F.B.I.: Trump Advisor Carter Page Was Conspiring With Russian Government

Heavily redacted Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court materials used to justify wiretapping former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor Carter Page were released yesterday in response to a Freedom of Information request by news organizations.  The takeaway is that U.S. intelligence agencies had ample reason, well beyond the Steele dossier and dating back to 2013, to consider Page to be "collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government."  From The New York Times:

On Saturday evening, those materials — an October 2016 application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to wiretap Mr. Page, along with several renewal applications — were released to The New York Times and other news organizations that had filed Freedom of Information Act lawsuits to obtain them. Mr. Trump had declassified their existence earlier this year. 

“This application targets Carter Page,” the document said. “The F.B.I. believes Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government.” A line was then redacted, and then it picked up with “undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election in violation of U.S. criminal law. Mr. Page is a former foreign policy adviser to a candidate for U.S. president.” [snip] 

Visible portions showed that the F.B.I. in stark terms had told the intelligence court that Mr. Page “has established relationships with Russian government officials, including Russian intelligence officers”; that the bureau believed “the Russian government’s efforts are being coordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals associated with” Mr. Trump’s campaign; and that Mr. Page “has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government.”

Efforts by Putin puppet and useless idiot Donald "Rump" Trump and Republican co- conspirators like smarmy Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Kremlin) to smear the F.B.I. and other agencies as having made false, politically motivated claims in the Page FISA application are seriously undercut by the plain language of the application itself -- though they will continue in their desperate lies and distractions.  An un- redacted version would undoubtedly shed more light and make the collaborators' spin even less credible, but its would also tip off the Russians and dishonorable Russo- weasels like Nunes to what the intelligence community really has on their (and Moscow's) man in the White (Supremacist) House and others in his rotted- out circle.  They'll leave that for the indictments -- which can't come soon enough.

Today's Treason Round-Up (UPDATED)

Amid the distractions being engineered by unfit nitwit Donald "Rump" Trump and his band of incompetents (=cough= flash boom Syria =cough=), we continue to focus on the slow unraveling of the nexus of connections between Rump, his associates and the kleptocratic regime of Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin. Let's catch up on some recent developments.

Former Rump campaign manager Paul "Secret Agent Man" Manafort is in the spotlight again:

Aug. 19 was an eventful day for Paul Manafort. 

That morning, he stepped down from guiding Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, after a brief tenure during which Mr. Trump won the Republican nomination, Democrats’ emails were hacked and the campaign’s contacts with Russia came under scrutiny. Dogged by revelations about past financial dealings in Ukraine, Mr. Manafort retreated from public view. 

But behind the scenes, he was busy with other matters. Papers were recorded that same day creating a shell company controlled by Mr. Manafort that soon received $13 million in loans from two businesses with ties to Mr. Trump, including one that partners with a Ukrainian-born billionaire and another led by a Trump economic adviser. They were among $20 million in loans secured by properties belonging to Mr. Manafort and his wife. [snip]

Mr. Manafort’s ties to Ukraine and Russia have come under scrutiny as federal officials investigate Russian meddling in the American presidential election. Investigators are known to have examined aspects of his finances, including bank accounts he had in the secretive tax haven of Cyprus; there is no indication his recent loans are part of the inquiry. (our emphasis)

Manafort, who is now, post facto, registering as a foreign agent, and from whom Rump is now ludicrously distancing himself, is one linchpin in the ultimate investigation into "what does Russia have on Trump." Former advisor Carter Page is another:

The FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to monitor the communications of an adviser to presidential candidate Donald Trump, part of an investigation into possible links between Russia and the campaign, law enforcement and other U.S. officials said. 

The FBI and the Justice Department obtained the warrant targeting Carter Page’s communications after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia, according to the officials. 

This is the clearest evidence so far that the FBI had reason to believe during the 2016 presidential campaign that a Trump campaign adviser was in touch with Russian agents. Such contacts are now at the center of an investigation into whether the campaign coordinated with the Russian government to swing the election in Trump’s favor.

True to form, the Rump regime is now trying to minimize Page's role in the campaign.

Meanwhile, a third linchpin, former Nationals Security Advisor Michael "Can I Haz Immunity?" Flynn continues to learn, much like Manafort, Page and Steve "Loose Cannon" Bannon, that there's no honor (or loyalty) among thieves traitors in the Rump regime:

Retired General Mike Flynn has had a tough couple weeks, and the White House seems more than happy to kick him while he’s down. 

President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser worked with White House lawyers last month to correct a financial disclosure statement that omitted any mention of payments from Russian government-linked entities, only to see the White House release that information to the press. 

The White House would have been entirely within its rights keeping the information to itself—and it did so for other officials who amended financial disclosure statements. 

Instead they released them, causing an additional headache for Flynn and casting more suspicion on the former Trump adviser.  (our emphasis)

"Who's this Flynn guy you keep talking about?"

Clearly, the Rump regime is busy building fire lines using former advisors and regime officials as controlled burns to keep the flames from Rump for as long as possible. The relentlessness of the F.B.I. -- and potentially, the Senate's -- investigation (and bless 'em, the leaks), the cooperation of friendly foreign intelligence agencies, combined with the neck- saving deal- cutting that is likely going on behind the scenes, would appear to make this a loser strategy. But, make no mistake, these ratf*ckers will do everything in their power to hang on, and if necessary, they won't hesitate to bring down our democratic institutions with them.

UPDATE:  Investigators now believe they have "concrete and corroborative evidence" of collusion between the Rump campaign and Russia. Man, that fire's getting closer.