They know it is coming out.

This is a defensive move by the conspiracy group to get the word out first.

The NYT article emphasized how the FBI "had" to do this.

The NYT is a tool of the anti-Trump conspiracy


here is more from the article:

Investigators scrambled to determine whether Mr. Papadopoulos had any Russian contacts while deciding to scrutinize three additional Trump campaign aides who had concerning ties to Russia: Paul Manafort, its chairman; Michael T. Flynn, who went on to be the president’s first national security adviser; and Mr. Page.

Manafort, Flynn, and Page - all named in the dossier

Secrecy was paramount for the F.B.I. officials because of the sensitivities of investigating campaign advisers during a presidential race. Had the investigation into Trump advisers’ contacts with Russia become public, it could have devastated the Trump campaign. And top bureau officials were enduring fresh attacks over their handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

because they were so worried about hurting the Trump campaign? BS

One of the agents involved in the Russia inquiry, a seasoned counterintelligence investigator out of New York, turned to Mr. Halper, whom he viewed as a reliable and trusted informant. They had a longstanding relationship; the agent had even spoken at an intelligence seminar that Mr. Halper taught at the University of Cambridge, discussing his work investigating a Russian espionage ring known as the illegals.

Mr. Halper had the right résumé for the task. He was a foreign policy expert who had worked for the Pentagon. He had been gathering information for the F.B.I. for about two decades and had good contacts in Chinese and Russian government circles that he could use to arrange meetings with high-ranking officials, according to a person briefed on Mr. Halper’s relationship with the F.B.I.

The F.B.I. instructed Mr. Halper to set up a meeting in London with Mr. Papadopoulos but gave him few details about the broader investigation, a person familiar with the episode said.

His job was to figure out the extent of any contacts between Trump campaign advisers and Russia. Mr. Halper used his position as a respected academic to introduce himself to both Mr. Papadopoulos and Mr. Page, whom he also met with several times. He arranged a meeting with Mr. Papadopoulos in London to discuss a Mediterranean natural gas project, offering $3,000 for his time and a policy paper.

The F.B.I. also decided to send Ms. Turk to take part in the operation, people familiar with it said, and to pose as Mr. Halper’s assistant. For the F.B.I., placing such a sensitive undertaking in the hands of trusted government investigator was essential.

British intelligence officials were also notified about the operation , the people familiar with the operation said, but it was unclear whether they provided assistance. A spokeswoman for the British government declined to comment.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly claimed that British intelligence spied on his campaign, an accusation the British government has vigorously denied. Last month, the president quoted on Twitter an accusation that the British had spied on his campaign and added: “WOW! It is now just a question of time before the truth comes out, and when it does, it will be a beauty!”

When Mr. Papadopoulos arrived in London on Sept. 15, he received a text message from Ms. Turk. She invited him for drinks.

In his book, “Deep State Target,” Mr. Papadopoulos described her as attractive and said she almost immediately began questioning him about whether the Trump campaign was working with Russia, he wrote.

Mr. Papadopoulos was baffled. “There is no way this is a Cambridge professor’s research assistant,” he recalled thinking, according to his book. In recent weeks, he has said in tweets that he believes Ms. Turk may have been working for Turkish intelligence but provided no evidence.

The day after meeting Ms. Turk, Mr. Papadopoulos met briefly with Mr. Halper at a private London club, and Ms. Turk joined them. The two men agreed to meet again, arranging a drink at the Sofitel hotel in London’s posh West End.

During that conversation, Mr. Halper immediately asked about hacked emails and whether Russia was helping the campaign, ccording to Mr. Papadopoulos’s book. Angry over the accusatory questions, Mr. Papadopoulos ended the meeting.

The F.B.I. failed to glean any information of value from the encounters, and Ms. Turk returned to the United States.

Mr. Halper continued to work with the F.B.I. and later met with Mr. Page repeatedly in the Washington area. The two had coincidentally run into each other in July as well at Cambridge, according to people familiar with the episode.

At the urging of Mr. Page, he met another campaign aide, Sam Clovis, Mr. Trump’s campaign co-chairman, to discuss foreign policy. While aware of the contact with Mr. Clovis, the F.B.I. did not instruct Mr. Halper to ask him questions related to the Russia investigation, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Mr. Clovis recounted his coffee with Mr. Halper in Washington with an Iowa radio station in May 2018. “There was no indication or no inclination that this was anything other than just wanting to offer up his help to the campaign if I needed it,” he said.

Mr. Halper’s connections to the Trump administration strengthened from there. He was invited as part of a group of China experts to meet with White House advisers in 2017. Mr. Halper informed the F.B.I. of the invitation but was not provided with any guidance, people familiar with the episode said.

The group met briefly with Peter Navarro, the president’s top trade representative, who had interviewed Mr. Halper years earlier at Mr. Halper’s home in Virginia for a documentary. According to Axios, the administration also considered Mr. Halper for an ambassadorship.

In an interview with Fox Radio, Mr. Navarro said he viewed Mr. Halper’s role as an F.B.I. informant as a betrayal, saying he felt “duped.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


there is a lot of BS in this article to cover for the FBI. Geo Papadopoulos has been saying he was spied on for months.

Probably ties in to the DEMs going after Barr.

[quote]"It's shocking to me just how deeply and openly disrespectful the Democrats all were yesterday to the Attorney General of the United States".

Methinks the GDC's are coaching an overwhelming bruise. Barr does not impress me as the sort of person that would take that crap with a whimper and let bygones be bygones.

All the Democrats can do is double down, pedal to the metal, come hell or high water. They are desperate. The treasonous crimes in the attempted coup will land traitors in prison for life. This is serious shit. Watergate was tiddley winks in comparison. They can't just throw up their hands and say, "Okay, shucks, you got us. We have been trying to overturn an election. We are trying to destroy America and in its place erect a communist totalitarian state. Uh............. sorry!"

It's one side or the other now. Both sides know it.

What happens next with Nellie Ohr will be the harbinger of what's coming. If she passes quietly in the night with nothing becoming of it and no indictment or criminal charges comes from Barr and company then it will be just more of the same. We will spend our lives awaiting the next report to come out, or the next investigation to end. Into infinity.

On the other hand if she is indicted and criminal charges brought the howling and wailing will be like never before heard. From the early information she could be nailed dead to rights. Barr could have a air tight case against her and she could be facing years in prison and most likely Bruce along with her. Now I'm just guessing but I imagine long prison terms to the Ohr's is a rather frightening proposal. I imagine they have a nice family of children and grandchildren, have lived a life of luxury and comfort with out a worry in the world. The prospect of them going to prison can't even be fathomed by them.

So the only way to avoid it is to turn witness for the prosecution and unravel the entire thing under sworn testimony. Let the Ohr's knock the coup house of cards down. It would help prevent Barr looking like he's on some sort of political vendetta with investigation after investigation and a indictment here and a indictment there which is what Mueller did.

Yeah I know it sounds simplistic and pedestrian but I can dream can't I?

The NYT article above puts the focus on Halper doing spying in Sep 2016.

If you have been following this thread, Halper's name came up a little over a year ago as the FBI spy.

Halper didn't start in Sep 2016.

He started early July 2016 (or sooner). He first worked on Carter Page.

early July 2016. BEFORE the FBI says it opened the counterintel op.

Very good reference article from Mar 2018:

https://dailycaller.com/2018/0...oulos-london-emails/

Halper met campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page at a July 2016 symposium held at Cambridge regarding the upcoming election, Page told TheDCNF. The pair remained in contact for several months.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Halper remained in contact w Carter Page right thru the time period of the last FISA warrant against Page. Then he broke off.

Papadopoulos is saying that Azra Turk was CIA, NOT FBI, as the world turns... Might as well get as many agencies involved as possible.

EDIT: Realistically though, I would have thought this would have been a joint operation at the very least anyway, since it was happening overseas.

In June 2017, Peter Strzok bragged about getting a CIA coin with Brennan's name on it.

A CIA person was on detail to Strzok's FBI branch

quote:

What happens next with Nellie Ohr will be the harbinger of what's coming.

I think that's right. The part often contains the whole. When Sessions recused himself, you could see the clueless, spineless, old coot who would fart around the AG office until Trump showed him the door.

Barr needs to turn the tables on the traitors, put them on defense, and he needs to do it without delay.

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:

quote:

What happens next with Nellie Ohr will be the harbinger of what's coming.

I think that's right. The part often contains the whole. When Sessions recused himself, you could see the clueless, spineless, old coot who would fart around the AG office until Trump showed him the door.

Barr needs to turn the tables on the traitors, put them on defense, and he needs to do it without delay.

I think the dems calling for Barr to be in contempt for not showing up today combined with yesterdays ruckus and Mueller countering him openly now will push Barr to act far quicker than I suspect he had intentions of doing simply to get ahead of this tsunami from the dems

quote:

I think the dems calling for Barr to be in contempt for not showing up today combined with yesterdays ruckus and Mueller countering him openly now will push Barr to act far quicker than I suspect he had intentions of doing simply to get ahead of this tsunami from the dems

I think, based on the last two years alone, we're going to see this play out at the correct speed. The speed will be that which is necessary to nail the fuckers. Unfortunately, today's humans can't seem to be bothered to allow things to work at the correct speed, but thankfully they don't have a choice, if Barr's demeanor is any indication.

I'm sure JALLEN would have written it much more eloquently than I.

I respected JALLEN's legal expertise, but he was not infallible. No one is. In many posts, he speculated that Sessions was working very meticulously and slowly, and secretly, building cases against those who attempted the coup. We know how that turned out.

I don't expect Barr to be Sessions Part II. I think in the next few weeks we will see him engage, and charge, the traitors. The Democrats plan of death by a thousand cuts cannot be allowed to drag on and on.

Several bloggers, especially Conservative TreeHouse, kept reporting that a number of investigations were blocked because Mueller kept saying they would interfere w his SC investigation.

In some cases, Mueller even blocked other agencies from interviewing certain people. (Some of those who may have been held up are Horowitz, Huber, and congressional committees)

Now that Mueller has submitted his report, the flood gates may open. I hope so.

But I also hope we don't get everything at once. That can be overwhelming. A significant release every 2 to 3 weeks would be good.

https://thehill.com/policy/nat...is-testimony-reports

NBC and ABC reporting that Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is in direct talks with the House Judiciary Committee (chair Jerry Nadler) about whether he will testify before Congress

the committee was previously dealing with the Justice Department.

Dems want May 15 hearing, but nothing has been finalized

A healthy dose of truth.

^^ Ouch! Nadler looked like a fool sitting next to and listening to Collins. If Collins would have specifically mentioned the KFC eating on the floor he could have enhanced the embarrassment greatly.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
<snip>
NBC and ABC reporting that Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is in direct talks with the House Judiciary Committee (chair Jerry Nadler) about whether he will testify before Congress
<snip>

Robert Mueller still has a team? Who funds it?

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
<snip>
NBC and ABC reporting that Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is in direct talks with the House Judiciary Committee (chair Jerry Nadler) about whether he will testify before Congress
<snip>

Robert Mueller still has a team? Who funds it?

Fusion GPS and Perkins Coie Law Firm?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...ed-spy-campaign.html

President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that it's likely former FBI Director James Comey led an effort to spy on his campaign in 2016.

And he told a Fox News Channel interviewer that he intends to declassify documents related to controversial surveillance warrants 'pretty soon.'

White House officials have vented both publicly and privately for more than a year about warrants the Obama Justice Department obtained from a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court to monitor Carter Page, then a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser.

The president signaled Friday morning that a reckoning was near.

sounds like Game of Thrones. I think the President has the dragons

Finally, Mainstream Media is getting involved - too “hot” to avoid,' he tweeted, citing a front-page New York Times story about 'effort to spy on Trump Campaign.'

'Pulitzer Prize anyone? ... This is bigger than WATERGATE, but the reverse!' the president wrote.

He didn't set a firm timetable on Fox News for declassifying the materials related to the FISA warrants, saying he would do it 'soon, I mean whenever they need it.'

'I will be declassifying, yes.' he said. 'Everything'.

Trump made a point of blasting Comey, who called him 'amoral' in a New York Times op-ed this week.

'Comey leaked and he lied. He lied in front to Congress,' he said, renewing themes that are now nearly as old as his presidency.

And the FBI director who he fired two years ago likely was in charge of scooping up intelligence aimed at preventing his victory, he claimed.

'I would say he probably led some kind of an effort,' Trump said of Comey. 'The word 'spying' has been used. He probably was one of the people leading the effort on spying.'

'It could very well be true. We are going to find out pretty soon,' he said.

Attorney General William Barr told Congress in April that 'spying on a political campaign is a big deal,' and added: 'I think spying did occur.'

Barr didn't offer evidence to support his conclusions, but he is one of a small number of government officials with access to classified materials related to the previous administration's counter-intelligence operations related to the Trump campaign.

Barr didn't object categorically at the time to the idea of the Justice Department 'spying' on a political campaign.

'The question is whether it was predicated — adequately predicated,' he testified. 'I'm not suggesting it wasn't adequately predicated, but I need to explore that. I think it's my obligation. Congress is usually very concerned about intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane.'

Barr told a Senate panel on Wednesday that the word 'spying' doesn't necessarily carry a negative connotation, but refers to ordinary intelligence work.

Comey said last month in New York that he disagreed.

'When I hear that kind of language used, it's concerning,' he told an audience at a Hewlett Foundation event, 'because the FBI, the Department of Justice, conduct court-ordered electronic surveillance. I have never thought of that as spying.'

'I have no idea what the heck he's talking about,' Comey said.

Trump said hours later at the White House that 'there was absolutely spying into my campaign.'

'I'll go a step further: In my opinion, it was illegal spying, unprecedented spying , and something that should never be allowed to happen in our country again,' he said, 'and I think his answer was actually a very accurate one.'

Trump has complained about 'spying' on his campaign since March 4, 2017, when he stunned politics-watchers by claiming in an unprompted tweet that 'Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!'

He returned to the theme less than three weeks ago, tweeting: 'THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN (We will never forget)!'