Fusion GPS Hearing Transcript Contains Bombshells

Senator Diane Feinstein stating why she released the Fusion GPS transcript "to set the record straight."

Republicans have been increasing the volume of their attacks on the FBI, Robert Mueller's Russiagate investigation, and the dossier prepared by MI-6 agent Christopher Steele and, as modern day Republicans are wont to do, lying about the facts and twisting statements to the point where they are no longer recognizable.  Indeed, Senators Grassley and Graham, a/k/a the Palmetto Queen, even have tried to seek to have Steele criminally prosecuted on a fairy tale theory.  Fed up with all of it and frustrated by Republican refusal to release the transcript of the the (10) hour Senate Intelligence Committee testimony of the principals of Fusion GPS, the original employer of Steele - and the bombshells contained therein - Senator Diane Feinstein released the entire 312 page transcript on her office website.  The full transcript can be found here.  As both Politico and the Washington Post are reporting, the transcript undermines many of the Republican's talking points and perhaps most explosively suggest that someone in the Trump campaign may have been the first to talk to the FBI and trigger the beginning of its investigation - even before a drunken George Papadopoulos ran his mouth to Australian intelligence officials who likewise contacted the FBI. First, these highlights from the Washington Post:

The head of the research firm behind a dossier of allegations against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump told congressional investigators that someone inside Trump’s network had also provided the FBI with information during the 2016 campaign, according to a newly released transcript, a claim quickly disputed by people close to the investigation into Russian interference in the election.

Glenn R. Simpson, a founder of the research firm Fusion GPS, spoke to investigators with the Senate Judiciary Committee for 10 hours in August. As the partisan fight over Russian interference in the 2016 election has intensified, Simpson has urged that his testimony be released, and a copy of the transcript was made public Tuesday.

It was released by the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.
 Feinstein said she released the transcript to set the record straight. “The innuendo and misinformation circulating about the transcript are part of a deeply troubling effort to undermine the investigation into potential collusion and obstruction of justice,’’ she said.

Steele first reached out to the FBI with his concerns in early July 2016, according to people familiar with the matter. When they re-interviewed him in early October, agents made it clear, according to Simpson’s testimony released Tuesday, that they believed some of what Steele had told them.

“My understanding was that they believed Chris at this point — that they believed Chris might be credible because they had other intelligence that indicated the same thing and one of those pieces of intelligence was a human source from inside the Trump organization,” Simpson said. . . . . adding that his understanding was the source was someone who had volunteered information to the FBI or, in his words, “someone like us who decided to pick up the phone and report something.”

Again, Republicans would have their sheep like supporters believe that the Steele dossier was what launched the FBI investigation of Trump in 2016.  This transcript shows that that story line is a lie.  The Politico piece goes further.  Here are some excerpts:

Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, whose firm commissioned a controversial dossier alleging secret ties between President Donald Trump and the Kremlin, told congressional investigators in August that the FBI found the dossier credible because an unnamed "human source" associated with Trump had offered the bureau corroborating information.

In a 312-page transcript of Simpson's August 2017 interview with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Simpson's attorney also said it was dangerous to discuss the dossier's sources because its public release last year had already led to murder.

"Somebody's already been killed as a result of the publication of this dossier and no harm should come to anybody related to this honest work," said the lawyer, Joshua Levy. . . . . It's unclear to whom Levy was referring. He didn't respond immediately to a request for comment. But Britain's Telegraph newspaper reported last year about a former KGB chief who was mysteriously killed around the same time amid questions about his relationship to dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British spy contracted by Fusion.

Simpson also said Steele initiated communication with the FBI in July 2016 with "someone that he said he knew."At the time, Simpson said, Steele was told that his information tracked with what they had heard from a source from the "Trump organization.” It was unclear whether he might have been referring to Trump’s business or his presidential campaign. Simpson said he wouldn't share the identity of that source for "security" reasons.

Expect the Republican lies to continue.  As for Grassley and Graham, one has to wonder how they have decided to prostitute themselves to Trump and/or indirectly Vladimir Putin.  As previously indicated, some believe that either Trump or the Russians have "kompromat" on Graham.