Real Characters Episode 6 The Puppet Masters

                Christopher Steele is an MI6 agent for Her Majesty’s government.  He is now set to retire because as an Mi6 agent, his anonymity is crucial but he has been highly praised for his success in bringing the FIFA corruption scandal to fruition.  It’s not all over for Christopher Steele. The FIFA case made him a hot commodity for various intelligence agencies.  Not just in England but also in her neighbors across the pond.  He is now listed as a Confidential Informant (CI) for the American CIA and the FBI.  All this is about to take fruition as Donald Trump is quickly rising in the ranks to become the Republican Candidate for president.  Bob Hanigan, the head of GCHQ (the UK version of the CIA) has just called Steele.  The content of their conversation will send America into chaos for the next four years.

 

                John Brennan is the head of the CIA.  He contacts his good friend and colleague Bob Hanigan, who is a counterpart in her majesty’s intelligence service.  They exchange pleasantries and then the meat of the conversation is revealed.  Brennan says, “Bob, we can’t have Donald Trump as President.”

                “I can see why you say that.  Why exactly are you telling me?”

                “I’m a little handcuffed.  As you know, the CIA is an intelligence agency.  I have no prosecutorial or law enforcement power.  I need evidence to trick the FBI into pursuing this case.  I can do what I can on my end but the laws of America make it a little risky.  You guys don’t have the privacy laws America has so I would like, with your permission, to use England as a staging ground to gather said information.”

                “That’s a pretty big ask.  What’s in it for England?”

                “Well, if this works, Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States.  Having the most powerful person in the world owe you a favor is something that can be very beneficial for England.”

                “How do I know that Mrs. Clinton approves this?”

                You can use your sources to verify what I’m about to tell you.  Hillary Clinton has paid a company named Fusion GPS to dig up dirt on Donald Trump.  She did it through a law firm named Perkins Coie so that it doesn’t trace back to her but she is behind it.  Glenn Simpson, the owner of Fusion GPS, is friends with one of your men, Christopher Steele.  I would like you to allow Christopher Steele to work with Fusion GPS to bring down Donald Trump.”

                “Well, that may not be too hard of a sell.  Steele has achieved notoriety for the FIFA case and, by extension, isn’t much use as an MI6 agent so he’s getting an honorable dismissal from us.  He’s looking for a new career and having this will help in that endeavor.  I’ll talk to him and let him know that if he pursues Mr. Simpson’s request, he has my blessing.”

                “Thank you Bob”

                “No problem and our country is open for you in any way you want to proceed with this fact finding mission.  I would tell you though that if it comes to sticking someone’s neck out, I would prefer that it be Americans and not British.”

                “Absolutely, that’s fair as this is our country we are fighting for.”
                “Alright John, thanks for the courtesy.  It’s always nice to hear from an old friend.”
                “Likewise, when this is all over, we’ll have some tea together.”

                Bob Hanigan smiled, “In a show of cooperation and willingness to work together, I’ll have coffee and you’ll have tea.”

                John Brennan laughed and said, “I see you’re already asking for big favors”

 

                Shortly after the conversation with John Brennan, Hanigan calls Christopher Steele and says, “Chris, I understand that you’ve been approached by Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS to do some opposition research on Donald Trump.”

                Steele doesn’t even bother to ask how Hanigan knows this.  He knows what intelligence agencies are.  It’s their job to know things so he glosses over this and says, “Yes sir.”

                “I wanted to let you know that you have my blessing in pursuing this.  I’m aiding the Americans by letting them host their intelligence gathering operations in Britain as we can use surveillance techniques not allowed in the United States.”

                “That’s a good idea but I want to have America do most of the heavy lifting”

                “I would agree and John Brennan of the CIA has agreed with us on that assessment.  He assures me they will be providing the personnel”

                “Well, I think we should take it a step further.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “Well, they have FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) that would allow them to invasively spy on people.  In the beginning we’ll stage the evidence but it should work toward getting a FISA warrant so that they can do it themselves”

                “Well, our surveillance techniques are more invasive than even a FISA but I’m listening.  What do you have in mind?”

                “The FBI trusts me outright after the FIFA case.  They’ll believe anything I tell them.  I discussed my role with Glenn Simpson and he has told me he’s going to write most of the dossier but I’ll add some color to it.  I’ll put in some Russian information but it’s basically going to be a rewrite of an article he wrote in 2007 when he wrote for the Wall Street Journal.” 

                “I see you’re already making yourself minimally involved.”

                “I need you to talk to Brennan to make me a CI for the CIA as well.  That way the information can come from two sources and make it more credible.”

                “You want the FBI and CIA to fight over you?”
                “No, the FBI protects their sources.  I’m not known to them by my real name.  They assign me a number. To the FBI, I’m just a number so even if my name leaks, the FBI won’t know that “Christopher Steele is CI #007 or whatever number I am.”

                “I like the idea; I’ll call back John and let him know your idea.”

 

                After Hanigan proposed this plan to Brennan, Brennan asked permission to contact Steele, which Hanigan granted.  Brennan calls Steele and tells him that he loves the idea and he’ll name Steele officially as a CIA CI.  Brennan then tells him, “I’d like to expand on your theory though.”

                “Okay, how so?”

                “Instead of just two sources, I need you to start getting on the phone and leaking the information to the press, John McCain and other Republicans that hate Trump and anyone we can.  This is an enemy of our enemy is our friend campaign.  All the enemies of our enemy need to hear you tell them this information.  We will inundate the FBI with your information from so many sources that they’ll have to believe it.”

                “Won’t they question the source?”

                “No, Americans think anything said in an English accent is reliable.  Besides, you have prior history.  Are you a Game of Thrones fan?”

                “A little bit.”

                “You’re like Little finger.  Ned Stark asked Little Finger for help and Little finger came through.  This built up again and again and Ned Stark started believing Little Finger could be relied upon even though his gut was that he was a snake.  That happened right up until Ned Stark stuck his neck out and counted on Little Finger to come through.  Little Finger than put a knife to his throat and told him that he was right all along not to trust him.”

                “So my work with ENRON and FIFA is all the small things Little Finger did to help out.  This is going to be my knife to the throat.”

                “Yup”

                “My role as a CI though is contingent on not leaking to the press.”

                “You’re about to take down a major American party candidate for the President of the United States and you think we’re going to trust you after this anyway?”

                “Quite right, so after giving up my career as an MI6 agent, I’m going to give up my career as an FBI CI”

                “Do you really have a problem with that?”

                “Not really, my loyalty is with Her Majesty’s government not America or its intelligence agencies.  We work together but make no mistake about where my loyalties lie.”

                 “So, why care if you turn your back on the FBI?”

                “I honestly don’t have the foggiest idea.”

                “Excellent, so you’re in agreement.”

                “Yes I am Mr. Brennan”

                “Please Mr. Steele, call me ‘John’”

               

                Christopher Steele was very busy over the next couple of months.  He told Glenn Simpson that he had Russian sources that talked about how Trump colluded with the Russians to hack the DNC server and Hillary’s private e-mail.  He told them all about how his Russian sources said that Trump had a backchannel with the Kremlin and how his lawyer Michael Cohen went to Prague to discuss a strategy to influence the election through social media campaigns.  The one that stuck the most was that Trump campaign member Carter Page met with senior Russian businessmen tied to Putin.  Steele was most surprised that that was the one that stuck.  Yes, the best lies have an element of truth to it but the meeting happened years ago and the FBI asked Page to talk with them in order to spy on the Russians to see what they knew and if they intended to harm the United States.  Naturally all this was left out in the reports by the 16 intelligence agencies. 

                Hanigan held up his end of the deal as Brennan used Britain to lure Trump campaign member George Papadopoulos to London for several dinners and conferences where they threw various spies at him such as Stephan Halper of the CIA and Azra Turk to seduce him in order to try to get information.  The final nail in the coffin was supposed to be an Australian Diplomat Alexander Downer to pull information planted months earlier from Papadopoulos but Downer failed.  Steele held up his end of the bargain with Brennan as well as he’d been really busy leaking his information to as many news outlets as he could along with Bruce Ohr of the State Department, John McCain’s team, and the FBI.  The months long plan was finally coming to fruition.   Steele had a meeting with a state department member Kathleen Kavalec.

                When Kathleen Kavalec got a call from Christopher Steele to meet about damaging information about Trump being a Russian asset, she was a little hesitant.  She called the FBI and asked if they knew Steele.  What she heard was that Steele’s reporting had been corroborated and used in criminal proceedings and they deem him reliable and are unaware of any derogatory information pertaining to their informant.  These same words would be issued in a 10/21/16 (footnote 5 on page 15) FISA warrant application request. 

                With that ringing endorsement, Kavalec agrees to meet with Steele on October 11, 2016 thinking that this is a credible person.  After pleasantries, Kavalec asks, “Okay Mr. Steele what is this conversation about?”

                “Well, I have Russian sources that have told me about technical and human operations run out of Moscow targeting the election.  These recruited émigrés in the United States are doing the hacking and recruiting.”

                “On whose behalf are they doing this?”

                “Putin’s”

                “Is the Kremlin paying them directly or through another source?”

                “They are being paid through the Russian Consulate in Miami”

                Kavalec has a thought but keeps it to herself and doesn’t bring it up to Steele.  She is now listening a little more skeptically.  This skepticism is only fueled when Steele says, “You need to get this out before the election.  We don’t have much time as the election is less than a month away.” 

                The conversation went on and when they got off the phone, Kavalec wrote a memo to be sent to the State department and FBI.  She confirmed something she was almost positive was true but had to double check as she wanted her memo to be as accurate as possible.  She confirmed she was right and when she got to the part about how Steele said these Russian spies were paid out of the Russian Consulate in Miami, she types a bracket and puts, “It is important to note that there is no Russian consulate in Miami.” She goes on to write that his insistence to get the information out before the election suggests to her that he is doing this not for intelligence purposes but for political purposes. 

 

                10 days later, the FBI ignores this memo and goes to a judge to get a FISA warrant against Carter Page based on Steele’s information, which at this point has gone to a variety of sources to be recycled back to the FBI to try to make higher ups in the DOJ, FBI and CIA say that there was a “Corpus of Intelligence” or “Mosaic of information” and similar statements.  The entire corpus and mosaic, like actual mosaics, were constructed and made by the same person.  Kavalec’s memo would be buried and wouldn’t reappear until 2019, when FBI director Christopher Wray classifies all but a couple sentences just as new attorney general Bill Barr is looking into the genesis of the FISA warrant and other agencies’ investigation into whether or not Trump colluded with the Russians.  Mueller’s report said “no” but that didn’t stop the perpetuators of the narrative from giving up on their story.

               

                Bill Barr has just accepted and been confirmed as the Attorney General.  His soft spoken manner unnerves many people but Barr finds that shouting and getting angry doesn’t help in matters.  He can get his point across by remaining calm.  This comes into play when congress interrogates him about his summary of the Mueller Report saying no collusion and no obstruction.  That all happens later; right now, Barr has just been confirmed and one of his first acts is to find out from Bob Mueller where he’s at in the investigation.  Mueller says he’s almost done and about a month later, he releases his report.  Barr has just written a four page summary of it and calls Bob Mueller.  He says, “Hello sir, I just wanted to inform you that I have finished my summary of your report.  Would you like to review it to make sure there are any inaccuracies before I release it?”

                “No, that’s okay.  You’re not new at this.”

                “Are you sure? It’s your work that I’m commenting on.”

                “Yea I’m sure.”

                “Okay, there is one thing I need to ask.”

                “Shoot”

                “Did you not recommend indicted President Trump because of the statute that you can’t indict a sitting president?”

                “No, that wasn’t why, the evidence wasn’t there.”

                “Well, there seems to be some things left out but that’s beside the point, I just wanted to make sure that you’re aware that if you want to indict, that can be done after impeachment proceedings.”

                “I understand that, the statue was not why I decided there was no evidence of collusion.”

                “So even if he wasn’t the president, you still wouldn’t recommend indictment?”

                “No I would not sir.”

                “Thank you for your time.”

                “Any time, you have a good day.”

                “You too sir”

                With that Bill Barr releases the summary.  Mueller’s report had deferred the decision with obstruction of justice to Barr and Barr, after reviewing the report, has deemed that there was no obstruction of justice.

                After the release of the report, a high ranking member of Hillary Clinton’s mafia-like network also known as the FBI, DOJ and the media calls Mueller.  Mueller picks up the phone and said, “How can you say there was no collusion?”

                “I can’t fabricate evidence.  I did everything I could.  I made it 448 pages so that nobody can say it wasn’t thorough.  I, however, left out all exculpatory information that paints Trump in a good light.  The only positive thing is the conclusion.  I made it very one-sided giving you people all the ammunition you need to continue your story without exposing me for corruption and fabricating evidence, which is a crime.”

                “That’s not good enough”

                “What do you want me to do? The investigation is over”

                “Release something attacking Barr”

                “Alright, I can do that.  I mean I already set him up to take the heat with the no obstruction call.  So, I’ll release some vague statement that I don’t think his report accurately sums up my report.”

                “Excellent, thank you.”

                “No problem”

                By the time Mueller releases this statement, however, Barr has agreed to release the Mueller report.  Less than 2% is redacted.  The only redactions are the Grand Jury testimony, which by law, has to be redacted.   Mueller feels foolish for doing it because people can just read the report themselves and make a conclusion but he does anyway thinking it’s a non-event.  This requires Bill Barr to call him.  “Mr. Mueller, I just saw your report, I was curious what sparked it?”

                “Well Fox News and the conservative media ran with it to say I exonerated Trump.  I didn’t want it to come off that way.”

                “Well you can’t really control what the media thinks.  You’re statement does say that you don’t like the media’s reaction to it.  That, however, isn’t my fault.”

                “I agree with that.  I’m not accusing you.  I know the media took it that way but it’s not an accusation.”

                “Well, for the record, do you think I mischaracterized your report?”

                “No”

                “Alright, that’s all I needed to know.”

                As these criticisms don’t amount to much as they are paper thin even for mainstream media standards, the Clinton machine calls one of their henchmen Jerry Nadler, who is a congressman for New York.  He is chairmen for the House Judiciary Committee.  The henchman says, “Chairmen Nadler, what are you doing about Bill Barr?”

                “He got through one of my hearings.  I called him back and changed the format so it could be more attacking and he’s refusing to come.”

                “Well then charge him with something”

                “He hasn’t committed a crime”

                “Like that has stopped us before.” The henchman said sarcastically

                “We’ve already labeled ‘spy’ a hateful term and attacked him for using a word that we arbitrarily pretend is hate speech.  He hasn’t backed down like the Republicans do when we do it to them.”

                “We took down Mitt Romney by making the term ‘Binder’ a dirty word.  Why can’t you do it with ‘spy?”

                “Romney backed down when we called ‘binder’ a chauvinistic term.  Barr hasn’t.  He keeps using it and tells us that it’s not a pejorative.  Every time we change the rules to fit our needs, he declares that he’s not playing.  He likes the rules the way they were.”

                “He did refuse to show you his memos and notes about the Mueller report.”

                “Which he has a right to do.”

                “Well, the Republicans charged Eric Holder with contempt of congress when he refused to turn over all the evidence about the Fast and Furious scandal.”

                “He also wire tapped reporter’s communications and used the government jet to take his family to the Belmont Stakes.  They also waited like nine months; this has only been 10 days.”

                “So what?”

                “So what?  The media had a field day when the Republicans tried this.  Chris Matthews said several times it was the same as stop and frisk, others called it a conspiracy theory, several others kept calling it a political stunt.  I don’t think that looks good on us.”

                “You forget that we own the mainstream media.  They won’t say that about you.  The only reason they said that then is because we told them to.  This time they will support it.”

                “Don’t they care about their hypocrisy?  I mean 2012 isn’t that long ago.”

                ‘It might as well be 1512 as the American public is concerned.  People have short memories.  The media hasn’t cared about double standards and hypocrisy before when doing our bidding so why would they now?”

                “I guess that’s why Holder called America ‘a nation of cowards.’  Okay, so what’s the plan?”

                “Ask Barr to release something.  When he refuses, hit him on contempt of congress”

                “Should I use his notes on the Mueller probe?”

                “No, let’s not call attention to his notes.  If those leak, then there’s actually exculpatory information about Trump”

                “Okay so what?”

                “Tell him to release the Mueller report without any redactions.”

                “But the only thing that’s redacted is the Grand Jury testimony”

                “Exactly, so we know that Barr won’t release it.”

                “It would be illegal if he released it pursuant to Federal Rule 6(E).”

                “You think the American public knows Federal Rule 6E?”

                “This is interesting.  If Barr releases the information, we can get him for violating Federal Rule 6(E), if he doesn’t then we can pretend it’s contempt of congress.  He’s damned if he does damned if he doesn’t”

                “Now you’re getting it”

                “Alright, and I have your assurance that the media will back me up on this.  If the truth comes out, I’ll look like an idiot.  I mean Congress passed that Rule 6(e) that you can’t release Grand Jury testimony to Congress.  It’s our law.”

                “Yes and last month, in McKeever vs. Barr, the courts ruled that a judge can’t even violate Federal Rule 6(e) so even the court can’t order the release of Grand Jury testimony much less the Attorney General.”

                “What if Barr find a legal way to release it?”

                “He would have to write Congress, which is you, to amend Federal Rule 6(e) to add a clause that there’s an exception for special counsel reports.  You just simply say ‘no’ you won’t amend the rule.”

                “Yes, I’m not going to amend the rule that will legally allow him to do what I’m asking but if he does what I ask, I’ll charge him for violating the rule.”

                “Yes, so don’t change the rule so he’s still in the position that he’s damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.” 

                “Alright, I’m really going to need your influence to support me on this one.  It’s worse than the obstruction claim.  I mean all evidence was that Trump told everyone to cooperate.  They gave us all the documents we asked for and he didn’t even know he was being investigated”

                “And despite the ridiculousness of the case for obstruction, did you look like a fool for suggesting it?  Does the average American know how ridiculous the charge was?”

                “No”

                “So there you go, we know how to protect you.  Don’t doubt our power.”

                “Alright, thanks for the support.  You can always count on my loyalty.” In the back of his mind Nadler thought, ‘I’ve seen what happens if I cross you.’

                Nadler does exactly that.  He tells Barr to release the full unredacted Mueller report to Congress.  Barr says no and he files for contempt of congress charges to be issued against him.  When the accusation comes in, Barr calls Nadler and says, “Mr. Chairmen, you know it’s illegal for me to release this information?”

                “I want you to release it or else I’m pursuing the charges.”

                “Alright well what if I set up a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) so you and say five other congressman can see it.  That way I’m not in violation of Federal Statute 6(E) and you get the information you want to see.”

                “No”

                “What do you mean ‘no’ I can’t break the law for you.”

                “Either give all of congress the unredacted document or I proceed with my Contempt of Congress charge.”

                “You’ll be laughed out of court.  We just had a case about this last month and you lost.  A judge can’t even release that information.”

                “My terms are non-negotiable.”

                “I’m sorry you feel that way.  I guess we’ll have to waste more tax payer money and time in prosecuting this bogus claim”

                “I’ll see you in court”

                Bill Barr contemplates his conversation and is confused.  He doesn’t know what he’s missing.  He talks it over with an advisor and says, “I don’t know what they want.  I can’t break the law.  I offered to set up a SCIF, what else can I do?”

                “Maybe they didn’t like that only six people could come.”

                Barr shrugs his shoulders, I guess I could allow more.  He didn’t seem willing to negotiate though.”

                “Maybe it’s a power move.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “Maybe he doesn’t like that he has to come to you.  Politicians like being the ones in power.  They like making people wait and making them feel more important than the person they’re meeting with.”

                “So you’re saying that I should bring it to them.”

                “Yea, that way they can be late for the meeting and make you wait and let them think that they’re important.”

                “It’s worth a shot I guess.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about the ego of a politician.”

                “Precisely”

                Barr calls up Nadler and says, “Mr. Chairman, what if I expand the SCIF to more people?”

                “No”

                “Is the issue that you don’t want to come to me?  I can bring it to the Hill if you’d like or any other location you deem acceptable.”

                “No”

                “You really are being unreasonable on this.”

                “You started this when you refused to give us your notes on the Mueller report.”

                ‘I released the entire report so people can see it for themselves and compare it to my report.  Nobody has said my summary was wrong yet.”
“Not the point”

                “What is the point?”

                “You released it redacted”

                “Over 98% of it is unredacted.  It is illegal to release what I did redact. I’m offering to show a select few of you the entire document, I literally can’t do anything more without breaking the law.”

                “Then there’s nothing to talk about.”

                “Alright, guess not”

                Barr shook his head after the conversation wondering what he got himself into.  Luckily Kim Strossel of the Wall Street Journal and McCarthy wrote articles about Federal Statue 6(E) and McKeever vs. Barr.  I guess that’s a silver lining that he wasn’t completely alone in this. 

                The polls are in and Joe Biden is the early front runner for the Democratic nominee to challenge Donald Trump in 2020.  After three years of the Democrats saying that old white men should not be representing America anymore, a white man older than Donald Trump is leading the polls.  It looks like nobody is really listening to what the media says anymore.  The same Democrats that clung to Barak Obama’s Hope and Change for his non-establishment persona are embracing someone that has held public office since 1973.  None of this stops Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama henchman from calling the editor in chiefs of the New York Times and Washington Post along with the heads of CNN, NBC, ABC and other mainstream media outlets with the same message.  One henchman calls up CNN and starts, “Biden is leading the polls, we need to support him.”

                “I understand.  How do you want to go about it?”

                “Well the right is going to mention Ukraine and how he got the prosecutor general fired for investigating Burisma giving his son Hunter a board position and then the millions of dollars that funneled from Ukraine to Hunter’s bank accounts in the United States.”

“Okay, so you want me to call it a conspiracy theory?”
“No, there’s a little too much evidence for that.  Just make the story about the Republicans attacking him.”

                “So, make Biden out to be a victim of the conservative and right wing media attacking him.  Shouldn’t be hard, people naturally feel bad for white haired old people.”

                “Yea, standard procedure; ignore the allegations and focus on poor Biden is being criticized by Republicans.”

                “Alright, standard procedure.”

                “There’s one more thing”

                “Yes”

                “In a couple weeks, Inspector General Horrowitz is going to release his report about FISA abuse.”

                “Okay”

                “We need to pretend it was legit.”

                “Well we’ve been doing that by distancing ourselves from the dossier and pretending it was about Papadopoulos and Mifsud”

                “Right, keep on that.  Papadopoulos’ book hasn’t reached the American consciousness.  In fact, people don’t even know who he is.  It’s not too late to try to frame this correctly.”

                “What do you have in mind?”

                “I’m going to have Jim Comey come on your network and criticize Barr and promote the theory that “spy” is a dirty word.  Then I’m going to call Downer and have him make up for his mess up in not sticking to the script.”

                “How did he not stick to the script?”
                “Well Mifsud told Papadopoulos that it was about hacking Hillary’s e-mails, but Downer admits that they didn’t talk about e-mails.  Then we tried to paint the picture that Papadopoulos released the information in a drunken stupor and Downer said that they only had one gin and tonic so he wasn’t drunk.”

                “Well maybe Downer thought that the information wouldn’t be credible if it came from a drunk guy.  Drunk people say stupid shit all the time.”

                “Maybe, but that wasn’t the script.  It contradicted us because we already led out that he was drunk and talked about e-mails and instead he said Papadopoulos never talked about e-mails and he wasn’t drunk.”

                “Didn’t he just talk about Brexit?”

                “Yes, Downer actually started screaming at Papadopoulos about Trump’s brexit position.  That wasn’t in the script at all!”

                “Alright, we’ll have Downer on and give him a second chance.”

                “Thank you”

                “Any time.”

                Bill Barr has CNN on and he sees Former FBI director Jim Comey come on the air.  After being coached by the vast Clinton and Obama machine, Comey says “It’s completely normal for an agent to get close to someone and report back to us.”

                Barr says, “That’s pretty much the definition of ‘spying’”

                The interviewer says, “Why would the AG use that term”

                Barr rolls his eyes and listens as Comey says, “I don’t’ know.  Maybe because the president uses that term.  If that’s the case then it’s really disappointing.”

                Barr says, “Well I’m glad I disappointed you.”

                Comey goes on to say, “I mean to call court ordered surveillance ‘spying’ is just very disappointing”

                Barr said, “It wasn’t court ordered, it was court approved.  There’s a difference.  The judge didn’t come to you and say investigate these people.  You went to the judge, someone that has no information about this case and laid out your evidence.  You then swore it was true.  If you lie, that’s not on the judge, that’s on you.  The judge doesn’t investigate the information.”  Suddenly Barr was reconsidering if the Grand Jury or FISA court were good ideas in the first place.  Being able to submit information without someone defending themselves is dangerous.  Then again, this process has only been abused in the eight years Obama was president.  Still though, maybe this power needs to be curtailed for when unscrupulous presidents like Clinton and Obama are in office with the temptation to abuse this power to attack anyone that disagrees with them. 

                The interviewer asks Comey if he knew about the investigation and tries to pin him down on specifics.  Comey says, “I wouldn’t know about the operation specifically because the director doesn’t get involved in investigations.  People report to me, I’m not involved in the investigation so I don’t have any knowledge of the investigation.”

                Barr says, “You signed the FISA warrant.  Are you telling me you signed something not knowing if it was verified or anything about it?  Well if that’s true, my investigation is definitely warranted.”

                Barr decides he doesn’t want to talk to himself anymore so he calls Harrowitz and says, “Are you watching this?”

                “Yes but it’s not anything I don’t already know.  I’m a little impressed with how easily Comey lies though.”

                “He says he had no knowledge.”

                “You didn’t listen to the rest of it sir.  He says the FBI hasn’t officially released the report so he’s not commenting on it.”

                “Ah, so he gave himself an out if accused of lying about not knowing anything about the investigation”

                “Right”

                “He’s slick, you have your work cut out for you.”

                “I’m almost done with said work.”

                “Excellent, I look forward to hearing it in a few months.”

                “I’m hoping it’s more like weeks, not months.”

                “Alright, I just don’t want you to think I’m pressuring you.  Take your time and make sure it’s thorough”

                “That goes without saying.”

                “You’re right, sorry to disturb you.”

                “Good night”

                “Good night.”

                A henchman for Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton calls up Alexander Downer and says, “Alex, we need to talk.”

                “Yes sir.”

                “Remember when we talked about that you owe us for blowing the Papadopoulos operation and then undermining our report.”

                “I’m still sorry about that, but I kept my mouth shut since then like you told me.”

                “Well, now you have to not shut it and redeem yourself.”

                “Alright, what do you want me to do and why now?”

                “Harrowitz is going to release his report about FISA abuse.  We need to recycle the story now that people have forgotten the arguments against why Papadopoulos did not spark the investigation.  We need to bring it up again and get the lead out before the report.  That way the people are still brainwashed so they won’t realize the IG report is as damning as it is.”

                “Alright, how do I do that without contradicting myself?”

                “Start with Papadopoulos telling you that Russians are about to release negative information.”

                “The whole world knew that by the time we had our conversation.”

                “I know that, but most people don’t remember. It’s been three years”

                “Okay”

                “Try to paint Papadopoulos as an idiot for telling you.  Make it seem like you had no choice but to report the information.”

                “I can do that.”

                “Then say Papadopoulos told you about the Russian hacks into the DNC server”

                “I’m sorry but I’m not exposing myself.  That is a blatant lie and it contradicts my previous statements that Papadopoulos never mentioned the hacking.”

                “I thought you wanted to redeem yourself.”

                “I do, but not at the expense of my credibility.  I’m not losing my position or my credibility over this.”

                “You don’t want us as an enemy?”

                “Really?  Donald Trump was your enemy and you failed in making him lose the election. That was the whole point of this right?  Bob Hanigan believed in you guys stopping Trump from becoming President and he stuck his neck out and made him vulnerable.  Ten days after the election, Hanigan had to resign because he was too exposed because of you.  I’ll help you but I’m not going to take any chances that something will come out forcing me to resign.”

                The henchman took a deep breath and said, “Okay, how about this.  Tell the truth about what Papadopoulos told you.  That Russians were going to release negative information about Hillary.”

                “Okay.”

                “Then talk about how surprised you are that Papadopoulos would be so stupid to tell you that.  Don’t actually call him stupid, people don’t like name calling but suggest it.  Then after you talk about how you talked to Papadopoulos and that you had to report what he told you then talk about the Russians hacking the DNC servers as your own personal analysis.  That way you give us the ammunition we need to spin it into you saying that Papadopoulos told you about the hacks even though you never actually said that.  That way if it comes back to bite you, you have an out to save yourself.”

                “That I can do.”

                “Alright, good.”

                “Should I talk about how I reported it?  I mean I reported it to state department people like Elizabeth Dimmel in the embassy not Australian or British intelligence.”

                “Alex, most people don’t know how the system works.”

                “People know if they have knowledge of a crime, they go to the police not their politician”

                “When Blasey-Ford went to Diane Feinstein about Kavanaugh nobody batted an eye on why she didn’t tell the cops.”

                “I guess you’re right.”

                “They don’t think what the equivalent of 911 is in the federal or international level.  In fact, talk about how you’re part of the five eyes, it’ll give you credibility.”

                “But I didn’t do what a member of the five eyes did.  Five eyes is supposed to go to the intelligence agencies of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and England not political ones”

                “I know that, you know that, most of the people who watch CNN don’t know that.”

                “Alright, well if I’m going to accredit myself, I’m going to have a little fun with it.  Call myself, a western superhero or something.”

                “Knock yourself out.”

                “So we’re clear on what you need to do?”

                “Yup, talk about how Papadopoulos told me the Russian were going to release negative information on Hillary, then talk about how I was shocked he would tell a member of the 5 eyes that knowing that I had a duty to report it, then talk about hacking as if it’s all the same stream of thought of what Papadopoulos told me when it really wasn’t.  I leave out that when I reported it, I didn’t do it to the proper channels like a good five eyes person would.”

                “It would be better if you just stop thinking that you didn’t do it properly.  You were helping us.  You’re helping us now.  Put out of your mind what you know to be untrue.  You can’t get in trouble for omitting information.  Put the burden on someone else to find that out.”

                “That’s a good point.”

                They hung up the phone and when the time came, the henchman is watching CNN.  Alexander Downer is on and the first thing he says is, “Papadopoulos never mentioned collusion to me”

                The henchman shook his head and said to the TV, “Unbelievable.  That wasn’t in the plan.  The asshole did it again.”

                By the end of the segment, the henchman calmed down because the rest of it did follow the script they talked about.  Margot Cleveland of the Hill also saw the clip and said in her article, “If Papadopoulos never mentioned collusion, and the genesis of the case of Trump colluding with the Russians was the Papadopoulos meeting with Downer, then what exactly were they investigating if Downer said Papadopoulos never told him about collusion?”

                The henchman read that and shook his head, “And that’s why it wasn’t in the script Alex!”

               

                A member of CNBC calls his handler.  It’s his job to talk about the economy and says, “I know that we are trying to downplay the Trump economy by bringing up the nonsense point that it isn’t sustainable and the long term effects are unknown.”

                “That isn’t nonsense.”

                “Yes it is, because it’s indefensible until the time has elapsed and by then it doesn’t matter because the policy would be reversed so the results never happened, like we hope, or our fake warning was ignored, we were wrong, we refuse to acknowledge it and our criticism is old news and people still believe us.”

                “If you understand that, what’s the point of this call?”

                “I don’t like being ignorant.  I’m a team player. I’ll keep with the indefensible points that the economy will overheat.  My question is why am I wrong?  This is going against all economic theory that increased production leads to inflation.”

                “Inflation is a monetary problem not an economic problem.  You print money, prices go up.  It’s that simple.”

                “Right”

                “But that’s an oversimplification”

                “All things in economics are an oversimplification.  That’s the point of economics, you make ridiculous assumptions in order to simplify the world.”

                “Right but when you oversimplify, some things get lost.  This is one of them.”

                “Okay, what do you mean?”

                “Print money, costs go up is only true if the amount of goods stays the same.”

                “Alright”

                “I’ll give you an example that’s familiar.  People have more money because of the growing economy”

                “Right”

                “With more money, more people can travel more or start travelling if they hadn’t before.”

                “With you so far.”

                “Now there’s an increase in demand for hotel rooms right?”
                “Right”

                “But the costs of hotel rooms haven’t skyrocketed with the increase in demand like economics tells us.  If a demand for something increases and there’s no change in supply, costs go up.  So, if demand jumped up and the price didn’t go up, what must have happened?”

                “Supply jumped too.”

                “Yes, but did you see a building of an obscene amount of hotels to meet the demand?”

                “No”

                “What happened?”

                “I’m not sure”

                “Air BNB happened.  A company was created where people with multiple homes could use their homes as hotels.  It took idle real estate and transformed it into a means to deal with the increase in demand from more people travelling so the price stayed relatively stagnant.  To give you a number, because of Air BNB there was a 25% increase in available places for a traveler to stay.”

                “That makes sense”

                “Now let’s talk about physical capital as that’s the entire economy not just the tourist industry.”

                “Alright,”

                “There’s been upstart companies like Dozr and Yard Club that have boosted the supply of equipment by taking idle construction vehicles that used to sit idle and utilized them for other tasks.  You increase the supply to keep the costs down despite the growing economy.”

                “So Dozr and Yard club are like the Air BnB’s of the physical capital world.”

                “Exactly, but if you print any of this, we’re going to come after you.  I’m doing you the courtesy of explaining it to you only because you’re on our side and you’ve helped downplay Trump’s surging economy beyond all expectations.”

                “It’s only because I’ve helped you that I was not trepid to ask you.  I know my place; don’t worry.”

                “Alright, thanks for your good work.”

                “Thank you for your confidence in me.”

                They hung up the phone.  The next few months are going to be difficult for the henchman of Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton.  They still need to come up with a solution to the undercurrent that if Mueller didn’t say that Steele was a victim of a Russian disinformation campaign, then how come he wasn’t charged with lying to congress when he told them that Trump colluded with the Russians and most everything in the dossier was proven false.  They’ve had a couple people come out and deny that any of the Dossier was disproven but that hasn’t caught on and few people believe that.   They had a conundrum.  Steele can’t possibly not be a victim of a disinformation campaign by the Russians without being guilty of lying to congress.  Neither scenario is acceptable with all the work Steele put in.  He can’t be charged for lying to Congress.  He also can’t have his credibility hurt by being susceptible to a Russian disinformation campaign.  How do you rectify those two things? What a web they weave when they look to deceive.