RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
April 22 to April 28
Featured Investigation We haven't heard much about what's in the little-publicized second dossier in the Trump-Russia affair -- until now. Reporter Lee Smith has obtained a copy and, writing for RealClearInvestigations, finds it raises new questions about the origins of the investigation into Donald Trump and those around him. Exactly how did longtime Clinton partisans Cody Shearer and Sidney Blumenthal get involved? And to what extent were their efforts coordinated with, or complementary to, the better-known Steele dossier? Smith writes that House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes wants to know the answers to those and other questions, now that his panel has concluded, after a yearlong inquiry, that there was no Trump-Russia "collusion." Rather, the House committee's newly declassified report suggests collusion went the other way. It alleges that ex-intelligence chief James Clapper lied to Congress about information he shared with CNN on the Steele dossier; and presents testimony that California and New York donors committed $50 million to continue the work of ex-British spy Christopher Steele and opposition research firm Fusion GPS, key principals behind dossier No. 1. Now, on to dossier No. 2. Next, Nunes says, his panel is digging into the role of the State Department, including this so-called Shearer dossier. Smith has investigated that document in-depth: In late September 2016, Sidney Blumenthal, a close Clinton confidant and colleague of Shearer's, passed Shearer's dossier on to State Department official Jonathan M. Winer, a longtime aide to John Kerry on Capitol Hill and at Foggy Bottom. According to Winer's account in a Feb. 8, 2018 Washington Post op-ed, he shared the contents of the Shearer dossier with the author of the first dossier, ex-British spy Christopher Steele, who submitted part of it to the FBI to further substantiate his own investigation into the Trump campaign. Steele's 35-page dossier was used as evidence in October 2016 to secure from a secret court a surveillance warrant on volunteer Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Among issues the intelligence panel will likely want clarified is whether the FBI also used Shearer's material as evidence in obtaining the FISA warrant. But why would the Shearer-Blumenthal efforts take a back seat to the Steele dossier coordinated by Fusion GPS? Smith writes: Shearer tried to drum up interest in the collusion narrative but no one in the press was biting. No one was willing to sink time and prestige on material sourced to unnamed Russian intelligence officials that was provided by a Clinton political operative whose partner, Sidney Blumenthal, had an even more controversial reputation. But it would be different if it came from someone else, an intelligence operative whose American handlers worked up a suitable legend of his exploits in a glamorous, allied clandestine service, and his deep knowledge of all things Russian. So what did it matter if Steele had become an executive in a corporate intelligence firm whose official cover had been blown a decade before and who hadn't been to Russia in years? The byline of a former MI6 agent could credential a compendium of unsubstantiated rumors when the names of Clinton confederates Cody Shearer and Sidney Blumenthal could not. Read Full Article Other Noteworthy Articles and Series Tom Brokaw Accused as Sex Harasser
Variety
Page Six floated an item the other day saying disgraced TV newsman Charlie Rose might do an interview show featuring other high-profile sex harassers. Whatever the chances of that happening, the list of possible guests -- or even hosts -- may have gotten one name longer this week: Longtime NBC anchor Tom Brokaw was accused by Linda Vester, an ex-NBC correspondent, of making unwanted advances toward her in the 1990s. Brokaw vehemently denies the charges, but reporting about the Matt Lauer Network -- sorry, the Peacock Network -- suggests NBC News hasn't fully cleaned its closet of randy skeletons. So maybe nix the Charlie Rose reboot. What about a 30 Rock reality show? Sex Harassment Fight at Top Progressive Think Tank
BuzzFeed
Speaking of sexual misconduct, one of Washington's leading liberal institutions has its own problems. The Center for American Progress grappled with a divisive internal battle over sexual harassment during and after the 2016 election, according to documents obtained by BuzzFeed News and interviews with current and ex-staffers. CAP is run by Neera Tanden, who went to town on Donald Trump over the "Access Hollywood" tape. And her outfit has churned out policy paper after policy paper on handling sexual harassment, as well as data on how pervasive the issue is "across all industries." That last "all industries" part seems more true than CAP might previously have admitted. Secret Tape: Rep. Hoyer Pressures Progressive to Quit Race
The Intercept
Cardinal rule in politics: When you take off the gloves, make sure the mics are off too. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, the second-ranking Democrat in the House, sure has the first part of that rule nailed, but he needs to work on the second: He was caught on a secret recording trying to strong-arm a progressive Colorado candidate to drop his congressional campaign and clear the way for party leaders' preferred pick to win. Liberal groups demanded Hoyer's resignation, in an episode emblematic of the Democrats' current bitter civil war. Thrown for Losses, Investors Can Only Boo the Ref
RealClearInvestigations
When is a win a loss? When you're a defrauded investor seeking redress through FINRA, the brokerage industry's self-regulator, which sidesteps the courts. As John D. Wasik reports for RealClearInvestigations, even when investors win in arbitration, they often lose not only their life savings but a chance to get their money back. Firms often go out of business, evade regulators or simply refuse to pay -- as former Super Bowl tackle Bruce Wilkerson learned the hard way. Floor Plans for Jeff Bezos's $23 Million D.C. Home
The Washingtonian
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose Washington Post is a thorn in the side of the nation's real-estate-mogul-in-chief, just happens to own the largest home in Washington -- and now it's getting swankier. Washingtonian magazine has obtained blueprints for the $12-million renovation Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, began last year, following the $23 million in cash Bezos paid for the 27,000-square-foot former Textile Museum in the pricey Kalorama district. No doubt it'll be a party pad of power poobah proportions. Also, maybe something of a teensy embarrassment in a week when the stock market suddenly made Bezos $12 billion richer while the median Amazon worker's' annual salary is put at $28,446. Baby Left Hospital With a Needle in Her Heart
Tampa Bay Times
Amara Le thought her newborn daughter's surgery at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg had gone well - until a follow-up appointment alerted her to a serious complication: The baby had been released with a needle in her aorta. Little Katelynn pulled through, and the family got a cash settlement, but in the aftermath, the hospital acknowledged an increased death rate among heart surgery patients and what they would describe only as other "challenges." As reflected, perhaps, in the fact that this was not first time a needle was left in a baby's heart. Obama Bureaucracy Left Our Data More Vulnerable Than Ever
New York Post
Without your knowledge or permission, the Obama administration collected and warehoused your most private bank records and continued to sweep them up — despite repeated warnings the data wasn't being properly protected. Now there's a good chance your personal information could be in the hands of identity thieves or even terrorists. That's because the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which scooped up the sensitive information, has suffered 233 confirmed hack attacks and another 840 suspected hacks.
Louisiana: Global Heat Might Be Too Much for Tabasco Sauce
Earther
Louisiana is losing land at a rate of one football field every 100 minutes. So that means things are not looking good for low-lying Avery Island, where the McIlhennys have concocted the popular Tabasco pepper sauce since the 1860s. But the family company is undaunted. "We fight hard," Vice President Harold Osborn said. "We've been here 150 years. And I believe that someone will be here to celebrate the 300th anniversary." Sounds like fire in the belly to us.
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