It's About Pressure Points

First off, a big hat tip to Thomas Lifson at AmThinker for bringing these two memes together in his WSJ’s Kimberly Strassel catches Glenn Simpson contradicting his own sworn testimony. Lifson starts his blog by quoting a terrific article by Charles Lipson, Unraveling the Criminal Web at Comey's FBI and Beyond. What Lipson is writing about is the most basic of investigative strategies when confronted with a criminal conspiracy: identify the weak link(s) and apply pressure. Lipson expresses it very well:



The way to unravel a criminal conspiracy is to begin with the weakest links, the ones already doomed by convincing evidence. Knowing they face serious jail time, these “weak links” have powerful reasons to cooperate with law enforcement. Flipping on their fellow conspirators is the best way, perhaps the only way, to lessen their own sentences. 

... 

This tried-and-true law enforcement technique is available to U.S. Attorney John Durham as he tries to unravel the FBI’s illegal surveillance of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, transition to office, and early presidency. ... 

... 

So, who are the weakest links as Durham’s investigation moves forward? One is surely Kevin Clinesmith, a lawyer in Comey’s FBI who is highlighted in the Horowitz Report (pages 186-190). ... Clinesmith not only altered official documents, he completely changed their meaning. The altered documents painted Carter Page as a foreign spy; the originals said there was no evidence for that. The exculpatory evidence was hidden from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts. The lies helped gain a secret warrant to spy on Page.

It's no news that Kevin Clinesmith is perhaps the most identifiable weak link in the Carter Page FISA fiasco. But the Carter Page FISA was also central to the larger Russia Hoax, the plot against the president, as Lee Smith says. And Clinesmith was also a central player in the rest of the Russia Hoax, including the Mueller witchhunt--not just a bit player in the Carter Page FISA. There's a lot he could tell Durham's investigators, if he's properly motivated to do so. Durham's job is to provide Clinesmith with the proper motivation--Clinesmith knows that and everybody he came in contact with during the entire run of the Russia Hoax, all the way up to the issuance of the Mueller Dossier, knows that, too. And so Lipson concludes:

Clinesmith, for one, has compelling incentives to say who knew what and when. He was apparently caught red-handed changing official documents. His lawyer ought to be seeking ways to lessen the criminal consequences. The only way to do that is to come clean. 

Anybody who worked with Clinesmith should be thinking the same thing. It would be good for them and it would be good for the country.

From there Lifson moves on to an interesting point that Kim Strassel of the WSJ makes on Twitter. Strassel's point is that there appears to be a clear conflict between what Chris Steele told investigators about his hiring by Fusion GPS and what Glenn Simpson told the Senate on the same topic. Simpson says he hired Steele in May, 2016, 'to look at Trump's "business activities" in Russia' but that then 'Steele just sort of stumbled on this much "broader" "political conspiracy"'--meaning, the Russia Hoax.

Steele, on the other hand, has a different recollection. According to Steele, it was always about "finding" linkage between the Trump campaign and Russia and and the 2016 election. Here's Strassel:

3) Fusion GPS's Glenn Simpson, meanwhile, in Senate testimony, "stress[ed]" he hired Steele in May to look at Trump's "business activities" in Russia....By Simpson's telling (under penalty of perjury), Steele just sort of stumbled on this much "broader" "political conspiracy." 

4) But here is what Steele told the IG: That in May 2016, Simpson approached Steele to "assist in determining Russia's actions related to the 2016 election"; "whether Russia was trying to achieve a particular election outcome"; and... 

5) "whether there were any ties between the Russian government and Trump and his campaign." (Page 93) Seems Simpson had a pretty good bead on the "narrative" long before the govt. claims to have had it and before even his own source had reported it to him. Huh.

From an investigative and prosecutive standpoint this may not be the slam dunk that the Clinesmith situation presents, but the possible upside to pressuring Simpson is difficult to over estimate. I've always stressed the importance, as I see it, of the Trump Tower meeting in June, 2016, that featured the Russian lady lawyer Veselnitskaya. I continue to regard that as an early attempt to involve Trump in a quid pro quo with "Russia." That's right, just like the Dems with their Impeachment Theater are trying to buffalo us with in regard to the Ukraine Hoax. It's well known that Simpson was in close contact with Veselnitskaya immediately before and immediately after that meeting. What is not often realized is that Simpson was also in touch with other members of the Clinton inner circle at the same time.

Horowitz recounts in his report the unusual, and unwarranted, involvement of Andrew Weissmann (who later basically ran the Mueller witchhunt) and Bruce Swartz--another longtime Clintonista at DoJ. Bruce Ohr's involvement also fell outside his DoJ responsibilities. These three communicated throughout the election campaign about the Russia Hoax. And we know that Weissmann and Ohr had ties, even close ties, to Glenn Simpson. And there's more. As I wrote in Why Andrew Weissmann?:

The appeal of having Weissmann "in the loop" of the Russia hoax is obvious--he would be a trusted contact with the top levels of the FBI and would have a wide range of other useful contacts.

But Weissmann's connections to the FBI would not have been the end of his usefulness. Weissmann was well known to be a Hillary Clinton partisan, and even attended the Clinton election night celebration--which turned into a wake. Just how extensive were Weissmann's contacts with the Clinton campaign? Here the waters are murky. Nevertheless, Weissmann is known to have had contacts with Mary Jacoby, the wife of Glenn Simpson, as well as with Simpson himself. Further, others in the Clinton circle also had contacts. Aaron Klein has detailed remarkable new information involving contacts of Edward Lieberman with the Russians involved in the famous Trump Tower meeting on the days surrounding that meeting--including the very day of the meeting. Edward Lieberman is a lawyer and an associate of Madeline Albright whose expertise involves “multi-billion dollar privatizations of oil and gas assets in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Russia.” He was also the husband of the late Evelyn Lieberman, a Deputy Chief of Staff in the Clinton White House.

Was Bruce Ohr "in the loop" regarding the Trump Tower meeting--which I regard as a clear attempt to set up Donald Trump Jr. and/or Jared Kushner in a quid pro quo arrangement for supposed "dirt" on Hillary Clinton? If Ohr knew of this attempted setup of the Trump campaign, there would seem to be little to no doubt that Weissmann also knew. Further, since both would have known of the connection of Fusion GPS to the Clinton campaign, was there possibly a more direct connection to the Clinton campaign, through Weissman?

Finally, when it came time to select a Special Counsel, would not Weissmann have been a logical person to sound out Mueller on returning to government--or should we say Deep State--work? It's telling that Weissmann jumped on board the Mueller train as soon as the Special Counsel was established. Had there been preliminary discussions? 

We now know that Weissman was a more integral part of the Russia Hoax/conspiracy than previously suspected--probably from the very beginning. The question is, just how extensive was his involvement? Did it extend to contact with the Clinton campaign itself? Did it extend beyond the election to strategizing with FBI efforts to ensnare and use George Papadopoulos? Did it extend to reaching out to his mentor Mueller during the early months of the Trump administration, planning for a Special Counsel?

As if all that weren't enough, recall this: The person who hired Simpson and Fusion GPS to do oppo research for the Clinton campaign and laundered the payments to Simpson through his law firm was none other than Michael Sussman. Michael Sussman is the evil legal genius of the Dem party. He was at the time Hillary Clinton's lawyer as well as the DNC's lawyer. He also helped peddle Simpson's falsehoods to the FBI through the FBI's General Counsel, James Baker.

Simpson's cooperation would, IMO, bring the entire Russia Hoax/Team Mueller house of cards down. But it might also lead to the very heart of the Clinton organization.