I am somewhat persuaded by the arguments that Trump wants the media and voters to talk about his ex-lawyer’s taped-recorded conversations negotiating payments to silence a Playboy playmate, but I do not see how this other Administration-led leak helps Team Trump.
Administration releases documents about former Trump adviser
While the documents were heavily redacted in places, the [New York] Times reported that visible portions of the documents show the FBI telling the intelligence court that [Carter] Page "has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government." The agency also told the court that "the FBI believes Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government."
There’s also this:
The materials include an October 2016 application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to wiretap Page as well as several renewal applications, the Times reported. It is highly unusual for documents related to FISA wiretap applications to be released.
I understand that anything having to do with FISA and wiretaps instantly animates the conspiracy-prone among his base, but for everyone else the main take away from the document dump is that a Trump adviser had allegedly “been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government.”
Rep. Adam Schiff said the materials shouldn't have been released during an ongoing investigation because of national security. He blamed Trump for making public House Republicans' initial memo about the FISA applications, a move by Trump that the congressman called "nakedly political and self-interested, and designed to to (sic) interfere with the Special Counsel's investigation."
So I am stumped.
Why would Team Treason push to have these documents de-classified and released, when it reinforces the narrative that they are trying to rinse off, namely that the Trump administration is Putin’s administration?