The Simpson testimony before Congress has its problems

Mollie Hemingway:

10 Takeaways From Glenn Simpson’s Fusion GPS Senate Testimony
Sen. Dianne Feinstein released a semi-redacted transcript of testimony Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee on August 22, 2017.
This is a long piece.  I found item number one to be the most interesting.

1. The Most Interesting Part Turned Out Not To Be True

While the testimony is full of details, far and away the most interesting revelation was Simpson’s claim that the FBI had a source within the Trump campaign. Simpson said that Christopher Steele, the freelance spy paid for dispatches about Trump, was told by an FBI official that they had a confidential informant in the Trump campaign. This “human source from inside the Trump organization” was acting in a “voluntary” manner. It was someone “who decided to pick up the phone and report something.”



Understandably, that was the big headline many media outlets put with their initial stories on the transcript, including USA Today: “Dossier author Christopher Steele told FBI had source inside Trump Org” and the Washington Post: “Ex-spy behind Trump dossier was told FBI had source inside network, testimony reveals.” The only problem is that it apparently is not true.

Ken Dilanian, the NBC reporter who frequently helps Fusion GPS disseminate stories for its clients, said that “a source close to Fusion GPS” had a correction to offer:
While Simpson used his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to negotiate an interview that was not done under oath, it’s still a federal crime to give the committee false information. It is unclear if he corrected the false testimony with the committee or just worked through his collaborator Dilanian.
...
There is much more.

The media characterization of the testimony appears misleading in several respects, possibly because Simpson made statements like the one above.

At least we now know the FBI did not have a mole inside the Trump campaign.

In another story involving Fusion GPS, it is learned that the company was behind the using of John McCain to deliver the dossier to the feds.

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