The #ObamaGate Criminals Are Sh_hole People
Somebody faked that the Crossfire Hurricane team had a FISA on Paul Manafort & "leaked" this to CNN
And the culprits may have been the Special Counsel's Office, trying to influence D.C's Chief Judge into allowing the SCO to pierce Manafort's Attorney/Client privilege
THREAD
And the culprits may have been the Special Counsel's Office, trying to influence D.C's Chief Judge into allowing the SCO to pierce Manafort's Attorney/Client privilege
THREAD
Over two and a half years ago, on Sep 18, 2017, CNN ran this "bombshell” article alleging that the FBI team investigating Russian "Collusion" had a FISA warrant on Paul Manafort:
"Exclusive: US government wiretapped former Trump campaign chairman“
:
"Exclusive: US government wiretapped former Trump campaign chairman“
Let's look at the rest of the claims in this CNN story, before speculating who would give this fake information to CNN, and why
Unmentioned by CNN is that SCO already knew this public narrative on Trump Tower (leaked in July 2017, 3 months beforehand) was false, based on their own interview of the translator at the meeting. And that Manafort had done literally zero at the meeting:
So whoever "leaked" this story to CNN is crafting this (fake) narrative:
—Manafort had a FISA (meaning there's probable cause he's an agent of a foreign power)
—There was a gap in the FISA, and maybe that's where the "Collusion" was really happening, maybe even with Trump
—Manafort had a FISA (meaning there's probable cause he's an agent of a foreign power)
—There was a gap in the FISA, and maybe that's where the "Collusion" was really happening, maybe even with Trump
A recap of the Manafort case and two key court hearings may show motive for why someone would want to make up such an elaborate fake FISA story to bolster the Collusion narrative, and leak it to CNN, timed to land on Sep 18 2017
July 26, 2017: The SCO carried out a dawn raid on Manafort's house.
Aug 2, 2017: Rod Rosenstein writes his first "scope" memo, authorizing the SCO to investigate Manafort for potential "Collusion" with Russia, and for "payments he received from the Ukrainian government"
FYI - it's worth noting at this point that the "Collusion" allegations were based on the Steele dossier, leaked to the media. And the "payments" allegation was substantially based on the fake "black ledger" of "cash payments" to Manafort, also leaked. )
The Chief Judge in D.C. overseeing the case (Beryl Howell) then held a hearing on Sep 19, 2017 (and two others on Sep 20 & 26). courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
And these hearings were crucial to the SCO’s case: they needed Manafort’s own lawyer to testify against him, to ensure they could get the charges about FARA violations to stick.
Sep 18, 2017: one day before those court hearings, this CNN story exploded all over the media. The takeaway - Manafort was considered such a Russian "Collusion" threat, that the FBI even got a FISA warrant, and the SCO has copies of the communications obtained under the FISA!
The Grand Jury testimony of Manafort's lawyer sought by the SCO helped secure Manafort's indictment on Oct 27, which was made public on Oct 31, 2017 following his arrest
Despite Judge Howell's solemn tone about "national importance" and "Collusion" involving Manafort, in reality, Manafort eventually stood trial for crimes like tax evasion, bank fraud and false FARA filings, committed long before he was ever associated with the Trump campaign
And prior to Manafort's trial, the SCO even admitted in response to Brady motions to his trial lawyers that the US government had *no surveillance intercepts* of Manafort AT ALL. Zip
(CNN didn’t report this, or update/retract their original story either)
https://t.co/1wlWwBXa7x
(CNN didn’t report this, or update/retract their original story either)
Then the SCO asserted that "Collusion" wouldn't even be mentioned at Manafort's trial. Instead, we got stories about his expensive Ostrich jacket. Clearly a matter of grave "national importance” 🙄 washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-…
But there is a bigger picture about why someone would go to the elaborate lengths of faking a FISA story in the national media, helping force Manafort's lawyer to flip on him. Because this wasn't the real aim...
...it was to set a tone or "rep" to get to @realDonaldTrump himself
...it was to set a tone or "rep" to get to @realDonaldTrump himself
Just a couple of months after Manafort's lawyer was turned against him, @GenFlynn own attorneys Covington & Burling would cite this aggressive "Manafort treatment" in their own interviews with the SCO, likely fearing they'd get the same if they didn't get Flynn to plead guilty
Covington and Burling no doubt feared being dragged in front of Grand Jury, leaked about in the media, and asked to explain their FARA filing preparations as Manafort’s attorney had been, especially as legal assistance with FARA is a big part of their business. So they caved.
In addition, something not known at the time of the CNN leaks, is that Trump's own personal attorney Michael Cohen was also under investigation by the SCO. So that’s Manafort’s attorney, Flynn's attorneys and Trump’s attorney all in the SCO’s crosshairs
The NYT: made this exact point about "setting a tone" *the day before* the CNN Manafort leak, only a couple of days before the Manafort attorney hearing, via Collusion friendly reporters
Ultimately, the purpose of these fake stories and this coordinated leaking campaign was so the Special Counsel could establish an aggressive "rep" on the street
*We can even get your lawyers to talk. Maybe we've even heard what you've said to them already on a FISA (wink wink)*
*We can even get your lawyers to talk. Maybe we've even heard what you've said to them already on a FISA (wink wink)*
This troubling pattern makes it clear that the SCO's goal was to go after even the lawyers defending Trump's team, Manafort, Flynn and Trump himself
Maybe this aggressive approach would be justified had there been any "Collusion", or an actual threat to national security, but we now know that the SCO knew they had nothing *at the time* they were doing this
All these leaks should be re-evaluated with that key fact in mind
All these leaks should be re-evaluated with that key fact in mind
CONCLUSION
The media were willing participants in SCO intimidation. And while CNN did append an editors note over two years later, they've done nothing to expose the "sources" of this fake FISA, who likely are former members of the Special Counsel's Office
/ENDS
The media were willing participants in SCO intimidation. And while CNN did append an editors note over two years later, they've done nothing to expose the "sources" of this fake FISA, who likely are former members of the Special Counsel's Office
/ENDS
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