Enter the Dragon

he foreign mercenary Christopher Steele was interviewed by the FBI in “early October” of 2016 and he slandered Sergei Millian (PERSON-1) as a key sub-source who Steele said was in direct contact with his primary “collector” (Primary Sub-source, PSS).

However, in addition to claiming Sergei to be a key, unwitting sub-source to FBI investigators, Steele, his employer Glenn Simpson, and his employer Michael Sussman were in the weeks before and after the meeting also frantically pitching Millian as a key operating intermediary in the Russia related Alfa Bank scandal through contacts in both the DOJ and State Department. To wit:

• On August 22, Glenn Simpson provided Bruce Ohr with the names of three individuals who Simpson thought were potential intermediaries between Russia and the Trump campaign. One of the three names provided by Simpson was Sergei Millian. Another of the names was Carter Page’s “business partner”. h274

Thus, at the same time that the Carter Page FISA was being finalized, Christopher Steele and Glenn Simpson were alleging that the main sub-source of Steele’s Dossier, Sergei Millian, was also acting as a key intermediary in a concurrent, active subplot with Russia. In fact, after the Trump Campaign jettisoned both Paul Manafort and Carter Page by late September, the specific updated narrative being pitched by Fusion GPS was that Michael Cohen and Sergei Millian had stepped up and “replaced” them as key intermediaries linking Trump to Russia. h282

The Alfa-Bank allegations were being received into FBI by no less than 4 different outlets, and likely a critical 5th:

1. Michael Sussman -> James Baker
2. Glenn Simpson -> Bruce Ohr
3. Eric Litchbau -> Crossfire Team
4. Steele Memo 112 -> David Corn -> James Baker
5. Christopher Steele -> Early October interview?

It is within the context of this overwhelming, behind the scenes, concerted campaign by Steele, Simpson, and Sussman, that the Dragon FISA emails must be re-examined…

DRAGON FISA EMAILS

n October 18th, five days after receiving the Alfa Bank documents from the State Department, and two days before submitting the Carter Page FISA application to the FISC, the FBI’s elite Crossfire Hurricane team was simultaneously requesting expedited authority for a second FISA relating to another Russia-related investigation code-named “Dragon.”*

The email correspondence, reviewed and initially reported by John Solmon on July 6 of 2018, was confirmed the following week during Lisa Page’s closed door testimony.* Under questioning by Sean Brebbia, Lisa acknowledges the email sent October 18 between her and Peter Strzok. Lisa takes time to read the email before declining to answer any questions regarding the content in an unclassified setting. 

The fact Lisa acknowledges the email and its classified nature lends credence to Solomon’s initial report, and that the content of the email is FISA related. Solomon has seen the content of the emails, enough to summarize and report that they are discussing “approval for another FISA” for “another Russia-related investigation”. Solomon defines Dragon as separate from the four known targets investigated under the enterprise investigation code named Crossfire Hurricane.

It should be stressed that although the Dragon investigation is described as “another” Russia-related investigation, that does not logically preclude this second FISA request from being still directly “related” to Crossfire Hurricane. In fact, it would be hard to imagine how a “Russia-related” investigation in the month preceding the 2016 election was not related to Crossfire. It would also be hard to imagine how reporters and Oversight Committee members who have read the contents would be reporting and questioning on the document out of proper context some 2 years later. 

“Another” Investigation

According to the OIG Horowit Report, around the same time of Steele’s interview, in early October of 2016, the FBI opened up a counterintelligence investigation on Sergei Millian. h164 

Additionally, the FBI also investigated whether there were cyber links between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, and had concluded by early February 2017 that there were no such links. h119

But what investigative steps were taken between the initiation of allegations and their resolution in February? And was the investigation into Millian the same investigation into Alfa Bank? And was the Dragon FISA that was being discussed in the same time-frame, a part of the investigation into Sergei Millian or Alfa Bank, or neither, or both? 

By the time of the early October interview with Steele, the FBI was in possession of information that made Sergei Millian a FISA target that was arguably three times stronger than that of Carter Page.  

• 1) Millian was concurrently being alleged by both Steele and Simpson as an Alfa bank connection working in tandem with Michael Cohen as “replacements” for recently fired Carter Page and Paul Manafort. h282 The need to investigate Sergei was more immediate and had allegedly superseded Page.

• 2) Millian was known by the FBI to be in “sustained contact” with George Papadopulos, the Crossfire Hurricane’s investigative “Predicate”, since August 2016. h132 In fact, in those same contacts, Sergei was making financial overtures much more direct and documented than anything Carter was “known” to have received. m95

• 3) Millian as the purported Source D/E of Steele Dossier was responsible for “the most descriptive information in the FISA application of alleged coordination between Page and Russia” h163 spanning 4 separate memos over the course of 3 months.  h243

For reasons 1 & 2, FBI already had arguably more reason to FISA Sergei Millian than Carter Page, and the corroboration of the Dossier is just extra incentive. 

Are there additional reasons to suspect that a reputed “Dragon FISA” may be directly related to Sergei Millian?

A DRAGON IS BORN

In Chinese culture, choosing an auspicious name for a new member of the family is an ancient art. The name not only determines one’s fate and future, but also affects the happiness of the entire family and surrounding community. A name is chosen to harmonize various factors such as metaphorical meaning of the name, visual aesthetic of the characters, combined with consideration of time and place of birth and other esoteric elements of Chinese culture like principles of yin-yang. 

Due to these delicacies, westerners seeking to translate their given names into Chinese often seek the advice of a native Chinese speaker to guide them through this process.

In mid 2014 Sergei Millian sought out the wisdom of master calligrapher Johnny Lu, a world renowned artist who has done work for President Barack Obama, the United Nations, and other charitable causes.

According to legend, the sinology professor meditated on the issue for a month, and then produced Sergei’s Chinese name by hand:

赛 天 龙 = Sài Tiàn Long

Sergei has been using this name for official business in China ever since. Several examples can be found in print and digital media.

An Auspicious Fate

Chinese names are structured differently from names in English. Family name comes first, and are only one syllable long. Given names – what we usually call first names – are either one or two characters long.

“xìng” (surname) + “míng” (given name) = “xìngmíng” (full name)

Sergei’s surname Millian is translated to Sài (赛), which means: competition; match; game; or contest. The character is suggestive of a competitive and successful nature in business and life. It is also suggestive of a spirit of gamesmanship and ability to rise to the challenge, or contest.

Tiān (天) is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and religion. The etymology is linked to the Mongolian word tengri meaning “sky, heaven, heavenly deity”. The modern Chinese character (天) combine dà (大) “great; large” and yī (一) “one, “

Long (龙), the Dragon, traditionally symbolizes potent and auspicious powers, strength, and good luck for people who are worthy of it in East Asian culture. During the days of Imperial China, the Emperor of China usually used the dragon as a symbol of his imperial strength and power. In Chinese culture, excellent and outstanding people are compared to a dragon, while incapable people with no achievements are compared to other, disesteemed creatures, such as a worm.

In the vision painted by Mater Johnny Lu, we see HEAVEN/GOD juxtaposed above or atop a flowing DRAGON, and coming before a large COMPETITION/MATCH…

And Sergei’s official Chinese name, given in 2014, is the literal Google-translation of the CODE NAME discussed in the October 18, 2016 email by Crossfire FBI team members Lisa Page and Peter Srzok:

Dance of the Vanishing Dragon

Robert Mueller did not address the Alfa bank cyber-traffic whatsoever in his report, leaving some Democrats wondering about lingering conspiracies: “Even in the wake of the Mueller report, we don’t know the meaning of the 2016 communications between Alfa Bank and Trump Organization servers, nor do we even know whether the FBI has fully investigated those links,” opined Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, shortly after the report’s release.*

In reality, the FBI had already investigated whether there were cyber links between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, and had concluded by early February 2017 that there were no such links. h119

Similarly the Mueller report alleged the Special Counsel’s Office was “not fully able to explore the contact” between Millian and Papadopoluos because Millian “remained out of the country since the inception of our investigation and declined to meet with members of the Office.”

In reality, Millian had been “explored” by the FBI’s Crossfire team since at least “early October” of 2016. h164 Any travel by Millian outside of the United States was achieved with the full blessing of the Crossfire team who’s investigation was absorbed by the Special Counsel’s Office.

Unfortunately, Inspector Horowitz continues this theme with in his FISA Report. Within, he treats Millian, the 5th investigated target by Small Team, differently from the Original Fab 4 targets in the so-called “other” Russia-related investigation, Crossfire. Within Horowitz’s report we have the most obfuscation surrounding Sergei, while at the same time it is detailed that he is the MOST likely justified target of FBI counterintelligence concern (above & beyond Carter Page).

Reflect on the richness of detail Horowitz was able to bring regarding how the sausage was put together for the Carter Page FISA. Now, conversely, meditate on everything we are thus DENIED from knowing about Person-1, who is now the MOST CRITICAL PERSON IN SPYGATE. All by stroke of bureaucratic pen, Millian and everything known about him, done to him, and assessed about him, are now siloed off and denied to us.

On what basis does Person-1 remain set apart from Fab Four? He is absolutely not just related but integral to the Crossfire investigation. The singular difference is that he was targeted and brought into the investigation ORGANICALLY at a later date. On what authority does anyone from Strzok up to Horowitz get to decide that Person-1 is not under the Crossfire umbrella and/or within scope of Horowitz Report?

A list of the gems we are denied:

1. We are never told his name. This somewhat of a comic absurdity considering the ridiculously light masking, and the fact that Millian communicates with the public regularly on these very topics.
2. No name trace information is given. Given that it is stated Sergei has a “prior relationship” with FBI and also given that after Carter Page, we know that such phrases don’t always have a negative connotation, it is absolutely germane to know what type of response a name trace action would yield on Sergei Millian. As was with Carter Page, every day that the ambiguity is left to fester, the associated name is left to rot in slander.
3. No info about investigative techniques is given. This point is encompassed by 2 and 4. However additional questions that Horowitz could have and should have explored exist such as: why did Small Team never attempt whatsoever to interview Millian, whom was essentially the linchpin for the entire Carter Page FISA, per Steele’s PSS.
4. No comment regarding “additional FISA’s” as with the Fab Four targets. Horowitz was able to confirm/deny rumors of additional FISA activity with respect to Manafort, Papadopulos, and Flynn. Due to the discretionary “otherness” of how Horowitz treats Millian, we are completely denied answers on the existence of a Dragon FISA.
5. No comment what the “other” investigation into Millian was for. This one seems a particular slap in the face tantamount to cover up. After Horowitz details the centrality of Millian vis a vis 1) multiple allegations regarding Alfa Bank connections and “replacement” for Carter Page, 2) “sustained contact” with investigative “predicate” Papadopulos, 3) as Source D/E of Steele Dossier he was responsible for “the most descriptive information in the Page FISA”… We are then denied ANY INFORMATION WHATSOEVER on what was done by the FBI about it, because this, allegedly, is considered “another Russia investigation”.

IMPLICATIONS 

An approved FISA on Millian means the FBI would have real-time capability to confirm the PSS story nearly as it was being told. Moreover, FBI would have been able to begin repudiating Steele’s version of events and/or Dossier claims immediately upon approval of a Dragon FISA.

Larger questions loom. For example, did FBI keep Dragon FISA assessments and findings compartmentalized from Carter Page’s Crossfire Hurricane FISA, or where they intermingled? Horowitz certainly seems to treat all aspects concerning Sergei Millian wholly different from the Original Four targets in Crossfire. Why? And by what authority if the end result is a wholesale obfuscation of central truths?

Even worse questions persist. Is Dragon FISA NOT GERMANE TO bipartisan request made by Nunes and Schiff back in March of 2017 for “any and all applications, warrants, wiretaps into Trump and any of his associates”? Dossier lists both sources D/E as “close associates of Trump”. If FBI is “assessing” Person-1 based on Steele’s representations and those within his Dossier, then he is being described repeatedly as a close associate. Does Devin Nunes not know about a Dragon FISA? Why would a FISA on Carter Page be scandalous while a concurrent one on Sergei Millian be completely immune from scrutiny?