Trump turns AG Barr loose to request any information from intelligence agencies necessary regarding Russiagate probe: "I've declassified everything"

RT
Sun, 26 May 2019 18:16 UTC

© Reuters / Carlos Barria

President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr

US President Donald Trump has allowed his attorney general to declassify information about what prompted the Russiagate investigation - and ordered the heads of the intelligence agencies to cooperate with the reveal.

Attorney General William Barr has been allowed to begin declassifying information related to the counterintelligence investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 election as he reviews the circumstances that led the FBI to open the probe. The order also directs the "intelligence community" to "quickly and fully cooperate," providing whatever materials Barr requests.

Trump announced the declassification on Twitter, promising that it would "ensure that all Americans learn the truth" about the probe that has cast a shadow over the first two years of his presidency and "restore confidence in our public institutions."

By giving Barr the authority to declassify documents, Trump is going over the heads of the intelligence agency chiefs, many of whom have made no secret of their disagreements with the president. Barr began his investigation last month, focusing on the FBI's use of confidential informants as well as its grounds for using FISA to surveil the Trump campaign.

Last week, Trump tweeted that his campaign had been "conclusively" spied upon, and called for "long jail sentences" for those responsible for this "treason," but did not elaborate further.

Barr has said he believes "spying did occur" on the Trump campaign, though former agency director James Comey has complained "the FBI doesn't spy, the FBI investigates." Even current FBI director Christopher Wray seems to be uncomfortable with "spying," telling a Senate panel it is "not the term I would use" - he prefers "surveillance activity."

Trump has repeatedly and vociferously denounced the Russiagate investigation as a "witch hunt." The nearly-three-year-long investigation - beginning with the FBI surveillance in 2016 and ending with special counsel Robert Mueller's submission of his report in April this year - failed to turn up conclusive evidence of wrongdoing by the president, though that hasn't stopped his political opponents from calling for his impeachment anyway.

Comment: Comment: Has Trump released the kraken, as many are celebrating? He has widened his fire to include the international stage, targeting the UK, Australia and Ukraine:

President Trump on Friday said that he wants Attorney General William Barr to investigate the UK, Australia and Ukraine for their roles in the 'greatest hoax in the history of our country.'

Speaking with reporters at the White House on Friday before his trip to Japan, Trump discussed his decision this week to issue a sweeping declassification order - leaving it in the hands of Barr to determine exactly what happened to Trump and his campaign before and after the 2016 US election.

"For over a year, people have asked me to declassify. What I've done is declassified everything," said Trump, adding "He can look and I hope he looks at the UK and I hope he looks at Australia and I hope he looks at Ukraine."

"It's the greatest hoax probably in the history of our country and somebody has to get to the bottom of it. We'll see. For a long period of time, they wanted me to declassify and I did."

(UK, Australia, Ukraine comment at 2:30)

"This is about finding out what happened," said Trump. "What happened and when did it happen, because this was an attempted takedown of the president of the United States, and we have to find out why."

"We're exposing everything. We're being a word that you like, transparent. We're being, ultimately we're being transparent. That's what it's about. Again, this should never ever happen in our country again."

After the Mueller report made clear that Trump and his campaign had in no way conspired with Russia during hte 2016 election, Democrats immediately pivoted to whether Trump obstructed the investigation. Trump and his supporters, however, immediately pivoted to the conduct of the US intelligence community, including the involvement of foreign actors and possibly their governments.

© Gary Cameron/Reuters

Better days: James Comey, FBI Director, John Brennan, CIA Director, and James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, testify before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in Washington D.C. on Feb. 4, 2014.

According to a report last week, the discredited "Steele Dossier" - assembled by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele - was referred to as "crown material" in an email exchange suggesting that former FBI Director James Comey insisted that CIA Director John Brennan pushed for the inclusion of the dossier in the intelligence community assessment (ICA) on Russian interference.

Moreover, much of "Operation Crossfire Hurricane" - the FBI's official investigation into the Trump campaign - occurred on UK soil, which is perhaps why the New York Times reported last September that the UK begged Trump not to declassify 'Russiagate' documents 'without redaction.'

Shortly after he announced his involvement with the Trump campaign, aide George Papadopoulos was lured to London in March, 2016, where Maltese professor and self-described Clinton foundation member Joseph Mifsud fed him the rumor that Russia had damaging information on Hillary Clinton. It was later at a London bar that Papadopoulos would drunkenly pass the rumor to Australian diplomat Alexander Downer (who FBI agent Peter Strzok flew to London to meet with the day after Crossfire Hurricane was launched).

Joseph Mifsud and George Papadopoulos

Two weeks later, Papadopoulos would be bilked for information by Australian diplomat (another Clinton ally) Alexander Downer at a London bar, who relayed the Russia rumor to Australian authorities, which alerted the FBI (as the story goes), which 'officially' kicked off the US intelligence investigation.

As for Ukraine, a Ukrainian court ruled in December that the country meddled in the US election when they revealed details of suspected illegal payments to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

In 2016, while Mr. Manafort was chairman of the Trump campaign, anti-corruption prosecutors in Ukraine disclosed that a pro-Russian political party had earmarked payments for Mr. Manafort from an illegal slush fund. Mr. Manafort resigned from the campaign a week later. -New York Times

© Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Paul Manafort

Last week, President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani met with a former Ukrainian diplomat, Andril Telizhenko, who has previously suggested that the DNC worked with the Kiev government in 2016 to dig up 'dirt' on then-candidate Donald Trump. Giuliani told the Washington Post in a Friday interview that Telizhenko "was in Washington and he came up to New York, and we spent most of the afternoon together," adding "When I have something to say, I'll say it."

This comes on the heels of Giuliani canceling a trip to Ukraine to meet with President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the Manafort situation.

According to The Hill's John Solomon,

A former DNC operative steeped in Trump-Russia research approached the Ukrainian government looking for 'dirt' on then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 US election, citing written answers to questions submitted to Ambassador Valeriy Chaly's office.

Chaly confirmed that DNC insider of Ukrainian heritage, Alexandra Chalupa, approached Ukraine seeking information on Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's dealings inside the country, in the hopes of exposing them to Congress.

Chalupa, who told Politico in 2017 that she had "developed a network of sources in Kiev and Washington, including investigative journalists, government officials and private intelligence operatives," said she "occasionally shared her findings with officials from the DNC and Clinton's campaign.

In short, a DNC operative of Ukrainian heritage, who shared information with the Clinton campaign and worked with a convicted terrorist to spread misinformation to undermine the legitimacy of the 2016 election, approached the government of Ukraine in the hopes of obtaining "dirt" that would hurt the Trump campaign.

And Trump wants AG Barr to look at it all. He'll be visiting the UK next month, meanwhile, where he can ask outgoing PM Theresa May, or the Queen, all about it.