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(What could he possibly be afraid of?): Christopher Steele is no-show in London court in civil case over dossier

Of all the crazy events and concerns regarding this fake ‘Dossier’, this one takes the cake. This pathetic attention whore, a guy who was the BFF of the media BEFORE the revelations of who, what, when, and how his work of fiction was produced , is now hiding out from the courts and the people he ‘outed’. Why is that, I wonder?

Christopher Steele is no-show in London court in civil case over dossier

On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, former British MI-6 Intelligence Officer Christopher Steele is going to extremes to avoiding answering questions from the United States Congress, while at the same time avoiding being videotaped and deposed in a multi-million dollar libel case brought against Buzzfeed.

Steele was a no-show Monday for a long-requested deposition in London, Fox News has learned. The news comes as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have announced a criminal referral on Steele.

Evan Fray-Witzer, a Boston-based attorney representing Russian tech tycoon Aleksej Gubarev in multi-million dollar civil litigation, described Monday's U.K. court actions to Fox News. “My understanding is that Mr. Steele’s lawyers spent a good deal of time arguing why they thought he (Steele) should not be required to sit for a deposition and that ultimately the court took the entire matter under advisement.”

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Fray-Witzer said, “Certainly with respect to Mr. Gubarev, Webzilla and XBT there has never been a single scrap of evidence about them in the dossier.”

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Fray-Witzer stressed in that hearing that the British government “has not asserted” Steele’s claims. The attorney has said Steele “is asserting he can’t speak about things. We have pointed out that he’s spoken to anyone who is willing to listen, every journalist, and the FBI.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/05/christopher-steele-is-no-show...

Will Buzzfeed, a gossip/news site that’s outlived any useful purpose it ever may have had, now get Gawkered? Is the site going to end up being more Clinton Creature Collateral Damage?

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hecate's picture

in civil litigation to try to avoid or delimit depositions. Steele is apparently relying on "national security," a much broader exemption in the UK than even in the US.

No-showing is all the rage these days. The Nazi declined to appear today before the House Intelligence Committee, while The Hairball's shysters are advising he refuse to sit for Mueller, because he's such a congenital liar he can't be trusted to open his mouth without bloviating his way into the penitientiary.

Lawyers for President Trump have advised him against sitting down for a wide-ranging interview with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. His lawyers are concerned that the president, who has a history of making false statements and contradicting himself, could be charged with lying to investigators.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@hecate @hecate

to hide. Some more than others. This guy did this to himself and he was mighty damn proud of himself and more than willing to tell his ‘story’ to anybody. Until things got real.

Refusing to show up for depositions, court dates, etc. usually cause the no-show party to be sanctioned in some way unless it is due to an unforeseen emergency. It’s not a ‘multiple choice’ issue.

EDIT: typo and grammar

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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

hecate's picture

@Amanda Matthews
hasn't blown off a court date or refused to show for a deposition. His people went into court to attempt to quash the deposition or delimit the scope of the inquiry.

Last November, a British court ruled Steele should undergo lengthy pre-trial questioning but on Monday his lawyers sought to have that order quashed.

Gavin Millar, Steele’s lawyer, said Gubarev’s lawyers were seeking a seven-hour deposition from Steele, which he said amounted to a “mini public inquiry” and an opportunistic “fishing expedition” which could put Steele’s sources at increased risk.

Gubarev’s lawyer Hannah Brown accused Millar of being “melodramatic” and said they had narrowed the scope of the deposition to focus on Steele’s background and the 13 lines in the dossier which related to her client.

If Steele’s legal team fails to have the order set aside, they have said it should be varied to ensure questioning lasts no more than three hours and to prevent any questions which would require the disclosure of any confidential information.

This is routine legal maneuvering.

I've prepared depositions, and I've sat for depositions. The goal in preparing depositions is to try to ruin somebody. The goal when sitting for depositions is to try not to get ruined. The phrase "scope of the deposition to focus on Steele’s background" translates to "poke around everywhere in your life until we find something that will destroy you." That's how it works. That's why people when deposed work to either quash the deposition, or limit it as much as possible.

A good example is how they got The Clenis. His lawyers fought to cabin his deposition to what his penis did with Paula Jones. But the judge permitted the deposition to range into other penile behaviors. During this further exploration of his member, he lied about what it got up to with Monica Lewinsky. Cue then the national St. Vitus Dance that culminated in the impeachment and trial of the wayward willy.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@hecate @hecate

with honors and interned for 6 months with the ACLU. But even before then, long before, I learned to read. Now, i went back to the original article to copy this paragraph so that tbere would be NO question regarding the accuracy of whay I took from it:.

Steele was a no-show Monday for a long-requested deposition in London, Fox News has learned. The news comes as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have announced a criminal referral on Steele.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/05/christopher-steele-is-no-show...

Apparently you’re basing your position this:

Evan Fray-Witzer, a Boston-based attorney representing Russian tech tycoon Aleksej Gubarev in multi-million dollar civil litigation, described Monday's U.K. court actions to Fox News. “My understanding is that Mr. Steele’s lawyers spent a good deal of time arguing why they thought he (Steele) should not be required to sit for a deposition and that ultimately the court took the entire matter under advisement.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/05/christopher-steele-is-no-show...

That’s his lawyets trying to justify his not showing up. The issue as to whether or not Steele could get the deposition squelched was settled already.but his attorneys made the same argument that Steele tried to make and the court took this under advisement.

Trump dossier author faces deposition

Gubarev’s attorneys this week are expected to ask British courts to compel Steele to give a sworn deposition to be used in the defamation lawsuit in South Florida, where one of Gubarev’s companies Webzilla is located. A federal judge in Miami late Tuesday ruled against Steele in his bid to quash that request.

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U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro denied Steele’s request, “trusting that his rights under British law will be protected by the British Court.”

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/nationa...

Back to the POINT of the article. He didn’t show up for his deposition.

EDIT: deleted unnecessary remark

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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

hecate's picture

@Amanda Matthews
relying on the alternate reality of Fox, a story by a person who did not attend the hearing, but instead disgorges information from a source, identified as an attorney for the plaintiff, who also did not attend the hearing, but instead relates what is his "understanding" of what there occurred. Reuters, on the other hand, actually sent somebody to the hearing, and filed a report on what was there seen and heard. If there was indeed a deposition, for which Steele was a no-show, there were certainly no consequences, because both the Reuters report, and that from the Trump bridal train, state that the court heard argument and then took the matter under advisement, a ruling to be issued later.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@hecate @hecate

less unreliable that the “left leaning” rags have been. Like the NYT or WP. If I only read the rags on the ‘approved’ list I’d be screaming “She was cheated by the Russians”.

Was he ordered by a US court to give a deposition? Yes. Did the British courts say he had to submit to ‘examination’. Yes again. From your link.

Last November, a British court ruled Steele should undergo lengthy pre-trial questioning but on Monday his lawyers sought to have that order quashed.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-court-steele/u-s-libel-case-te...

He’s been ordered by a US and a British court to be deposed. Has he complied with the judges (either of them singly or both collectively)? Obviously not. He has not shown up for the court mandated deposition. And since Faux has truthfully reported the facts according to even YOUR source,why would they lie about missing a deposition on Monday? You have nothing that contradicts that statement. What makes your unverified claim so ‘reliable’? And it changes nothinh anyway. He has not shown up for his court ordered deposition.

Did I say there were consequences for Steele not showing? No, I didn’t. In fact I printed the part about his lawyers, what they argued, and that the court would take it ‘under advisement. I got that frrom my ‘unreliable’ source. And that’s EXACTLY what Reuters said. What I did say is there generally are consequences for blowing off a deposition and that fact is also true. And who knows? There very well might be (should be) when the court comes back with its decision.

About that lawyer for the plaintiff. Did she not say exactly what Reuters said? Is there a reason that if Reuters says something, it’s true, but If it comes from someone else, someone personally involved in the case (and obviously familiar with all the details) and they say the same thing, it’s not? I bet she has more far information than Reuters does and that it’s pretty darm reliable.

So what was it that Faux said that was unreliable?

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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

hecate's picture

@Amanda Matthews
only outfits characterizing the hearing as a Steele "no-show" at a "deposition" are Fox and various feeder sites, all of which likewise wear MAGA hats. Fox was deliberately, explicitly created as the Minitrue for the Republican Party; that hasn't changed. I generally don't credit their work unless and until it appears somewhere whose raison d'être is something other than pushing whatever is the Republican line of the moment.

What I find more interesting is the question of whether Steele will succeed in affording himself of protections intended for governmental actors. Which he was not. He was a mercenary, providing information to a private client, for money. At least that's how he began. Before his come-to-jesus moment, when he began flapping back and forth across the Atlantic, speaking in tongues, to all who would listen, that The Hairball is a Rooski.

It is clear he has long been confused about his roles. Because that stuff of his that appeared in Buzzfeed does not read like standard political opposition research. It more resembles the sort of raw intelligence reports that spooks prepare for their masters. Indeed, there are intelligence people who say they recognized the Buzzfeed material, before he was outed, as Steele's, because it read just like reports he would circulate when he was in MI6. Opposition research identifies sources, and passes on their credibility; it is also organized decently, rather than just a series of blats. Raw intelligence reports, conversely, are often a series of blats, simply presenting the information received, without judgement. Sometimes there is a summary, but generally not; intepreting the information is left to the analysts. What is attached, is a coded annex, which identifies and discusses sources. Because it is a given in intelligence work that you vet the sources, before you vet the information. Who is this person? What was their access? Who were their subsources? And what was their access? What was the motive, in providing the information? Have they previously demonstrated credibility? Etc. This information is more closely held than the actual raw intelligence; I doubt Steele passed it up to Fusion. I would assume he prepared it at least for Orbis. Maybe he later shared it with the FBI. Maybe he shared it with Mueller. Maybe not. Maybe the dog ate it, along with the homework. We do know, most recently from the Grassley/Graham filing, that Steele did indeed prepare more material than appeared in Buzzfeed.

And now he is claiming he gets to wall off his acts and information from judicial scrutiny because he once worked as a spook, and in preparing this material he spoke to people with whom he was familiar from his spook days, or to whom he gained access, because of his former spookdom. But he wasn't spooking. He was out there grubbing in the monies. Like the rest of the grinds.

For sure those people, and sorts of people, are not going to be talking to him again. Because they do not want to be in the newspaper. No doubt other ex-spooks, likewise now out in the private sector, are having a great Hate for Steele, because, as a result of this fiasco, their own potential sources will fear that, if they speak, they too may someday be raked over the polonium on Frauds and Fiends, Reid My Joy, etc. He is why they now cannot have nice things.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@hecate

source is basically that, it’s your opinion. When I can find info related by Faux and it is corroborated by other sources (which everything I posted was) then Faux is a valid source as well. That’s my opinion.

I’m not at all concerned with Steele’s lack of credibility in the future. He’s not credible now.

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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

hecate's picture

@Amanda Matthews
assertion that Steele was a "no show" at a "deposition" is not corroborated. It appears only on Fox and associated Minitrue sites.

Speaking of credibility, people who rely on Fox are less informed than people who pay no attention to the news at all.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@hecate

Let the media know too please. Apparently you’re the only one privy to that info. Thank you in advance.

That “less informed’ comment is precious. Where do you get the idea I only rely on Faux for my information? Did you not see other sources. Or did you miss that?

I read everything. That’s what inquisitive, well informed people do. Give it a try

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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

Alligator Ed's picture

@Amanda Matthews Why won't Christopher Steele attend depositions. Strictly regarding the US investigation regarding the Russian entrepreneur and his holdings:

Gubarev’s attorneys this week are expected to ask British courts to compel Steele to give a sworn deposition to be used in the defamation lawsuit in South Florida, where one of Gubarev’s companies Webzilla is located. A federal judge in Miami late Tuesday ruled against Steele in his bid to quash that request.

South Florida, the home range of raging beast Deborah Washerwoman Shits, where so many never-to-be-witnesses met untimely demises. Maybe Chris should think about residing in a British prison than going to Miami-Date for a permanent vacation.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72u0-D5JJ_k]

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@Alligator Ed

telling everyone with earshot what he’s ‘done’ and how Trump cannot be President, he’s sure singing a diffent tune. You’d think he’d be damn glad to back up his ‘report’, wouldn’t you? Do hid patriotic duty, and all that crap.

He’s been ordered to do it twice. If the ‘author’ won’t back the Dossier up, who can?
.

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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

@hecate

Dunno if you realize this, but you are an international treasure. Thank you for having your way with words where people like me can read them. Even if that does make it sound like humour porn...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Amanda Matthews's picture

@Ellen North

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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

gulfgal98's picture

did not travel to Russia or personally interview his supposed sources which were paid for their information.

This is just sheer madness, using uncorroborated and unvetted sources to produce a political opposition document which has and still is being used to stoke a new cold war as well as try to bring down the President.

It would be far easier to neutralize Trump on policy issues, but the Democrats have no policies upon which to stand so they would prefer sparking a cold war with Russia. Even if Trump falls, there is no way Her is going to end up President. Instead we will end up with dominionist Mike Pence instead. Sorry, but I prefer our chances under Trump instead of Pence.

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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

That's part and parcel of the same argument people used when trying to get me to vote for HRC. Trump is below contemptible - as are Pence and Clinton. I support none of them. Is there something in the Steele report that you believe to be false? I have no idea myself, but if it turns out Trump is a piss drinker it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

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If you don't know what you want, you deserve what you get.

gulfgal98's picture

@Terry Hutchinson I do not have a vote now that the election is over. Actually, I did not have a realistic choice in November 2016, so I voted my conscience.

That said, my comment is not related to the lesser of two evils that we have been forced into with every recent election. Trump, Pence, and Ryan, in that order, are in the line of succession for the office of President with Trump our current President. My comment is my firm belief that Pence is far more dangerous than Trump.

What is your preference given the circumstances?

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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

Amanda Matthews's picture

@gulfgal98

fundamentalist ways coupled with the fact that he isn’t the buffoon Trump is would make it easier for Pence to really screw us.

I don’t think Trump is a total moron, but he is a poorly spoken buffoon and that alienates a lot of people on the right. They’d much rather see Pence running the White House. Plus he’s a known factor, Trump is a loose canon. Again, I agree a Pence presidency would be far worse than the guy who’s only two generations away from the Canadian immigrant whorehouse madame that started to family on the road to fame and fortune.

I always laugh about that. A Xtian fundie fuckwit serving under a totally amoral whack job. I would think if Pence were really such a ‘godly Xtian he wouldn’t want to be alone in the same room as his boss.

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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

Amanda Matthews's picture

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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