Spying on the Trump campaign

Red States:

Investigative Reporter John Solomon has confirmed that at least six informants with long-established associations to the FBI or to US or Western (British and Australian) intelligence and two Russians made contact with Trump business and campaign officials between March and October 2016. Solomon said the informants told Trump associates “they had possible political dirt or stolen emails harmful to Hillary Clinton, or unsolicited business in London or Moscow.” Solomon obtained this information by conducting over 50 interviews with witnesses and by reviewing court records.

It’s noteworthy that “several of the contacts occurred before the FBI formally launched a legally authorized probe into the Trump campaign and possible collusion on July 31, 2016.” This is especially significant because the FBI or the intelligence agency involved may one day be called upon to explain the reason for the contact. Or maybe that’s too much to hope for.

The names of most of the individuals contacted are familiar: Donald Trump Jr., Michael Cohen, Roger Stone, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Sam Clovis and General Michael Flynn.

Solomon’s new information indicates that at least four additional, previously unknown spies tried to infiltrate the Trump campaign or his inner circle of business associates.

We’ve known that the informants included Professor Stefan Halper, Russian businessman Hank Greenberg, former MI6 agent Christopher Steele and former FBI informer Felix Sater. But Solomon was able to uncover at least four others whose names have not been made public. He said he was asked by US government officials not to reveal their names to “avoid compromising their identities or nexus to intelligence and law enforcement work.”

Solomon wrote:

The chances that so many would converge into then-candidate Donald Trump’s circle, in such a short period around an election, are about as rare as winning the Mega Millions lottery. In other words, most were not coincidences. A few, maybe, but not all.

And that leaves the biggest question: Who dispatched or controlled each emissary?

At least two important bodies in Congress — the House Intelligence and Senate Judiciary committees — demanded to be secretly briefed on payments to “undercovers.” They’ve been pretty tight-lipped since, except to express concerns that the public would be alarmed by what was divulged.

From those members of Congress, we can deduce that some of the contacts that occurred in 2016 were related to the political opposition, anti-Trump research funded by the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign and driven by Steele and his Fusion GPS employer. That work became known as the Steele dossier.

Solomon notes that most, if not all, of these questions could be answered if Trump would simply declassify the documents he announced he would release two months ago. Shortly after his order was made, it was retracted after the governments of several allies, now known to be Britain and Australia, requested that the documents remain private. Recently, however, Trump is said to be reconsidering their release. All indications from Republicans on the Congressional committees who have viewed the documents, are anxious to see them released.
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I don't think Trump owes those who colluded with the FBI to spy on his campaign any favors.  I think those damaged the most by the release would be the Democrats pushing the Russian collusion hoax and the Mueller team which is looking more unethical every day.   Muller is manufacturing crimes with his investigation rather than investigating any specific crime committed by the Trump campaign.