George loves to
travel. He has a goal to see a new country every year and since 2009, he has
done it. it is now 2017. For the first time since he had this goal, someone
wasn't inviting him to a place he's never been. At 34, he realizes that it's
going to be harder and harder now that his friends are having families,
something that he never wanted. It is April 30, his nephew's birthday. He calls
him up to wish him happy birthday and then as he's talking has an idea. He
says, thinking the answer will be no, "Do you want to Prague with me in
July?"
George knows that
his nephew is in college so it would have to be during the summer months. His
nephew says, "I can't afford that."
"Yea, but I
can"
"No, you're
not really going to take me to Prague, no way, no, I can't let you do
that."
"Why?"
"I don't
really have a reason. I gotta ask my Aunt who I said I'd work with but I don't
think it'll be a problem"
"Excellent"
in July, George and
his nephew went to Prague. Unfortunately for them, the biggest tourist
attraction, the astronoical clock tower was under construction. They had an
AirBNB about a 10 minute walk from the tourist area, which they both liked
because the food around there was cheaper and better than the tourist area.
They went to a random bar that they found and starting talking. They overheard
a conversation at another table. It was an American and two Russians speaking.
George's nephew said, "Oh, look other Americans, hi I'm Morris, where are
you from?"
George thought
something was suspicious about these people but he thought that was just his
introverted nature. Morris broke the ice, so now he'd have to continue with the
conversation. He came over to hear the American go, "I'm Michael
Cohen"
George thought it
strange that he gave his last name. Usually people don't do that but he
shrugged it off and said, "White House council Michael Cohen?"
"No, I don't
work for the White House. Cohen is a popular last name"
"And Michael
is a common first name so there you go."
"Yea"
The Russian said,
"White House council Michael Cohen is being investigated by Bob Mueller
right now."
Morris said,
"How do you know that?"
"I have my
sources"
George and Morris
were familiar with rumors that Trump colluded with the Russians to win the
election. He was getting suspicious so wanted to subtly hint to Morris to leave
but he wasn't good at being subtle. He said, "Well, I'm sorry to bother
you, we'll let you have your meeting. It was just interesting to hear an
American accent."
Morris didn't take
the hint, "No, I'm curious, do you mind if we join you.? What did Cohen
do?"
George knew Morris
was a Democratic Socialist so just wanted juicy information against Trump.
George was going to go for option two, offend them. He said, "Does this
have anything to do with FBI lawyer Lisa Page and lead investigator Peter
Strzok's text messages being leaked to the press about how they hated Trump and
that they were going to make sure he didn't win the election?"
Surprisingly, the
Russian wasn't offended. He said, "Ahh, you know your news. Please sit,
let's discuss what's about to happen."
George and Morris
sat. the date is July 28, The Russian said, "In three days the FBI is
going to open investigation called Crossfire Hurricane to investigate Donald
Trump's campaign. Bob Mueller is going to have a special council to
investigate. It is all based on lies but your press will help make it
true."
George said,
"Well, one of our countrymen, George Papadopoulos was just arrested. So, i
think it's starting now."
"Yes, your DOJ
and FBI is panicking so they will make bogus accusations to anyone in Trump
campaign. America will be divided, and once divided, it will fall, how does
that American expression go, united strong, divided weak."
George said,
"United we stand, divided we fall"
"Yes, that is
it."
Morris was
uncomfortable but George thought they were in danger. He said, "Why are
you telling us this?"
"You are not
in government. You have no power, You can do nothing about it, and you
interrupted my meeting so I wanted to give you extremely valuable information
that you can do nothing with. The next few years, you will be tortured knowing
that everything you hear on the news is a lie."
"A simple,
'hey, we're having a meeting, do you mind leaving us alone and enjoying your
night' would have done just fine but okay"
George got up from
the table and Morris hurried after him.
As time progressed,
White House Council Michael Cohen turned on Trump. All sorts of indictments
were made by Mueller on Papadapoulos, Manafort and Cohen but none of it had
anything to do with Russian collusion. George read the Steele dossier and saw
the meeting it was talking about realizing that he knew for a fact that it was
the wrong Michael Cohen. He wrote his Senators Schumer and Gilibrand (George
lives in New York) but they accused him of lying. Morris tried going to the
authorities in Ohio where he lived but nobody would listen to a 19-year-old.
Not too long later,
Theo was drinking at a bar and Morris was drinking at his college in Ohio.
Neither were heavy drinkers but despite the lack of alcohol, they blacked out
pretty quickly. They woke up together in a dark room with two beds. Morris was
panicked but George took a deep breath. He was scared but he knew panicking
wasn't the answer. A man came in and said, "I'm sorry to do this to you.
I'm sure you're wondering why you're here."
George said, 'No,
that's pretty obvious. The New York senators know that I know that former White
House council Michael Cohen is innocent and Mueller just referred his case to
the Southern District of New York, where I happen to work close by. You need to
shut me up. My nephew on the other hand, is a 19-year-old kid who doesn't live
in New York, so taking him was pointless."
The man seemed
impressed, "that's pretty good."
Morris said,
"Wait what? you can't do this? We're Americans, you can't just lock us
up."
George turned to
Morris and said, "That's only conservative governments, but New York is
Democrat"
Morris rolled his
eyes and said, "Do you really think this is the time for that?"
George smiled and
said, "Yes" he then turned to the man, "He's a socialist just
like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez He believes everything the media tells him. He's
gullible. Despite our little conversation with the other Cohen and the
Russians, he probably believes the media that we met the right Michael Cohen
and that the Dossier is true,"
Morris turned to
his uncle and said, "Umm, I'm right here, and I know what I heard."
"Skase"
which is Greek for "shut up" George knew that despite having a Greek
mother, Morris didn't speak Greek. He hoped he knew that word.
The man spoke,
"Yiati? den theleis aftos no mou pes kati?"
George knew that was
Greek for 'Why, you don't want him to say something to me.' George just said in
English, "Well that backfired"
Morris said,
"What did you say?"
George chuckled,
"I told you to shut up. But it had the opposite effect I wanted. I wanted
you to understand and him not to, instead he understood and you didn't. Anyway,
my nephew doesn't know who you are. He's on your side he just doesn't know it.
He hates Trump. I'm the Trump supporter. I know who you are. I know what this
is about"
The man looked at
Morris who looked genuinely confused. the man said, "Who am I?"
"Let my nephew
go so we can talk."
"You do
realize you have no leverage right now right?"
"Yes, I know
but the fewer people that know about the meeting in Prague, the better it is
for you. My nephew only knows it wasn't Trump's lawyer Cohen that was there. He
doesn't know what else or who else was at that bar and what they
discussed."
The man seemed
interested now. "What do you know?"
"Let him go
and I'll tell you."
"Guards!"
At that command,
George was grabbed by two men bigger than him and held down. Five men came in
and grabbed Morris. One man per limb with a man standing above him with a
cloth. Morris was struggling but he couldn't really move. The man with the
cloth said, "Do you know what your uncle is talking about?"
"No"
With that the cloth
was pressed against his mouth, the man who had been doing the talking walked
over to him with a jug of water and poured it on the cloth. Morris squirmed a
lot but then the pouring stopped and the cloth was removed. Morris spit up
water and coughed incessantly. The man with the cloth asked him again, "Do
you know what he's talking about?"
In between coughs,
Morris said, "No, I don't, Please don't do that again, I'll do anything. I
just don't know. What the fuck, Holy shit, I don't know what he means, I just
know it was a different Michael Cohen and the Russian didn't want us to talk to
him anymore. I stopped listening after that."
"Tell us about
your uncle"
Morris looked at
George who was expressionless. Morris shook his head and said, "What do
you want to know?"
"Where does he
live?"
"New York, I'm
sure I can find the address in my phone, he gave it to me when we went to
Prague because I had a layover in New York. I can find it."
"Okay, tell us
everything you know about him"
Morris talked and
gave George's full name, his siblings, their relationship and everything he
knew about him. George didn't make a sound or an expression, he just listened
and hoped that he was right in what they were doing. He would be vindicated.
After he was done, the man who had done the talking said, "Who am I?"
"I don't know,
I swear"
"Well, if you
gave up your uncle to avoid going through that again, I have a feeling you're
telling me the truth."
"I am, I
swear"
"Do you
realize you may have just gotten your uncle killed?"
"No, wait why?
I told you basic information."
George broke the
silence, "He's bluffing, I'm about to do that to myself if they let you
go."
The man nodded and
turned to Morris, "He's right, we're going to take you to a different
room. If your uncle isn't bluffing, we're going to let you go. If he doesn't
know anything, then we'll be acquainted longer."
The guards took
Morris out of the room. As he was going, Morris said, "I'm sorry"
George said,
"Don't be, you did exactly what you should've done and what I wanted you
to do."
After Morris left,
the man said, "Who am I?"
"You're
Stephan Halper. You helped set up Papadopoulos when Mifsud and Downer failed.
In Prague, I thought you were Russian but given that your a spy and I actually
didn't hear you say anything because the other Russian was talking, I didn't
realize you were American."
"How did you
figure this out?"
"I've been
paying attention unlike Morris. Strzok just had his closed testimony revealed.
He talks about a sensitive source he got for the phony Dossier the exact same
time I was in Prague, July 2017. His sensitive source couldn't be Downer
because Downer isn't sensitive, he's just a diplomat not a spy where his
identity, if leaked, may lead to his death. Downer also said nothing about
Russia or the Trump campaign in their meeting that the media blew out of
proportion. You'd think it was Steele, after all, he talked to like 20 people
to launder the dossier why not one more in Strzok? But that's not true because Strzok
testified under oath that he didn't know Steele until September 2017, so either
he perjured himself, and a lawyer would know how serious that would be, or
Steele's not the sensitive source. It has to be someone around July 2017, who
is a spy and who is knee deep in this. I knew when I saw your picture on the
news you looked familiar. being face to face, I know it was you at the meeting.
You're the only one that fits as the sensitive source."
"So what? I
had a drink in Prague, so did you."
If you are the
source, then a spy was spying on the Trump campaign before crossfire hurricane
started, which means the obstruction case is bogus. It also means that the
Dossier was the only reason the FISA warrants were issued and not this 'mosaic
of information' or 'multiple articulable' facts that MeCabe, Ohr and others
keep talking about.
Halper took a deep
breath and looked around. "Did you tell anyone about this? Or did you
really just figure it out?"
"I just
figured it out"
"Did you tell
anyone?"
"Release my nephew"
"I could
waterboard you to find out."
"Or I could
just lie. I know you have no idea if I did or didn't"
Halper called the
guards in and they waterboarded George the same way they did Morris. Halper
said, "Who did you tell?"
George coughed,
composed himself and said, "Release the kid"
George found
himself back again with water being poured on his mouth over a cloth. When they
stopped. Halper asked him again, "Who did you tell?"
"Barak
Obama"
"How do you
know how to contact Barak Obama?"
"I don't but as
ridiculous as a story as that was, you actually asked a follow up question. Now
you know I can lie convincingly even after being water boarded. So how do you
know if it's not disinformation, lie to stop the waterboarding but not expose
anyone or the truth to stop it?"
Halper called a
guard in, "Blindfold the kid, get him out of here"
"You're going
to have to let him call me to know he's safe"
"You're going
to have to wait. We are not in New York or Ohio"
Halper walked out
of the room. He didn't return for four hours. George was used to being alone so
this interrogation tactic didn't work on him. When Halper came back he was
discouraged he saw no stress on George's face. He handed George a phone, George
said, "Hello"
"Hey Uncle
George, it's Morris"
"Are you
okay?"
"Yea, they
dropped me off in the bar I was at before waking up with you."
"Put someone
on the phone around you"
Morris handed the
phone to someone who shyly picked up the phone "Hello"
"What is the
mascot for the campus you're on"
"The
Rockets"
That was about as
good as he could hope for. No hesitation to confer and the guy that got on the
phone seemed confused. Could be a ploy and it was actually a guard but he
didn't have a better way right now."
Halper said,
"Did you tell anyone?"
"No, I just figured
it out in this room" George's head was down and he looked despondant.
Halper smiled,
"Did you think I'd kill you with that response?"
George looked up,
"Yes"
"You watch too
many movies. I'm just going to hold you until the Mueller probe is over"
"When will
that be?"
"Don't know.
News says Mueller's going to indict Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner so it's getting
serious now"
"What about
work?"
"You're young,
you'll find a new job"
Turns out that
wasn't necessary. The news lied again. Two days after being taken, the Mueller
reoort was released with no colluision and no more indictments. George was
released, he had a lot of messages from work and he just said he was in the
hospital because he lost consciousness for two days. He had to deal with
worried co-workers but it was better than telling them he got kidnapped by a
spy. George didn't talk to Morris much anyway and he still didn't. Who knew a
simple vacation to Prague would lead to being in a basement of an American spy.
He decided to go to a movie. Unplanned was the only non-liberal movie
playing. George thought it funny that it was rated "R." he said
outloud, "So, you're telling me that a 16-year-old can get an abortion
without parental consent but can't see a movie about abortion? Ah the double
standards of leftists.
No government body ever contact
George or Morris again.
No comments:
Post a Comment