Got you! Maybe they would not have had to pull all this had it been Jeb. Verdict still out. I am also behind. Jumped ahead as I was worried I might have been a bit harsh in my comment.
I think there’s several things at bay
1. Established use of intelligence apparatus for surveillance & setting up political enemies. This was going on before the election and was already matter of fact and involved FVEYE etc. The extent of unmasking or fraudulently seeking FISA warrants, etc., is TBD ;)
2. The need to employ the above in the election at large - FISA + perps + OCULUS lures etc. This was set in place by Fusion GPS along with the agencies, etc. and would be against any + all Republican contenders. Though I presume JEB may have been immune because he was weak and uniparty.
3. In the summer of 2016 the powers at F-I/D-J + C_A became worried that HRC was going to lose and the above transformed into the “insurance policy” against Trump.
In #1 above there would have been actions taken against Cruz as the other foremost non-uniparty candidate. But in order to have any basis to use the means + mechanisms of FISC, etc., there needs to be some foreign espionage component. Since there is/was none, they invent + concoct such. But I always considered they (DS) were doing things without any purported basis but that wouldn’t facilitate accessing all of the means + mechanisms they sought and were accustomed to abuse. Thus, IMO, it’s likely there’s something somewhere that purports to tie Cruz and anybody else subject to such means + mechanisms to “Russia” or other alleged espionage activity. While they can unmask in abundance, that doesn’t help unless the people they wish to surveil and conduct ops against is/are in the picture - meaning they have to get FISA or at least some pretext for involving FVEYE etc. My gut now is that when uncovered we’re going to find some loose allegation somewhere that then “justified” their doing these things that they never thought would ever be exposed to any light of day.
DARK TO LIGHT!
TBD ;)
It’s all good!
“Jumped ahead as I was worried I might have been a bit harsh in my comment.”