The story without as much spin:
http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/25/george-papadopoulos-london-emails/
Basically:
- Strzok says they need an ‘insurance policy’
- Likely tells Comey>Clapper>Brennan
- FBI puts spy/informant SH onto Papadopoulus and Page.
- spy tells George P that the Russians have Hillary emails
- Mifsud also mentions the emails to George P. (second source)
- The Australian Minister Downer/Papadopoulus meeting is arranged.
- George gets drunk mentions the Hillary emails.
- Aussie Downer tells Aussie gov’t
- Aussie gov’t contacts FBI
- the ‘circle’ is now complete.
Page didn’t bite.
My guess something similar occurred with the Don Jr. meeting.
And the NYT is insinuating that Trump brought this on himself by ‘asking the Russians for the deleted emails’ which was just another joke that the media didn’t (refused to) get. And they mess with the timeline in an attempt to make this point.
Carter Page, who long before the Trump campaign helped the FBI after he was approached by actual Russian spies in the course of his work. He became an FBI asset and helped them bust those Russians. Most likely the FBI asked him to approach the Trump campaign and then report to them. The FBI based the FISA court case on Page’s history with the Russians (not mentioning that he was an FBI asset) and the fictional dossier. This is felony on top of felony.