ICYMI| Newly released notes taken by high-level Department of Justice (DOJ) officials were taken on March 6th, 2017 during a meeting of high-ranking FBI officials showed that they were scared by the fact that Donald Trump had said that he knew that Barack Obama had been spying on his campaign. They were scared that he knew too much about their illegal activities and as president, he could take action against them.
The notes were released less than a week ago by the lawyers for Michael Sussmann in order to prove that the FBI knew their client was representing a client when he met with James Baker. The notes actually do not exonerate Sussmann, but they do have significance as far as the FBI is concerned. The meeting came two days after President Trump accused Obama of spying on him. The meeting was obviously set up to figure out how to control the damage and to ascertain exactly what Trump knew for sure.
By March 2017, FBI leadership already knew with near-certainty that the Trump–Russia collusion claims were a hoax. They were aware of the fact that Hillary planned to set6 Trump up to make it appear that he was in bed with Putin, but they were also afraid that all of this would be found out and they were frightened that it could backfire on them.
But, they went ahead with Crossfire Hurricane before the election, fully expecting Hillary to be elected and for there to be no investigation into their actions. When Trump was elected, they knew they were vulnerable.
The problem for the FBI was this: They didn’t know how much Trump actually knew about their actions. Just a day earlier, on March 3, 2017, radio host Mark Levin had reported that the Obama administration had obtained Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants that involved Trump and several of his campaign advisers. Levin also reported that Trump’s off-the-cuff joke in July 2016—“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing”—had become the basis for the Russia collusion accusations.
But as we now know, the FISA warrants weren’t the only thing that the FBI leadership was involved with. The FBI was actively spying on the Trump campaign and the incoming Trump administration’s transition communications, a fact that also was revealed in the new notes. The FBI had not only spied on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, but also on another aide, George Papadopoulos, going so far as to lure him to London, where they tried to set him up in a clumsy but elaborate sting.
Notes at the meeting were taken by three DOJ officials—Tashina Gauhar, Mary McCord, and Scott Schools. The notes were released because one of the notes appears to show that McCabe stated that Sussmann had represented clients when he took the Alfa Bank allegations to the FBI. Sussmann initially told the FBI that he didn’t represent anyone and was merely acting as a good samaritan. It’s that lie to the FBI by Sussmann that he has been charged with and Sussmann’s lawyers are hoping to sow doubt by introducing that single sentence that appears to say otherwise.
