RUSH: Now, again, despite everything we think we know, there’s still some things that have surfaced that we don’t know. And, again, the FBI is really insistent — and even Comey last night in his town hall on CNN, they are insistent, they are standing firm, they’re holding firm on the idea that their investigation of Trump-Russia collusion began with Papadopoulos. Even though this has been exposed and nuked every which way from Sunday, they’re standing by it.
They are claiming this whole thing began when George Papadopoulos told the Australian ambassador, Alexander Downer, that the Russians had a bunch of dirt on Hillary Clinton and that the Trump campaign knew about it. This caused Downer — Downer, by the way, is in bed with the Clintons. He’s a donor to the Clinton Foundation. He was a fundraiser for the Clinton Foundation. He has direct ties to the FBI.
We all know that Papadopoulos didn’t know anything about any of this until he was told by two other FBI operatives, Joseph Mifsud and Stefan Halper. You know what they’re relying on? They’re relying on the fact that what I just told you and what you know, you’ve heard so many times you’re sick of it, people that watch CNN and read the New York Times do not yet know any of this.
People that watch CNN, PMSNBC, or read the New York Times do not know the name Joseph Mifsud. They may have a peripheral knowledge of the name Stefan Halper, but they don’t know how the information was planted in Papadopoulos and then he was arranged to have drinks with Alexander Downer.
All they know is that a Trump foreign policy guy met for drinks with an Australian ambassador in a London bar in July of 2016 and started bragging about the fact the Trump campaign knew that the Russians had some dirt on Hillary. Papadopoulos didn’t mention emails. And neither did Downer. That’s been added to juice up the story, but emails were not even mentioned. It was just dirt.
Well we know for a fact that it didn’t happen. The FBI, Comey last night on CNN in his town hall wherever you look, they’re holding fast to the idea that that’s what caused everything, that’s what caused ’em to go out and hire Christopher Steele. That’s what caused them to start looking into this possible Trump-Russia collusion. But we know that’s not true.
We have learned that the FBI made Steele an informant in February of 2016. He was given the list of admonitions: These are the things that you are not to do as an informant. Let me give you a heads-up. If the FBI ever hires you to be an informant, they’re gonna give you a list of admonishments or admonitions, things that you cannot do.
One of the things you can’t do is admit that you’re an informant, and you cannot tell anybody in the media that you are. Well, Steele did! And they fired him! But then Mueller went and talked to him and now he’s been rehired by Fusion GPS for this organization still trying to dig up dirt on Trump run by the Feinstein former staffer.
So the question is why did the FBI hire Steele in February 2016 if nobody knew anything about anything until July 16 when Downer met Papadopoulos? What the hell? And now Comey is out there (imitating Comey), “Well, of course the FBI, quite normal to implant informants and so forth into political campaigns. There’s nothing unusual about that.” And now we got government officials attempting to say, “Oh, yeah, we had an informant in the Hillary campaign too.”
“Oh, you did?”
“Oh, yes, yes, yes, of course. We didn’t know anything about it, but, yes, we did, of course.” Back to the original question. Why make Steele a confidential informant in February 2016? Papadopoulos didn’t meet Downer ’til July 2016 and the only reason that matters is ‘cause that’s when the FBI says, “You know, we’re just moving along, we’re fine and dandy, we’re investigating crime, got our top 10 list, we’re out there trying to find bad guys, put ’em in jail, looking for the next John Dillinger and Bugsy Malone. And all of a sudden we get this call from the Australian ambassador saying a Trump campaign guy is bragging about the fact that the Russians have some dirt on Hillary. Whoa, we gotta get in gear.”
Except they hired the guy who wrote the dossier that was a pack of lies that got ’em their FISA warrant to spy on Trump in February. This might have even been before Papadopoulos was hired by the Trump campaign, I don’t know. But close. And then there are other reports.
This woman, Ukrainian American by the name of Chalupa, Democrat National Committee woman, I’ve seen reports that this woman spun up about Manafort in January of 2016, that’s several weeks before Manafort even joined the Trump campaign. We got a Democrat National Committee woman by the name of Chalupa all bothered and irritated about Paul Manafort in January of 2016, before Trump even hires him. Comey briefed Obama’s National Security Council shortly after Carter Page joined the Trump campaign. That’s a week before Manafort did in late March.
My point is there’s a whole bunch of stuff that went on long before July of 2016, long before Papadopoulos started having drinks and chatting with the Australian ambassador, that they are hiding! They are hiding. The real origins of this investigation are long before July 2016, and they are hiding it.
And this is why Trump has to force the disclosure of all of these documents, FBI, Department of Justice, CIA, he’s got to force this all to be disclosed or we’re never gonna really know what happened here, ’cause it did not happen with Papadopoulos. That’s the story that they’ve stuck with since they first made it up.
Now, there’s news on Alexander Downer. Alexander Downer decided to come out of the woodwork. He did an interview in the U.K. with Sky News. He tried to defend himself against the charge that he was working with the FBI as a spy.
“Downer said that he provided the FBI with a memo he wrote after a May 10, 2016 meeting in which he says Papadopoulos mentioned that Russia might release information about Hillary Clinton close to the election.” May, 2016.
Downer claims he doesn’t know why Papadopoulos told him that. May 2016 meeting with Papadopoulos? Well, it was July where the supposed drinks took place with the message from Papadopoulos about the Russians having dirt on Hillary.
Downer also said in his interview with Sky News that there was no suggestion of collusion between Trump or Trump’s campaign and the Russians. Well, if Downer is saying that he reported what Papadopoulos said to him, reported it to the Brits and he reported it to the FBI, but he’s also saying he told them that there was no suggestion of collusion between Trump or Trump’s campaign and Russia.
Well, if that’s true, then why did the FBI start its counterintelligence investigation based on his nothing of a report? As Comey and others claim, this thing started in July after the Brits learned of Papadopoulos’ meeting with Downer. But Downer says he told them, “Nothing to see here. I don’t think there’s any campaign or Trump collusion with Russia going on here.”
But then if you go further into the story: “Downer, who served as Australia’s top diplomat to the U.K. at the time, provided a memo he wrote following the meeting [with Papadopoulos] to the FBI more than two months later.” He meets with Papadopoulos in May, doesn’t tell anybody about it for two months. If what Papadopoulos told Downer was so unsettling, why did he wait more than two months to tell the FBI about it?
“According to Downer, Papadopoulos mentioned that Russia might have information on then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that they could release before the 2016 election.” Even if that were true, there be nothing illegal about it. Papadopoulos knew it. If that’s true, Hillary would be in jail for the information she got from the Russian foreign agents via the Steele dossier. I mean, she took information from the Russians, too, that she paid for.
Anyway, “Downer disputed claims that [he] was part of a conspiracy to entrap” Papadopoulos. See, these people are all coming out of the woods now, folks. They’re all coming out of the woods to deny what has been reported. This is all happening because Barr said, “I know there was spying on the Trump campaign.” They’re investigating it. The IG. So many people now are trying to rewrite their own versions of history in which they were involved. Downer says of Papadopoulos, “I don’t know why he told me this,” meaning the Russians had dirt on Hillary.
“[B]ut he did, and we reported it. And the rest is history. There’s no defense for him saying it’s some sort of weird conspiracy. I mean, it’s what he told me.” (impression) “There’s no conspiracy. I’m not making anything up!” Yeah, he might have told you, but the question is who told him, Mr. Downer? You know that it was Mifsud and you know that it was Halper. You know that Papadopoulos did not know this on his own. The Trump campaign didn’t know this.
The Trump campaign had no knowledge of the Russians having dirt on Hillary because they didn’t, to the extent that anybody knew. It was all made up. Downer told Sky News, quote, “I would regard myself as a warrior for the Western alliance, and that’s why I passed on what Papadopoulos said.” Now, “[w]hile Downer was critical of Papadopoulos, he said that there was no indication from his May 2016 conversation that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia to steal or release any Clinton information.
“‘There was no suggestion from Papadopoulos nor in the record of the meeting that we sent back to Canberra… There was no suggestion that there was collusion between Donald Trump or Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russians,’ Downer said.” This is Downer talking to Sky News. No suggestion? (Snort!) The FBI is only saying your meeting with him triggered the counterintelligence investigation. Holy smokes! This is… It’s coming together now, I think, folks.