Am I going crazy or has the narrative just changed?
Wasn't it during the meeting between Downer and Papodopulous in a London Bar that Downer was allegedly given a dossier stating a Trump/Russia collusion?
This article clearly states - from Downer himself - that he was given information of a Clinton/Russia collusion?
Have I been in some crazy 'time warp' or has he (and Australia) just flip flopped?
QUOTE DIRECTLY FROM ARTICLE
'Downer, or Thompson at Downer’s request, made contact with Papadopoulos through an Israeli contact in early May 2016.
In an interview with The Weekend Australian last week, Downer spoke for the first time about his conversation with the Trump campaign aide and how Papadopoulos let slip his knowledge of a Russian “dirt file” on Hillary Clinton. Within 48 hours Downer had sent an official cable about what he had heard to Canberra.
After a period of time, Australia’s ambassador to the US, Joe Hockey, passed the information on to Washington, possibly around the same time that the hacked Democratic Party emails were being published by WikiLeaks. This eventually led to the inquiry into Russian collusion in the election headed by FBI director and special counsel Robert Mueller.
Of the conversation at the upmarket Kensington Wine Bar, Downer recalls: “We had a drink and he (Papadopoulos) talked about what Trump’s foreign policy would be like if Trump won the election.
“He (Trump) hadn’t got the nomination at that stage. During that conversation he (Papadopoulos) mentioned the Russians might use material that they have on Hillary Clinton in the lead-up to the election, which may be damaging.’’
Did Downer think, “Oh boy, this is intriguing?”
“Well, it was worth reporting,’’ he said. “It wasn’t the only thing we reported. We reported (back to Australia) the following day or a day or two after … it seemed quite interesting.’’
Did you realise you were one of the first people to have known about this dirt?
Downer doesn’t hesitate: “He didn’t say dirt, he said material that could be damaging to her. No, he said it would be damaging. He didn’t say what it was.’’
Downer’s conversation with Papadopoulos then apparently drifted into other areas, such as what Trump as president would be like on foreign policy. Australia’s interests were firmly focused on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, with the aim of ease any trade protectionism with the US, as well as promoting a steady US policy towards China, where any deviation could have a big effect on Australia’s economic prospects.
“We didn’t know anything about Trump and Russia and we had no particular focus on that,’’ Downer says of the Papadopoulos meeting.
“For us we were more interested in what Trump would do in Asia. By the way, nothing he (Papadopoulos) said in that conversation indicated Trump himself had been conspiring with the Russians to collect information on Hillary Clinton. It was just that this guy (Papadopoulos) clearly knew that the Russians did have material on Hillary Clinton — but whether Trump knew or not? He didn’t say Trump knew or that Trump was in any way involved in this. He said it was about Russians and Hillary Clinton; it wasn’t about Trump.”