GLENN SIMPSON, CHRISTOPHER STEELE, AND THE SHAMEFUL GOP EFFORT TO PROTECT UNFIT-FOR-OFFICE TRUMP

Glenn Simpson

For the last couple of days, with interruptions to attend to the tasks of ordinary life, I've been reading the 312 pages of Glenn Simpson's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Simpson, a former reporter, most recently for The Wall Street Journal (2009), is one of the founders of Fusion GPS, which has been much in the news lately. I found the testimony gripping and Simpson to be a cooperative and honest witness.

I doubt I'll enjoy reading Michael Woolff's Fire and Fury as much as Simpson's testimony, but we'll see. I ordered the book only after Trump's lawyers sent the "cease and desist" publication order to Wolff and his publisher because I felt I ought to support free speech against prior restraint.

Christopher Steele

No wonder Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), both members of the Judiciary Committee, Grassley as chair, didn't want the transcript released. It destroys their narrative about Simpson's testimony that led them to refer Christopher Steele, the author of the famous dossier (really a collection of memos) alleging ties between President Trump and Russia, for a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice.

Can you believe it? Of course, you can. No good deed goes unpunished in the shameful GOP effort to protect the man-child president who has shown himself unfit for office from the day of his inauguration.

From the Washington Post:

Fusion in 2015 began investigating Trump under a contract with the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website financially supported by GOP megadonor Paul Singer. That assignment ended once Trump was on track to win the nomination. But in April 2016, Fusion was hired by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to keep funding the research.

Fusion GPS was first hired by Republicans and then transitioned to work for the Clinton campaign when Trump became the GOP nominee. During the course of his work, Simpson hired Steele, whom he had known and trusted for years since his work as a reporter, as a source of information. Steele is a British citizen and former MI6 intelligence agent, a Russian expert who has provided credible and reliable intelligence to US intelligence agencies and to Simpson for years.

Both men became alarmed at the information they discovered about Trump and the people who worked in his campaign. Steele felt conscience-bound to report his findings about people in the Trump campaign with Russian connections to the FBI. By warning the FBI , Steele, a British citizen, demonstrated more care and concern for the safety and security of America than sitting US senators Grassley or Graham.

Sen Diane Feinstein

Sen Diane Feinstein (D-CA) is my current hero in the Senate for her decision to release the transcripts because of the characterization of Simpson as an uncooperative witness, which is a lie, and because of lies about his testimony.

Here's the link to further information about Christopher Steele in the Washington Post.

To read the entire transcript of Simpson's testimony, click here.