emptywheel

So you're saying you'd like FBI to find ways to chase down leads?

Ok so you're basically admitting that they sent Halper is gain intel. Thats fine. The question now is what did he find

Perhaps not personally. Likely a request to MI6. But that seems like what you want to happen, no? Also, given reports, it was NOT based off dossier exclusively, it was about general leads.

Know what didn't happen though? They didn't get George Pap's call records until the next year, after he was out of transition. Thus far only evidence of LE (as opposed to CI) activity while someone was affiliated w/Trump was Flynn.

They could have been unmasking George Pap. Most of his contacts were with foreign nationals.

Oddly, the record doesn't support that.

The record DOESN'T EVEN reflect backdoor searches. FBI had to have gone well out of their way to avoid finding some of what they should have found on Pap months earlier than they did.

So again: my question. Should the entire USG have avoided any CI work to investigate the suspected RU targets sidling up to Trump? You've said they didn't do enough. I agree: they should have gone LE sooner. Do you agree with that?