Question I’m embarrassed to ask (but here goes): Even if the dossier was true, why would the (false) fact that Trump was in a room with prostitutes in Russia justify an investigation into election misdeeds? Thanks...
I was just wondering the same thing the other day.
The Page investigation was supposedly to check for Page acting as a Russian agent. Period. That was a known false pretext necessary to get a court to endorse and authorize surveillance on Page. page is the key for the snooper to look inside the Trump campaign.
The allegation of the Trump campaign colluding with the Russians is an outcome or effect.
Concern about blackmail?
Interesting that you should ask. Democrats, prior to the recent #MeToo campaign, were incapable of being shamed by sexual misdeeds. However, conservatives, who hold a higher moral standard, could freely be charged with hypocrisy.
Thus, if the Russians could prove that such an event occurred, candidate Trump would have been in trouble with his own conservative political base and was subject to blackmail by the Russians.
The presumption was that since the information for the dossier came from the Russians, perhaps they had been using the proof in order to influence candidate, and subsequently, President Trump to act innapropriately on their behalf.
The whole premise was a hypocritical charade from the beginning.