSIANS BECAUSE OF CONNECTION WITH CLINTON?
----------------------------------------------
Steele working for Oleg Deripaska p151
FBI
personnel working on that same FISA application displayed, at best, a
cavalier attitude towards accuracy and completeness. FBI personnel also
repeatedly disregarded important requirements when they continued to
seek renewals of that FISA surveillance while acknowledging - both then
and in hindsight - that they did not genuinely believe there was
probable cause to believe that the target was knowingly engaged in
clandestine intelligence activities on behalf of a foreign power" p
17-18g
3 requirements for issuing FISA warrant: p31
1. Probable cause to believe that the target of the surveillance is an agent of a foreign power
2. For US person - showing that he at least may violate laws
3. For US person must be knowingly engaged
---------
NOTES:
Had
no support for Steele Dossier allegations. Briefed President, Biden,
Rice on January 5. On January 6, Comey briefs Trump. 3 days later it
is public. Someone leaked.
Mueller knew dossier was false, denied
reviewing it because obstruction issue only made sense if it was still
in play. If acknowledged it was false, Trump's reaction much more
understandable and obstruction falls apart. Pages on Mifsud with no
acknowledgements.
Clinesmith treatment by DC Bar.
---------
Page
known to FBI had been interviewed on three occasions between 2009 and
2013 by NYFO. In 2015 interviewed again by NYFO. Had been approached
by Russian intelligence in failed recruitment effort. p 46
April
2016 NYFO opens counterintelligence investigation, not because of Page,
but concern about Russians reaching out to him. p47
FISA
application on Page deliberately omitted that he had been approved as
operational contact by the CIA. 185 Clinesmith lied and said Page "was
never a source" vive la Resistance"! FISA application misrepresented
statements made by Page to CHS 204
Recordings of Page by CHS
failed to find any damaging evidence. Page said he never met Manafort
[accurate]. Page sent Manafort one email and copied him on two others,
but never received a response.
Yahoo! News report in late
September of Sechin, Divyekin, Page secret meeting. Two days later Page
sends letter to Comey volunteering to speak to anyone in the FBI "in
the interest of helping them put these outrageous allegations [about
him] to rest". 197 In response, CH investigators were "prohibited by
FBI senior executives from approaching Page" until authorization
received in March 2017. Once authorized Page sat for 5 voluntary
interviews and "full cooperated with the FBI, even going so far as to
bring his own PowerPoint presentation to one of the interviews" 200
On Oct 13, one week before initial Page application submitted two FBI agents:
Special Agent-2: Yeah [Case agent -1] says no appetite to interview Page either. thats stupid.
Supervisory Special Agent -1: yeah-dude I dont know why we are even here. 197
Decisions
were "effectively being made by the Director and Deputy Director of the
FBI. In this regard, according to McCabe, "Director Comey was getting
daily briefings on this stuff, regularly" and the Director was
intimately involved with the team that was working on the case". 199
"clear
predisposition on the part of at least certain FBI personnel at the
center of Crossfire Hurricane to open an investigation of Trump" p
47-48, citing Strzok, Lisa Page texts :
August 8, 2016
Page: [Trump's] not going to become president, right? Right?!
Strzok: No. No, he's not. We'll stop it.
Clinesmith - "viva le resistance" Nov 22, 2016
Strzok was going around Preistap to McCabe.
Starting Crossfire Hurricane
Papadopoulos met with Downer on May 6 and 10, 2016 in London with Aussie junior diplomat joined on the 10th by Downer.
Information
on meeting provided by Australia to US Embassy in London on July 26 and
passed on to FBI the next day. Info contained May 16 cable from
Downer:
He commented that the Clintons had "a lot
of baggage" and suggested the Trump team had plenty of material to use
in its campaign. He also suggested the Trump team had received some
kind of suggestion from Russia that it could assist this process with
the anonymous release of information during the campaign that would be
damaging to Mrs Clinton (and President Obama). It was unclear whether
he or the Russians were referring to material acquired publicly of [sic]
through other means. It was also unclear how Mr Trump's team reacted
to the offer. We note the Trump team's reaction could, in the end, have
little bearing of [sic] what Russia decides to do, with our without Mr
Trump's cooperation. p 52-53
(Another example of the catastrophe of adding Papa to the Board)
No reference to emails in note.
"When
interviewed by the Office, Downer stated that he would have
characterized the statements made by Papa differently than Australian
Diplomat-1 did". "According to Downer, Papa made no mention of Clinton
emails, dirt or any specific approach by the Russian government to the
Trump campaign team with an offer or suggestion of providing
assistance. Rather, Downer's recollection was that Papa simply stated
'the Russians have information' and that was all." p 53 "Downer also
said that he "did not get the sense Papa was the middle-man to
coordinate with the Russians" p. 54
According to Diplomat-1 Pap "did not say he had direct contact with the Russians."p54
In
Footnote reference to 2019 public interview that Downer said that in
talking with Papa there was "no suggestion that there was collusion
between Donald Trump or Donald Trump's campaign and the Russians". p53
They described Papa as "insecure" and "trying to impress them".
Australian disclosure prompted by release of Wikileaks of emails from DNC servers on July 22.
".
. . there is no question that the FBI had an affirmative obligation to
closely examine the Paragraph Five information". But it was sole basis
for opening full investigation. p54 Done before an discussions or
interviews with Australians or Papa. No attempt to contact other IC
agencies. p55
Durham contrasts this speed with "Strzok's
decision making in the referral in September 2016 of a matter involving
former Congressman Anthony Weiner's laptop computer. In that instance,
according to the OIG, the FBI and Strzok did not act for over a month to
pursue legal process to review thousands of missing Clinton emails
found on Weiner's laptop." and it "contrasts with the care taken in
connection with the investigation of the Clinton Foundation and other
matters." p56
At the time CH opened, "the FBI did not possess any
intelligence showing that anyone associated with the Trump campaign was
in contact with Russian intelligence officers at any point during the
campaign". Also, later discovered "an early June 2017 USIC report
indicated that two persons affiliated with [Russian intelligence
services] were aware of Steele's election investigation in early July
2016. . . Steele's sources may have been compromised by the Russians at
a time prior to the creation of the Steele Reports and throughout the
FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation." p59
NOTE: Simpson & Steele working for two different Kremlin oligarchs.
August
2 - Strzok and another agent meet with Australians. Engaged FBI's
Assistant Legal Attache in London. According to ATLAT recalled "Strzok
making a comment in the taxi on their way to the Australian High
Commission to the effect that "there's nothing to this, but we have to
run it to ground" p60 ATLAT shared Papa info with British Intelligence
who "expressed real skepticism about the motivations and reliability of
Papa". Brits did not views the alleged information "to be particularly
valuable intelligence". British could not believe Papa info was all
the US had and they must be holding something back! p60
August 11
ALAT: Dude, are we telling them [Brits] everything we know, or is there more to this?
SSA-1: that's all we have
SSA-1: not holding anything back
ALAT: Damn, that's thin
SSA-1: I know
SSA-1: it sucks
p60-1
Brits asked ATLAT "why the FBI did not just go to Papa and ask him what they wanted to know".
Brits finally checked out refusing requests from Mueller.
CH did not ask:
Jonathan
Moffa, Chief of FBI's Counterintelligence Analysis Section, and Chief
of Russian Analysis Unit. "he had heard nothing about Trump and Russia
until events began to be reported in July 2016" p61
The FBI
Intelligence Analyst with the most in-depth knowledge of Russian
intelligence never saw anything regarding any Trump election conspiracy
with the Russians, nor anything about Page, Papa, Flynn or Manafort
involving this p.62
DNI Clapper testified to Congress that "no" when asked if he was aware of evidence.
Austrialian
dip 1 told Stzok that information "was written in an intentionally
vague way because of what Papa did and did not say". p62
By the
time CH team gets first Steele reports on Sept 19, investigation had
been underway for six weeks, incluiding use of CHS but "had not resulted
in the collection of any inculpatory information" p66
Things not done:
"Interviewing
Page, particularly once the FBI's interest in him was publicly
disclosed by the media. In fact, two days after this disclosure, Page
wrote to Director Comey offering to be interviewed, but the FBI elected
not to do so." p67 (Disclosed in Yahoo News article on Sept 23) &
not interviewing Papa.
FBI Inspection Division Report found
intelligence analysits "selected for CH were uniformly inexperienced"
and that "none of them were subject matter expert analysts" p68
CH
limited by "failure to integrate" Directorate of Intelligence into the
investigation as required by policy. Actively shut down involvement of
Directorate in enhanced validation review of Steele. p68
According to NYFO, call made in May 2016 "on
behalf of Director Comey" to "cease and desist" from Foundation
investigation due to "some undisclosed counterintelligence concern".
Durham unable to find out what the concern was. p80
"while the
Department appears to have had legitimate concerns about the Foundation
investigation occurring so close to a presidential election, it does not
appear that similar concerns were expressed by the Department of FBI
regarding the CH investigation". p 80
Feb 24, 2016 email between Strzok and Page, prior to FBI's interview of Clinton
Page:
One more thing: [Clinton] may be our next president. The last thing
you need [is] going in there loaded for bear. You think she's going to
remember of care that it was more doj than fbi?
Strzok: Agreed p81
THE CLINTON PLAN
in
late July US intelligence agencies "obtained insight into Russian
intelligence analysis alleging that US Presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton had approved a campaign plan to stir up a scandal against US
Presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Putin and the
Russian's hacking of the Democratic National Committee. The IC does not
know the accuracy of this allegation . . . " p81
Brennan briefed
Obama and others on plan to, according to his notes, of Clinton plan to
"vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by
Russian security services" p81
Plan supposedly approved on July 26
On
Sept 7, 2016 US intelligence officials forward investigative referral
to Comey and Strzok regarding Clinton Plan which is described in
referral as "a means of distracting the public from her use of a private
mail server" p82 Nothing was done by FBI with this referral p86
Relevance to CH
Durham
investigates. Some unclassified reported here. Other in Classified
Appendix including "facts that heightened the potential relevance of
this intelligence to the Office's inquiry" p83
Importance recognized immediately. On July 28 Brennan meets with Obama and others. On 29th B meets with Comey.
On August 3 meeting with President, VP, AG, Comey and others to discussion Russian interference, including Clinton Plan.
NOTES: Rice letter of January 20, 2017
CH team learned of Clinton Plan by August 22
Durham
found no evidence CH team evaluated Clinton Plan in light of CH
investigation p87 Did not disclose in FISA application p87
P88
"The
Office showed portions of the Clinton Plan intelligence to a number of
individuals who were actively involved in the CH investigation. Most
advised they had never seen the intelligence before, and some expressed
surprise and dismay upon learning of it. [ME - Comey suppressed it]
[The original Supervisory Special Agent on CH was shown it during one of
his interviews:
"After reading it [he] became visibly upset and
emotional, left the interview room with his counsel, and subsequently,
returned to state emphatically that had never been apprised of the
Clinton Plan intelligence . . . expressed a sense of betrayal that no
one had informed him of the intelligence . . . responded firmly that
regardless of whether its contents were true, he should have been
informed of it."
When former FBI General Counsel Baker was shown
it he also said he had never seen or heard of it and that if he had know
of it would have viewed Steele Dossier and Alfa Bank stuff from Clinton
Lawyer Michael Sussman "in a different and much more skeptical light".
p88
On July 27, Clinton foreign policy advisor circulated draft
statement for signature on Trump ties to Russia and campaign manager
Robby Mook stated potential Russia/Trump connection. p88
". . .
evidence gathered by the Office revealed a concerted effort on the part
of Fusion GPS in late July 2016 - the same timeframe the Clinton Plan
intelligence was purportedly approved - to communicate with the press
regarding the Page allegations in the Steele reporting" p92 (including
reporters for Slate, Reuters, WSJ, and Jane Mayer of New Yorker (a
reliable mouthpiece for whatever Democrats are peddling)
Sidenote:
One of the reporters contacted was Tom Hamburger of WaPo who passed
because of "kick back to the idea" and telling him that the allegation
that Page met with Sechin and Ivanov, "It's [expletive]. Impossible" -
WaPo "Moscow source" p94
Nonetheless this allegation was included in 4 FISA applications.
"The
FBI thus failed to act on what should have been - when combined with
other, incontrovertible facts - a clear warning sign that the FBI might
then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law
enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 presidential
election" p97
Notes classification issues would be "insurmountable" if prosecution attempted. p 98
Perkins
Coie hires Fusion in April 2016. "Shortly thereafter" Fusion hires
Steele. Steele reports from July through December. "According to the
reports, important connections between Trump and Russia ran through
campaign manager Paul Manafort and foreign policy advisor Carter Page.
p98
OIG found 17 material errors or omissions and "so many basic
and fundamental errors" in the Page FISA applications. p99 Found that
FBI personnel "did not give appropriate attention facts that cut against
probably cause". p100
Several CH investigators were skeptical of
the information and as not went on believed Page was not an agent and
not a threat to national security but "FBI management" directed renewal.
p100 Numerous communication cited about skepticism and concerns from
lower level CH team members, doe to "uncorroborated nature of the
allegations" and "lack of insight into the reliability of Steele's
sub-sources" p101
OI attorney advised that FBI OGC Clinesmith
informed him that Comey "want to know what's going on" and McCabe asked
"who the FBI needed to speak with at DOJ to 'get this going'" p102
McCae said Comey definitely wanted the FISA.
Oct 12, 2016 note
Evans concern that Steele may have been hired by Clinton or the DNC.
His concerns were raised to Comey & McCabe and "they are supportive
of moving forward despite his concerns"
NYFO agent who led NYFO
investigation of Page was never contacted by CH prior to submission of
initial Page warrant application. Was "never overly concerned about
Page being an intelligence officer for the Russians" and had never
pursued FISA. p103 She assumed CH had found additional info linking
Page to the Russians! She now viewed Page investigation as "a waste of
money".
Day to day members of team never knew Page served as
source for CIA. When one learned he "felt like a fool". p104 When it
came time for renewal, they felt Page was not a threat to national
security or witting agent for Russians but "assumed" that "somebody
above them" possessed information "unknown to the investigators" p104
It
was their impression that superiors were "being directed by FBI
executive management to continue the FISA surveillance" p105 "It was
not the normal course of business to have the 7th floor (FBI executive
management) intimately involved in an investigation and very unusual to
have an investigation run from FBI Headquarters".
" . . . as of
early 2017, the FBI still did not possess any intelligence showing that
anyone associated with the Trump campaign was in contact with Russian
intelligence officers during the campaign." p 106
FBI
documentation shows that reports published by New York Times in February
and March 2017 were untrue - sources "four unnamed current and former
U.S. intelligence officials" (1) intercepted communications of members
of Trump's campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts
with senior Russian intelligence officials, (2) Paul Manafort was one of
the individuals picked up on the intercepts and (3) intercepts had been
captured by NSA. p106
Also that there were meetings in European cities between Russian officials and associates of Trump was false. p107
OBAMA ORDER ON DISTRIBUTING INFORMATION
2018 Incident
-
FBI review in 2018 "showed that the Russians had access to sensitive
U.S. government informaiton years earlier that would have allowed them
to identify Steele's subsources . . . Steele's subsources could have
been compromised by the Russians at a point in time prior to the date of
the first Steele dossier report". p 107-8 Review team was then told
"no more memorandum were to be written". p108 Further meeting in which
"the review team was told to be careful about what they were writing
down because issues relating to Steele were under intense scrutiny".
Deputy
Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Dina Corsi then directed
team not to document any recommendations, context, or analysis in the
memorandum. Team members described this as "highly unusual" because
analysis is what analysts do. And OGC Attorney at the briefing
"remembered being shocked" by Corsi and that "it was the most
inappropriate operational or professional statement he had ever heard at
the FBI". p 108 Corsi is still at the FBI
May 2017 Strzok
debating whether to join Mueller team, hesitated "in part, because of my
gut sense and concern there's no big there there". p109
STEELE
Starting
in 2010 Steele provided information to the FBI. Introduced by DOJ
Bruce Ohr, whose wife worked for Fusion GPS. In 2013 Steele became
CHS. Closed as CHS in Nov 2016 but FBI continued to receive reports via
Ohr. (109-110)
Steele gave initial reports to FBI on July 5
(Moscow Ritz Carlton & details on how Kremlin had been feeding info
to Trump campaign on his rivals) and informed agent he worked for
FusionGPS, Fusion had been hired by a law firm, and his ultimate client
was "senior Democrats supporting Clinton" and that Hillary Clinton was
aware of his reporting. 110
July 19 - additional report on meeting
that Page had that month with Igor Sechin, Chairman of Rosneft, and
another with Igor Divyekin, senior official in Russian government,
supposedly to discuss lifting of sanctions and Russia's compromising
info on Trump and Clinton. p111
Mysterious 75 days between when
FBI London gets initial Steele report and when CH team get it on
September 19. ". . . the Office has not received a satisfactory
explanation that would account for the unwarranted delay." p112
"Despite
the lack of any corroboration of the Reports' sensational allegations,
however, in short order portions of four of the Reports were included in
the initial Carter Page FISA application without any further
verification or corroboration . . ." 112
On July 28, NYFO informed
London that "FBI leadership, including an FBI Headquarters official at
the Executive Assistant Director level, was not aware of the existence
of the reports." 113 (Just like Christine Ford Blasey, held in reserve
until they needed it)
Inferential evidence that senior NYFO was at
FBI HQ, meeting with several senior officials in late July 114. Senior
NYFO told Office that when meeting with senior DC officials they "were
already aware of the Steele Reports and that [he] appeared to have
engaged in previous conversations with other FBI "higher up" about the
reports. 114 Senior NYFO spent July 29 shadowing McCabe.
Finally
sent directly by London to CH on September 19. ". . . the failure of
recollection by FBI personnel concerning the matter certainly raises the
question of whether the FBI had misgivings from the start about the
provenance and reliability of the Steele Reports". p117
October 3 -
two FBI DC people meet with Steele in Rome. Inform Steele "that the
FBI might be willing to pay Steele in excess of $1,000,000 if he could
provide corroborating evidence of the allegations contained in his
reporting".
Steele provided info in that meeting which proved false
(1) One primary subsource was Russia based, who traveled freely in Russia with a well-connected network
(2) Most of the contacts appear to be unwitting of where info was going
(3) Primary subsource had personal contact with Sergei Millian,
(4) Provided names of US citizens who may have info re Trump and Russia (3 unnamed in Durham and Charles Dolan)
(5) Russian Presidential Administration spokesman Dimitry Peskov "was heavily involved in the Russia/Trump operation" (119)
"FBI's
assessment of the Yahoo! News article radically changed in order to
protect the FISA application" 123 but no FBI employee had any
recollection why it changed.
4 Steele Reports were relied upon by FBI to support the application and three renewals 123
".
. . not a single substantive allegation pulled from the Steele Reports
and used in the initial Page FISA application had been corroborated at
the time of the FISA submission - or indeed, to our knowledge, has ever
been corroborated by the FBI." 124
1. Page was part of a "well-developed conspiracy of co-operation" between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
2. Page met with Igor Sechin and Igor Divyekin in July 2016
3. The Kremlin had for years gathered compromising information on Clinton
4. Russia had leaked DNC emails to Wikileaks, an idea concocted by Page and others
Footnote
in application described person who hired Steele "never advised
[Steele] as to the motivation behind the research into [Trump's] ties to
Russia", going on to say "the FBI speculates that the . . . person was
likely looking for information that could be used to [discredit] Trump's
campaign". But FBI knew Steele had been hired by Fusion which had been
hired by law firm and ultimate client was Clinton campaign and HC was
aware of Steele's reporting! 125 NOTE: Rewriting of Steele's contacts
and networks in FISA application
SERGEI MILLIAN
NY based
real estate broker who from 2006-16 was president of Russian-American
Chamber of Commerce. Had been involved in some minor listings of Trump
Organization properties.
Danchenko claimed Source E was Millian.
Though Steele thought Danchenko had met Millian the two never did.
Claim based "entirely on a purported anonymous telephone call Danchenko
said he received from someone he had never spoken to before" and that he
identified as Millian. ". . . this completely uncorraborated
allegation was included in the Page FISA application, both before and
after the FBI learned its provenance from Danchenko himself. 173
Durham
found no evidence of such a call. 175 nor does it appear CH ever tried
to verify the call. The whole thing was fabricated. " . . . the Office
found no evidence that Millian was a source for any of the allegations
in the Steele Reports." 180
Fusion GPS records show that "Nellie
Ohr first identified Millian as having connections to Trump" On April
22, 2016 Ohr prepared report for Fusion on the connections. All told
Ohr prepared 12 reports discussing Millian. These reports were provided
to CH by Bruce Ohr. Timing of this and other matters "strongly
supports the inference that Fusion GPS directed Steele to pursue
Millian". 181 Other Fusion employees worked on research about Millian.
Fusion was promoting Millian to the press as a key intermediary between
Trump and Russia. Fusion research increased substantially in July
2016. Fusion also tried to tie Millian to the fake Alfa Bank story p183
From 2007 to 2011 Millian was FBI CHS! 185
On
January 17, 2019 FBI closed case on Millian noting "the investigation
found no confirmation that [Millian] was directed to engage in
activities related to Russian Government efforts to interfere with the
2016 U.S. President Election." 185
"Notably, not one of the
damning allegations contained in the Steele reporting was ever
corroborated: not the salacious allegations of events at the Ritz
Carlton in Moscow, not the allegation of there being a 'well-developed
conspiracy of co-operation" between Trump and the Russians, not the
allegations of a secret meeting involving Page and certain sanctioned
Russians (namely, Igor Sechin and Igor Divyekin), and not the allegation
of Page serving as Manafort's conduit for information between the
Russians and the Trump campaign. This is true even after the FBI
offered Steele $1 million or more for such corroboration and after
Danchenko was signed up as an FBI CHS [Confidential Human Source] and
paid more than $220,000 for information on other matters" p236
"When
[the FBI] checked with another U.S. intelligence agency on matters
relating to the Steele reporting, they received no corroborating
information back. As one long-time counterintelligence expert at that
agency told [the Durham investigation], the Dossier contained unverified
allegations from sub-sources who allegedly provided the information,
information that the government could not obtain despite its vast
intelligence resources and paying millions of dollars for intelligence.
Indeed, after the Steele Dossier was leaked and became public, that
expert's reaction was to ask the FBI, "You didn't use that, right?". 237
ever
disclosed prior investigation to Dept attorneys.
"It appears the
FBI never gave appropriate consideration to the possibility that the
intelligence Danchenko was providing to Steele - which, again, according
to Danchenko himself, made up a significant majority of the information
in the Steele Dossier reports - was, in whole or in part, Russian
disinformation." p14
Allegation that Sergei Millian was Source E
"The evidence uncovered by the Office showed that Danchenko never spoke
with Sergei Millian and simply fabricated the allegations that he
attributed to Millian." p16
Brookings associate introduces Danchenko to Steele in 2010. Danchenko retained by Steele in 2011. (127)
Initial interview with Danchenko on Jan 24-26, 2017, conducted pursuant to a grant of immunity arranged by his counsel.
In
multiple interviews "Danchenko was unable to provide the FBI with
corroborating evidence for any of the substantive allegations contained
in the Steele report" and said most of the info he provided to Steele
was "the product of casual conversations with people in his social
circle". (127)
Despite, this in March 2017 he became a CHS -
documentation "incorrectly noted that there was no derogatory
information associated with Danchenko and that Danchenko had not been a
prior subject of an FBI investigation" 133 Paid Danchenko 220K over 3.5
years. Between all sources D was making about $16,000 a month on
average from 2014 to 2021. Moreover, FBI proposed making further
payment of more than $300K in late 2020! FBI HQ continued to resist
efforts to have D closed as source 137 Assistant Director for
Counterintelligence at HQ that D "was being paid for information he was
providing that corroborated the Steele Dossier reporting"!!! 137 No one
Office questioned could describe what D provided for the $.
Finally,
in May 2019 FBI Validation Management Unit raised questions about
Danchenko including past investigation, and several falsehoods and
inconsistencies in his visa applications and immigration documents.
134-135 It was only then that FBI DC reached out to Baltimore - agent
"expressed disbelief when she first learned that Danchenko had been
signed up as an FBI source because, among other things, the FBI had not
resolved the prior counterespionage case" 135
After leaving
Brookings, Danchenko worked at a Virginia based-venture capital firm
(127) but in 2014 it declared bankruptcy (128). At the time, the firm
was sponsoring Danchenko's visa application to remain in the U.S.
Danchenko
reached out to acquaintance who ran Virginia based IT staffing firm.
Employer said he'd hire and sponsor Danchenko if someone else paid his
salary which Steele agreed to do. "Danchenko Employer was merely a front
to allow Danchenko to continue his work on behalf of Orbis [Steele's
firm], while at the same time allowing him to secure a work visa through
alleged employment with a U.S. based company". 128 His employer, an
ethnic Russian described Danchenko as "boastful . . . having low
credibility, and a person who liked to embellish his purported contacts
with the Kremlin". 128
Dachenko was being paid somewhere between 3
and 5K a month. In addition from January 2016 to June 2021 Danchenko
received over $436,000 in wire transfers from European businesses,
including Orbis This is in addition to his Orbis salary. 129
"The failure of the FBI to assess properly the prior counterespionage investigation of Danchenko is incomprehensible". 240
-------------------------------------
DOLAN
".
. . maintained relationships with several key Russian government
officials, including Dimitry Peskov p 14 (Press Secretary for Kremlin)
Dolan source of pee tale and "admitted that he fabricated the allegation about Manafort" p15
"The
FBI interviewed hundreds of individuals through the course of the
Crossfire Hurricane and later investigations, and yet it did not
interview Dolan . . ." p15
138-9 ". . . previously served as (i)
Executive Director of the Democratic Governors Association, (ii)
Virginia Chairman of former President Clinton's 1992 and 1996
presidential campaigns, and (iii) an advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2008
presidential campaign" 138 President Clinton appointed Dolan to two
four-year terms on the State Department's U.S. Advisory Commission on
Public Diplomacy. 139
Dolan assisted with PR firm Ketchum;s rep of
Russian Federation. Part of his responsibility was monitoring policy
discussions of U.S. based think tanks and reporting back to Russia. 139
Interacted frequently with Russian officials, particularly Dimitry
Peskov Press Secretary, and Alex Pavlov, Asst Press Secretary. In DC he
maintained relationships with Sergei Kislyak Ambassador and Mikhail
Kalugin, head of economics section, all of whom featured in the Steele
Reports.
Dolan served as advisor to the Valdai Club in Moscow "a
Moscow based think tank that is closely associated with Russian
President Putin and is viewed by many in the West as a vehicle for
Russian propaganda". 142
Dolan recruited in 2015 to help with
Moscow conference planned for October 2016 on investment opportunities
in Russia. To be held at Ritz Carlton. Dolan asked Danchenko to
assist. Dolan visits Moscow in June 2016. As further prep Dolan
attended three meetings at Russian Embassy in 2016 and communicated with
Embassy staff including Kislyak and Kalugin. 142
In June 2016
Dolan sent email to US acquaitance describing Danchenko "He is too young
for KGB. But I think he worked for FSB. Since he told me he spent two
years in Iran. And when I first met him he knew more about me than I
did." (winking emoticon) 143 In January 2017 he emailed an acquaitance
describing Danchenko as a "Russian agent" p160
Trump did stay at Ritz Carlton in 2013 but not in Presidential Suite then, or ever. 146
How
this was created - on August 19, 2016 Kalugin sends email to Dolan and
others telling them after six years he is returning to Moscow in
September. September a new Steele report states, "as a prophylactic
measure, a leading Russia diplomat, Mikhail Kalugin, had been withdrawn
from Washington on short notice because Moscow feared his heavy
involvement in the US presidential election operation . . ." 154
In
January 2017 Danchenko informed FBI that Olga Galkina was source for
several Steele report allegations. 163 and that she had a connection
with Dolan.
". . . Dolan was never interviewed, despite the
suggestion from both Steele and Galkina that Dolan could have
information related to the Steele Reports and the detailed analysis
undertaken by two FBI personnel assigned to the Mueller team." p160
In
June 2017 FBI interview Danchenko said of Dolan, "Yeah he likes Russia .
. . Uh, he's a bit naive in his, um liking of Russia". p162
". . .the FBI found no evidence that Cohen had met with Russian officials in Prague" 158
When
an FBI agent raised interviewing Dolan "with the Mueller Special
Counsel team, he was explicitly told not to interview Dolan". 164 Agent
said he aggressively pushed Dolan information and believed Andrew
Weissman was in at least one of the briefings.
Galkina interviewd
in Cyprus in August 2017 and appears forthcoming except when asked about
Dolan, 166, but when pressed finally identified him as someone she
passed Steele info on to.
In August 2017 two FBI analysts on
Mueller team briefed several people, including Jeannie Rhee and drafted a
case opening document for Dolan. 167-8 But on September 7 instructed
"to cease all research and analysis related to Dolan". One of the two
was transferred same day to another team.
In Sept 2017 they were
instructed to "cease work on attempting to corraborate the Steele
reports" 169 FBI analyst contemporaneous notes "explicitly state that
Mueller investigation leadership directed [them] to dedicate no
resources" to Dolan.
Request to open case on Dolan denied and it
was a "higher level decision" and case opening was to be deleted from
computer system. 170
FBI analysts "discussed whether the decision
not to pen on Dolan was politically motivated, given Dolan's extensive
connections to the Democratic party" 170 with one of the analysts
"speculated that the information on Dolan ran counter to the narrative
that the Mueller Special Counsel investigators were cultivating" 171.
Analyst believed this decision would be reviewed by OIG and uploaded
memorandum to three separate case files on the FBI system to make sure
OIG would have access.
"The FBI interviewed hundreds of
individuals through the course of the CH and Mueller Special Counsel
investigations, and yet, they did not interview Dolan or the other two
U.S. persons identified by Steele [in October 2016]. 172
WAS DOLAN FED INFO BY RUSSIANS BECAUSE OF CONNECTION WITH CLINTON?
----------------------------------------------
Steele working for Oleg Deripaska p151
FBI
personnel working on that same FISA application displayed, at best, a
cavalier attitude towards accuracy and completeness. FBI personnel also
repeatedly disregarded important requirements when they continued to
seek renewals of that FISA surveillance while acknowledging - both then
and in hindsight - that they did not genuinely believe there was
probable cause to believe that the target was knowingly engaged in
clandestine intelligence activities on behalf of a foreign power" p
17-18g
3 requirements for issuing FISA warrant: p31
1. Probable cause to believe that the target of the surveillance is an agent of a foreign power
2. For US person - showing that he at least may violate laws
3. For US person must be knowingly engaged
---------
NOTES:
Had
no support for Steele Dossier allegations. Briefed President, Biden,
Rice on January 5. On January 6, Comey briefs Trump. 3 days later it
is public. Someone leaked.
Mueller knew dossier was false, denied
reviewing it because obstruction issue only made sense if it was still
in play. If acknowledged it was false, Trump's reaction much more
understandable and obstruction falls apart. Pages on Mifsud with no
acknowledgements.
Clinesmith treatment by DC Bar.
---------
Page
known to FBI had been interviewed on three occasions between 2009 and
2013 by NYFO. In 2015 interviewed again by NYFO. Had been approached
by Russian intelligence in failed recruitment effort. p 46
April
2016 NYFO opens counterintelligence investigation, not because of Page,
but concern about Russians reaching out to him. p47
FISA
application on Page deliberately omitted that he had been approved as
operational contact by the CIA. 185 Clinesmith lied and said Page "was
never a source" vive la Resistance"! FISA application misrepresented
statements made by Page to CHS 204
Recordings of Page by CHS
failed to find any damaging evidence. Page said he never met Manafort
[accurate]. Page sent Manafort one email and copied him on two others,
but never received a response.
Yahoo! News report in late
September of Sechin, Divyekin, Page secret meeting. Two days later Page
sends letter to Comey volunteering to speak to anyone in the FBI "in
the interest of helping them put these outrageous allegations [about
him] to rest". 197 In response, CH investigators were "prohibited by
FBI senior executives from approaching Page" until authorization
received in March 2017. Once authorized Page sat for 5 voluntary
interviews and "full cooperated with the FBI, even going so far as to
bring his own PowerPoint presentation to one of the interviews" 200
On Oct 13, one week before initial Page application submitted two FBI agents:
Special Agent-2: Yeah [Case agent -1] says no appetite to interview Page either. thats stupid.
Supervisory Special Agent -1: yeah-dude I dont know why we are even here. 197
Decisions
were "effectively being made by the Director and Deputy Director of the
FBI. In this regard, according to McCabe, "Director Comey was getting
daily briefings on this stuff, regularly" and the Director was
intimately involved with the team that was working on the case". 199
"clear
predisposition on the part of at least certain FBI personnel at the
center of Crossfire Hurricane to open an investigation of Trump" p
47-48, citing Strzok, Lisa Page texts :
August 8, 2016
Page: [Trump's] not going to become president, right? Right?!
Strzok: No. No, he's not. We'll stop it.
Clinesmith - "viva le resistance" Nov 22, 2016
Strzok was going around Preistap to McCabe.
Starting Crossfire Hurricane
Papadopoulos met with Downer on May 6 and 10, 2016 in London with Aussie junior diplomat joined on the 10th by Downer.
Information
on meeting provided by Australia to US Embassy in London on July 26 and
passed on to FBI the next day. Info contained May 16 cable from
Downer:
He commented that the Clintons had "a lot
of baggage" and suggested the Trump team had plenty of material to use
in its campaign. He also suggested the Trump team had received some
kind of suggestion from Russia that it could assist this process with
the anonymous release of information during the campaign that would be
damaging to Mrs Clinton (and President Obama). It was unclear whether
he or the Russians were referring to material acquired publicly of [sic]
through other means. It was also unclear how Mr Trump's team reacted
to the offer. We note the Trump team's reaction could, in the end, have
little bearing of [sic] what Russia decides to do, with our without Mr
Trump's cooperation. p 52-53
(Another example of the catastrophe of adding Papa to the Board)
No reference to emails in note.
"When
interviewed by the Office, Downer stated that he would have
characterized the statements made by Papa differently than Australian
Diplomat-1 did". "According to Downer, Papa made no mention of Clinton
emails, dirt or any specific approach by the Russian government to the
Trump campaign team with an offer or suggestion of providing
assistance. Rather, Downer's recollection was that Papa simply stated
'the Russians have information' and that was all." p 53 "Downer also
said that he "did not get the sense Papa was the middle-man to
coordinate with the Russians" p. 54
According to Diplomat-1 Pap "did not say he had direct contact with the Russians."p54
In
Footnote reference to 2019 public interview that Downer said that in
talking with Papa there was "no suggestion that there was collusion
between Donald Trump or Donald Trump's campaign and the Russians". p53
They described Papa as "insecure" and "trying to impress them".
Australian disclosure prompted by release of Wikileaks of emails from DNC servers on July 22.
".
. . there is no question that the FBI had an affirmative obligation to
closely examine the Paragraph Five information". But it was sole basis
for opening full investigation. p54 Done before an discussions or
interviews with Australians or Papa. No attempt to contact other IC
agencies. p55
Durham contrasts this speed with "Strzok's
decision making in the referral in September 2016 of a matter involving
former Congressman Anthony Weiner's laptop computer. In that instance,
according to the OIG, the FBI and Strzok did not act for over a month to
pursue legal process to review thousands of missing Clinton emails
found on Weiner's laptop." and it "contrasts with the care taken in
connection with the investigation of the Clinton Foundation and other
matters." p56
At the time CH opened, "the FBI did not possess any
intelligence showing that anyone associated with the Trump campaign was
in contact with Russian intelligence officers at any point during the
campaign". Also, later discovered "an early June 2017 USIC report
indicated that two persons affiliated with [Russian intelligence
services] were aware of Steele's election investigation in early July
2016. . . Steele's sources may have been compromised by the Russians at
a time prior to the creation of the Steele Reports and throughout the
FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation." p59
NOTE: Simpson & Steele working for two different Kremlin oligarchs.
August
2 - Strzok and another agent meet with Australians. Engaged FBI's
Assistant Legal Attache in London. According to ATLAT recalled "Strzok
making a comment in the taxi on their way to the Australian High
Commission to the effect that "there's nothing to this, but we have to
run it to ground" p60 ATLAT shared Papa info with British Intelligence
who "expressed real skepticism about the motivations and reliability of
Papa". Brits did not views the alleged information "to be particularly
valuable intelligence". British could not believe Papa info was all
the US had and they must be holding something back! p60
August 11
ALAT: Dude, are we telling them [Brits] everything we know, or is there more to this?
SSA-1: that's all we have
SSA-1: not holding anything back
ALAT: Damn, that's thin
SSA-1: I know
SSA-1: it sucks
p60-1
Brits asked ATLAT "why the FBI did not just go to Papa and ask him what they wanted to know".
Brits finally checked out refusing requests from Mueller.
CH did not ask:
Jonathan
Moffa, Chief of FBI's Counterintelligence Analysis Section, and Chief
of Russian Analysis Unit. "he had heard nothing about Trump and Russia
until events began to be reported in July 2016" p61
The FBI
Intelligence Analyst with the most in-depth knowledge of Russian
intelligence never saw anything regarding any Trump election conspiracy
with the Russians, nor anything about Page, Papa, Flynn or Manafort
involving this p.62
DNI Clapper testified to Congress that "no" when asked if he was aware of evidence.
Austrialian
dip 1 told Stzok that information "was written in an intentionally
vague way because of what Papa did and did not say". p62
By the
time CH team gets first Steele reports on Sept 19, investigation had
been underway for six weeks, incluiding use of CHS but "had not resulted
in the collection of any inculpatory information" p66
Things not done:
"Interviewing
Page, particularly once the FBI's interest in him was publicly
disclosed by the media. In fact, two days after this disclosure, Page
wrote to Director Comey offering to be interviewed, but the FBI elected
not to do so." p67 (Disclosed in Yahoo News article on Sept 23) &
not interviewing Papa.
FBI Inspection Division Report found
intelligence analysits "selected for CH were uniformly inexperienced"
and that "none of them were subject matter expert analysts" p68
CH
limited by "failure to integrate" Directorate of Intelligence into the
investigation as required by policy. Actively shut down involvement of
Directorate in enhanced validation review of Steele. p68
According to NYFO, call made in May 2016 "on
behalf of Director Comey" to "cease and desist" from Foundation
investigation due to "some undisclosed counterintelligence concern".
Durham unable to find out what the concern was. p80
"while the
Department appears to have had legitimate concerns about the Foundation
investigation occurring so close to a presidential election, it does not
appear that similar concerns were expressed by the Department of FBI
regarding the CH investigation". p 80
Feb 24, 2016 email between Strzok and Page, prior to FBI's interview of Clinton
Page:
One more thing: [Clinton] may be our next president. The last thing
you need [is] going in there loaded for bear. You think she's going to
remember of care that it was more doj than fbi?
Strzok: Agreed p81
THE CLINTON PLAN
in
late July US intelligence agencies "obtained insight into Russian
intelligence analysis alleging that US Presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton had approved a campaign plan to stir up a scandal against US
Presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Putin and the
Russian's hacking of the Democratic National Committee. The IC does not
know the accuracy of this allegation . . . " p81
Brennan briefed
Obama and others on plan to, according to his notes, of Clinton plan to
"vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by
Russian security services" p81
Plan supposedly approved on July 26
On
Sept 7, 2016 US intelligence officials forward investigative referral
to Comey and Strzok regarding Clinton Plan which is described in
referral as "a means of distracting the public from her use of a private
mail server" p82 Nothing was done by FBI with this referral p86
Relevance to CH
Durham
investigates. Some unclassified reported here. Other in Classified
Appendix including "facts that heightened the potential relevance of
this intelligence to the Office's inquiry" p83
Importance recognized immediately. On July 28 Brennan meets with Obama and others. On 29th B meets with Comey.
On August 3 meeting with President, VP, AG, Comey and others to discussion Russian interference, including Clinton Plan.
NOTES: Rice letter of January 20, 2017
CH team learned of Clinton Plan by August 22
Durham
found no evidence CH team evaluated Clinton Plan in light of CH
investigation p87 Did not disclose in FISA application p87
P88
"The
Office showed portions of the Clinton Plan intelligence to a number of
individuals who were actively involved in the CH investigation. Most
advised they had never seen the intelligence before, and some expressed
surprise and dismay upon learning of it. [ME - Comey suppressed it]
[The original Supervisory Special Agent on CH was shown it during one of
his interviews:
"After reading it [he] became visibly upset and
emotional, left the interview room with his counsel, and subsequently,
returned to state emphatically that had never been apprised of the
Clinton Plan intelligence . . . expressed a sense of betrayal that no
one had informed him of the intelligence . . . responded firmly that
regardless of whether its contents were true, he should have been
informed of it."
When former FBI General Counsel Baker was shown
it he also said he had never seen or heard of it and that if he had know
of it would have viewed Steele Dossier and Alfa Bank stuff from Clinton
Lawyer Michael Sussman "in a different and much more skeptical light".
p88
On July 27, Clinton foreign policy advisor circulated draft
statement for signature on Trump ties to Russia and campaign manager
Robby Mook stated potential Russia/Trump connection. p88
". . .
evidence gathered by the Office revealed a concerted effort on the part
of Fusion GPS in late July 2016 - the same timeframe the Clinton Plan
intelligence was purportedly approved - to communicate with the press
regarding the Page allegations in the Steele reporting" p92 (including
reporters for Slate, Reuters, WSJ, and Jane Mayer of New Yorker (a
reliable mouthpiece for whatever Democrats are peddling)
Sidenote:
One of the reporters contacted was Tom Hamburger of WaPo who passed
because of "kick back to the idea" and telling him that the allegation
that Page met with Sechin and Ivanov, "It's [expletive]. Impossible" -
WaPo "Moscow source" p94
Nonetheless this allegation was included in 4 FISA applications.
"The
FBI thus failed to act on what should have been - when combined with
other, incontrovertible facts - a clear warning sign that the FBI might
then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law
enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 presidential
election" p97
Notes classification issues would be "insurmountable" if prosecution attempted. p 98
Perkins
Coie hires Fusion in April 2016. "Shortly thereafter" Fusion hires
Steele. Steele reports from July through December. "According to the
reports, important connections between Trump and Russia ran through
campaign manager Paul Manafort and foreign policy advisor Carter Page.
p98
OIG found 17 material errors or omissions and "so many basic
and fundamental errors" in the Page FISA applications. p99 Found that
FBI personnel "did not give appropriate attention facts that cut against
probably cause". p100
Several CH investigators were skeptical of
the information and as not went on believed Page was not an agent and
not a threat to national security but "FBI management" directed renewal.
p100 Numerous communication cited about skepticism and concerns from
lower level CH team members, doe to "uncorroborated nature of the
allegations" and "lack of insight into the reliability of Steele's
sub-sources" p101
OI attorney advised that FBI OGC Clinesmith
informed him that Comey "want to know what's going on" and McCabe asked
"who the FBI needed to speak with at DOJ to 'get this going'" p102
McCae said Comey definitely wanted the FISA.
Oct 12, 2016 note
Evans concern that Steele may have been hired by Clinton or the DNC.
His concerns were raised to Comey & McCabe and "they are supportive
of moving forward despite his concerns"
NYFO agent who led NYFO
investigation of Page was never contacted by CH prior to submission of
initial Page warrant application. Was "never overly concerned about
Page being an intelligence officer for the Russians" and had never
pursued FISA. p103 She assumed CH had found additional info linking
Page to the Russians! She now viewed Page investigation as "a waste of
money".
Day to day members of team never knew Page served as
source for CIA. When one learned he "felt like a fool". p104 When it
came time for renewal, they felt Page was not a threat to national
security or witting agent for Russians but "assumed" that "somebody
above them" possessed information "unknown to the investigators" p104
It
was their impression that superiors were "being directed by FBI
executive management to continue the FISA surveillance" p105 "It was
not the normal course of business to have the 7th floor (FBI executive
management) intimately involved in an investigation and very unusual to
have an investigation run from FBI Headquarters".
" . . . as of
early 2017, the FBI still did not possess any intelligence showing that
anyone associated with the Trump campaign was in contact with Russian
intelligence officers during the campaign." p 106
FBI
documentation shows that reports published by New York Times in February
and March 2017 were untrue - sources "four unnamed current and former
U.S. intelligence officials" (1) intercepted communications of members
of Trump's campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts
with senior Russian intelligence officials, (2) Paul Manafort was one of
the individuals picked up on the intercepts and (3) intercepts had been
captured by NSA. p106
Also that there were meetings in European cities between Russian officials and associates of Trump was false. p107
OBAMA ORDER ON DISTRIBUTING INFORMATION
2018 Incident
-
FBI review in 2018 "showed that the Russians had access to sensitive
U.S. government informaiton years earlier that would have allowed them
to identify Steele's subsources . . . Steele's subsources could have
been compromised by the Russians at a point in time prior to the date of
the first Steele dossier report". p 107-8 Review team was then told
"no more memorandum were to be written". p108 Further meeting in which
"the review team was told to be careful about what they were writing
down because issues relating to Steele were under intense scrutiny".
Deputy
Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Dina Corsi then directed
team not to document any recommendations, context, or analysis in the
memorandum. Team members described this as "highly unusual" because
analysis is what analysts do. And OGC Attorney at the briefing
"remembered being shocked" by Corsi and that "it was the most
inappropriate operational or professional statement he had ever heard at
the FBI". p 108 Corsi is still at the FBI
May 2017 Strzok
debating whether to join Mueller team, hesitated "in part, because of my
gut sense and concern there's no big there there". p109
STEELE
Starting
in 2010 Steele provided information to the FBI. Introduced by DOJ
Bruce Ohr, whose wife worked for Fusion GPS. In 2013 Steele became
CHS. Closed as CHS in Nov 2016 but FBI continued to receive reports via
Ohr. (109-110)
Steele gave initial reports to FBI on July 5
(Moscow Ritz Carlton & details on how Kremlin had been feeding info
to Trump campaign on his rivals) and informed agent he worked for
FusionGPS, Fusion had been hired by a law firm, and his ultimate client
was "senior Democrats supporting Clinton" and that Hillary Clinton was
aware of his reporting. 110
July 19 - additional report on meeting
that Page had that month with Igor Sechin, Chairman of Rosneft, and
another with Igor Divyekin, senior official in Russian government,
supposedly to discuss lifting of sanctions and Russia's compromising
info on Trump and Clinton. p111
Mysterious 75 days between when
FBI London gets initial Steele report and when CH team get it on
September 19. ". . . the Office has not received a satisfactory
explanation that would account for the unwarranted delay." p112
"Despite
the lack of any corroboration of the Reports' sensational allegations,
however, in short order portions of four of the Reports were included in
the initial Carter Page FISA application without any further
verification or corroboration . . ." 112
On July 28, NYFO informed
London that "FBI leadership, including an FBI Headquarters official at
the Executive Assistant Director level, was not aware of the existence
of the reports." 113 (Just like Christine Ford Blasey, held in reserve
until they needed it)
Inferential evidence that senior NYFO was at
FBI HQ, meeting with several senior officials in late July 114. Senior
NYFO told Office that when meeting with senior DC officials they "were
already aware of the Steele Reports and that [he] appeared to have
engaged in previous conversations with other FBI "higher up" about the
reports. 114 Senior NYFO spent July 29 shadowing McCabe.
Finally
sent directly by London to CH on September 19. ". . . the failure of
recollection by FBI personnel concerning the matter certainly raises the
question of whether the FBI had misgivings from the start about the
provenance and reliability of the Steele Reports". p117
October 3 -
two FBI DC people meet with Steele in Rome. Inform Steele "that the
FBI might be willing to pay Steele in excess of $1,000,000 if he could
provide corroborating evidence of the allegations contained in his
reporting".
Steele provided info in that meeting which proved false
(1) One primary subsource was Russia based, who traveled freely in Russia with a well-connected network
(2) Most of the contacts appear to be unwitting of where info was going
(3) Primary subsource had personal contact with Sergei Millian,
(4) Provided names of US citizens who may have info re Trump and Russia (3 unnamed in Durham and Charles Dolan)
(5) Russian Presidential Administration spokesman Dimitry Peskov "was heavily involved in the Russia/Trump operation" (119)
"FBI's
assessment of the Yahoo! News article radically changed in order to
protect the FISA application" 123 but no FBI employee had any
recollection why it changed.
4 Steele Reports were relied upon by FBI to support the application and three renewals 123
".
. . not a single substantive allegation pulled from the Steele Reports
and used in the initial Page FISA application had been corroborated at
the time of the FISA submission - or indeed, to our knowledge, has ever
been corroborated by the FBI." 124
1. Page was part of a "well-developed conspiracy of co-operation" between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
2. Page met with Igor Sechin and Igor Divyekin in July 2016
3. The Kremlin had for years gathered compromising information on Clinton
4. Russia had leaked DNC emails to Wikileaks, an idea concocted by Page and others
Footnote
in application described person who hired Steele "never advised
[Steele] as to the motivation behind the research into [Trump's] ties to
Russia", going on to say "the FBI speculates that the . . . person was
likely looking for information that could be used to [discredit] Trump's
campaign". But FBI knew Steele had been hired by Fusion which had been
hired by law firm and ultimate client was Clinton campaign and HC was
aware of Steele's reporting! 125 NOTE: Rewriting of Steele's contacts
and networks in FISA application
SERGEI MILLIAN
NY based
real estate broker who from 2006-16 was president of Russian-American
Chamber of Commerce. Had been involved in some minor listings of Trump
Organization properties.
Danchenko claimed Source E was Millian.
Though Steele thought Danchenko had met Millian the two never did.
Claim based "entirely on a purported anonymous telephone call Danchenko
said he received from someone he had never spoken to before" and that he
identified as Millian. ". . . this completely uncorraborated
allegation was included in the Page FISA application, both before and
after the FBI learned its provenance from Danchenko himself. 173
Durham
found no evidence of such a call. 175 nor does it appear CH ever tried
to verify the call. The whole thing was fabricated. " . . . the Office
found no evidence that Millian was a source for any of the allegations
in the Steele Reports." 180
Fusion GPS records show that "Nellie
Ohr first identified Millian as having connections to Trump" On April
22, 2016 Ohr prepared report for Fusion on the connections. All told
Ohr prepared 12 reports discussing Millian. These reports were provided
to CH by Bruce Ohr. Timing of this and other matters "strongly
supports the inference that Fusion GPS directed Steele to pursue
Millian". 181 Other Fusion employees worked on research about Millian.
Fusion was promoting Millian to the press as a key intermediary between
Trump and Russia. Fusion research increased substantially in July
2016. Fusion also tried to tie Millian to the fake Alfa Bank story p183
From 2007 to 2011 Millian was FBI CHS! 185
On
January 17, 2019 FBI closed case on Millian noting "the investigation
found no confirmation that [Millian] was directed to engage in
activities related to Russian Government efforts to interfere with the
2016 U.S. President Election." 185
"Notably, not one of the
damning allegations contained in the Steele reporting was ever
corroborated: not the salacious allegations of events at the Ritz
Carlton in Moscow, not the allegation of there being a 'well-developed
conspiracy of co-operation" between Trump and the Russians, not the
allegations of a secret meeting involving Page and certain sanctioned
Russians (namely, Igor Sechin and Igor Divyekin), and not the allegation
of Page serving as Manafort's conduit for information between the
Russians and the Trump campaign. This is true even after the FBI
offered Steele $1 million or more for such corroboration and after
Danchenko was signed up as an FBI CHS [Confidential Human Source] and
paid more than $220,000 for information on other matters" p236
"When
[the FBI] checked with another U.S. intelligence agency on matters
relating to the Steele reporting, they received no corroborating
information back. As one long-time counterintelligence expert at that
agency told [the Durham investigation], the Dossier contained unverified
allegations from sub-sources who allegedly provided the information,
information that the government could not obtain despite its vast
intelligence resources and paying millions of dollars for intelligence.
Indeed, after the Steele Dossier was leaked and became public, that
expert's reaction was to ask the FBI, "You didn't use that, right?". 237
