That as you mentioned, we may never get the answer to...but there it is.

Well, it is on the record that without that dossier, they wouldn't have pursued getting a FISA approval. That tells me that if there was anything else, it was not substantial enough to warrant the paperwork.
One of those things that we probably would never know. Especially, since the best way to know that would be a compare/contrast study against other FISA documents completely unrelated (but in a similar vein).
How would we (the public) gauge the nobility of this? This would be pretty much up to that secret court. In the judge's opinion, that application would have to include that info...
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that either someone had an ax to grind (regardless of who nominated them to the job), or they just signed it. I work in a GMP job, and I am constantly telling my team to read what they are signing. Don't just sign it because someone else signed it. Don't just assume that "everything was caught". I would suspect that there is at least a decent chance of this being the case here. I'm sure that there's at least some thought in the office that "It was approved before. This whole 90day renewal thing is a waste of time. It will stop when they find something." Given the media coverage of (what is already assumed is) collusion and obstruction of justice...

I don't know what to say man. Clueless? Lazy? Corrupt? Who knows. Either way, it demonstrates that there is something wrong with the entire way that this was handled, and the fact that there was so much pressure to keep it quiet is another symptom of the same disease.
Whether the DNC or Clinton Campaign told him to submit it or not is neither here nor there. They paid him to do opposition research. That "research" is completely uncorroborated. It's not research. It's gossip. They paid a rumormonger to come up with something. It was taken as fact, and used to get secret surveillance of a US citizen. Next thing you know, it is taken as fact and broadcast the American Public as fact. It still serves the DNC & Clinton Campaign. It just pretty much cements Trump's whole "Drain the Swamp" platform...wouldn't you say?


The problem (as I stated before) that this isn't opposition research. It's gossip construction. It was taken as fact, and used to get something.

You are right. It brings up more questions then it answers. This entire memo goes to show that there is something going on...and one party in particular is fighting tooth and nail to not have it come out. That says something don't you think? This isn't about "protecting Trump". This is about hamstringing the Russia investigation (which is already tainted from the core). This is about the fact that rumors and gossip were taken as fact and used to spy on a US Citizen. There was no corroboration. The checks and balances built into the system didn't work. The motivations behind the entire issue were left out of the application, even though they are very much pertinent to the entire situation.

And despite all of that...it proceeded forward. And one party didn't want it brought to light.

What does that tell you?

~Jeordam