15 Dec 2021 12:38 am
“On the question of the Trump campaign conspiring with the Russians here, there’s smoke, but there’s no fire at all,” Morell admitted, adding, “There’s no little campfire; there’s no little candle; there’s no spark. And there’s a lot of people looking for it.”
Regarding the so-called ‘Dirty Dossier’ on Trump produced by British intelligence veteran Christopher Steele that was published by Buzzfeed and CNN in December last year, Morell admitted that Steele had paid his sources, which probably meant they were compromised or exaggerated.
The dossier “doesn’t take you anywhere, I don’t think,” he frankly confessed. Of course, last August, Morell was much more accusatory toward then-candidate Trump, saying then, “In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”
But perhaps Morell is taking a new cue from his former boss, ex-Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper, who declared on NBC’s Meet the Press that regarding Trump and Russia, “we had no evidence of such collusion.”
This statement is all the more remarkable coming from a man who’s known for prevarication if it can politically benefit him. It should be noted that Morell left the CIA in 2013 (despite remaining very tightly connected to it), while Clapper was Obama’s DNI until January 20 of this year.
Officially, the Senate is still conducting an inquiry into Trump’s possible ties to Russia, and an article in Buzzfeed observed, “There’s a tangible frustration over what one official called ‘wildly inflated’ expectations surrounding the panel’s fledgling investigation… Several committee sources grudgingly say, it feels as though the investigation will be seen as a sham if the Senate doesn’t find a silver bullet connecting Trump and Russian intelligence operatives.”
One Democratic committee member confessed to Buzzfeed, “I don’t think the [committee’s] conclusions are going to meet people’s expectations.” Yet, those expectations are still incredibly desirous that something significant will be found.
Regarding the so-called ‘Dirty Dossier’ on Trump produced by British intelligence veteran Christopher Steele that was published by Buzzfeed and CNN in December last year, Morell admitted that Steele had paid his sources, which probably meant they were compromised or exaggerated.
The dossier “doesn’t take you anywhere, I don’t think,” he frankly confessed. Of course, last August, Morell was much more accusatory toward then-candidate Trump, saying then, “In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”
But perhaps Morell is taking a new cue from his former boss, ex-Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper, who declared on NBC’s Meet the Press that regarding Trump and Russia, “we had no evidence of such collusion.”
This statement is all the more remarkable coming from a man who’s known for prevarication if it can politically benefit him. It should be noted that Morell left the CIA in 2013 (despite remaining very tightly connected to it), while Clapper was Obama’s DNI until January 20 of this year.
Officially, the Senate is still conducting an inquiry into Trump’s possible ties to Russia, and an article in Buzzfeed observed, “There’s a tangible frustration over what one official called ‘wildly inflated’ expectations surrounding the panel’s fledgling investigation… Several committee sources grudgingly say, it feels as though the investigation will be seen as a sham if the Senate doesn’t find a silver bullet connecting Trump and Russian intelligence operatives.”
One Democratic committee member confessed to Buzzfeed, “I don’t think the [committee’s] conclusions are going to meet people’s expectations.” Yet, those expectations are still incredibly desirous that something significant will be found.