New report details Comey plan to ambush Trump with Moscow sex allegation.. by Byron York

[mystery-ak]

New report details Comey plan to ambush Trump with Moscow sex allegation
by Byron York
 | August 29, 2019 01:31 PM



A just-released Justice Department inspector general's report provides new details on a January 2017 plan by then-FBI Director James Comey, top bureau officials, and the nation's intelligence chiefs to spring a scandalous allegation on President-elect Trump, quickly record his reaction, use a prearranged secure videoconference to discuss the information, and fit it all into the FBI's ongoing (but unknown to Trump) "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation.

The allegation came from the Steele dossier, the collection of unverified tales about Trump and Russia compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele. The story was that in a Moscow hotel room in 2013, Trump had watched as prostitutes performed a kinky sex act — and Russian intelligence service cameras rolled. This is what the Steele dossier said:

TRUMP's (perverted) conduct in Moscow included hiring the presidential suite of the Ritz Carlton Hotel, where he knew President and Mrs. OBAMA (whom he hated) had stayed on one of their official trips to Russia, and defiling the bed where they had slept by employing a number of prostitutes to perform a 'golden showers' (urination) show in front of him. The hotel was known to be under FSB control with microphones and concealed cameras in all the main rooms to record anything they wanted to.

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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/new-report-details-comey-plan-to-ambush-trump-with-moscow-sex-allegation

[PeteS in CA]

The group discussed how Trump might react. In particular, they considered whether he would "make statements about or provide information of value to the pending Russia interference investigation" known as "Crossfire Hurricane."

Perhaps Trump would say something incriminating. The FBI officials made plans for Comey, immediately after leaving the meeting, to write down everything he could remember about whatever Trump said. Comey also wanted to discuss Trump's reactions with top aides immediately. Comey told the inspector general it was "important for FBI executive managers to be 'able to share in [Comey's] recall of the salient details of those conversations.'" Bureau officials also wanted to be able to respond if Trump publicly "misrepresent[ed] what happened in the encounter."

So, preparations were made. "Comey said he had a secure FBI laptop waiting for him in his FBI vehicle and that when he got into the vehicle, he was handed the laptop and 'began typing as the vehicle moved,'" the report says. He worked on his account as the FBI car took him to the New York field office, where aides had set up a secure video teleconference with Rybicki, McCabe, Baker, and the "Crossfire Hurricane" supervisors. Comey continued to work on his memo after that and sent the group a final version the next day, Saturday, Jan. 7.
...
Comey tried to talk Trump out of his suspicions. "Comey said that, among other things, he remembered telling Trump that the source of the information was 'not a government document, and it's not classified,'" the report said. "Comey also remembered telling Trump that to 'speak of it as a leak doesn't make sense' because 'a lot of people in Washington had [the information],' and Comey said he told Trump that he had previously warned Trump that it might soon be published by the media."

Comey's explanation was disingenuous at best. Leaked information could be terribly damaging whether or not it was classified. And yes, some media figures had the dossier — Steele had been desperately trying to get them to report it for months. But the media did not know that Comey had briefed Trump on the Moscow sex story. That was the leak that gave the media the go-ahead to report on the existence of the dossier and then for BuzzFeed to publish the whole thing. ...

Left unsaid is the apparent fact that, contrary to the hopes of FBI Director Comey, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, chief of staff James Rybicki, general counsel James Baker, and "the supervisors of the FBI's investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election," Trump's response to the briefing on the Steele dossier was in no way incriminating.