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- CNN used leaked knowledge that Comey briefed Trump on the dossier as a trigger to publish<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- The FBI knew of CNN’s plans to publish, confirming a dialogue between the FBI and CNN<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- This is particularly damning in light of revelations of FBI-MSM collusion against the Trump campaign<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Newly revealed text messages between former FBI\u00a0agent Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Page reveal\u00a0that Strzok wanted to use CNN’s report on the infamous “Steele Dossier” to justify interviewing people in the Trump-Russia investigation, reports\u00a0CNN<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/strzok-look.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n“Sitting with Bill watching CNN. A TON more out<\/strong>,” Strzok texted to Page on\u00a0Jan. 10, 2017, following CNN’s report.<\/p>\n
“Hey let me know when you can talk.\u00a0We\u2019re discussing whether, now that this is out,\u00a0we use it as a pretext to go interview some people<\/u><\/strong>,”\u00a0Strzok continued.<\/p>\n
Recall that CNN used the (leaked) fact that former FBI Director James Comey had briefed then-President-Elect Donald Trump on a two-page summary of the\u00a0Steele Dossier\u00a0to justify printing their\u00a0January report<\/a>.<\/p>\n
This is a troubling development in light of a\u00a0May report<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0that the FBI knew that CNN was “close to going forward<\/strong>” with the Steele Dossier story, and that “The trigger for them is they know the material was discussed,<\/strong>” clearly indicating active communications between CNN and the FBI.<\/p>\n
Weeks later, as the\u00a0Daily Caller<\/em><\/a>‘s Chuck Ross notes, the FBI approached former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos “under the guise of interviewing him about his contacts with an alleged source for the dossier.”<\/p>\n
In short, knowledge of the Comey-Trump briefing was leaked to CNN, CNN printed the story, Strzok wanted to use it as a pretext to interview people in the Trump-Russia investigation, and weeks later\u00a0George Papadopoulos became ensnared in their investigation.<\/p>\n
And when one considers that we learned of an FBI “media leak strategy<\/a>” this week, it suggests\u00a0pervasive collusion between Obama-era\u00a0intelligence agencies and the MSM to defeat, and then smear Donald Trump after he had won the election.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Text messages discussing the “media leak strategy” were revealed Monday\u00a0by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC). The messages,\u00a0sent the day before and after two damaging articles about former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page,\u00a0raise “grave concerns regarding an apparent systematic culture of media leaking by high-ranking officials at the FBI and DOJ related to ongoing investigations.”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
A review of the documents suggests that the FBI and DOJ coordinated efforts to get information to the press that would potentially be \u201charmful to President Trump\u2019s administration.\u201d Those leaks pertained to information regarding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrant used to spy on short-term campaign volunteer Carter Page.<\/p>\n
The letter lists several examples:<\/p>\n
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- April 10, 2017: (former FBI Special Agent) Peter Strzok contacts (former FBI Attorney) Lisa Page to discuss a \u201cmedia leak strategy.\u201d Specifically, the text says:\u00a0\u201cI had literally just gone to find this phone to tell you I want to talk to you about media leak strategy with DOJ before you go.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n
- April 12, 2017: Peter Strzok congratulates Lisa Page on a job well done while referring to two derogatory articles about Carter Page.\u00a0In the text, Strzok warns Page two articles are coming out, one which is \u201cworse\u201d than the other about Lisa\u2019s \u201cnamesake\u201d.\u201d Strzok added: \u201cWell done, Page.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0–Sara Carter<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Recall that Strzok’s boss, former FBI Deputy Director\u00a0Andrew McCabe, was fired for authorizing self-serving leaks to the press.<\/p>\n
Also recall that text messages released in January reveal that\u00a0Lisa Page was\u00a0on the phone with Washington Post reporter\u00a0Devlin Barrett<\/strong>,\u00a0then with the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>, when the reopening of the Clinton Foundation investigation hit the news cycle\u00a0– just one example in a series of text messages matching up with MSM reports relying on leaked information, as reported by the\u00a0Conservative Treehouse<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u2666Page: 5:19pm \u201cStill on the phone with\u00a0Devlin<\/strong>. Mike\u2019s phone is ON FIRE.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2665Strzok: 5:29pm \u201cYou might wanna tell\u00a0Devlin<\/strong>\u00a0he should turn on CNN, there\u2019s news on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2666Page: 5:30pm \u201cHe knows. He just got handed a note.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2665Strzok: 5:33pm \u201cHa. He asking about it now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2666Page: 5:34pm \u201cYeah. It was pretty funny. Coming now.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 5:36pm Devlin Barrett tweets:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Meadows says that the texts show “a coordinated effort on the part of the FBI and DOJ to release information in the public domain potentially harmful to President Donald Trump’s administration.<\/strong>“\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Revisiting\u00a0the FBI-CNN connection<\/strong><\/p>\n
Going back to the\u00a0internal FBI emails<\/a>\u00a0revealed in May by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), we find that\u00a0McCabe\u00a0<\/strong>had advance\u00a0knowledge of CNN’s plans to publish the Steele Dossier report.<\/strong><\/p>\n
In an email to top FBI officials with the subject “Flood is coming,” McCabe wrote:\u00a0\u201cCNN is close to going forward with the sensitive story …\u00a0<\/strong>The trigger for them is they know the material was discussed<\/strong>\u00a0in the brief and presented in an attachment.\u201d McCabe does not reveal how he knew CNN\u2019s \u201ctrigger\u201d was Comey’s briefing to Trump.<\/p>\n
McCabe shot off a second email<\/strong>\u00a0shortly thereafter to then-Deputy Attorney General\u00a0Sally Yates<\/strong>\u00a0along with her deputy, Matthew Alexrod, with the subject line “News.”<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as an FYI, and as expected<\/strong>,\u201d McCabe\u00a0wrote<\/a>, \u201cit seems CNN is close to running a story about the sensitive reporting.<\/strong>\u201d Again, how McCabe knew this is unclear and begs investigation.<\/p>\n
Johnson also wanted to know when FBI officials “first learned that media outlets, including CNN, may have possessed the Steele dossier.<\/strong>\u00a0”<\/p>\n
As\u00a0The Federalist<\/em><\/a>\u00a0noted in May, “To date, there is no public evidence that the FBI ever investigated the leaks to media about the briefing between Trump and Comey. When asked\u00a0in a recent interview by Fox News Channel\u2019s Bret Baier<\/a>, Comey scoffed at the idea that the FBI would even need to investigate the leak of a secret briefing with the incoming president.”<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you or your subordinates leak that?<\/strong>\u201d Baier\u00a0asked<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo<\/strong>,\u201d Comey responded. \u201cI don\u2019t know who leaked it.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever try to find out?<\/strong>\u201d Baier asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho leaked an unclassified public document?<\/strong>\u201d Comey said, even though Baier\u2019s question was about leaking details of a briefing of the incoming president, not the dossier. \u201cNo<\/strong>,\u201d Comey said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And now it looks like we have an answer for why the FBI never investigated the leak…<\/p>\n
- April 12, 2017: Peter Strzok congratulates Lisa Page on a job well done while referring to two derogatory articles about Carter Page.\u00a0In the text, Strzok warns Page two articles are coming out, one which is \u201cworse\u201d than the other about Lisa\u2019s \u201cnamesake\u201d.\u201d Strzok added: \u201cWell done, Page.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0–Sara Carter<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n
- April 10, 2017: (former FBI Special Agent) Peter Strzok contacts (former FBI Attorney) Lisa Page to discuss a \u201cmedia leak strategy.\u201d Specifically, the text says:\u00a0\u201cI had literally just gone to find this phone to tell you I want to talk to you about media leak strategy with DOJ before you go.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n
- This is particularly damning in light of revelations of FBI-MSM collusion against the Trump campaign<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- The FBI knew of CNN’s plans to publish, confirming a dialogue between the FBI and CNN<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n