The turbulent battle for political narrative in the Russian Collusion investigation has long hinged on what the initial impetus was for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant against Carter Page, the former foreign-policy advisor during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Freedom of Information Requests made by various news outlets have finally brought about the release of the 412-page warrant application… and it doesn’t look good for Obama’s State Department.
The document itself is heavily redacted and provides little more than a framework of the thought process that went into its compilation, yet there are several aspects worthy of note.
The Steele Dossier
Christopher Steele
The now infamous anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, paid for by the Hillary Clinton Campaign and the DNC appears to be Source #1 in the document. This ties in with allegations that the warrant (and renewals) were granted based on opposition political research. More spectacular is that the Steele Dossier was presented as unverified but accepted due to the “reliability” of Steele himself.
It is worth noting that in October 2016, the FBI discovered that Steele had given the dossier to various media outlets, thus compromising his reputation. This did not stop the DOJ from using his work as a primary source.
The Basis
The key piece of “evidence” against Carter Page is that, according to the dossier, he met with Kremlin insiders Igor Sechin and Igor Diveykin to advance an agenda of collusion. Page denies ever having met the two men.
This is reminiscent of the claim made in the dossier that President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, met with Russians in Prague during the run-up to the election. Cohen has provided evidence that he had not, in fact, left the country, and was actually in Los Angeles with his son when the supposed meeting took place.
If one such claim is disprovable, it raises questions about others.
Why No Charges?
The document claims that Page “established relationships with Russian government officials, including Russian intelligence officers,” and that the FBI had reason to believe that “the Russian government’s efforts are being coordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals” within the Trump campaign. Possibly most damning is the claim that Carter Page “has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government.”
This was two years ago. Page has denied all charges and he has yet to be charged with any crime whatsoever. Speaking to the Daily Caller, Page said of the document:
“I’m having trouble finding any small bit of this document that rises above completely ignorance and/or insanity.”
The Sting
Stefan Halper
The big, unanswered question is whether Carter Page was the victim of a directed sting operation by U.S. intelligence services. As Liberty Nation showed several months ago, the connections between Page and CIA informant Stefan Halper run deep. If there is so much (redacted) evidence against him, then surely he would have been charged with something by now?
This warrant application is but another piece of a jigsaw that seeks to undermine the presidency and cast doubt into the minds of voters ahead of the November midterms. It adds fuel to the fire and raises yet more questions without shedding any light. And that is its sole purpose.
