George Papadopoulos Tied the Utility of Russian Dirt to the Campaign’s Plan to Use Dirt to Win

Judicial Watch has once again liberated documents from DOJ that undermine their narrative about the Russian investigation (and, in this case, provides yet another reason to question the fidelity of the DOJ IG Report on Carter Page).

In the DOJ IG Report, it provides a description of the tip Australia provided to State which got passed on to the FBI. The most complete description of that (pages 51 to 52) introduces a block quote describing the tip by explaining the Australian tip “stated, in part, that Papadopoulos”

suggested the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion from Russia that it could assist this process with the anonymous release of information during the campaign that would be damaging to Mrs. Clinton (and President Obama). It was unclear whether he or the Russians were referring to material acquired publicly of [sic] through other means. It was also unclear how Mr. Trump’s team reacted to the offer. We note the Trump team’s reaction could, in the end, have little bearing of what Russia decides to do, with or without Mr. Trump’s cooperation.

The IG Report never quotes what the other part of the memo is, but it does quote a long excerpt from a Bill Priestap transcript describing that Papadopoulos expressed confidence (in April!) that Trump would win, in part because of how much dirt the campaign had on Hillary.

In fact, the information we received indicated that Papadopoulos told the [FFG] he felt confident Mr. Trump would win the election, and Papadopoulos commented that the Clintons had a lot of baggage and that the Trump team had plenty of material to use in its campaign.

Priestap understood that the campaign planned to win by using the dirt it had on Hillary Clinton.

Judicial Watch just liberated the FBI document memorializing on the tip. It too, redacts that other part of what Australia passed on (bizarrely, under source and law enforcement exemptions, not privacy, which seem like easily challenged exemptions).

But laid out like this (particularly given the length of the redaction as compared to Priestap’s description), it makes the context more clear.

Papadopoulos said Trump would win because they had dirt on Hillary and then suggested Russia could “assist this process” — that is, using dirt to win the election — by anonymously releasing information damaging to Hillary.

The “this process” hidden behind the redaction is “using dirt to win the election.” The antecedent of “this process” must be (because that description does not and could not appear anywhere else), using dirt to win the election.

It is, perhaps, a subtle thing. But in context as the FBI received it, Papadopoulos tied Russia anonymously dropping dirt on Hillary to the centrality of dirt on Hillary in the Trump campaign’s plan to win. It is true that the tip does not describe Papadopoulos confirming that the campaign would use the Russian dirt or had entered into a relationship to do so.

But particularly given the way Roger Stone claimed WikiLeaks was going to release Clinton Foundation documents while he was boasting of ties to WikiLeaks — that is, the dirt Trump had treated as the Holy Grail all along — the way Papadopoulos tied anonymously released damaging information from Russia to the utility of using dirt to win the election explains the FBI reaction.

Papadopoulos didn’t just raise Russia offering dirt to help win. It raised it in the context of the Trump plan to win by using dirt.

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20 replies
  1. Rugger9 says:

    These are the sort of inconvenient facts coming out that the WH is trying to hide by getting Flynn off scot free. Since this is already out in the open, why not just pardon Flynn? Unless, AG Barr thinks he can leverage some more information by his flunkies’ court filings.

    Either the transcripts are “that” explosive (but Barr already has those) or there are further shoes to drop tying the campaign to the nefarious activities with Putin. For example, what if there are communications with Flynn and various Russians before the election to be found? That would be mighty inconvenient to DJT and basically remove all validity to 2016’s outcome.

    • Gary Nason says:

      I’ve, ever since Trump said it, thought of Tom Fitton as that 400 lb hacker sitting on his bed.

    • drouse says:

      Reminds me of the dialog about the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster from Ghostbusters.

      Peter: We simply have to get these two together.
      Egon: I think that is an extraordinarily bad idea.

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Trump would like to be saved about as much as he wants a crew cut. He IS perfection. Trump also hates the idea of sharing. Then there’s the Roy Cohn thing about how many live people can keep a secret.

      Karl Rove is very good at what he does, and he probably retains a lot of juice. But he succeeded with Bush, in part, because Cheney was also manipulating the hell out of him and understood the game. I doubt Trump could tolerate the attempt. Plus, it would step on Jared and Ivanka’s toes, which would create a whirlwind of competing efforts. But I’m all for anything that adds dysfunction and makes Trump less destructive: there are at least eight more months to go.

      • P J Evans says:

        And, since Rove is officially unpaid, what is he expecting to get out of this? Because you know he’s not doing it just for kicks.

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          For guys like Rove, Parscale, and Pence’s former CoS, taking a piece of the action is infinitely more lucrative than a steady paycheck. It also conveniently fudges disclosure. Nor does it need to be cash. Access to networks and accumulated databases can be worth a mint.

        • Re entry says:

          too funny, the most contentious paradox i faced in high school was;
          I didn’t get star trek and my pals didn’t get Kiss

          i was wrong, very wrong

        • bmaz says:

          That’s hilarious. I was kind of the opposite, and also wrong. I’ve always liked Trek since a kid. But didn’t really get Kiss. Then a friend dragged me to a show, and they were seriously pretty kick ass. And Ace Frehley a lot better guitar player than generally given credit for.

        • P J Evans says:

          I have to say that Spock looks a lot better in that suit and the fedora than Kirk ever could.

      • subtropolis says:

        We ought to take Lincoln Project’s lead — where they’ve been playing up the notion that Parscale is getting rich off of Trump with little to show for it — by making him paranoid that Rove is really working for Jeb! in some capacity. (Logic need not pertain.)

        I REALLY like LP’s Parscale offensive. It’s sure to get under Donnie’s skin.

        • somecallmetim says:

          DJT can’t stand other folks getting in his damn spotlight – a la Bannon early on. By contrast, Miller dialed it back when he started getting press, and has lasted.

  2. subtropolis says:

    That’s a terrific catch, EW. The “this process” must be referenced in that previous redaction. I’m going to speculate that it’s about the campaign’s plan to use Wikileaks. Without, necessarily, mentioning that Stone was their connection. Perhaps, only that they had some kind of connection and it was to be the medium through which they’d feed the Press dirt.
    If that’s the case, then FBI must have requested that Downer (the Australian diplomat) keep that bit under his hat for the time being.

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