How many nations gave evidence of Trump-Russia contacts to US intel BEFORE FBI saw Steele Dossier?

[KelleyKramer]

How many nations gave evidence of Trump-Russia contacts to U.S. intelligence BEFORE the FBI ever saw the Steele Dossier?

Link to tweet

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[democratisphere]

1. Looks like a preponderance of evidence from many different sources.

No wonder the denials are repeated 16 times in a half hour.

[KelleyKramer]

4. Exactly, the guilty always yell the loudest

Trump is so stupid and transparent. You are right, he repeated 'no collusion' so many times, it was enough to make you spit

That's because he is guilty guilty guilty

[FakeNoose]

2. Most of this was known before the 2016 election

The FBI, CIA and NSA all had the info from our allies as early as September or October 2016. I believe they also had the Steele dossier by then, or they received it soon after. The info was discussed with Obama but it was held as "top secret." Whether our intelligence agencies actually made any effort to continue the investigation, well that's a different speculation.

This information should have been made public before the election. People needed to know what was happening, and it surely would have made a difference. I remember the heroic efforts of the reporters Woodward and Bernstein who reported on the Watergate break-in and follow-up stories. This time, our government lied to us and let us down, and this is squarely on Obama. He missed the opportunity to tell us about Russian interference in our elections because he was busy playing politics.

[democratisphere]

5. And if Obama had made the drumpf collusion with Russia public, drumpf

and the redumbliCONs would have yelled "fake news" and "rigged elections" even louder. Obama was in a no win situation regardless of which way he went. The damn redumbliCONs nominated a known, certifiable psychopath as their presidential nominee; what the hell did they expect the outcome to be from that?

[FakeNoose]

9. Yes Obama was in a difficult position

...but he was still the President. We deserved to know.

Would it really have mattered what the Republicans would have said if Obama did spell it all out? Think about everything that has happened in the last year. Obama is only human, and humans make mistakes. This was a big one.

Democratisphere, Happy BLUE Year 2018!

[marylandblue]

13. He probably thought like most of us, that Clinton would have won anyway

And it would have made her job much harder if she had to face complaints about her legitimacy from the right. They would have been complaining about everything much more than we are now, there would be Congressional investigations and perhaps she would have been forced to appoint a special counsel. I still would have preferred Clinton won, but our country would still be having a difficult time.

[Scarsdale]

14. McConnell warned President Obama

that to expose what was known about the Russian connection would be WRONG. It wold look like a dirty trick to sway the election to Hlllary. McConnell was taking lots of Russian money, so he wanted tRump in the WH. The gop knew the election was going to be rigged for tRump. That is why he refused to even hold a hearing on Garland for the SC. He said "The next president will fill the vacancy" I hpe the entire group of traitors will be ecposed for what they really are. They all know tRump is a disaster of a person, dumb as hell and sleazy as they are

[RestoreAmerica2020]

19. Who the hell cares what McConnel thinks, Obama

..should have been transparent wth the American public and let the cards fall where they may. Russia interference should have been stopped.

Yet, Dems have to do things right, not give the appearance of impropriety--bullshite! If the shoe were on the other foot McConnel would have cried bloody murder. McConnel knew the fix was in, and purposely held off on Obama's supreme court nominee. GOP are underhanded sons of b#!$#@a and we Dems we need to play nice. Look where nice got us, wth a frikn racist maniac now occupying the white house.

[NewJeffCT]

17. True - Fake News would have been thrown out there

but, maybe it helps get some wavering Democrats and independents out to vote? Only a 1% swing overall gives the election to Clinton, as she would have gotten not only PA, WI and MI, but FL and NC.

[Farmer-Rick]

6. Comey was busy hunting down Hillary's emails

And writing letters about it to congress. But not a peep about Putin hacking our elections. Then Trump fired him.

The dog was out chasing rabbits while the wolves were slaughtering the sheep.

[FakeNoose]

12. Yes - totally!

Comey played politics (which he was not allowed to do as FBI director) and helped Trump get elected. I don't feel bad that he was fired, but I do believe he could be helpful if Trump ever goes to trial. He certainly can testify to any obstruction charge that might come up.

Farmer Rick, Happy BLUE Year 2018!

[Farmer-Rick]

21. Thanks and Happy New Year to you too

[BigmanPigman]

8. I agree with you.

I blame Comey for Hillary losing and I partially blame Obama for not alerting the public more strongly. I understand that he thought Hillary would win and her new admin would deal with it. He also said that if he did put this info out to the public voters would think he was trying to influence the election and it would be seen as a negative with borderline/undecided voters.

[yardwork]

15. It's probably a lot more complicated than that.

If the Obama administration had revealed the intelligence that Russia was trying to influence the U.S. election, that might have revealed the sources of the intelligence. In other words, the U.S. might have compromised our allies' spies.

Trump did this immediately as soon as he took office. Heaven only knows how many agents were revealed and how many people died because of Trump's stupid bragging.

I doubt our allies are giving us any intelligence now. Trump has caused irreparable harm to the U.S. intelligence network. This will make it much easier for international criminals to operate.

Obama was in a difficult position. The bottom line is that we all had more than enough information to determine that allowing Trump to become president would be a disaster. Anybody who voted for him or who voted for anybody but Hillary has blood in their hands.

[Irish_Dem]

18. Obama did want to make it public, but McConnell threatened him.

[uponit7771]

3. Excellent point!!

[milestogo]

7. And yet the Republicans still don't know about it.

[DemocracyMouse]

10. Boycott Fox

[thbobby]

11. Russian Mafia and GOP Mafia

GOP mafia doesn's serve Ameria. Tax cuts for the rich. Trying to cripple the FBI. The three legislative branches of our government are an Organized Crime Syndicate trying to turn the judiciary branch into part of their criminal cult. How does democracy die? With an organized crime syndicate destroying it while proclaiming love for Jesus and America.

[L. Coyote]

16. Happy Impeachment Year .....

as the incriminating evidence piles up, higher and higher.

[Mr. Ected]

20. I love these new counterattacks that destroy Congressional Republicans' argument

That the dossier was flawed and therefore the entire investigation is somehow tainted.

First, the NYT reports that it was Papadopoulos' drunken loose lips that launched the initial investigation.

Now, Seth Abramson reminds us that our antecedent exposure to the Crime of the Century was via multiple friendly intelligence agencies.

Takes the wind out Nunes & Co.'s sails.