Re-Revisiting Russiagate

I'm going to take this relatively slow day in election nonsense as an opportunity to clear out the Russiagate bin, quite a lot of which has been held in the digital fridge since before the inauguration of his fraudulency, China Joe Biden and is starting to grow green fuzz. 

Breaking 911, Trump Declassifies ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ Documents. Cutie Pavlich at Town Hall,  Trump Declassifies Crossfire Hurricane Documents. Chuck Ross at Da Caller informs us Trump Declassifies Russia Investigation Documents, Says He Accepted FBI Request To Keep Some Secret while according to John Solomon at JTN, Trump formally declassifies Russia documents over objections of FBI "Trump says he approved materials in a foot-tall binder of FBI documents "be declassified to the maximum extent possible." Of course there are secrets that need protection, but the FBI tends to overprotect, particularly when something could hurt their image, so I'm glad he took a nuanced stance on this. First revelation? From Jon Solomon again, 'A Trap?' Clinton's Russia collusion research started much earlier, made Steele nervous,"First dossier written in April 2016, efforts included buying possible foreign video footage, declassified FBI memos state." Shearer and Blumenthal at work.

Efforts by Hillary Clinton supporters to craft the Russia collusion narrative to vilify Donald Trump began earlier than previously reported and eventually involved an "indiscreet" effort to buy foreign video footage that made even dossier author Christopher Steele uncomfortable, according to newly declassified FBI memos.

Steele's own account to FBI agents in September 2017, obtained by Just the News, provides the clearest proof to date that Team Clinton built the now-debunked Trump-Russia storyline to distract from her own scandals over Russia money and mishandled classified secrets on her private email server.

Steele himself even admitted part of his motive for leaking the Russia collusion story in fall 2016 was to counteract the lingering email scandal he feared was hurting Clinton's chances of winning the election. He also pinpointed the earliest known research designed to tie Trump to a Russian plot ultimately proven not to exist.

Also, from Chuck Ross,  Trump Impeachment Witness Was Key Link Between Christopher Steele And His Dossier Source, FBI Notes Say

Fiona Hill, a top Russia expert in the Trump administration, was the person who introduced former British spy Christopher Steele to a former think tank analyst who would serve as the primary source for an infamous dossier he compiled on President Donald Trump, according to newly declassified FBI notes.

Ashe Schow at Da Wire, Federal Investigators Find No Wrongdoing In Leak Of Michael Flynn’s Phone Calls To Washington Post. It's still not clear to me whether this means they didn't find the leaker, (because we're pretty sure we know who it was), or that the decided it wasn't criminal for a leaker to leak that information. If it's the latter, we have right to be pissed. Yeah, the latter:

An investigation was opened into whether Obama officials illegally leaked Flynn’s classified phone call to the press. The investigation, code-named Operation Echo, was apparently closed recently without any consequences, The New York Times reported.

“Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington investigated whether the disclosures came from former Obama administration officials who had access to sensitive information about the phone calls, according to two people familiar with the investigation. The investigators ultimately found no wrongdoing, one of the people said,” the outlet wrote.

The leak of Flynn’s phone call may still be under investigation by special counsel John Durham, however.

Well, it's the NYT, so they can't be trusted to tell the truth. Chuck Ross again, Grassley Wants To Know How DOJ Found ‘No Wrongdoing’ In Michael Flynn Leak Probe. Because they didn't try very hard?

I guess Vlad's stopped picking up the phone when she calls; Clinton: I would love to see if Trump 'was talking to Putin the day that the insurgents invaded our Capitol' Ex-Republican Capt. Ed again, House Oversight Chair To FBI: Time For A “Robust Investigation” To Find The Russians Running Parler, Or Something. The new Administration will find a Russian under every bed.

Jordan Davidson at Da Fed, Rand Paul: I’m Not Going To Listen To Comey, He Should Be In Prison. Unlike most Senators, he's right more often than he's wrong.

Capt. Ed at Hot Air, Biden Decides To Stick With Wray At FBI. One can see why, he's never been one to release a secret that hurt the Democrats. Besides, aren't the new rules that you can impeach a Preznit for firing an FBI Director? However, it appears Gina Haspel is out at the CIA, Forbes, CIA Director Gina Haspel Announces Resignation

President-elect Joe Biden has named William Burns, a deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration, as his pick for CIA director, however, it’s currently unclear who will serve in the role until a new director is confirmed by the Senate.

All I know is that she wasn't as bad a John Brennan; but that's a low bar. David Harsanyi at Creator's, It's John Brennan's Authoritarianism That Threatens Democracy. WSJ, Military Intelligence Agency Says It Monitored U.S. Cellphone Movements Without Warrant "DIA says it buys commercially available geolocation data and has used it five times in recent years for authorized investigations" Probably legal, but unsavory.

Trump pardoned some people and since everything Trump ever did was wrong, people are upset, Fox, Trump pardons Steve Bannon, Lil Wayne, dozens of others; also commutes sentences "Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was among 70 to have sentence commuted" I was disappointed he didn't pardon Hunter Biden.