Six Degrees From Brookings: How a Liberal Think Tank Keeps Coming Up in the Russian Collusion Investigation - Jonathan Turley

[Geee]

JonathanTurley.org

The latest indictment by Special Counsel John Durham has created a stir in Washington as the investigation into the Russian collusion scandal exposed new connections to the Clinton campaign.  The indictment of  Igor Danchenko exposes additional close advisers to Hillary Clinton who allegedly pushed discredited and salacious allegations in the Steele dossier. However, one of the most interesting new elements was the role of a liberal think tank, the Brookings Institution, in the alleged effort to create a false scandal of collusion. Indeed, Brookings appears so often in accounts related to the Russian collusion scandal that it could be Washington’s alternative to the Kevin Bacon parlor game. It appears that many of these figures are within six degrees of Brookings.

 

The fact is that Washington remains a small town for the ruling elite where degrees of separation can be quite small as figures move in and out of government. Moreover, think tanks are often the parking lots for party loyalists as they wait (and work) for new Administrations. The Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation play a similar role for conservative figures.

However, even in Washington’s inbred environment, the layers of connections to Brookings is remarkable in the Durham indictments and accounts of the effort to create a Russian collusion scandal. The effort was hardly a secret before anyone knew the name of the former British spy Christopher Steele. On July 28, former CIA Director John Brennan briefed then President Obama on Hillary Clinton’s alleged “plan” to tie Donald Trump to Russia as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.” Notes from the meeting state the plan to invent a collusion narrative was “allegedly approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.” That was three days before the Russian investigation was initiated.

[Valin]

11 minutes ago, Geee said:

JonathanTurley.org

 

However, even in Washington’s inbred environment, the layers of connections to Brookings is remarkable in the Durham indictments and accounts of the effort to create a Russian collusion scandal. The effort was hardly a secret before anyone knew the name of the former British spy Christopher Steele. On July 28, former CIA Director John Brennan briefed then President Obama on Hillary Clinton’s alleged “plan” to tie Donald Trump to Russia as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.” Notes from the meeting state the plan to invent a collusion narrative was “allegedly approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.” That was three days before the Russian investigation was initiated.

 

Thing is They STILL don't understand Denial is not a river in Egypt

Nov. 5 2021

CNN could use some self-reflection when it comes to media slogans

Was “Russian bounties” a slogan? If so, that would fit the bill here, as the story shows that President Joe Biden did not hand down sanctions on Russia over the allegation that it was placing bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan when the intelligence community backed off of the reports. CNN was one of the many that accused former President Donald Trump of looking the other way on these “bounties,” to the point that host Jake Tapper went after Fox News’s Chris Wallace for not asking Trump about it.

In the context of the Steele dossier, several CNN personalities treated “corroborated” as a slogan. That may look silly now that the alleged main source for the dossier, Igor Danchenko, was arrested and charged with five counts of making false statements to the FBI, but even last year, the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple took CNN to task for touting that the dossier was “corroborated.”

Stelter was focused on how the GOP uses slogans in its own favor. He’s a partisan after all, so that’s no surprise. But there is an interesting conversation to be had about how media slogans make you stop thinking. If CNN ever wants to be treated seriously outside of its liberal audience, perhaps Stelter may have it someday.

[Valin]

28 minutes ago, Geee said:

JonathanTurley.org

The fact is that Washington remains a small town for the ruling elite where degrees of separation can be quite small as figures move in and out of government. Moreover, think tanks are often the parking lots for party loyalists as they wait (and work) for new Administrations. The Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation play a similar role for conservative figures.

 

 

This would not be so bad if only Washington DC did not have its tentacles into pretty much Every aspect of society. Now Donald Trump made a small start on this. We need more than a Small Start. We need a carpet bombing of the Alphabet Agencies.  

[Geee]

Why Special Counsel John Durham Subpoenaed The Brookings Institution

In April 2021, the Brookings Institution publicly confirmed that Special Counsel John Durham had subpoenaed records from the D.C.-based left-wing think tank in December 2020. The friendly reporters at Time magazine framed the subpoena as limited to the decades-old employment record of former Brookings staffer Igor Danchenko.

Last week’s indictment of Danchenko, however, provides a perfect reminder that Brookings was ground zero for the Russia collusion hoax, with many key staff embroiled in the damaging lie that Donald Trump colluded with Vladimir Putin to steal the 2016 election.

On Thursday last, Durham charged Danchenko in a five-count indictment with lying to the FBI during the agents’ questioning of him related to his role as Christopher Steele’s “Primary Sub-Source” for the notorious dossier that enabled Obama administration surveillance of the Trump campaign. The details in the 39-page speaking indictment provide further evidence that Durham’s team has been steadily unraveling the mess of Spygate, with the most recent thread leading to the Clinton camp—and the left-leaning Brookings Institution.

Did Danchenko Talk To ‘PR Executive-1’?

While the indictment charged Danchenko with lying to the FBI about Sergei Millian serving as a sub-source for the dossier, it was Danchenko’s allegedly false claim that he never communicated with “PR Executive-1” that proves more significant for purposes of uncovering the truth behind the Russia conspiracy hoax.