FBI, CIA Told WaPo They Doubted Key Allegation In Steele Dossier

FBI and CIA sources told a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter that they didn't believe a key claim contained in the "Steele Dossier," the document the Obama FBI relied on to obtain a surveillance warrant on a member of the Trump campaign. The Post's Greg Miller told an audience at an October event that the FBI and CIA did not believe that former longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen visited Prague during the 2016 election to pay off Russia-linked hackers who stole emails from key Democrats, reports the Daily Caller's Chuck Ross. "We’ve talked to sources at the FBI and the CIA and elsewhere — they don’t believe that ever happened," said Miller during the October event which aired Saturday on C-SPAN. We literally spent weeks and months trying to run down… there's an assertion in there that Michael Cohen went to Prague to settle payments that were needed at the end of the campaign. "We sent reporters to every hotel in Prague, to all over the place trying to - just to try to figure out if he was ever there, and came away empty."

Ross notes that WaPo somehow failed to report this information, nor did Miller include this tidbit of narrative-killing information in his recent book, "The Apprentice: Trump, Russia, and the Subversion of American Democracy." Miller also admits that the dossier's broad claims are more closely aligned with reality, but that the document breaks down once you focus on individual claims. Steele, using Kremlin sources, claimed in his dossier that Cohen and three associates went to Prague in August 2016 to meet with Kremlin officials for the purpose of discussing "deniable cash payments" made in secret so as to cover up "Moscow's secret liaison with the TRUMP team."

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-12-16/fbi-cia-told-wapo-they-doubted-key-allegation-steele-dossier

Accidental Disclosure Reveals DOJ Fear For Safety Of Flipped Russian

US Prosecutors disclosed in a late Friday court filing that they are concerned for the safety of Maria Butina, the 30-year-old Russian who has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department after admitting she failed to register as a foreign agent.

The 30-year-old gun-rights activist and former graduate student at American University networked so inventively and tirelessly in Washington that she aroused the suspicion of U.S. counterintelligence and was arrested in July. She found herself in the media spotlight as an unlikely femme fatale until prosecutors walked back one of the original accusations — that she’d been willing to trade sex for getting ahead in her influence operation. After spending five months in jail, Butina admitted having served as an agent of the Russian government without duly notifying the U.S. attorney general. -Bloomberg

The Friday filing was supposed to be sealed, however, it appeared briefly on the public court docket (1:18-cr-00218) for the case before it was quickly removed. In it, prosecutors discuss transporting Butina from jail to appear for interviews at US attorneys' offices in Washington and Alexandria, VA, as well as before a federal grand jury in the capital - information prosecutors specifically did not want public. "Once disclosed, such information could be used by individuals or entities who might seek to harm or intimidate the defendant to prevent her from continuing to cooperate with law enforcement," the filing states. Butina pleaded guilty on Thursday to a single count of conspiracy to defraud the US - admitting to being an unregistered Russian agent who attempted to infiltrate the GOP and National Rifle Association (NRA). As we noted last week, Butina agreed to work with authorities who accused her of gathering intelligence on American officials as well as conservative political organizations. She has been in jail without bail since her arrest.

The American Butina worked with has been identified as Paul Erickson, a longtime GOP operative based in South Dakota with strong ties to the National Rifle Association and the Russian gun rights community. Erickson, who was in a romantic relationship with Butina, allegedly attempted to establish a backchannel between the NRA and Russian Government - while also reaching out to Trump campaign members Rick Dearborn and then-Senator Jeff Sessions in a 2016 email with the subject "Kremlin connection." The email sought a meeting between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at an annual NRA convention. The Trump campaign declined the invitation, however Butina allegedly worked with Erickson to try and arrange a meeting between Trump and her boss, former Russian central banker Alexander Torshin - who is believed to be her handler.

Following Butina's arrest, the Russian embassy complained that Butina was being subjected to unwarranted strip searches and denial of proper medical care in an effort to "break her will." Her defense attorney, Robert Driscoll, claims she has suffered health problems in jail and has been denied proper treatment.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-12-16/accidental-disclosure-reveals-doj-fears-safety-flipped-russian

Belgium Police Fire Tear Gas, Water Cannon As Anti-Migration Protests Turn Violent

The streets of Brussels turned violent on Sunday after thousands of Flemish right-wing parties called for a march against a UN migration pact signed in Marrakech last week, according to the BBC. Approximately 5,500 anti-immigration protesters came out in force against the pact- chanting various slogans such as "our people first" , "no jihad in our state" and "Brussels rats," while around 1,000 counter-protesters from left-wing groups showed up to oppose the march. Police fired tear gas and a water cannon as violence broke out between the groups, throwing fences and stones.

The pact, signed last week by 164 countries - however it was rejected by the United States and several European countries including Austria, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Slovakia - which refused to formally adopt the agreement.

The deal, which is not legally binding, seeks an international approach to migration that "reaffirms the sovereign rights of states to determine their national migration policy" and asserts the "fundamental" importance of legal migration. But critics in Europe believe it will lead to increased immigration to the continent. -BBC

Approximately 90 people were arrested. Towards the end of the speeches, VTM News journalist Hannelore Simoens claimed to have been attacked by demonstrators who threw smoke bombs and shouted curses at she and her camera crew. Video of the incident suggests otherwise. According to freelance journalist Sotiri Dimpinoudis, the demonstrators were "smashing every window."

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-12-16/belgium-police-fire-tear-gas-water-cannon-anti-migration-protests-turn-violent

>>4342897

I was also thinking with the connections Ukraine has to Clinton's it would not surprise me in the least if this all comes back to them…as in, it was set up and arranged by them..therefore if true her safety would certainly be at risk.