DNC paid for dossier!?!? So what . . . They picked up where a Republican left off and continued

[Liberal In Red State]

opposition research. Who was the GOP candidate who started the research? and isn’t it better to pay for opposition research instead of setting down with a foreign government to dig up dirt and undermine the election process?

[underpants]

1. Jeb

Jeb initiated it and handed it off to the DNC from what I understand

[lagomorph777]

4. That's hilarious, but I don't think the dossier is a front-burner issue for many people.

Though it has no doubt been a useful roadmap for Mueller.

Devon Nutcase is not going to gain any more traction with this than he did with his Pennsylvania Avenue drag race.

[Liberal In Red State]

12. So why are we not talking about Jen instead of Hillary? Media needs to get to the source

and find out why Jen would turn it over to the DNC. Or did the company gathering the information offer it to the DNC? and the media keeps saying the “discredited” dossier . . . I thought parts of it have been proven correct?

[underpants]

39. As noted below Jeb and the Super PAC that supported him have denied involvement

but someone started this ball rolling and doesn't appear to have been Fusion GPS.

[Not Ruth]

27. Jeb denies this

#MuellerTime

[underpants]

37. Yes I see that.

No one will fess up to initially funding it but it doesn't appear that Fusion GPS has been in this from the beginning. I'm sure those meticulous Republicans will dig deep to find out.

[HipChick]

2. Don't understand why this is news?

[LonePirate]

26. It is news because the media now thinks they can run a both sides engage in collusion narrative.

[B2G]

3. Who gave it to the FBI?

What did they use it for?

That's what I'd like to know. My concern is that it might put Mueller's investigation at risk.

[lagomorph777]

6. No, it gave Mueller clues as to where to look.

He won't rely on it as legal evidence.

[Liberal In Red State]

10. Its my understanding that McCain got it and gave it to the FBI.

[B2G]

11. I've heard that too, but

I haven't seen it positively confirmed anywhere.

[Me.]

5. Since When Was Oppo A Crime

The oppo on both HRC and Sanders was massive. This is such nonsense, a complete waste of money.

[B2G]

8. It's not, but the DNC and the Clinton campaign

flat out denied having anything to do with it for months.

That kind of thing tends to become news, since the dossier itself has been covered extensively by the media.

[MrsCoffee]

38. When did they get involved with it if they picked up where someone else left off..

Before or after the denials?

I'm just curious. I really don't care that they denied it.

[B2G]

40. My understanding is they picked it up in April

and continued through the end of October.

The denials came after April, when the dossier came to light.

DWS was denying any knowledge yesterday.

[MrsCoffee]

41. I still don't care that they denied it.

Trying to make this into Hillary campaign or DNC did something bad is ridiculous.

So freaking what if they denied it? Were they under oath?

[B2G]

43. Well I don't like being lied to.

And it's yet another self-inflicted wound.

I agree there was nothing wrong with what went on. Now it looks sketchy as hell since they spent so much time feigning innocence.

It's just incredibly stupid.

Thank god DSW is gone.

[Not Ruth]

44. DWS was denying any knowledge yesterday.

That escalated quickly

[delisen]

7. You are right. Don, Jr baited by Russians offering free dirt

on Clinton. How faux billionaire's son ended up participating in a Russian plot to destroy his own country.

[Merlot]

9. This is part of the "both sides do it" narrative that the repubs are pushing

It serves to blur the lines and confuse the average reader who doesn't know what the dossier actually is or says or that it was first funded by the repubs.

The repubs are changing the narrative right in front of us.

[B2G]

13. And the DNC and the Clinton campaign helped them

by lying about their involvement.

If they had just come out and said, 'yeah, we did oppo research just like everyone else', this would be a non-issue right now.

[AngryAmish]

14. The DNC and Hillary's campaign have been upfront about this all along

I do not understand why this is news. There was no deception ever.

[Me.]

18. If They 'Lied'

How is it I, along with others, have known about it for a while. As I understand it, their point was they weren't the initiators of this particular oppo. Lie is a big word.

[B2G]

19. You have? Where/when did you read that?

It seems to be news to a lot of folks.

[shraby]

23. I read about it before trump took office. Can't remember who had the story, but I read it.

[Not Ruth]

29. Pre inauguration

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4116868/Jeb-Bush-DENIES-BBC-claim-ordered-dirty-dossier.html

[B2G]

33. Nope

However, when the billionaire businessman became the Republican party’s nominee in July 2016, the Republican donors who were believed to be funding the research ended the deal with FusionGPS, the Telegraph reports.

It is then alleged that Democratic supporters of Hillary Clinton took over paying for Steele’s investigation and his information was circulated to Democratic Party figures and members of the media.

And they denied it.

[Not Ruth]

51. The transition between who was paying is the entertaining nuance around the dossier

What Jeb had was no longer valuable to Jeb.

Jeb had bills.

What did Jeb sell and to whom?

If it turns out that Jeb sold oppo to Hillary to destroy the GOP, that is a story that destroys the Bush dynasty.

Oppo is fine, selling oppo to your master’s sworn enemy can finish you.

[B2G]

53. Yep, exactly.

Jeb's probably sweating a tich right now. Lol.

[Me.]

32. Like I Say

It's been around....not at all surprised except by the fact they are trying to say Clinton campaign initiated it. I read it was Jeb who canceled out after he was no longer a candidate

[Me.]

30. And Not News To Others

It's been out there for months...

[ismnotwasm]

34. What makes you think this?

[B2G]

36. This, among a ton of other sources.

"For months, the DNC and Clinton associates denied any connection to Fusion GPS.

The people the Post spoke with said at no point did the Clinton campaign or DNC direct Steele's probe, something the DNC also said.

"Tom Perez and the new leadership of the DNC were not involved in any decision-making regarding Fusion GPS, nor were they aware that Perkins Coie was working with the organization," DNC Communications Director Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement provided to CBS News. "But let's be clear, there is a serious federal investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, and the American public deserves to know what happened."

Former DNC chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz of Florida, confronted with the report on Wednesday, repeatedly said, "I was not aware."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dnc-clinton-campaign-paid-for-research-in-trump-dossier-report/

[ismnotwasm]

57. My understanding is that it was common knowledge the funding came from a Democrat

Like, a year ago. After it was in Republican hands. This doesn’t add up to “Hillary lied”. Plus, I’m kind of a meh here.

[Me.]

59. But Don't You Know...Her Emails Becomes She Lied

Even here

[cilla4progress]

15. Ok, so which is it?

Did or didn't DNC/HRC admit involvement previously?

Contrasting facts here...oy!

[Orrex]

16. The chumps on my local FB page are crowing about this

To their way of "thinking," this "fact" totally invalidates the dossier and all claims based upon it.

"Well," I note, "if the information is true, then I don't care who paid for it."

"No," the snort hoggishly. "If Democrats paid for it, then it's a smear campaign."

"You know that you voted for a rapist, a liar, a criminal, and an failed utterly failed businessman?"

"TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!" they oink in unison.

[GoCubsGo]

20. They are crowing about it everywhere.

The ones I have seen are claiming that this is proof that the Democrats are the ones who colluded with Russia. How their paying a company that hired a retired British intelligence officer to look at a relationship the Dotard and his associates had with the Russian government is collusion with the Russians is beyond me, other than that I think they don't have a fucking clue as to what "collusion" means. They are absolutely positive that this will bring an end to the Democratic party. It's one right after another of them spewing this nonsense, along with the uranium bullshit. They are going to be in for a hell of a rude awakening.

[Orrex]

21. Here is the key to understanding how they think:

They are idiot racist fuckheads, and they worship an idiot racist fuckhead.

That's all, full stop. Everything else is incidental.

[ismnotwasm]

58. Thats exactly how I think about it.

[unblock]

17. "ok it's really embarrassing and criminal, but the other side found out about it, so it's ok!

[Orrex]

22. Exactly that.

[librechik]

24. SQUIRREL!!

[Hekate]

31. Got it in one

[jalan48]

25. The problem is that Republican's control the Congress.

Are we going to see never ending investigations into this, a la Benghazi? The purpose of which would be to convince the public that, "Both sides worked with a foreign agent to try and win the election". If we had a truly independent media the apples to oranges comparison could be hashed out, unfortunately we don't.

[Eliot Rosewater]

28. Deplorables wont believe anything in it that is negative about trump anyway

and the oppo research is known to be done by all so this is not news.

GOP doesnt care about the truth, the law, the constitution.

Remember that.

[WyattKansas]

35. The only question is...

Did the Republican stop paying when the investigation discovered collusion with Russia and was there collusion even more widespread in the Republican Party???

After all, that would be a reason for a Republican who began the investigation to immediately halt it. Now, wasn't that the real reason Mueller was called in to investigate the problem without destroying the country, because there were still a few traditional Republicans who did care about this country?

[itcfish]

48. Very Good Point!

n/t

[B2G]

54. I believe they stopped paying when

it became apparent Trump would win the nomination. The timing is right.

[Joe941]

42. It means nothing. Hillary had every right to find dirt on tRump. Glad she did.

[Pachamama]

45. I don't care that the DNC took over paying the bills - I am just pissed they didn't do anything with

...it before the election and didn't make public this info!!!

Who cares who paid for it and commissioned it / clearly it was started by Republicans! The importance is the info - and it's proving to all be true and Americans, regardless of party affiliation, religion, gender etc, should be outraged by what it reveals, notvthst it exists!!!!

[itcfish]

46. Then why didn't they use

it in October? They sure paid for nothing

[Vinca]

47. This afternoon on CNN Wolf Blitzer introduced a report on this as a "bombshell."

Huh??? It's oppo research. Everyone does it and Hillary just followed the crumbs the Republicans left for her.

[itcfish]

49. Wolf Has Always

been a rightwinger.

[LovingA2andMI]

52. F**k Wolf....

F**K Him.....

[Not Ruth]

55. I think that Jeb is the real target, not Hillary

If Hillary says that Jeb offered the goods to finish Trump in exchange for money, she seems tough, Jeb seems like a traitor to the GOP, and by association, so do 39 and 41.

[Gothmog]

50. From my twitter feed

Link to tweet

?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fpoliticaloasis.freeforums.net%2Fthread%2F12268%2Fsteele-dossier%3Fpage%3D1

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

56. True that

The right's trying to jump, shout and pout to draw attention away from Drumpf's treasonous transgressions.

[OnDoutside]

60. Clint Watts made a very interesting point earlier. He said

The more interesting question for him is who paid for this on the Republican side, but more importantly again is WHY they backed away from the research. Did they find stuff that was too troubling to disclose ?

[Not Ruth]

61. I suspect that the research was very expensive and had great resale value once it bore fruit

[OnDoutside]

62. Could be, though we don't know if the Reps just walked away

From Fusion. Did Fusion separately approach the DNC ? Who owned that data ?

[pnwmom]

63. My understanding is that they walked away once DT's nomination was certain. Why spend money

on research they weren't going to use?

[OnDoutside]

64. That was my understanding too, which made Clint Watts's comment so odd.