>>15715012,Notable
Further info and screen caps and conclusion
https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/HSGAC_Finance_Report_FINAL.pdf
f. Conclusion
Many of the allegations Democrats have made against Republicans — that they are
relying on foreign disinformation, that they are carrying out a politicized investigation in an
effort to bring down their political opponents, and that they are working covertly with the
executive branch to quickly release sensitive information for political reasons — reflect the very
patterns of behavior that Democrats themselves have engaged in, and continue to engage in, on a
regular basis.
Let us not forget how the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton
campaign paid for the Steele dossier, which was created by a foreign national, a former MI6
employee, and is based on Russian government sources.263
Some of those Russian government
sources were part of the Russian presidential administration and supported Hillary Clinton.264
Moreover, in January 2017 and February 2017, the FBI received reporting, some from the IC,
that assessed portions of the Steele dossier were the product of a Russian disinformation
campaign.265
That’s no surprise, since the Russian Intelligence Services were also aware of the
dossier in early 2016 before the FBI opened Crossfire Hurricane. Thus, the Steele dossier was
the perfect vehicle for disinformation to affect multiple elections and to sow discord and chaos.
Yet Democrats had no qualms about disseminating information from the dossier far and wide,
reading parts of the dossier into the congressional record, and using its allegations as the basis
for years of investigations and false claims against the Trump administration. Moreover, since
the Chairmen made public in April 2020 the fact that the Steele dossier contained Russian
disinformation, it does not appear that any Democrats have commented upon this revelation or
expressed concern about their previous reliance on Russian disinformation. Here, the Democrats
are again relying on unverified foreign disinformation to falsely accuse their political rivals of
doing the same.
Congressional oversight can and should be nonpartisan. It should be focused on exposing
wrongdoing regardless of who is involved and on ensuring transparency and accountability in
government on behalf of the American people. Efforts to discredit legitimate oversight,
especially using foreign disinformation to sow discord, only serves to benefit our foreign
adversaries at the expense of our own democratic institutions.