With the failure of the Russian collusion scam some Democrats have moved to phase 2 of their coup attempt against Trump

William Jacobson:

What is known about the Fusion GPS role in stoking and implementing an attempted takedown of candidate and ultimately president Trump is one of the greatest political scandals in memory. But it’s a story that only partially has been told.

We now know that Russian-Collusion-mania had as its source-fuel Fusion GPS opposition research funded by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee. The culmination of that effort was the so-called Steele dossier, which was used to obtain FISA court warrants to surveil Carter Page, and by extension, likely other members of the Trump campaign and transition team both in real time and historically.

What is less known, but almost certain, is how Fusion GPS pushed Russia conspiracy stories through its close relationship with reporters, and likely continues to do so. Fusion GPS not only was tight with reporters, it was tight with DOJ officials involved in pushing the Russia conspiracy narrative.

Manipulating the political process and media on Russia was Act I, playing out in the Mueller investigation.

Act II, as I’ve previously written, is the SDNY investigation of Michael Cohen on a referral from Mueller. That Act II, even more so than Act I, is a more direct attack on Trump’s business dealings and history than Mueller could justify keeping under his jurisdiction.

That Act II starring Michael Cohen is an attack on Trump is suggested by none other than the co-founders of Fusion GPS, Peter Fritsch and Glenn R. Simpson, in an Op-Ed in the house organ of the Resistance, the NY Times, The Business Deals That Could Imperil Trump

Put aside Russian collusion for a moment. Press pause on possible presidential obstruction of justice. Forget Stormy Daniels. The most significant recent development involving the president may be that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, has subpoenaed Trump Organization business records as part of his inquiry into Russian interference in the presidential election.

Those documents — and records recently seized by the F.B.I. from the president’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen — might answer a question raised by the president’s critics: Have certain real estate investors used Trump-branded properties to launder the proceeds of criminal activity around the world?

Right up front they posit an ulterior motive for the prosecution, and a willingness to circulate rumors of criminality much like they circulated rumors of Russian collusion.
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There is more.

Again they slander Trump without evidence.  They have no more evidence of the alleged conduct by Trump than they had evidence of Russian collusion.  It is another artful attempt by Fusion to attack a political opponent based on innuendo and not much else.  It is also another attempt to criminalize their political differences with the winner of an election.

There is another aspect of phase 2 of this coup attempt.  They are also trying to use SDNY to discredit one of Trump's most effective backers in the media, Sean Hannity.  The court has already wrongly disclosed his use of Michael Cohen for legal advice on real estate matters.  The left-wing Guardian is also out with a story giving details of some $90 million in investments by Hannity, and trying to suggest he did not disclose this in interviews with the HUD secretary and in his defense of Cohen.

There is a problem with this narrative about Hannity too.  Hannity made no secret of his real estate investment strategy.  He even advertised for a group advising people on buying and leasing residential property.  I have often heard the ads myself on his Houston affiliate.  It seems clear that the Fusion people are using the media and the courts to attack Trump with innuendo rather than facts and also trying to take out his lawyer and his most effective media supporter.

I find their actions reprehensible.