'It Is Time To Stop Chasing Rabbits': Fusion GPS Founders Accuse GOP Of Protecting Trump
January 2, 2018

The founders of Fusion GPS are not happy. They are not happy with Republicans in Congress, they are not happy with Donald Trump, and they are particularly unhappy that their testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee has not been released in spite of their request that the transcript be made public.

And so they took to the New York Times op-ed pages today to tell all of us about how Republicans are selectively leaking parts of their testimony to make them look bad while refusing to investigate Trump's crooked business history, particularly when it comes to his associations with Russian money launderers.

"We suggested investigators look into the bank records of Deutsche Bank and others that were funding Mr. Trump’s businesses," principals Glenn R. Simpson and Peter Fritsch wrote. "Congress appears uninterested in that tip: Reportedly, ours are the only bank records the House Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed."

But why did they suggest investigators look more carefully at Deutsche Bank and other funders?

Simpson and Fritsch answer that question, too. "We told Congress that from Manhattan to Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., and from Toronto to Panama, we found widespread evidence that Mr. Trump and his organization had worked with a wide array of dubious Russians in arrangements that often raised questions about money laundering. "

OH, IMAGINE THAT. Money laundering and dubious Russian ties? Who might have guessed that a six-time bankrupt shyster Manhattan real estate developer with designs on the casino business might be connected with Russian money launderers.

Here's something else they told Congress: "We were deeply familiar with the political operative Paul Manafort’s coziness with Moscow and his financial ties to Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin."

You'd think red-blooded Americans, regardless of their political affiliation, would be alarmed by that. But no, which is why they are now sounding the alarms via the op-ed section of the paper of record.

Fritsch and Simpson want all the readers of their op-ed to understand this: The dossier is just the tiny tip of the iceberg, they warn.

Yes, we hired Mr. Steele, a highly respected Russia expert. But we did so without informing him whom we were working for and gave him no specific marching orders beyond this basic question: Why did Mr. Trump repeatedly seek to do deals in a notoriously corrupt police state that most serious investors shun?

What came back shocked us. Mr. Steele’s sources in Russia (who were not paid) reported on an extensive — and now confirmed — effort by the Kremlin to help elect Mr. Trump president. Mr. Steele saw this as a crime in progress and decided he needed to report it to the F.B.I.

We did not discuss that decision with our clients, or anyone else. Instead, we deferred to Mr. Steele, a trusted friend and intelligence professional with a long history of working with law enforcement. We did not speak to the F.B.I. and haven’t since.

When you hear other reports about Trump engaging in a pissing contest with North Korea's Kim Jong Un tonight, keep in mind that this op-ed was published just minutes before he fired off that tweet.

Then there was this, also tweeted shortly after the op-ed was published.

It is time for us to demand Republicans in Congress put the country ahead of their agendas. It is time now, for them to recognize the national security threat that Donald Trump poses to our country.

It is time for them to appoint an independent commission to hold public hearings and investigations into Trump's relationship with Russian mobsters and money launderers.

Moreover, it is time to "stop chasing rabbits," in the words of the patriots sounding alarms. It is time for Senator Grassley to release the full transcripts of Fusion GPS' testimony, and it is time for them to take their duty to protect this nation's citizens seriously. And that means impeachment.

I will update this post with any actions which you might take to do that.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon