You need to read this Twitter thread.

(THREAD) BREAKING: The NYT has published a bombshell report on George Papadopoulos—the biggest Trump-Russia news since Flynn's plea. This thread dissects the new revelations—as well as some major implications for the Trump-Russia collusion narrative. I hope you'll read and share. pic.twitter.com/vHDvlxkqsF

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 30, 2017

1/ First, here's the article. The NYT foregrounds the story's significance as a rebuttal of Trump's claims the Russia investigation began with the Steele Dossier. But in fact, anyone who knows criminal investigations knew long ago Trump's claim was untrue. https://t.co/ZFdHyHkNFg

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 31, 2017

2/ As has been discussed by @AshaRangappa_, the Steele Dossier alone would never have been enough to earn the FBI the July 2016 FISA warrant it was granted to monitor Carter Page. So attorneys and those in intelligence long ago knew the Dossier didn't launch the probe by itself.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 31, 2017

3/ The NYT story gives us—it appears—an additional piece of the warrant application the FBI filed to get a FISA warrant in July '16. But again, this is merely a piece—as was the Dossier. We know multiple intelligence agencies, not just Australia's, provided the FBI with evidence.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 31, 2017

4/ So Trump's claim that the FBI grabbed a dossier of raw intelligence it hadn't yet confirmed and ran to the FISA court to secure a warrant to wiretap Americans connected to the Trump campaign has been laughably false from Day 1. And media has not done enough to underscore that.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 31, 2017

5/ What we learn from the NYT (though again it's not—contrary to what the NYT seems to believe from its headline—what makes today's breaking news significant) is that the Australians informed U.S. law enforcement in July 2016 that Papadopoulos had made covert contact with Russia.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 31, 2017

6/ In fact, while today's NYT story is indeed this month's second-biggest Trump-Russia revelation—after the December 1 guilty plea by Mike Flynn—what makes it significant isn't that it rebuts Trump's false claims but that it may have *sealed the Trump-Russia collusion narrative*.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 31, 2017

7/ If the NYT understood this, it would've led with it. But one must know the *prior* reporting on Papadopoulos to understand why today's news constitutes one of the biggest revelations in the 18-monthy history of the Trump-Russia probe. So I'll *briefly* summarize what we know.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 31, 2017

8/ On September 22—40 days before we learned Papadopoulos was cooperating with the Mueller probe—I said that he had directly identified himself to Trump as a Kremlin agent in March 2016. This led to major-media coverage of the now-infamous "TIHDC meeting." https://t.co/SP0zDTX7Rh

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 31, 2017

9/ It hadn't previously been discussed that Papadopoulos was at the first meeting of Trump's national security (NatSec) team at the Trump International Hotel in DC (TIHDC) on March 31, 2016. But he was there—a *week* after revealing himself as a Kremlin agent to the NatSec team.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 31, 2017

10/ So when (per the NYT) Papadopoulos revealed in May '16 to an Australian diplomat that he knew Russia had committed major federal crimes against the U.S.—via computer theft and fraud—it was two months after he told Trump's NatSec team *and Trump* he was in contact with Russia.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 31, 2017

This thread goes on to include about 30 tweets, so I am not going to post them all.

However if you have read this far you are likely very intrigued and I suggest you click the top tweet and read the entire thread.

I think that Abramson makes some very astute points, and if his assertions are correct Mueller is going to be dropping the mother of all bombs on the Trump Administration sometime this year. 

2018 may see this country's first popcorn shortage.

I think today seems like the appropriate day to share this rather long Seth Abramson thread.

(THREAD) It's time to tell the biggest untold story of the 2016 election: how a cadre of pro-Trump FBI agents and intel officers—some active, some retired—conspired to swing the election to Trump. The story involves Flynn, Prince, Giuliani, and others. Hope you'll read and share. pic.twitter.com/vcGhDTHX00

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

1/ True Pundit is a pro-Trump fake news site that began publishing on June 9, 2016—the day that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met with Kremlin agents in Trump Tower to discuss the Kremlin's provision to the Trump campaign of incriminating material on Clinton.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

2/ True Pundit would quickly reveal itself as having the same agenda Trump Jr. had when he met with Kremlin agents on the day True Pundit launched: its mission would be to destroy Clinton's candidacy by uncovering incriminating material about her—particularly via her emails.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

3/ All articles on True Pundit are published anonymously. The only person publicly associated with the website operates under a pseudonym—"Thomas Paine." (Thomas Paine, a Founding Father of the United States, was instrumental in convincing the colonies to rebel against Britain.)

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

4/ From June 9, 2016 to June 12, 2016, it seemed clear True Pundit had been started up in a hurry—it published dozens of stories but no original reporting. More than 95% of stories were simply links to other sources, while True Pundit "originals" were two-sentence news summaries.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

5/ Many of True Pundit's early news sources were predictable: Breitbart, The Daily Caller, InfoWars, The New York Post, The Washington Examiner, The Washington Free Beacon, Fox News, and The Daily Beast. Breitbart was far and away the most commonly linked-to website at the time.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

6/ But True Pundit also, in its first three days, occasionally linked to mainstream news sources like The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, NBC, ESPN, Reuters, The Guardian (UK), The Telegraph (UK), and The Independent (UK).

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

7/ That said, in its first 72 hours True Pundit also linked to two Russian news sources—RT and Sputnik—an intelligence-oriented site called "Intel News," and several fringe-right publications. A typical link assured readers Clinton would destroy America: https://t.co/zVAsOuZd8T

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

8/ Then, on June 12th, 2016, the Orlando nightclub shooting occurred—and it seemed a switch had been turned on. True Pundit had its story. The site meticulously covered Omar Mateen, the 29 year-old from a moderate Muslim family who killed 49 people at an LGBT club called "Pulse."

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

9/ It's important to know that of the site's first several dozen stories pre-June 12, only one was both a) not a link to another source, and b) more than two sentences. This story—about the July DNC—claimed True Pundit (just 3 days old) had "police" and "security expert" sources. pic.twitter.com/earxI8NRLp

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

10/ It must've seemed odd to any readers of True Pundit in those first 72 hours of operation to read that the Philly publication already had *multiple* sources in the Philadelphia Police Department and *multiple* Philly-based "recognized security expert" sources—but so they said.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

11/ But Mateen changed everything. Suddenly True Pundit was publishing what it said were original ("exclusive") stories, all of which relied—or claimed to—on FBI sources. Not just one source, but multiple—and not just random sources, but sources close to the Pulse investigation. pic.twitter.com/VnUtO9xEH5

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

12/ The mystery of this was dispelled almost immediately, when True Pundit wrote the following in an "exclusive" on Mateen after the shooting: "True Pundit has folks who worked for the FBI and other agencies on staff." It then claimed to have "unique insight" into FBI operations. pic.twitter.com/EeRzCwOQJi

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

13/ Whether or not True Pundit really had ex-FBI staff, no reader could possibly know. But what was clear was that True Pundit was obsessed with the FBI, had—at a minimum—some basic knowledge of criminal investigation, and was very, very, angry at the current state of the Bureau: pic.twitter.com/18ySp1EWN2

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

Almost half way there, keep reading.

Bill Moyers has updated his Russia/Trump timeline. You might want to take a look at it.

Courtesy of Bill Moyers.com:

When it comes to Donald Trump, his campaign and their dealings with Russia past and present, sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all the players without a scorecard. We have one of sorts — a deeply comprehensive timeline detailing what actually happened and what’s still happening in the ever-changing story of the president, his inner circle and a web of Russian oligarchs, hackers and government officials. 

Since first launched in February 2017, the Trump-Russia Timeline has grown to more than 600 entries — and we will continue to add updates regularly. What have reporters and investigators already uncovered and made public? 

What are the connections and patterns? Review the timeline to see.

The new information about George Papadopoulos is now included, as well as the revelations from Carter Page which came out during his testimony and his many bizarre cable news appearances.

Simply put once you scroll through it there is no longer any way to doubt that there was absolutely collusion between the Trump campaign and Kremlin operatives. 

On that note Seth Abramson is also convinced that recent information provided by Papadopoulos proves collusion as well:

You will likely have to actually visit the site if you want to read that on your phone or I-Pad.

So have we proven collusion yet?

Yeah, I think we have. 

English professor with a law degree explains why today's revelation that Mueller may be ready to indict Michael Flynn is such a big hairy deal.

Not to beat this drum again, but remember: if Mueller is willing to offer the former NSA of the United States a deal, his TARGET is Trump.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 5, 2017

2/ You don't flip the former NSA of the United States to get anyone but Trump (though you'll take the AG and Trump's family in the bargain).

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 5, 2017

3/ Moreover—just for those unfamiliar with investigations—you don't flip Flynn unless you have reason to believe he can *incriminate* Trump.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 5, 2017

4/ And finally, you don't use Flynn to get Trump on Obstruction—Mueller already has that case via other witnesses. No—this is about Russia.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 5, 2017

5/ So while today's breaking Flynn news may seem ho-hum—didn't we *know* he'd be indicted?—this is bigger than any news in the probe so far.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 5, 2017

Well, isn't THAT interesting?

I actually think that Mueller is ultimately targeting Trump himself as well.

In fact I think Mueller is willing to hand out deals like Halloween candy to get the big fish.

And I firmly believe that big fish has an orange tinged anus like mouth on its stupid face.

By the way I agree with this as well.

If Flynn gets indicted, the condition for his bail should include that this plays nonstop during his house arrest. pic.twitter.com/fddLfjVMYB

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) November 5, 2017

Talk about schadenfreude