Thread by @PaulSchmehl

A thread on the #DemMemo I did some research on the #DemMemo last night. These are my observations. The #DemMemo labors hard to prove that the FBI had sufficient evidence, absent the FISA warrant, to label Carter Page as a Russian spy. First, we’ll look at what Page actually did.

#DemMemo In 2013, Page had a brief interaction with Victor Podobnyy, a Russian spy who was convicted in 2015 of not registering as a foreign agent. The FBI debriefed him and determined that he was unaware the Podobnyy was a spy. They had discussed energy-related information.

#DemMemo Page’s profession was in the energy finance industry, and he had extensive interactions with Russians for a lengthy period of time dating back to 2004, when he lived in Russia for about three years. He also had investments in the Russian energy company Gazprom.

#DemMemo Page was also an adjunct professor at New York University. He traveled extensively, lecturing on energy issues, including to Russia. In June 2016, which an unpaid energy advisor to the Trump campaign, he traveled to Russia to speak at a conference.

#DemMemo There was nothing unusual about this. Professors travel out of the country regularly to speak at conferences that focus on their academic area of interest. All of this may be found in Page’s testimony. intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/…

#DemMemo So, Page met with the FBI in 2013 and was assessed to be an unwitting target of a Russian spy. Page’s testimony helped lead to the conviction of the spy for failing to register as a foreign agent. An undercover agent for the FBI also testified.

#DemMemo According to the FBI, they placed Page under surveillance in March 2016, just as he became an unpaid advisor to the Trump campaign’s foreign policy advisory committee. No reason has been given for the claimed surveillance.

#DemMemo In July 2016, Page traveled to Moscow to speak at a conference. While at the conference, he spoke to a Russian named Dvorkovich briefly after his speech. The memo characterizes this quite deceptively.

#DemMemo “he initially denied any such meetings and then was forced to admit speaking with Dvorkovich and meeting with Rosneft's Sechin-tied investor relations chief, Andrey
Baranov.” He was forced to admit no such meeting. In his testimony, he described a “10 second” interaction

#DemMemo with Dvorkovich and stated that he and Andrey
Baranov had been friends for many years. Later, you will see why the memo tries to tie Baranov to Sechin.

#DemMemo So, Page assisted the FBI in 2013 through 2015 with an investigation that resulted in the conviction of a Russian spy and was found not to be compromised, but in 2016 suddenly he’s a spy? Color me skeptical.

#DemMemo Why does the memo mention Sechin? Because the Steele Dossier makes several claims about Page’s ties to Sechin, who is under US sanctions. Here’s the dossier: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3259…

#DemMemo And here’s what the dossier claims: “Speaking in confidence to a compatriot in late July 2016, Source E, an
ethnic Russian close associate of Republican US presidential candidate
Donald TRUMP, admitted that there was a well-developed conspiracy of
co-operation

#DemMemo between them and the Russian leadership. This was
managed on the TRUMP side by the Republican candidate's campaign
manager, Paul MANAFORT, who was using foreign policy advisor, Carter
PAGE, and others as intermediaries. The two sides had a mutual interest
in defeating

#DemMemo Hillary CLINTON, whom
President PUTIN apparently both hated and feared.”…”“TRUMP advisor Carter PAGE holds secret meetings in Moscow with SECHIN and senior Kremlin Internal Affairs official, DIVYEKIN”….“Speaking in July 2016, a Russian source close to Rosneft President

#DemMemo PUTIN
close associate and US-sanctioned individual, Igor SECHIN, confided thedetails of a recent secret meeting between him and visiting Foreign
Affairs Advisor to Republican presidential candidate Donald TRUMP, Carter PAGE.” These are dossier claims.

#DemMemo The truth? Page has NEVER MET Sechin, Divyekin or even Paul Manafort. Never met them. Yet, the Dems use this in their memo in a flailing attempt to “prove” that Page is a Russian spy, just as the FBI did in the FISA application!

#DemMemo Page’s testimony: “Page and Manafort
MR. SWALWELL: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Dr. Page, during the course of the campaign, did you ever meet Paul Manafort?
MR. PAGE: Never.
MR. SWALWELL: Have you ever spoken to Paul Manafort?
MR. PAGE: I have never spoken to Paul Manafort.

#DemMemo MR. SWALWELL: Have you ever electronically communicated with Mr. Manafort?
MR.PAGE: There-
MR. SWALWELL: Yes or no?
MR. PAGE: Just once, to the best of my recollection.”

#DemMemo Page and Sechin and Diveykin
“MR. GOWDY: Which factual inaccuracies stand out to you the most?
MR. PAGE: Yeah. The main ones were-there were two main allegations against me: that I met two individuals, Igor Sechin, the CEO of Rosneft, and Mr. Diveykin, someone who I

#DemMemo had never even heard of in my life. And each of those people I've never
met in my life.” So, the very claims that were used to justify spying on Page were completely false.

#DemMemo How do we know this? Because, if the FBI had corroborating evidence, outside the dossier, that proved Page was lying about his contacts, he would have already been charged with lying to the FBI. But he has not. There is no better confirmation that he told the truth.

#DemMemo So, you can throw out everything the memo claims about Page, because we already know that it’s false and based entirely on the dossier. Keep in mind, the Dems know ALL of this, but still produced this work of fiction.

#DemMemo We also now know that the FBI and DoJ, as well as Christopher Steele, leaked information to the press in an effort to implicate Page in a Russian spy ring. So, let’s take a look at that.

#DemMemo April 3,2017
buzzfeed.com/alimwatkins/a-…
“The revelation of Page’s connection to Russian intelligence — which occurred more than three years before his association with Trump — is the most clearly documented contact to date between Russian intelligence and someone in

#DemMemo in Trump’s orbit.” So, in April 2016, just one month after the FBI met with Page, they claim that he was connected “to Russian intelligence….three years before his association with Trump” Three years before, Page was cooperating with the FBI to convict a Russian spy!

#DemMemo So, the story they planted was knowingly false and deceptive. The same story was planted with ABC. April 4, 2017
abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump…
“Two years before joining the Trump campaign as a foreign policy adviser, New York business consultant Carter Page was targeted for

#DemMemo recruitment as an intelligence source by Russian spies promising favors for business opportunities in Russia, according to a sealed FBI complaint.” Gee, I wonder what that “sealed FBI complaint” might be?

#DemMemo So, the FBI lied to the FISA court claiming Page was a spy who had met with the Russians three years prior to his association with the Trump campaign when they knew full well that he was a cooperating WITNESS. This is how deep the corruption was.

#DemMemo The memo claims that the FISA applications contained “a multi-pronged rationale for surveilling Page” The rationale? The lies in the dossier plus his known association with a known Russian spay in 2013. That’s it.

#DemMemo So, what are the requirements to obtain a Title 1 FISA warrant to spy on a US person?

#DemMemo You can read them for yourself.

#DemMemo There are two justifications in the law for a Title 1 warrant. The first is for non-US persons only. The second has to be the justification for the warrant on Page. Sections (C), (D), and (E) cannot apply to page for obvious reasons.

#DemMemo Therefore, sections (A) and (B) had to be used to justify the warrant. Where is the proof that Page engaged in clandestine operations? He has never been charged with any crimes of espionage. His Congressional testimony refutes it entirely.

#DemMemo And he’s not been charged with lying. Therefore, it is logical to assume that his testimony is truthful, and his testimony completely refutes the claims made to obtain the warrant. Despite all the Dems flailing around trying to excuse the FBI, it is obvious they lied.

#DemMemo Without Carter Page, you don’t get this this stunning admission the #DemMemo, something the Nunes memo never revealed. “By then, the FBI had already opened sub-inquiries into [redacted] individuals linked to the Trump campaign;” Wait, what???

#DemMemo What does “by then” refer to? September 2016. “By then” the FBI had already opened investigations into a number of other members of the Trump campaign! On what basis? Russia? Which they knew to be false? The Dems just let the cat out of the bag!

#DemMemo There is one more thing in the memo that I want to address today. The Dems took the time to defend the FBI’s interactions with Steele, stating this: “FBI never paid Steele for this reporting” Yes, that’s true, but it conceals the truth as well.

#DemMemo It wasn’t for a lack of trying that the FBI didn’t pay Steele. Both the Washington Post and the New York Times reported that the FBI had a verbal agreement with Steele but backed out when the dossier became public knowledge. axios.com/fbi-agreed-to-…

#DemMemo They have now admitted that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign for Russian ties BEFORE they obtained FISA warrants to spy on Page.

#DemMemo They just forgot to mention that DoJ official Bruce Ohr’s wife worked for Fusion GPS and fed the dossier to the FBI. (It’s interesting how many different people were shoving that dossier at the FBI.) @SenJohnMcCain is also implicated in this mess, up to his eyeballs.

#DemMemo If I find anything else of interest, I’ll append it to this thread, but at this point, the Dem memo not only looks like a bust but even exposes more evidence of FBI malfeasance.

#DemMemo The FBI’s proof that Page was a Russian spy? He lived in Russia from 2004-2007, pursued deals with Gazprom, and interacted with a Russian spy in 2013. The first two are proof of nothing. The last is a false representation of what Page did. He was a cooperating witness.

#DemMemo Bwahaha Here’s the Dem’s excuse for not revealing to the court that the dossier was paid for by Hillary and the DNC. “In fact, DOJ appropriately upheld its longstanding practice of protecting U.S. citizen information by purposefully not "unmasking" U.S. person and entity

#DemMemo names, unless they were themselves the subject of a counterintelligence investigation.” So, the reason they couldn’t tell the court it was paid for by Hillary was because of unmasking rules? Bwahahah

#DemMemo You can’t make this shit up folks. The Dems have now ADMITTED that the FBI did NOT reveal to the court that Hillary and the DNC were behind the dossier, using the feeble excuse that they didn’t want to “unmask” them. Seriously.

#DemMemo So, now the Dems have admitted that the FBI was spying on the Trump campaign BEFORE they obtained a FISA warrant AND admitted that the FBI did not tell the court who was behind the memo. Do they seriously think no one would notice this?

#DemMemo Just adding this on, for clarity.

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#DemMemo Addendum: This is Nune’s point by point response to the Dem memo: intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/…

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