Why Republicans Wanted to Hide the Fusion GPS Transcript

Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley - self prostitutes for Trump?  

The previous post looked at Senator Diane Feinstein's release of the Fusion GPS trnascript to the dismay of Republicans who disingenuously claimed its release would harm the investigation as a way of trying to throw up a smoke screen to distract the public from what the transcript reveals, none of which is good for Der Trumpenführer and his sycophants.  Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin who has put nation - and basic morality - ahead of her party has a column that neatly lays out what Lindsey Graham and others prostituting themselves to Trump wanted to hide from the American public.  Here are highlights from her column:

You can understand why the Republicans were furiously trying to suppress the transcript, which contains no classified information.

• First, it makes clear that Steele was engaged because of his expertise and contacts. He was not told to find anything in particular, but just to research the totality of Trump’s involvement in Russia.
• Second, according to Simpson, Trump was doing business all over the former Soviet states of Georgia and Azerbaijan. Interestingly, Trump repeatedly denied having financial ties in Russia itself but never publicly denied operations in states in which Russians exercised substantial influence.
• Third, in investigating Trump’s finances they found his properties were not as highly valued as he suggested and, in the case of several golf courses, weren’t making money.
• Fourth, Steele took it upon himself to report his finding to the FBI because he believed there was a “crime in progress” and matter of national security. He later relayed to Simpson that the FBI already had information from a campaign source.
• Fifth, Trump lied about not knowing who Felix Sater is. Simpson testified, “This was something he didn’t want to talk about and testified under oath he wouldn’t know Felix if he ran into him in the street. That was not true. He knew him well and, in fact, continued to associate with him long after he learned of Felix’s organized crime ties. So, you know, that tells you something about somebody.” We do not know if Sater was in fact tied to organized crime.
• Sixth, Simpson called it a reasonable “interpretation” that the Trump Tower meeting was designed by Russian officials to reach out to and cooperate with the Trump team.
• Seventh, far from interfering in the election to benefit Hillary Clinton, the FBI did not publicly disclose during the campaign the wealth of information it was learning about Trump and Russia.

What stands out most from an initial perusal of the transcript is the professionalism and seriousness of Fusion GPS and Steele. By attempting to suppress a candid look into the dossier (really a series of memos, Simpson explains), Republicans once again are caught acting like Trump henchmen, trying to play down the investigation into Russia, not unearth and air what they learn.

I'd love to know what "kompromat" Trump and/or the Russians have on Graham.