Judge won’t dismiss libel suit against Fusion GPS over dossier

It’s taking forever to turn the tables on all the players involved in the plan to steal the election for the Clinton Creature. Bobby ‘The Fixer’ Mueller is still rooting through people’s lives, trying to frame them with his fake charges. And that’s where the only humor in this situation comes in. Some people are fighting back. Some RUSSIANS!!!, that is. Funny, they seem to object to being ‘slandered’ by the crooks hired hired by the Clinton Creature and her minions.

Judge won’t dismiss libel suit against Fusion GPS over dossier


The suit alleges that Bean LLC, the parent company of Fusion GPS, and Fusion founder Glenn R. Simpson, libeled the trio by circulating the dossier’s allegations that the men had illicit ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. | AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Three Russian businessmen mentioned in the dossier of alleged ties between President Donald Trump and Russia scored a legal victory Wednesday when a judge refused to throw out a libel suit they filed against Fusion GPS, the private investigation firm that produced the compilation.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon turned down Fusion’s motion to dismiss the suit on the grounds that the Russians are public figures and that Washington, D.C., law contains special provisions limiting lawsuits over political controversies.

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Leon said prevailing opinion among his judicial colleagues is that the Washington law at issue, known as the Anti-SLAPP Act, can’t be applied in federal court to force early dismissal of a case like the one filed in 2017 by the businessmen, Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan. Leon said he would not depart from the series of rulings limiting the effect of the law in federal suits.

The suit alleges that Bean LLC, the parent company of Fusion GPS, and Fusion founder Glenn Simpson libeled the trio by circulating the dossier’s allegations that the men had illicit ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The suit complains that Fusion disclosed the dossier to various media outlets as well as prominent individuals in Washington without confirming whether the allegations about Fridman, Aven and Khan were accurate.

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Fridman, Aven and Khan are also suing BuzzFeed for libel in a New York court over BuzzFeed’s posting of the dossier.

Last year, a Dutch attorney who is Khan’s son-in-law, Alex van der Zwaan, pleaded guilty to lying to investigators working for special counsel Robert Mueller. Van der Zwaan was sentenced to 30 days in jail and was deported from the U.S. after serving his sentence.

https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/01/17/libel-suit-fusion-gps-doss...

The last paragraph in the above article makes me wonder about a couple things. 1) How many people have been arrested, prosecuted, and punished that we don’t know about or might have overlooked; and, 2) How will everyone harmed by this fake bullshit be made whole again, be compensated, receive a public apology? Here’s a PERFECT example of what I mean.

First Mueller convict reports to prison

In February, van der Zwaan, a former London-based attorney for the U.S. law firm Skadden Arps, pleaded guilty to a felony false-statement charge, admitting that he lied to the FBI and lawyers for Mueller’s office during questioning about his involvement with a report Skadden prepared in 2012 at the request of the Ukrainian government.

Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced van der Zwaan to 30 days in prison and a $20,000 fine. His attorneys sought leniency because his wife is pregnant and is due in August, and made clear that they wanted him to begin serving the sentence as soon as possible so he would have a strong chance of making it home to London before his wife delivers.

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Van der Zwaan was drawn into the Trump-Russia investigation by actions he took in 2012. At the time, his law firm was preparing to release a report commissioned by Paul Manafort, a future Trump campaign chairman, and Manafort’s aide Rick Gates for Ukraine’s Justice Ministry in a bid to defend then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who had jailed one of his most prominent political opponents, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

According to prosecutors, van der Zwaan considered working for Manafort and Gates, but when speaking with investigators made false statements about his most recent interactions with Gates. Mueller’s team also said van der Zwaan deceived others at his law firm, including former White House counsel Greg Craig, who was the lead author of the report. Craig was not charged and has not commented publicly on the case.

*

Van der Zwaan’s case doesn’t appear to have a direct connection to alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The fact that investigators are willing to allow him to leave the country suggests he is not a pivotal witness in the Manafort case.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/08/russia-probe-prison-mueller-zw...

I think there’s something very very wrong with this picture. People not even connected with Trump, his family, or his campaign are winding up in the slammer because Mueller was given permission (By who? Who has this power?) to investigate anyone he wants for whatever lame reason he wants using fake and/or tainted ‘evidence’. Plus, he’s being allowed to go back through the lives of people to find something he can blackmail them with unless they say what he wants. How can ANYONE think this is legal? Ethical? WTF????

I have a suspicion that if it was only the Clinton Creature involved there might not be this incredible push to cover all these shenanigans up. I think the real panic and concern is for someone else. Obama and his administration were in this up to their split ends. That’s why Mueller & Co. are pulling out all the stops to put everyone in jail that they think may be able to cast aspersions on poor Hopey-Changey’s legacy. The one he says “never had a scandal”?

P.S. is it me, or am I right in thinking the Clinton Creature and Slick have become pretty quiet lately?

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snoopydawg's picture

The media has taken lots of liberties by accusing people of things that they haven't done.

I'm with you in wondering why Mueller gets so much leeway in who he investigates. I'm sure that he could find almost anything on anyone if he looks at them closely enough. The reason he can do that is because Rosenstein told him he could follow evidence wherever it took him. He should have put limitations on what he could do.

Hey! Why haven't we heard anything about Tony Podesta who did many of the same things that Manafort did when he worked with him. Is he being protected by the Clintons like others have that have connections to them? Like that lady who tried taking 30 kids out of Haiti without permission? Whatever happened with her after Hillary intervened?

But you're right that Mueller's job is to protect Hillary and Obama and everyone else who broke many laws by spying on people in Trump's campaign. Obama allegedly abused his power to cook this up so that she would win and if she didn't then they would use the information to cripple Trump. But .... I'm wondering if he isn't now involved in this coverup? Why hasn't he released any information that would prove how this Russian propaganda scam is bogus? The unredacted FISA warrant? The information that shows how the U.K. intelligence agencies were the first ones that spied on him? I'm posting some more articles that have tons of information showing that this is one big psyops.

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gulfgal98's picture

@snoopydawg William Craddick wrote a really informative article on Laura Silsby and her connections (and others) with attempted illegal trafficking of children out of Haiti. The Clintons bailed her out of there. She has since been involved in other shady ventures.

On January 29, 2010, Silsby was arrested with nine other American nationals attempting to steal 33 children from the country, most of whom were not even orphans and had families according to some reports. CNN reported on February 9, 2010 that this was not the first time Silsby had attempted to traffic children out of Haiti. Haitian police acting on a tip had intercepted Silsby in an earlier, separate attempt to remove 40 children out of the country. She was turned back at the Haitian border. For a brief period, Haitian authorities were considering adding a new kidnapping charge based on this evidence.

Hillary and Bill Clinton took an extraordinary interest in Silsby’s case from the moment she was arrested and almost immediately stepped in on her behalf. The Harvard Human Rights Journal stated that one of Bill Clinton's first acts as special envoy for the United Nations in Haiti "was to put out the fire of a child abduction scandal involving American citizens."

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Deja's picture

@gulfgal98
Shocker! Another body to add to the count -- lady investigative reporter digging into the Clinton connections in the trafficking of Haitian children ends up getting snuffed. I wonder if the hit was filmed so Killary the Bloodluster could cackle with evil glee, the way she did watching the torture and rape (supposedly with a knife or bayonet) of Gaddafi.

Monica Petersen:
https://wearechange.org/clinton-haiti-child-trafficking-smoking-gun-moni...

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snoopydawg's picture

@Deja

This barely touches on the Haiti scam that the Clintons ran on in Haiti, but it shows how Hillary decided who the next president was going to be. I've read about how she and Bill gave away Haiti's earthquake repairs to their friends and family members. Her brother got the deal for the gold mine even though he barely had a business set up to do it. Friends got money to rebuild the casinos and hotels while the people lived in tent cities. Bill took farmer's lands from them to build a factory that was supposed to be able to hire hundreds of thousands of people, but never came close to it.

Hillary Clinton's Scandalous Conduct in Haiti: Charity Begins At Home

So to sum up, to date Hillary as US Secretary of State handed out billions in USAID money in Haiti. Husband Bill was taking money for his private foundation from foreign governments that Secretary Hillary deals with in an official capacity. Then the day she resigns from the State Department in February 2013, Hillary joined their daughter and Bill to become a named principal in the now named Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation. And brother Tony Rodham just happens to be lucky and land a lucrative gold mining contract in Haiti at the same time? I think the trials and tribulations of Hillary Rodham Clinton have only begun.

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Presumptive US Democratic Presidential candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Clinton Foundation has activities in Haiti with Carlos Slim, Mexican giga-billionaire and reputed business associate of leading Mexican drug cartel figures, who sits on the Executive Board of Washington’s Pentagon and CIA-linked RAND Corporation and who owns a major stake in the New York Times. Hillary’s kid brother, Tony Rodham, wins the sweetheart gold mine concession in Haiti with a company that barely exists. It all begins to stink like the cesspool outside the factory pig farm manure dump of Smithfield Foods in Mexico.

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Dantò elaborated further that, “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Cheryl Mills, her chief of staff at the State Department, brought intense US pressure to bear on the Haitian government and Electoral Council to advance Martelly, who finished third, to the first place in the runoff, insuring his election as President in March, 2011. Hillary Clinton revoked the visas of several Haitian officials she felt were not complying, prematurely announced the election dispute was over, threatened to cut off aid if the doctored elections and OAS ruling to advance Martelly to the second rounds were not accepted by Haiti. The US even threatened to forcibly remove Haiti president Preval if he didn’t comply and put Martelly in the elections.”

Martelly, known in Haiti by his musician name, Michel ‘Sweet Micky’ Martelly, backed the CIA-created right-wing paramilitary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haïti and proposed to re-instate the Armed Forces of Haiti, which were disbanded by former Haitian President Aristide in 1995 because they were the terror arm of deposed dictator ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier. The CIA ousted the popular Haitian nationalist, democratically-elected Aristide, and forced him into South African exile. According to Ezili Dantò, Hillary and Bill Clinton engineered the Presidency of Martelly, a cocaine-loving rock keyboard musician, to cover up their corruption.

There is more. Yep. There always is when it comes to the Clintons. Right?

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Deja's picture

@snoopydawg
What are Honduras and Haiti?

How many countries are there, all together?

How many of them have children disappearing at the hands of a US Secretary of State via his/her employees? How many of them have found journalists or investigators killed if too much was uncovered about a US SoS? Same question for activists and environmentalists? #RememberBerta

Assassination: Berta publicly singled out Hillary Clinton:

https://www.thenation.com/article/chronicle-of-a-honduran-assassination-...
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Hillary likes to "influence" *cough cough* elections all over the place. Not just the US "elections"

Before her murder on March 3, Berta Cáceres, a Honduran indigenous rights and environmental activist, named Hillary Clinton, holding her responsible for legitimating the 2009 coup. “We warned that this would be very dangerous,” she said, referring to Clinton’s effort to impose elections that would consolidate the power of murderers.

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She was murdered 2 days before my birthday, and I nearly drove off the road into the ditch when I heard NPR actually say that Berta had named that nasty woman as the reason behind the hell, and blood loss that had once been Honduras. I couldn't believe they actually said it on air.

Here's Democracy Now, before they sold their souls. Hillary wrote about it all in her book, like it was a good thing, apparently. Couldn't say, as I've never read anything other than a few emails written by Her. Wish they would've let the guest keep talking!
::
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[video:https://youtu.be/1QiA8BA8WkM]
::
But yeah, Russian ads on Facebook made me vote for someone else. Sigh . . .

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snoopydawg's picture

@Deja

The presidential candidate has ignored criticism of her role in enabling the consolidation of the Honduran coup.

And now we're seeing people from Honduras fleeing for their lives and Trumpers saying that they should stay home and fix their country. Just how ignorant do people have to be to believe that? Woman and children fighting for their country against the mighty USA backed government. And the weapons that are freely given to anyone who will help push their agendas.

Looking at Hillary's time as SOS it's apparent that she got help from her BFF Kissinger. She saw nothing wrong with that as we heard her say during a debate. Think that she doesn't know how people feel about him? The other article about her actions in Haiti described how she is BFFs with the Mexican drug lord who bought the NYT and refuses anything bad about them reported.

“We strategized on a plan to restore order in Honduras and ensure that free and fair elections could be held quickly and legitimately, which would render the question of Zelaya moot and give the Honduran people a chance to choose their own future”

Yeah. Just like you did when you ran against Bernie right Hillary? Free and fair elections. My ass! I'm stopping here because I feel a rant coming on. Protector of women and children. Not a warmonger. Glad that woman is not president!

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

...are at the judicial level. The Inram Awan case could be the Rosetta Stone for decoding what is going on. I would add the Mariia Butini case to his. The public perception about these two cases is that they are unrelated and they are not part of the Russian Hoax cover-up that Mueller has been orchestrating. But they are very much part of this. They are both potential whistle blowers on the Obama Admin involvement. Butina is, in fact, attempting to whistle blow from solitary confinement, which is why she has not been sentenced yet. (Butina worked with Susan Rice running background checks on hundreds of people Rice tricked out of the NSA databases during the spying free-for-all that took place in the US from April 2016 until January 2017. They shared office space. Those are facts.) But moving on....

There are only a tiny handful of judges — three or four — that handle all these cases, including the two above. Judges should be chosen randomly in those various jurisdictions, but in these matters, they are not. Roger Stone has one of these judges. One of them will be assigned to Assange, when the time comes. All of them Obama appointees, I believe.

A common denominater to keep in mind as you watch this unfold. It's always a good idea to jot down the Judge's name. That, alone, will tell you what you are looking at and what to expect.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
snoopydawg's picture

and besides its goal of censorship, it's also to restart the Cold War and get people on board with it.

These 3 articles are must reads that show how Russia Gate has been totally manufactured by the governments of numerous countries, especially the US and the U.K..

As I stated in my comment in Pluto's essay, Papadopoulos was set up by Professor Joseph Mifsud when he told him that 'Russia has thousands of Hillary's emails which he then told the Dutch ambassador who then told the FBI.

All Russiagate Roads Lead To London As Evidence Emerges Of Joseph Mifsud’s Links To UK Intelligence

Over the last few months, Professor Joseph Mifsud has become a feather in the cap for those pushing the Trump-Russia narrative. He is characterized as a “Russian” intelligence asset in mainstream press, despite his declarations to the contrary. However, evidence has surfaced that suggests Mifsud was anything but a Russian spy, and may have actually worked for British intelligence. This new evidence culminates in the ground-breaking conclusion that the UK and its intelligence apparatus may be responsible for the invention of key pillars of the Trump-Russia scandal. If true, this would essentially turn the entire RussiaGate debacle on its head.

To give an idea of the scope of this report, a few central points showing the UK connections with the central pillars of the Trump-Russia claims are included here, in the order of discussion in this article:

Mifsud allegedly discussed that Russia has ‘dirt’ on Clinton in the form of ‘thousands of emails’ with George Papadopoulos in London in April 2016.
The following month, Papadopoulos spoke with Alexander Downer, Australia’s ambassador to the UK, about the alleged Russian dirt on Clinton while they were drinking at a swanky Kensington bar, according to The Times. In late July 2016, Downer shared his tip with Australian intelligence officials who forwarded it to the FBI.
Robert Goldstone, a key figure in the ‘Trump Tower’ part of the RussiaGate narrative, sent Donald Trump Jr. an email claiming Russia wanted to help the Trump campaign. He is a British music promoter.
Christopher Steele, ex-MI6, who worked as an MI6 agent in Moscow until 1993 and ran the Russia desk at MI6 HQ in London between 2006 and 2009. He produced the totally unsubstantiated ‘Steele Dossier’ of Trump-Russia allegations, with funding from the Clinton campaign and the DNC.
Robert Hannigan, the head of British spy agency GCHQ, flew to Washington DC to share ‘director-to-director’ level intelligence with then-CIA Chief John Brennan.

Each of these strands of UK-tied elements of the Russiagate narrative can be substantially dismantled on close inspection. This untangling process leads to the surprising conclusion that UK intelligence services fabricated evidence of collusion in order to create the appearance of a Trump-Russia connection.

This article states that people from Trump's administration have ties with the Integrity Initiative. If so then wouldn't that mean that Trump himself is in on this scam?

MediaIntegrity Initiative And Affiliates Behind Multiple Attacks On Disobedient Media

In light of evidence showing that Mifsud’s real ties are to British intelligence, not the Russian government, the possibility arises that the UK made efforts to subvert the Presidency of Donald Trump by creating false evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election. In this vein, former Reagan NSC staff-member Richard Levine discussed the role of the GCHQ in the evolution of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, explaining the context in which Trump’s election to the US Presidency would have been seen as totally unacceptable in British establishment and intelligence circles:

Also read the two articles included in this one.

Paul Craig Roberts On The Real Russiagate: "Obama's Stasi State"

Mike Whitney has written an excellent expose of the “Russiagate” cover story for Obama’s political use of national security to help his party oppose Republicans

Wall Street Journal editorialist Kimberley A. Strassel poses the real question: Why hasn’t the Trump administration had the Secret Service to arrest Comey, Brennan, Schiff, the DNC and Hillary for trying to overthrow the President of the United States.

What we are watching is turning out to be traces of a plot against a government elected by the American people. Attempts to get at the truth by House national security committee Chairman Devin Nunes have been countered with demands by Democrats to recuse himself so as to stop his exposé of how “Team Obama was spying broadly on the incoming administration.”

It seems that this has been going on for many years now. Former Rep. Dennis Kucinich has dropped a bombshell about what appears to be his own illegal surveillance under Obama’s NSC.

I have posted the article about how the FBI tried 7 times to entrap people from the Trump campaign. One way was for the Russian lawyer to entice Trump Jr with 'information on Hillary' which everyone says shows how Trump is in bed with Russia. But she had some problems with her passport which required the state department to fix first.

I didn't mean to hijack your essay Amanda. Just found more interesting information on how Russia Gate has been the biggest psyops ever run on the world. Never forget that Obama's legislation made it legal for the government to spread propaganda on us.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@snoopydawg
together. One damn lying bastid leads to another.

Sometimes I think the biggest reason the Clinton Creature/Obama got caught pulling all this is because it all got away from them. They got too arrogant. They involved enough people in their plot to populate their own small country. And they didn’t keep their plans IN this country, they colluded with British ‘intelligence’ which is an unbelievably corrupt act in itself. Obama/TCC didn’t just betray and attempt to disenfranchise Trump voters, they betrayed everyone, even their own supporters (regardless of whether they’re smart enough to know it or not) when they attempted this coup. If it wasn’t such an egregious betrayal of the government that is supposed to be

...of the people, by the people, for the people...*

* Lincoln, Abraham, "The Gettysburg Address", 1863.

this would make a great tragi-comedy. Their cast of characters includes some of the sleaziest politicos in this country (Blumenthal, both Podestas, David Brock). And then there’s Clinton herself. EVERYTHING she has been involved in eventually goes to Hell. And that Dossier! Every single individual connected with the production and publication of that bit of libel must have lost their minds. Pee pee tapes? Oh please.

When Obama weaponized the ‘intelligence’ community to destroy Trump, he betrayed the American people and the Constitution of the United States. That’s why I think it’s really him TPTB are really trying to protect. His ‘legacy’ is an extremely valuable propaganda weapon to use on the political ‘naive’ and the True Believers.

Now the Dims are trying to lure voters back to the ‘Party’. They think we’re all stupid. And they think they’re ‘winning’ the propaganda battle. This kind of hubris has been around since we dropped out of the trees.

1611, King James Version of the Bible, Book of Proverbs, 16:18, Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

(I’m not a big Bible thumper, but I do steal its material if relevant.)

Here’s to hoping that their landing is a hard one.

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Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

snoopydawg's picture

The Clinton-Silsby Trafficking Scandal And How The Media Covered It Up

Contrary to reports in the media, the crowd sourced investigation labeled by some as “Pizzagate” did not begin with internet sleuths digging through the Wikileaks Podesta Files releases looking for pizza parlors and encoded language discussing human trafficking. It began with the shocking discovery that Hillary and Bill Clinton provided assistance to convicted child trafficker, Laura Silsby, resulting in a reduced sentence for child trafficking.

Silsby was arrested at the Haitian border attempting to smuggle 33 children out of Haiti without documentation. Her sentence and charges were reduced after an intervention by Bill Clinton. In the aftermath of Silsby’s arrest, her originally retained lawyer Jorge Puello was arrested in connection with an international smuggling ring accused of trafficking women and minors from Central America and Haiti. The revelation of this news in November was either ignored by the Western media or attacked by Clinton controlled publications.

Or both. This is worth a read.

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gulfgal98's picture

@snoopydawg I referenced the same article in my post above. I did not realize it because my link went to Zero Hedge where it was republished, but when I read your excerpt, I realized part of it was the same as mine. I am sorry to have duplicated your post.

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“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

snoopydawg's picture

@gulfgal98

with so much information about what the Clintons have been involved in over their decades of being in politics it's hard to keep track of every article that has been written here. I appreciate you bring her up again in this essay to show what they have done.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@snoopydawg
confused about this Pizzagate mess. I couldn’t figure out why the Clintons were tied to sex trafficking. DUH! I knew about that woman trying to steal kids. I knew that Hillbillary got her off. But I just never put all that together with Pizzagate. Sometimes I’m pretty slow on the uptake.

Thanks for clearing this up. I need to start keeping better track of all these conspiracies and plots.

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Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

snoopydawg's picture

@Amanda Matthews

and Pizza Gate. I'm sure you have read about Jeffrey Epstein and his pitiful prison sentence for raping 14 underage girls? He was sentenced to 18 months, but only served 13. But wait it gets worse. He was allowed to leave every day for 12 hours to go to work. How's that for getting a sweet deal because of who he knows? Both Clintons flew on his jet to his private island where a lot of the deeds took place.

He was friends with the Donald and Prince Albert who also was rumored to be involved with underage girls. The royal palace denies that though. But then they also claim that Charles was faithful to Diana...

Gulfgal has much better information about that if you're interested. What I've learned is beyond sickening. A rumored drug lord is BFFs with the Clintons, owner of the NYT and is head of the RAND corporation which does business with the pentagon. And yet there are people sitting in prison for having weed.
Bill and Hillary are sick peoples! What we know about them is very little. I wonder what the body count is now?

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The suit complains that Fusion disclosed the dossier to various media outlets as well as prominent individuals in Washington without confirming whether the allegations about Fridman, Aven and Khan were accurate.

The whole basis for a libel suit is falsehood, so I don't understand this statement at all.

According to prosecutors, van der Zwaan considered working for Manafort and Gates, but when speaking with investigators made false statements about his most recent interactions with Gates. Mueller’s team also said van der Zwaan deceived others at his law firm, including former White House counsel Greg Craig, who was the lead author of the report. Craig was not charged and has not commented publicly on the case.

As far as van der Zwaan, he pled guilty to lying to the FBI, which is a violation of US law. And he lied about information that could have meant a conflict of interest on his part, which would have meant that he was putting his law firm at jeopardy. He also lied to Craig and others in his law firm, someone in his law firm, which is not illegal, but is immoral. No pity.

I don't understand this, either: "Craig was not charged." Charged with what? Having been deceived by the lies of his colleague, van der Zwaan?

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snoopydawg's picture

@HenryAWallace

Van der Zwaan was drawn into the Trump-Russia investigation by actions he took in 2012.

This was Amanda's point in this part of the essay. And why does Mueller have authority to charge people who weren't involved with the original charge? How far back in history does Mueller have the authority to go to charge people for crimes unrelated to the current investigation?

And as I questioned, why haven't charges been put on Podesta who was doing the exact same things as Manafort? Not registering as a foreign lobbyist. And iirc, Podesta skimped on paying taxes on the lobbying money too. Will Mueller look at every person who is or was a foreign lobbyist and make sure that they paid their fair share of taxes? When will he stop looking?

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@snoopydawg
obvious.

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Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

ThomM's picture

When watching a murder mystery, I usually lose track of “who is who” pretty quickly and am frequently unable to guess who done it and how the story will end until it is spelled out for me in the end. Maybe that’s why I’ve had a hard time trying to follow the constantly evolving story surrounding the Steele Dossier and the Russia Investigation. Like most of us, I want desperately to see the yellow hairball behind bars and am probably too easily willing to believe almost anything that might help to put him there.
It became obvious to me some time ago that Amanda, Snoopydawg, gulfgal98, Deja, and many others as well as many elsewhere like Caitlin Johnstone have been following this soap opera much more closely than I have been able to do. When I now read suggestions that not just the Clinton campaign (even I guessed that one), but also members of the Obama administration may be involved in the cover-up, I feel like I must somehow catch up to the rest of you, if for no other reason than to be able to talk to friends who still worship Obama and believe in the Democratic Party.
So I ask this question: does anyone here have a fairly concise timeline that could help me, and probably others, come up to speed in a short time? If not, could one be cobbled together without an undue amount of effort? A scorecard to help identify all the players would also be helpful.

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@ThomM

your question is so welcome and so on point. It's not an easy sequence of events to establish because public information about it has been partial and sporadic. But the person who has tried and succeeded most skillfully is Jeff Carlson, who is published at Epoch Times and elsewhere:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/spygate-the-true-story-of-collusion_268462...

Spygate: The True Story of Collusion [Infographic]
How America’s most powerful agencies were weaponized against President Donald Trump
BY JEFF CARLSON
October 12, 2018 Updated: January 15, 2019

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@ThomM

for myself, just from my own perspective, it looks like the following. CIA and its "contractors", along with the NSA, FBI, and whoever else, monitored and spied on candidates during the 2016 primaries. All of the candidates. NSA Director Michael Rogers was informed that illegal or unwarranted access to such surveillance was happening, and he shut it down. Immediately afterward, the DNC claimed its emails, which contained evidence of fraud, money laundering and voter suppression, were being hacked. Someone leaked the emails to Wikileaks. Wikileaks says it was someone with legal access to the emails.

From that point on, a concerted effort was made to create the false impression that Russia had leaked the DNC emails to Wikileaks, thereby changing public attention from the criminal evidence in the emails to the destruction of our democracy by Vlad. Here's Jeff Carlson's timeline about these points:

https://www.themarketswork.com/2018/01/15/the-uncovering-section-702-abo...

… A compressed timeline:

November 2015-April 2016 – The FBI and NSD uses private contractors to access raw FISA information using “To” and “From” FISA-702(16) & “About” FISA-702(17) queries.
February/March 2016 – Trump’s securing of GOP nomination seen as probable.
April 2016 – NSA Director Rogers orders NSA compliance officer to run full audit on 702 NSA compliance.
April 18 2016 -Mike Rogers shuts down FBI/DOJ contractor access to the FISA Search System.
April 18 2016 – The FBI discontinues private contractor access to raw FISA information.
April 19 2016 – Wife of Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS) Mary Jacoby visits White House.
Late April 2016 – Clinton Campaign begins paying Fusion GPS.
April/May 2016 – Fusion GPS hires Christopher Steele.
April/May 2016 – Fusion GPS hires Nellie Ohr, wife of DOJ Assoc. Deputy AG Bruce Ohr.
May 2016 – Trump becomes presumptive GOP Nominee.
May 23 2016 – Nellie Ohr applies for a HAM Radio license.
June 2016 – FBI Agent Peter Strzok – and possibly DOJ’s Bruce Ohr – meet with Christopher Steel.
June 9 2016 – Glenn Simpson meets with Natalia Veselnitskaya before Trump Jr. meeting.
June 9 2016 – meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Rinat Akhmetshin and Natalia Veselnitskaya.
June 9 2016 – Glenn Simpson meets again with Natalia Veselnitskaya after Trump Jr. meeting.
June 15 2016 – FBI Agent Strzok changes wording of Clinton charges from “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless”.
June 27 2016 – AG Loretta Lynch has secret meeting with Bill Clinton on tarmac.
Late June 2016 – First draft of Trump Dossier shared w/Fusion & possibly FBI’s Strzok.
Late June 2016 – First FISA 702 Surveillance Authority request made. It is denied.
July 2 2016 – FBI Agent Strzok interviews Hillary Clinton.
July 5 2016 – FBI Director Comey exonerates Clinton.
July 19, 2016 – Trump officially becomes GOP Nominee.
July 24 2016 – Clinton Campaign manager Robbie Mook suggests Russian Government is behind release of DNC emails.
Mid/Late July 2016 – FBI begins counter-intelligence investigation into Russia and Trump.
Late July – Second draft of Trump Dossier shared with FBI.
August 2016 – Strzok sends “insurance policy” text referencing Deputy FBI Director McCabe.
August/September 2016 – CIA Director Brennan meets with Gang of Eight suggesting Russia is helping Trump.
Late Summer/Early Fall 2016 – Trump Dossier shopped.
September 5 2016 – Hillary Clinton accuses Russia of interfering with U.S. election.
Late September 2016 – Second FISA 702 Surveillance Authority request made.
September 26 2016 – John Carlin, head of DOJ’s National Security Division (NSD), admits to FISC that surveillance included Obama’s political opponents.
September 27 2016 – John Carlin, head of DOJ’s NSD and involved with FISA requests, announces he is resigning.
Early October 2016 – Bruce Ohr meets with Dossier author Christopher Steele.
Early October 2016 – Bruce Ohr meets with Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS).
October 2016 – FISA 702 Surveillance Authority request is granted. No evidence is found but surveillance continues – ostensibly for national security reasons.
October 20 2016 – NSA Rogers briefed by NSA compliance officer on 702 NSA compliance audit.
October 21 2016 – NSA Rogers shuts down all “About Query” activity. Permanently. Reports activity to DOJ and prepares to go before FISA Court.
October 26 2016 – NSA Rogers personally informs FISA Court of 702(17) violations.
Late October 2016 -Defense Secretary Ash Carter and DNI James Clapper recommend to Obama that Admiral Mike Rogers be removed as director of NSA.
October 2016 – The Obama administration is now monitoring an opposing presidential campaign using federal intelligence services.
November 17 2016 – NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers travels to see President-Elect Donald Trump.
November 17 2016 – Trump Transition Team announces they are moving to Trump National Golf Club.
November 19 2016 – Washington Post reports a recommendation made by DNI Clapper in October that Mike Rogers be removed from his NSA position.

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gulfgal98's picture

@Linda Wood And warrants an essay unto itself! Thank you for posting this, Linda!

As time goes by, the more convoluted all of this Russia nonsense becomes. I keep going back to Hillary selling 20% of US uranium reserves to Russia and then Bill getting rewarded a cool half million dollars to speak to some Russian bankers. One thing about the Clintons that is consistent. They always accuse their opponents of what they themselves are doing.

What is also amazing is that the mask has been ripped off the Democratic party which seems to think this Russia saga is far more important than actually governing and presenting good policy ideas to benefit the American people.

Thank you again for this info.

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snoopydawg's picture

@gulfgal98

I need to understand what role Mueller had in it. There was an FBI investigation into people involved with uranium before the Clintons got involved with it right? And Mueller hushed it up?

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gulfgal98's picture

@snoopydawg who personally took samples to Russia. I find this truly remarkable that no one brings this up in public. Mueller is about as deep state as they come.

It proposed that FBI Director Robert Mueller be the one that personally conduct the transfer a 10-gram sample of HEU to Russian law enforcement sources during a secret “plane-side” meeting on a “tarmac” in the early fall of 2009.

"We require that the transfer of this material be conducted at the airport, on the tarmac near by the plane, upon arrival of the Director's aircraft."

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snoopydawg's picture

@gulfgal98

Wasn't that done so that they could find out who was smuggling it? The uranium was found in Georgia and given to the US for some reason. Was this during the time that McCain said that we were all Georgians?

Maybe what I'm thinking of is that the state department didn't want the FBI to get involved with arresting the people who had been smuggling it? I just remembered hearing that some FBI agents were upset about something Mueller had done to their investigation.

But yeah, Mueller is one of the evil f'cks that has done some evil crap. That people regard him as some type of hero is unbelievable. The people who are used to be against everything he stood for. The same people who were upset when racist Sessions was fired and again when the war criminal Mattis was. And Bush is okay because he gave Michelle candy. Blehh!

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

...and I'll tell you the role that Mueller played in it.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

@Pluto's Republic getting shot.

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

Pluto's Republic's picture

@Tall Bald and Ugly

Try again. I'm certain my hyperbole can be easily defeated.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

@Pluto's Republic lone gunman story? Heh. There are Many questions with That one. 'Poppy' Bush would have had a lifelong dream come true-fortuitously-let us say.
Seven years early.
Cogitate on it awhile.

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

Deja's picture

@gulfgal98
I'm at a loss for words. Just kidding!

Imagine if all of Trump's base were to actually understand that the person conducting the "investigation" of their president, is the guy who actually handed at least some uranium to the freakin Russians. The same Russians he claims "hacked" DNC emails, and with ads and memes on a budget less than Brock's Hillbot Army spent, claims Russia foiled the bought-and-paid-for plan to annoint Her, and actually installed the fall guy into the White House.

They can't possibly get it -- or know who Mueller is. Otherwise, there would probably be civil unrest, by people with guns. Not exactly yellow vests, but very angry, nonetheless.

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gulfgal98's picture

@gulfgal98 I found this one little tidbit interesting. Not earth shattering, but it showed the lengths to which they were going to avoid transparency, even to their own inspector general.

On Aug. 5, 2014, Horowitz and other inspectors general sent a letter to Congress asking for unimpeded access to all records. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates responded on July 20, 2015, with a 58-page memorandum. The memo specifically denied the inspector general access to any information collected under Title III—including intercepted communications and national security letters.

The New York Times recently disclosed that national security letters were used in the surveillance of the Trump campaign.

The entire article is outstanding and very clearly written as to who the players were and their roles in this entire Russia, Russia, Russia fiasco.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Linda Wood

This is a great place for people to start with to get a gist of what Russia Gate is about. This is where I think their plot changed too.

Russia had leaked the DNC emails to Wikileaks, thereby changing public attention from the criminal evidence in the emails to the destruction of our democracy by Vlad.

Plus it kept people from focusing on the content of the emails. Ever seen a main stream media program devoting hours to how Hillary rigged the primary? Nah!

One other piece of advice I'd give someone is to read the articles for or against with an open mind. Look at statements that say they are from unnamed sources with skepticism unless you have seen it verified elsewhere. I'd say start with the guardian article that said Manafort met with Assange and see how they skirted the truth.

One more thing that shows which way an article goes is what it says about the DNC information. Hacked or leaked.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@Linda Wood
all of this would have flown under the radar.

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Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

gulfgal98's picture

@Amanda Matthews will treat Mike Rogers well. Among a lot of very devious and evil people Rogers stands out as one who stood for what was right.

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ThomM's picture

@Linda Wood Looks like I now have much "homework". I am looking forward to be able to talk to some of my more intelligent liberal friends soon about why they should not continue to believe what they get from CNN.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@ThomM

This is a living Shakespearean tragedy.

There are no heroes and there is no happy ending. Both sides of the phony duopoly are thoroughly evil or ignorant and these sides are born out of a century of high-level American corruption and greed, especially at the global level. The American People, as a whole, have the same level of awareness as lab animals. They see politics as a kind of team sports, just as they were brainwashed to do. And they like it that way.

After several years of this reality-based investigation that we are involved in — I am reaching a point where I think it may not be productive to push back against the propaganda that Americans are so addicted to. It is an unkindness. There is nothing they can do about it, so their lives are not better because they know the truth and can now watch the news with intellectual honesty.

The US is hurtling toward its destiny, and we are just passengers. We have never had an influence over the flight plan. An election changes nothing. It just produces more millionaires. Americans can never vote their way out of it.

Americans who focus on their loved ones and follow their passions and explore their opportunities — while ignoring this political struggle and farce — have a much better chance of living a rewarding life. And, that's the truth.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
gulfgal98's picture

@Pluto's Republic I believe you are right, Pluto. Sad

The US is hurtling toward its destiny, and we are just passengers. We have never had an influence over the flight plan. An election changes nothing. It just produces more millionaires. Americans can never vote their way out of it.

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“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

janis b's picture

@Pluto's Republic

It raises interesting questions. It makes me think of the adage 'the truth hurts', which of course it does at times. Yet ultimately, I believe it helps to confront and question the truth in most situations, both of a public and personal nature.

After several years of this reality-based investigation that we are involved in — I am reaching a point where I think it may not be productive to push back against the propaganda that Americans are so addicted to. It is an unkindness. There is nothing they can do about it, so their lives are not better because they know the truth and can now watch the news with intellectual honesty.

I agree completely with this ...

Americans who focus on their loved ones and follow their passions ... have a much better chance of living a rewarding life.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Pluto's Republic

The American People, as a whole, have the same level of awareness as lab animals. They see politics as a kind of team sports, just as they were brainwashed to do. And they like it that way.

I'm just wondering why we here and people on the wotb see this for what it is while others don't? Does it have something to do with how people see Hillary and Obama for who they are and what they have done? We see both of them as war criminals while people invested in them don't. I abhor the use of drones to kill people, others say that they save our troop's lives. I see regime change as evil, others say that it saves innocent civilians lives.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Linda Wood

that Trump told Russia to Hack into the DNC computers and get her emails.

Trump said, "Russia if you find Hillary's emails ...". This was after she deleted 30,000 of them after they were subpoenaed by congress. Just one more thing that she got away with. But the good news is that they have been found. Yep. Every email she made going back decades were found. On Anthony Weiner's laptop. This is why Comey had to reopen his investigation into them. If this is what cost her the election then she brought it on herself. And why when the economy was so bad because of what the banks did did she think it was a brilliant idea to give paid speeches to them? Unforced errors.

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@snoopydawg

the various assertions that Russia "had" thousands of emails that would compromise Clinton are a whole chapter in themselves. First, the assertions were that Russia had emails compromising Clinton, which must mean they hacked the DNC. But later, after this assertion, it was pointed out that Russia could have had access to the Clinton State Department emails, since her private server was so hackable by anyone and everyone worldwide. Then the assertion was that Russia had emails and wiretapped phone calls of Clinton from when she was in Russia as Sec. of State. Then the assertion was that Papadopoulos was only told that Russia had "dirt" on Clinton, not emails. It never ends. It just gets less and less credible as each journalist has to bend it sideways, backwards, to and fro. It's substanceless, sensational, and distracting from itself. And what you wind up with is, basically, horseshit, about which the stable of journalists repeat what so many people have described them as saying, just like Rosanne Rosanadana, "never mind."

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Deja's picture

@Linda Wood
Thank you, so much! Very helpful.

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snoopydawg's picture

@ThomM

As Russia Gate turns; the daily propaganda psyops that we have been bombarded with since the election started. The article I posted have some great information that ties the Obama administration into this. I try to follow links in other articles that have other types of information in them and many of them go back a year or so ago to catch you up. It takes time to stay up on this and unfortunately I have lots of it. Besides, who needs to read fiction when you have this?

Smile

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@ThomM

and the links in it. This shows a few things that kept Obama from being the person that people thought he was. And still do.

When you say that you miss Obama

IMO the reason Trump is president is because Obama wasn't one. Ask them why he let republicans set his agendas for 8 years? Was he really that weak?

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@ThomM
that should tell people ALL all they need to know about old Hopey-Changey:

September 26 2016 – John Carlin, head of DOJ’s National Security Division (NSD), admits to FISC that surveillance included Obama’s political opponents.
September 27 2016 – John Carlin, head of DOJ’s NSD and involved with FISA requests, announces he is resigning.

He truly was a fraud perpetrated on the American public by our shadow Powers That Be.

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Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

snoopydawg's picture

@Amanda Matthews

Didn't he run on rolling back the abuses of the FISA courts? This was going to happen after he filibustered the FISA bill remember?

Besides the ACA and Lily Ledbetter just what did he do that helped we the people? I have no idea what Lily Ledbetter was and the ACA was hideously flawed. My iPad loves to write this for me.

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It was shortly after he was summoned by Obama that he dropped out.

I still need a cheat sheet for the cheat sheet. It is hard for me to keep it together because there are so many distractions along the way.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Amanda Matthews's picture

@dkmich
sure turned him into a whipped (sheep)dog.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa