Alexander Downer Exposes FBI's Deceit in Opening Russia Investigation

A few days ago, our friend Stephen McIntyre, one of the original Russiagate investigators, sent a tweet to revisit a question that many of us have pondered for years but which has never been fully resolved. As a result, we finally now have the answer. That is because, in response to McIntyre’s tweet, the key figure has come forward to confirm what many of us have suspected all along.

McIntyre's tweet highlighted that, according to the FBI, it was Australian diplomat Alexander Downer who initiated the inception of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. However, the narratives surrounding this event differ significantly between Downer's account in Special Counsel John Durham’s report and the FBI's version. Downer has now stepped forward to affirm Durham's version with a three-word tweet: “Durham is right”. This development carries substantial implications for the entire Russiagate saga, particularly regarding its fraudulent origins.

Downer’s confirmation represents a significant breakthrough in unraveling the final puzzle pieces of Russiagate, not necessarily because the information is new or surprising, but rather because it confirms that the FBI was aware from the outset that its justification for initiating the Trump-Russia investigation was phony.

The two competing versions of the Crossfire Hurricane origin story can be summarized as follows: According to the FBI, Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos met with Australia’s ambassador in London, Alexander Downer, and Downer’s assistant, Erika Thompson. During this meeting, Papadopoulos is supposed to have “suggested the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion” that Russia might assist the Trump campaign by anonymously releasing damaging information about Hillary Clinton prior to the 2016 election.

Robert Mueller went one step further, claiming that what Papadopoulos had talked about was “that the Russian government had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of emails.”

Downer’s account, as detailed in the Durham report, states, “Papadopoulos made no mention of Clinton emails, dirt or any specific approach by the Russian government to the Trump campaign team with an offer or suggestion of providing assistance. Rather, Downer's recollection was that Papadopoulos simply stated "the Russians have information" and that was all.”

Notably, the day before Papadopoulos met with Downer and Thompson, Andrew Napolitano shared a nearly identical account on Fox News, raising the distinct possibility that Papadopoulos was simply reiterating what he had heard on TV, as opposed to any secret plot. In fact, we would argue that this is almost certainly what occurred: Papadopoulos enthusiastically repeated a story he had encountered on Fox News.

So, how did everything get blown out of proportion? This is where Downer’s confirmation of Durham’s account comes into play and why it is so important.

According to the Durham report, the FBI utilized a cherry-picked portion of a report written by Thompson regarding their meeting with Papadopoulos to justify the initiation of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into alleged collusion between Trump and Russia. Thompson's report, which was a standard post-meeting document, was submitted to the Australian government in Canberra shortly after Thompson and Downer met with Papadopoulos on May 10, 2016.

“[Papadopoulos] commented that the Clintons had "a lot of baggage" and suggested the Trump team had plenty of material to use in its campaign. He also 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 [sic] what Russia decides to do, with or without Mr[.] Trump's cooperation.”

In late July 2016, Downer gave the meeting report, which included the cherry-picked snippet, to the U.S. Embassy in London after hearing Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook on CNN assert that Russia had hacked the DNC to assist Trump. As we later found out, the so-called experts Mook supposedly relied on in making his claim were Clinton campaign operatives, such as Christopher Steele. Although Downer could not have known this, his actions in going to the U.S. Embassy with two-and-a-half-month-old meeting notes were highly unusual. Perhaps he was caught in the moment of widespread hysteria. Or perhaps he was cajoled into doing what he did. Be that as it may, to the extent that he could be criticized for acting prematurely or misunderstanding the situation, he promptly clarified the matter.

The reason for this is that after the FBI initiated its Crossfire Hurricane investigation on July 31, 2016, allegedly based on the snippet from Thompson, FBI chief investigator Peter Strzok and his associate Joe Pientka traveled to London to interview Downer and Thompson regarding their encounter with Papadopoulos. Setting aside the fact that an honest investigator would have waited to speak with the witnesses before launching a comprehensive investigation into a presidential campaign, it is what Downer conveyed to Strzok—now confirmed—that demonstrates the entire investigation was founded on a deliberate misunderstanding, in other words, a lie.

Downer told Strzok that the substance of the snippet that Thompson had drafted was “purposely vague” because “Papadopoulos left a number of things unexplained.” Downer also clarified that Papadopoulos “did not say he had direct contact with the Russians.” Downer further said that “there were reasons to be unsure about what to make of the information from Papadopoulos,” and that he “did not get the sense Papadopoulos was the middle-man to coordinate with the Russians.”

Notably, this is not what Downer later told Durham with the benefit of hindsight, it is what Downer told Strzok at the time.

Downer later informed Durham that he would have characterized the statements made by Papadopoulos differently than Thompson did in the snippet relied on by the FBI. It is unclear to what extent Downer communicated this to Strzok in August 2016, but based on the available information, it should have been evident to Strzok that the snippet should not under any circumstances have been taken at face value.....SNIP

I believe it would be framed (and was framed) as a candidate and their campaign as colluding with a hostile foreign power. It would be the colluding with a hostile foreign power as “interference”.

At least that is how I understand it.

“Colluding to release the truth”?! To me the word “collusion” necessarily implies some sort of wrongdoing was being agreed to. Nobody “colludes” to help a little old lady across a busy street. So what about “colluding to release truthful information about Hillary”? It seems to me the very premise of the hoax was false, and even if Trump had done that, it wouldn’t have been collusion.

Yes. This is even more horrible.

That was on a Thursday night (7/27/2017) and they fully expected to catch him with the money.

Papdopoulos was met by a team of agents on a Thursday night (this is unheard of, according to Dan Bongino) and he watched them rifling through his bags with increasing agitation and anger at not finding anything (indicating that they fully expected to find something such as...undeclared cash)

They then handcuffed and shackled him, and he, puzzled, asked what was going on. Nobody answered, and when he asked again, one of the agents sneered “This is what happens when you work for Trump.” When he asked again, another one said “This is what happens when you work for Russians.”

Astonishing. This aspect is totally unknown to anyone who didn’t follow this closely or who didn’t read his account.

And those who DO know about point to this as both evidence of a weaponized government abusing political opponents, and a valid reason to dismember the FBI in its current role.

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