# The Plot Against the President  ## Metadata - Author: [[Lee Smith]] - Full Title: The Plot Against the President - Category: #books ## Highlights - All in all, it is a tragic story about criminality, corruption, and a conspiracy of lies at the highest levels of important US institutions that were designed to keep the public safe, such as the FBI, and free, such as the press. ([Location 232](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MFKR1KN&location=232)) - “January 2016,” says Patel, “is when Glenn Simpson, Christopher Steele, and Bruce Ohr start speaking together about a bunch of things they’re up to.” Their business concerns were related to Russia and Trump. ([Location 257](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MFKR1KN&location=257)) - US law enforcement authorities constructed a false chronology of the investigation in order to obscure their wrongdoing and rationalize withholding documents from Congress. ([Location 276](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MFKR1KN&location=276)) - Trump in turn trusted the former spy chief. He had detailed knowledge of the Beltway establishment because he’d fought it—just as important, the Swamp saw Flynn, as it did Trump, as an enemy. But both underestimated the establishment’s will to power and the many weapons in its array. ([Location 309](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MFKR1KN&location=309)) - “Documents have a story in them,” she says. “If you spend time with them, they’ll start to speak to you.” ([Location 360](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MFKR1KN&location=360)) - Halper was another central figure in the anti-Trump operation. It was he who told the US and British press that Flynn had been compromised by Russian intelligence and that the agent of Flynn’s undoing had been Lokhova. ([Location 372](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MFKR1KN&location=372)) - It appears that Halper was paid not for his research but rather for pet projects that were best kept off the books. The FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane team used Halper as an informant to spy on Trump campaign advisers, including Flynn. ([Location 403](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MFKR1KN&location=403))