'That's the whole ballgame': Maddow lays out why Senate testimony on the Trump dossier will be made public

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Wednesday masterfully explained the importance of Fusion GPS’ Glenn Simpson’s 10-hour long testimony before the Senate Judiciary committee, noting if the transcript of that testimony becomes public, “that’s conceivably the whole ball game.”

Maddow recapped how the intelligence community came upon the unverified dossier last July, around the time reports indicated “Russia appeared to be involved in the hacking attacks on the Democratic Party’s email servers.” At that time, rumors began swirling that “described, vaguely, something out there about [Donald] Trump that seemed like it might be worse than your standard political oppo in this country,” Maddow said.

Maddow then walked through how that dossier made its way into the political lexicon, noting what seemed to “break the dam” on this story were reports the dossier was “now being taken seriously enough by the U.S. intelligence community that the findings of that report had been summarized and briefed to the outgoing President Barack Obama and the incoming President Donald Trump.”

The dossier was eventually published by BuzzFeed, Maddow explained, and beyond the “salacious” details of alleged sex acts involving Trump, the document provided a “spelled out, detailed allegation” about a “mutual operation”—meaning collaboration and coordination—between the Trump campaign and the Russians.”

Maddow pointed to reports that Trump is becoming increasingly fixated on Russia, noting “today, it comes full circle.”

Turning to Simpson, whose testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday because his company Fusion GPS commissioned the dossier on Trump, Maddow said he and the people at Fusion GPS “want all those investigators to follow the dossier,” and want the multiple Russia probes to use the document as a “roadmap.”

“They stand by their work,” Maddow said.

She also on claims the dossier is unverified. “That’s less and less true all the time,” she explained, later adding “none of [the allegations] have been overtly disproved.”

Maddow then focused on Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who was approached by a constituent at a town hall on Wednesday demanding to know whether his senator would work to release transcripts of Simpson’s testimony.

“I don’t know who that guy is at the town hall but, I love you,” Maddow joked of the constituent who pressed Grassley on that point. During that town hall, the Republican senator indicated he has to “check with precedent,” but sees no reason why he’d vote against releasing that transcript.

“Do you see what’s about to happen here?” an excited Maddow asked. “If it really is the roadmap to the investigation, well, that’s a very serious roadmap somewhere.”

“If the dossier is about to be publicly defended, that’s conceivably the whole ball game,” Maddow added.

Watch Maddow piece the puzzle together below, via MSNBC: