Wonkette: IT DOESNT MATTER WHO PAID FOR THE FUCKING DOSSIER, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES

[emulatorloo]

gather 'round all ye idiots
IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO PAID FOR THE FUCKING DOSSIER, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES
By Evan Hurst - October 25, 2017 - 10:56am 494

https://wonkette.com/624773/it-doesnt-matter-who-paid-for-the-fucking-dossier-you-fucking-assholes#7MgEgWr6vkadQ6BF.99

BREAKING NEWS THAT IS SHOCKING TO EVERYONE WHO DOESN’T READ THE NEWSPAPER! You know the Steele Dossier, compiled by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele, who was contracted by Fusion GPS to compile oppo research way back during the campaign? That thing that alleges that Donald Trump’s campaign was engaged in a massive cover-up with Russia to influence/steal the 2016 election? Yes, that one! If you’ll remember, we learned recently that, though investigators haven’t verified every single thing in it, they haven’t debunked one single little thing about it!

During the Republican primary, Fusion GPS’s oppo research was funded by “a Republican” (Jeb! probably, unless it was the Mercers back when they were Ted Cruz backers), but once Trump won the nomination, “some Democrats” took over the funding. Steele was hired soon after. We learned this information from THE VERY FIRST NEWS STORY about the dossier, when it was broken by David Corn at Mother Jones on October 31, 2016:

<snip>

Meanwhile, as we are typing this, MSNBC is asking, “What does this mean for the Democrats? What does this mean for Robert Mueller’s investigation?”

NOTHING, YOU FUCKING IMBECILES. The story of the dossier always was that it was regular routine oppo research, and that the British spy Steele, in the course of his work, started finding all these Russian connections that made him go “WHOA IF TRUE.” So he kept investigating, and his research became known as the dossier. The fact his work was funded by Hillary people doesn’t mean piddly shit, since anybody who’s ever covered politics before (journalism fact coming, Maggie Haberman, you’ll want to take notes) knows that candidates aren’t funding oppo research to find FAKE NEWS on their opponents, they’re funding it to find REAL DIRT.

And Christopher Steele fucking found it.

So can you all kindly shut the fuck up, please and thank you?


Read more at https://wonkette.com/624773/it-doesnt-matter-who-paid-for-the-fucking-dossier-you-fucking-assholes#7MgEgWr6vkadQ6BF.99

[NastyRiffraff]

1. Again we owe thanks to Wonkette

What she wrote has been said before, but not as forcefully or as well.

[eShirl]

2. thank you

[Madam45for2923]

3. Woohoo wonkette in the house!candidates arent funding oppo research to find FAKE NEWS on their oppo

...candidates aren’t funding oppo research to find FAKE NEWS on their opponents, they’re funding it to find REAL DIRT.

And Christopher Steele fucking found it.

[Wounded Bear]

4. It certainly does matter when you're trying to distract someone from looking at the content.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Opposition Research is a fact of life. The only thing that matters now is vetting

out the truth. If the information is valid, that's all that matters.

[gratuitous]

6. And the only reason this has been ginned up into a "scandal"

Is because the Republicans need a distraction. These highly-paid fuckers in the popular media can be distracted by jingling your key ring at them, and Republicans know it. My word! Opposition research paid for by the opposition! How dastardly. How under-handed. How business-as-usual in every political campaign since Oog defeated Thak back in the 29,212 BC primary.

[OnDoutside]

8. It's just red meat for the Trump base, the f**king morons.

[donotpissoffacow]

45. and Oog turned out to be...

an orange haired Neanderthal who was overthrown and/or outbred by Thak in 29, 213 BC. Or should that be 29,211 BC? I never could count backwards. Anyway, regrettably, Thak's hoomans took over afterwards and the ghost of Oog is seeking revenge on us today.

[OnDoutside]

7. "some Democrats took over the funding"

I'd love to find out about this handover. Did Fusion take what they had found to the DNC, or did Jeb hand it over to the Dems ?

[emulatorloo]

9. This article sheds some light. (Mark Elias)

http://www.businessinsider.com/who-paid-for-the-trump-russia-dossier-clinton-and-dnc-2017-10

We finally know who paid for the opposition research that led to the Trump-Russia dossier
Natasha Bertrand
Oct. 24, 2017, 7:18 PM

- The opposition research firm that produced the Trump-Russia dossier was retained in April 2016 by a lawyer representing Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee.

- The revelation came amid a protracted back-and-forth between the firm, Fusion GPS, and the House Intelligence Committee.

- A person familiar with the matter told the Post that neither the DNC nor the Clinton campaign knew that Fusion had been hired by Elias.

<snip>

The opposition research firm that produced the Trump-Russia dossier was retained by a lawyer representing Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee, a source familiar with the matter told Business Insider on Tuesday.

"To aid in its representation of the Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee, Perkins Coie retained Fusion GPS, entering into an engagement for research services that began in April 2016 and concluded before the election in early November," the person said.

<snip>

The Clinton campaign and DNC lawyer, Marc Elias of Perkins Coie, retained Fusion in April 2016 and continued paying for the research through October, according to the Post. Former British spy Christopher Steele began writing the dossier in June 2016 and wrote his last memo in December.

It had been previously reported that Democrats took over funding for the opposition research from anti-Trump Republicans after Trump won the GOP nomination. The identity of the Republican funders is stll unknown.

A person familiar with the matter told the Post that neither the DNC nor the Clinton campaign knew that Fusion had been hired by Elias, who the campaign reportedly paid $5.6 million in legal fees from June 2015 to December 2016.

<more at link>

------------------

Nonetheless the point remains. It doesn't matter who paid. What matters is what Steele uncovered about Trump/Russia. Republicans may wanna turn into a "Democrat Hillary Scandal" to distract, but as usual they are bullshit liars.

[OnDoutside]

11. Thanks, but it doesn't answer the jump from Rep/Jeb to the Democrats.

All it says is

"To aid in its representation of the Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee, Perkins Coie retained Fusion GPS, entering into an engagement for research services that began in April 2016 and concluded before the election in early November," the person said.

SNIP

It had been previously reported that Democrats took over funding for the opposition research from anti-Trump Republicans after Trump won the GOP nomination. The identity of the Republican funders is still unknown.

Did Fusion decide to contact the DNC themselves (hoping to extend the fee), or did Jeb get a message to them to say this stuff was there ?

[emulatorloo]

15. Mark Elias is not the DNC. Article was clear neither DNC nor Clinton campaign knew about this

Maybe future reporting will cover who approached who. In the big picture it doesn't matter.

This is just spectacular on my part but I have read that existence of Steele Dossier was sort of an open "secret" amongst folks like Rick Wilson. We also know it was given to McCain and he took it to the FBI. I am not remembering all the timelines. You are right, could well have been the "unnamed Republican" or an aide who let folks know about the existence of dossier.

[OnDoutside]

34. If it emerges that Jeb or his campaign deliberately passed it

To Democrats/Elias/DNC there will be outright war in the GOP. That's why I am interested in this aspect. I can imagine whichever Rep it is, is sleeping nervously tonight !!!

[emulatorloo]

41. Interesting, Post will probably pursue that.

[OnDoutside]

46. God I hope they do !!!

[emulatorloo]

58. Here you go: orig funded by rightwing website. Website funded by billionaire GOP donor Paul Singer

TPM "Right Wing Site Tied Billionaire First Funded Fusion GPS Trump File"
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029759320#post1

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/right-wing-site-tied-billionaire-first-funded-fusion-gps-trump-file

[OnDoutside]

66. Thanks ! :) There's nothing to beat Fri evening news dumps !

[B2G]

13. "neither the DNC nor the Clinton campaign knew that Fusion had been hired by Elias"

I find this very hard to believe.

[doc03]

17. Gee why doesn't someone ask Elias if the Clinton campaign knew? Seems like

the logical thing to do.

[B2G]

20. Agreed. Has anyone? nt

[emulatorloo]

18. I have no difficulty at all in beleiving a lawyer would keep this from the DNC/Campaign

Need to know etc. Much was not confirmed, so would not take unconfirmed rumors.

At any rate forest vs trees.

[B2G]

21. Well I guess we're different that way.

"A person familiar with the matter told the Post" doesn't cut it with me.

[emulatorloo]

23. Why is it so important to you to "blame" DNC ? To quote wonkette, "doesn't matter who paid for

the fucking Dossier"

Big picture issue here: forest versus trees. Trump collusion is the forest.

Have a good one

[B2G]

24. Because it's being made to be a big deal, that's why.

And for them to say that they didn't know their lawyer paid almost 10 million in funds for the dossier stretches credibility to the point of being mind bending.

There is no crime in conducting opposition research. Repeated denials just keep it in the news cycle and if it's proven that the DNC and Clinton did know, that's going to be even worse.

[emulatorloo]

27. It's not a "Democrat Scandal" despite how much liar Grassley and Trump apologists want it to be

Eyes on the prize.

You know Nunes, Grassley, Kellyanne, Trump, Fox, etc are liars and have mastered the art of "whataboutism" and deflection.


FUD like this from rightwing noise machine not going to affect the Mueller investigation in any way.

[B2G]

29. You don't know it won't affect the investigation.

There are no sure bets right now, and we definitely don't need this mucking things up.

[emulatorloo]

30. Mueller's team influenced by bullshit right wing distraction? I don't think so

Last edited Fri Oct 27, 2017, 09:34 PM - Edit history (3)

I expect they're more interested in Trump's Campaign asking Wikileaks for access to Clinton's emails.

Trump campaign analytics company contacted WikiLeaks about Clinton emails
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/25/politics/cambridge-analytica-julian-assange-wikileaks-clinton-emails/index.html

As I understand it both FBI and Mueller's team have confirmed much of the dossier's content.

Yes, GOP is attempting to spin this as "HRC DNC COLLABOATED WITH THE RUSSIANS." They would be lying again.

Yes some of steele's sources were Russian agents.

But those Russian agents who leaked to Steele were whistle blowers, they were against what Putin and Trump were doing. Trump campaign contacts were true blue Putinistas carrying out a Russian State effort to undermine our election.

If anything can be said about Mueller, he's not at all gullible or easily distracted by shiny meaningless baubles.


---

ON EDIT:

See also

Let's look at what Mueller's up to.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029756622

It gives a pretty good sense of Mueller's team

On Edit:

******BREAKING NEWS****** -FIRST CHARGES FILED IN MUELLER INVESTIGATION
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029758880

Most likely Manafort, possibly Flynn.

[Eliot Rosewater]

26. Great question.

[B2G]

28. Here's another great question.

If it doesn't matter who funded it, and there was nothing wrong with funding it, why wouldn't Elias tell his clients that he was spending millions to fund it?

Did the DNC and Clinton have no accounting controls? Did he just have carte blanche to spend millions with no questions asked?

[citood]

32. I'm the exact reverse

"I have no difficulty at all in beleiving a lawyer would keep this from the DNC/Campaign"

A lawyer, or all people, would seem very interested in complyiance with FEC rules on reporting campaign expenditures. Members of the campaign keeping secrets from the people who report to regulatory agencies seems like terrible legal advice.

HRC may not have known, but somebody prominent in the campaign almost certainly did...until that person comes forward, this story will continue to dominate the news cycle.

[emulatorloo]

33. yeah media loves fake scandals about HRC so no doubt yr correct re media

What should be the big story is Trump campaign asking Wikileaks for Clinton's emails.

Trump campaign analytics company contacted WikiLeaks about Clinton emails
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/25/politics/cambridge-analytica-julian-assange-wikileaks-clinton-emails/index.html

[gratuitous]

12. My guess . . .

Someone in the Democratic camp contacted Fusion GPS early in 2016, and Fusion told them they had a conflict and couldn't work for a Democratic campaign. The universally-understood code here is, "Someone else already hired us." Then, when that other client (whose name rhymes with Kleb Tush) told Fusion "never mind" because he was dropping out, Fusion got back in touch with the Democrats to say, "Hey, we don't have a conflict anymore; still want to hire us?"

[OnDoutside]

14. I have a vague memory that Fusion weren't the biggest Go-To company in that area for oppo research.

My guess is that the Republican/Jeb said to them, "my race is run, why don't you try bringing this over to the Democrats ?".

[forgotmylogin]

48. It just means

It’s a bipartisan effort.

[ismnotwasm]

10. K&R

[sheshe2]

16. This!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[bronxiteforever]

19. Kick and Recommend! Right on!

[Gothmog]

22. This an attempt by the RWNJ to distract from Trump's collusion with russia

[Initech]

25. This is an attempt by RWNJs to start locking up the opposition.

And you know they would if they got the chance.

[JHan]

31. Wonkette is on point as usual.

[emulatorloo]

35. For those of you insisting that "who paid for it" is meaningful

I want to remind you it is a distraction.

Here are a couple of stories that are example of something that's meaningful:

Trump campaign analytics company contacted WikiLeaks about Clinton emails
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/25/politics/cambridge-analytica-julian-assange-wikileaks-clinton-emails/index.html

**BREAKING** Talking Points Brought to Trump Tower Meeting Were Shared With Kremlin
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029757168

"Who paid for it" is an attempt at distraction for these kinds of stories.

[questionseverything]

50. who paid for it only matters in hindsight

because if dems paid for this, why didn't they use it?

sigh

[Proud Democrat]

36. Well said!

Great response ...you nailed it!

[standingtall]

37. This isn't news just a distraction from republicans

it has been common knowledge for a long time that republicans originally funded the dossier during the primary and Democratic sources took over the funding after Trump was locking up the GOP nomination. The best they got is that a law firm that was friendly to the DNC and Clinton funded the dossier. There is no evidence that Clinton knew about the dossier. That fact that she didn't bring it up during the campaign ought to tell us something and even if the DNC or Clinton knew about it still shouldn't matter.

[orangecrush]

38. Thank You Wonkette

and to you, emulatorloo for posting this!

[Caliman73]

39. I totally agree.

The only issue I have with the whole dossier story is the some people in Democratic circles have denied anything to do with the dossier. They are running from it like it was a bad thing. That just gives the idiot conservatives a little oxygen for their fire. We should own this and be out there saying, "YES, we did opposition research on Trump, we did opposition research on all of our opponents. That is what you do. That we did opposition research is not important. What the research revealed is what is important."

In this sense, Republicans seem to always beat us. They push back on everything, even when it is a bold faced lie. Democrats try to parse the truth and it ends up making us look like what we were doing isn't normal or regular.

[certainot]

63. they keep beating us because democrats ignore rw radio.

limbaugh has been calling the dossier a hoax created by the clinton obama soros deep state for months and now all of sudden he's doing hours of it

that's what drives most of this shit - like benghazi and emails. but dems don't even poll for it.

the only reason it can do this every time they want is because dems ignore rw radio. bill maher and his whole panel including van jones can blame it all on fox and never mention fox's big brother, talk radio, the only medium that can do the necessary unchallenged repetition to alter reality.

none of this bullshit distraction or obstruction, including motivating the alternative reality trump dittohead base, would be possible if democrats stopped ignoring talk radio, which would collapse under any attention as advertisers headed for the hills.

[niyad]

40. THANK YOU, wonkette. as always, you absolutely nailed it.

[Mediumsizedhand]

42. I cannot express the amount of anxiety I avoid not watching tv news.

This is such a stupid stupid manufactured outrage that the most inexperienced journalist should not be fooled by or dragged in to participate. The only thing is reading this shit and then seeing posts on liberal sites blaming Clinton for this. Can it be more obvious?

[floppyboo]

43. So the DNC leaks, Wikileaks, Snowden?

Remove all the attention from who did it to the fact revealed, right? Or am I missing something.

[emulatorloo]

57. You are missing something. I think you missed the point of Wonkette article.

"Who paid for it" is a Republican attempt to distract people from trump/Russia connection (Manafort, Don Jrs meeting w Russian agents, mike Flynn, DNC leaks links to Russia,, Wikileaks as Russian cut-out).

I haven't seen anything that Snowden was involved w Trump campaign so let's not say that.

[floppyboo]

62. Not saying snowden was implied - could have said Bernstien for instance

I thought the point of the article was it doesn't matter who paid - its just the facts that matter. where did I go wrong?

[emulatorloo]

67. Oh I totally misunderstood you, sorry

Yes that is the point of article.

[The Wizard]

44. Who met with Russian agents in Trump tower to get dirt on Hillary?

[floppyboo]

47. Isn't the arguement of this thread "Who cares?" who met who??

"YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES" ??? to quote the OP

[emulatorloo]

55. No. The argument of this thread is that 'who paid for it' is a distraction from Trump folk's Russian

neetings and connections. Republicans trying to distract from Trump/Russia collusion w this nonsense.

BTW Republicans are the "assholes" in wonkette' article title.

Republicans attempting to spin this as "Hillary paid!!!!" which is a red herring to distract from the increasingly verified content of the Dossier of Trump/Russia collusion.

By the way

******BREAKING NEWS****** -FIRST CHARGES FILED IN MUELLER INVESTIGATION
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029758880

[BlueJac]

49. Well said......

I can't stand these assholes!

[HopeAgain]

51. Of course it is a smokescreen

One of the tricks they are using is trying to make equivalent a foreign government (Russia) with a foreigner (Steel).

[Skittles]

52. CORRECT

[Honeycombe8]

53. To the masses, it does. They'll just hear the soundbite.

We've already seen that Trumpers don't watch the news every day, they don't investigate issues and compare sources. They know details or even lies. Most people I've communicated with don't even really know the ins and outs of the ACA, all the while saying it's great or saying it's lousy. They just hear what their leaders say and believe it.

It muddies the waters to have the 2016 Prez candidate's name in the same sentence with Trump---collusion---Russia----dossier.

I get it. I think we all get it. First the Republicans initiated the research, then HRC's campaign started funding it, and maybe others later. It was just generic research being done by someone in the U.K. But the public won't hear all that. Some will hear, "Hillary Clinton funded that thar Russia derriere, 'cause she's a sore loser. See...told ya it was all fake."

[emulatorloo]

54. Doesn't matter what "masses" think. First criminal charges in Mueller investigation today.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029758880

[Honeycombe8]

61. I know! That's exciting! But as for the funding dossier thing...

I was talking of elections and perception. Not legalities. That was exactly the point I was making. The public doesn't go into details that much. They just hear something, and it sways them. Like the emails.

[emulatorloo]

56. Oh btw: FIRST CHARGES FILED IN MUELLER INVESTIGATION

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029758880

So of course GOPers trying to distract. To me this news explains how damn hysterical Nunes, Grassley etc have been.

[BigmanPigman]

59. Clapper said the same thing (but without the "fucking" part).

[SunSeeker]

60. Thank you Wonkette!

...candidates aren’t funding oppo research to find FAKE NEWS on their opponents, they’re funding it to find REAL DIRT. 

And Christopher Steele fucking found it. 

So can you all kindly shut the fuck up, please and thank you? 

It's pathetic that this obvious shit has to be spelled out for our talking heads on TV, but it does.

[Hekate]

64. KnR

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

65. Bravo! No BS to the point piece.

Also, love the dig at Maggie "Trump is Charming" Haberman.