Journalists or Spies? Same Thing?

The early 1800’s gave Europe the first creation of private detectives or spies. The first in France called the Office of Universal Information for Commerce and Industry. Another iteration was in the United Kingdom which was an extension of the Metropolitan Police. Just a few years later, in the United States had the creation of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency which later investigated a plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Private investigators are hired by non-government agencies, law firms, corporations and financial institution for various due diligence objectives. Some if not most are licensed and have not only a brain trust of police experience but make robust use of technology for hard evidence.

Why is this important?

Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) having just been removed as the leader of the Republican Council in the House tells us she is disgusted by the ‘big lie,’ which she solely blames on President Trump about election fraud. But hold on Liz, as we must ask you about the real big lie as noted in a slippery admission by the New York Times. Meanwhile, former Attorney General (AG) William Barr it must be remembered in testimony said he was leading investigations into the spying of the Trump campaign and that pesky dossier. The Left went nuts as AG Barr used the term ‘spy’ and that whole Mueller investigation about Russian collusion by Donald Trump. Did the Intelligence Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff (D-CA) use spies? Yup. So Liz, why are you so quiet on these issues; the real “big lie?”

You see, the New York Times admits that political and media operatives do have spies and hire spies or private investigators and such is the case of Fusion GPS. Shockingly, that is the basis of the NYT’s story. Pigs do fly Liz and the article too attempts to put lipstick on that flying pig. The money section of the New York Times article is:

Now the glow has faded — from both the dossier and its promoters. Russia, as Mr. Steele asserted, did try to influence the 2016 election. But many of the dossier’s most explosive claims — like a salacious “pee” tape featuring Mr. Trump or a supposed meeting in Prague between Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former attorney, and Russian operatives — have never materialized or have been proved false. The founders of Alfa Bank, a major Russian financial institution, are suing Fusion GPS, claiming the firm libeled them. (Fusion has denied the claims.) Plans for a film based on Mr. Steele’s adventures appear dead.

Beneath the dossier’s journey from media obsession to slush pile lies a broader and more troubling story. Today, private spying has boomed into a renegade, billion-dollar industry, one that is increasingly invading our privacy, profiting from deception and manipulating the news. Big law firms in New York and London are clamoring for the services of firms like Black Cube, a company that worked for Harvey Weinstein. Dictators are using private spies as freelance intelligence agents, and off-the-shelf technology is making it easier for them to monitor cellphones and hack emails. Over the past decade, spies for hire have become more emboldened — just as their power to influence events has become more pervasive. The private intelligence business is home to a scattershot of figures — ex-government spies, former law enforcement officials and others. As the newspaper industry has shrunk, a growing number of reporters like Mr. Simpson and Mr. Fritsch have joined their ranks. “I like to call it journalism for rent,” he said.

Fusion GPS, like its competitors, belonged to a wider web of enablers — lawyers, public relations executives and “crisis management” consultants — who serve the wealthy, the powerful and the controversial. For their part, private intelligence firms take on jobs that others don’t know how to do or don’t want to get caught doing. Information gathered by private investigators is often laundered through public relations firms, which then shop the material to journalists. Jules Kroll, who created the modern-day private intelligence industry in the 1970s, broke that mold by leaking information directly to reporters. Mr. Simpson took it a step further. He sold Fusion GPS to clients by emphasizing his connections at major media outlets and assured journalists that he was really still one of them. The full article is here. 

There are investigators, detectives and operatives all over the nation and some are even foreign. At least the New York Times printed an admission to using spies and often twisting truths, context or just factual omissions, now will Liz Cheney? Pro-tip to the reader….check at least 4 sources to get closer to who those operatives really are and what more truths bubble to the surface.