Unsealed documents shed new light on efforts to verify Trump-Russia dossier

[UpInArms]

Source: CNN

Documents unsealed this week lend credence to a theory about Russian election meddling that was first put forward in the Trump-Russia dossier, however they do not corroborate the more explosive claims that the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin in the 2016 campaign.

A report from a retired agent who worked for the FBI's cyber division, submitted as expert testimony in a civil lawsuit, presented new evidence about how Russian intelligence might have exploited a private web hosting company when it fooled top Democratic targets into giving up their passwords. The fruits of those hacks formed the basis of the WikiLeaks email dumps that roiled the race.

The controversial dossier had accused Russian hackers of using those companies, Webzilla and its parent company XBT, as part of their scheme to meddle in the presidential election. The memos, written by a retired British spy, Christopher Steele, also claimed that Russian entrepreneur Aleksej Gubarev assisted the cyberattacks "under duress" from Russian intelligence.

... snip ...

In her decision to throw out the case, the judge confirmed that BuzzFeed got the dossier from an associate of Republican Sen. John McCain in December 2016, weeks after the election.

Read more: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/03/15/politics/unsealed-documents-trump-russia-dossier/index.html

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Very interesting...

[erronis]

1. It seems that every new bit of evidence lends credence to the Steele Dossier. Yet some don't want to

believe a single word of it.

Remember that Steele started his research on behalf of a Repuglicon group worried about tRump. When tRump was looking like the top ass in the (R) field, his research was picked up by the Democrats.

[mr_lebowski]

3. Actually Steele was hired after Dems took over the contract ...

The 'Russia Investigation' portion of the probe was requested by Democrats, basically, and Glenn Simpson of Fusion hired Steele because of his expertise. Prior to that, it was just your run-of-the-mill oppo research.

However, there was just simple timing involved ... the reasons to *suspect* a Trump-Russia connection happened to become more clear as Trump approached the nomination, and the Republican Group gave up on it cause it looked like he'd win the nomination at that time.

[wishstar]

2. Finally an article where author states that most of the basic claims of dossier are substantiated

I don't remember reading before that Buzzfeed obtained dossier from McCain associate. Very suspicious how nearly every Repub official has been desperately trying to discredit everything alleged in the dossier, when much of the dossier memos have proved to be accurate.

"The memos were circulating in Washington, and CNN soon broke the story that senior US intelligence officials had briefed President-elect Trump and President Barack Obama about some of the unverified allegations. Hours later, BuzzFeed published the complete dossier online.

The most salacious allegations in the dossier remain unverified to this day. But the claims that form the bulk of the memos have held up over time, or at least proved to be partially true.

This notably includes Steele's claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw an effort to interfere in the 2016 election. It also includes allegations of secret contacts between Trump's team and the Russians during the campaign. Steele gathered this stunning information months before the Russian meddling campaign was publicly confirmed by US intelligence agencies and in court filings from special counsel Robert Mueller"

[mr_lebowski]

4. It annoys the shit out of me when reporters say this crap ...

"allegations in the dossier remain unverified to this day"

Uhhh ... how about AS FAR AS THE PUBLIC IS AWARE?

For all anyone, including this silly author knows ... Mueller has confirmed every last freaking word.

Derp.

Also fairly annoying you have to read to the very end to see these very important paragraphs ...

[Botany]

9. The # of things that were in the dossier that have been debunked is zero.

"It annoys the shit out of me when reporters say this crap ..."
"The controversial dossier"

BTW what about HRC's emails.

[mr_lebowski]

11. Oh, I know ... oh, and it's ALWAYS the word 'salacious' ...

Unverified and salacious ... even though they don't have any way of knowing what Mueller has found. Drives me batty ...

[Botany]

13. One of the few things not verified in the Steele Dossier is the pee pee part.

Last edited Sat Mar 16, 2019, 06:54 PM - Edit history (1)

However we do have a story about Trump going to a Los Vegas show in
the late winter early spring of 2013 where "water sports" shows were part
of the act. Trump is said to have attended the show with Russians that
were either at the 2016 Trump Tower meeting and or met w/Trump later
in 2013 when Trump was in Moscow for his Miss. Universe Show.

Other things verified from the Steele Dossier:

Russian interference into the 2016 elections.

Michael Cohen in Prague in late summer/early fall .... at least we know his cell phone was there

China is into the Trumps for millions

The Russians used Trump properties to launder their money

Trump had "dirty connections" to Israel and Saudi Arabia

Russia helped the Trump campaign with stolen emails, data, misinformation, and interference into our elections

Multiple contacts and connections between Trump and Russia

US and other countries' intel had been monitoring connects between Trump and Russia.

[mr_lebowski]

14. YUP! (nt)

[hughee99]

15. Sorry, I don't think I read the article right. Which basic claim of the dossier does this confirm?

n/t

[pnwmom]

5. I disagree that the pee tape would have been the most explosive part of the dossier.

The oil company deal, if true, would have been a much bigger story.

[Instant Liberal]

7. At this point the pee tape would just be expected.

Trump could shoot himself in the head in the middle of Wall Street and these morons would still support him.....and find a way to blame it on Hillary.

[pnwmom]

8. Agreed. And welcome to DU, Instant Liberal! n/t

[True Blue American]

10. Add my welcome,too.

[lagomorph777]

16. If Trump shot himself in the head in the middle of Wall Street, I'd support him.

But that is the only way I'd ever support him.

Welcome to DU!

[mahina]

12. Can you say more about the oil company deal? I have not heard about that?

Thanks

[pnwmom]

17. It had to do with the sale of a largeRussian oil company named Rosneft.

Here is a PDF copy of the 35 page Steele dossier. It comprises a series of raw (unverified) intelligence reports over the course of several months. Unfortunately, I can't copy and paste from it, but you can read it yourself.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3259984-Trump-Intelligence-Allegations.html

First, on page 9, the summary mentions negotiations between Carter Page and a Russian named Sechin about bilateral energy cooperation and associated lifting of Ukrainian sanctions. Page was "non-committal." Under "detail," this comment was repeated on page 9, paragraph 2.

On page 30, in the summary, discussions with Carter Page about "offering a large stake in Rosneft in return for lifting sanctions on Russia." This is elaborated on page 30 in the detail section, where it says that the Rosneft President had promised Page the "brokerage" of 19% of Rosneft in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. (Since then, it has been confirmed in the media that about 1/5 of the sale of Rosneft was accomplished, but there is no proof of where the funds, or the brokerage fee, ended up.)

Also, as an interesting side note, it says in the first few pages that Trump has turned down some business opportunities in Russia that have been offered. However, on page 7 it says that the Trump team is happy to have the "Russia bogeyman to mask more extensive corrupt business ties to China and other emerging countries." It elaborates on that on page 8, paragraph 5, mentioning bribes and kickbacks in China.

[mahina]

18. Wow. I remember hearing about that a long time ago but only once.

That is immense. I had forgotten. Aloha.

[EricMaundry]

6. The Steele Dossier will prove once and for all ....

... that Donald Trump is a Urinary Executive.