Is that what the insurance policy was?
I have read some speculation that Trump was under surveillance-perhaps outside of the FISA process—and that the DOJ used the pretext of the dossier to basically launder the source of their information, or at least to continue the surveillance under cover of a court approved request.
Also, it is not clear that the development of the dossier was initiated by the Clinton campaign. I think it is just as likely that government insiders manipulated Hillary’s campaign into getting involved with it.
I think it’’s a mistake to see this as Hillary’s project. I am much more interested in what Obama knew about this.
I think you’re right that focusing too much on Hillary lets Obama off the hook. But the source of the dossier is important to the extent that the dossier was the source of the information that was used to obtain the FISA warrant. It’s one thing if the FBI on its own came up with enough intelligence to obtain a warrant; it’s quite another if they had to rely on paid-for opposition research. Did they disclose that to the court? Keep in mind, they were denied a warrant in June. Then they get the dossier, then they get the warrant.
In other words, the fact that Hillary paid for the dossier does not let Obama off the hook; it actually makes the Administration that much more culpable for using it to get a warrant.