The secret to taking down a criminal conspiracy is almost always getting someone in it implicated in an actual provable crime, and then squeezing that person with threats of prison and personal ruin and obtaining testimony and other evidence implicating higher-ups.  This was why General Flynn was persecuted over bogus claims that he lied to FBI agents.  But even ethical prosecutors employ this tool regularly.

Professor Charles Lipson explains:

The way to unravel a criminal conspiracy is to begin with the weakest links, the ones already doomed by convincing evidence. Knowing they face serious jail time, these "weak links" have powerful reasons to cooperate with law enforcement. Flipping on their fellow conspirators is the best way, perhaps the only way, to lessen their own sentences.

Professor Lipson focuses on Kevin Clinesmith, the purportedly "low-level" attorney who was actually senior counsel to the Crossfire Hurricane probe and who reportedly feloniously altered documents submitted to the FISA Court.

But Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal editorial board has noticed another potential target for squeezing, one who may be able to tell John Durham a lot.  In her Twitter thread, she explains that Simpson gave conflicting accounts to I.G. Horowitz and to the Senate, under oath.

1) Buried in the IG report is a line that poses an enormous question, one that is central to everything, and really must be answered. Remember: According to all relevant players, prior to July of 2016, nobody had a Trump-Russia collusion narrative on their minds. ...(cont)

2)Indeed, the FBI says it was only the Downer tip-off at end-July that spurred the investigation. Downer for his part says it was public revelation in July of the DNC hack that caused him to finally wonder about collusion and connect his spring conversation with Papadopoulos.

3)Fusion GPS's Glenn Simpson, meanwhile, in Senate testimony, "stress[ed]" he hired Steele in May to look at Trump's "business activities" in Russia....By Simpson's telling (under penalty of perjury), Steele just sort of stumbled on this much "broader" "political conspiracy."

4) But here is what Steele told the IG: That in May 2016, Simpson approached Steele to "assist in determining Russia's actions related to the 2016 election"; "whether Russia was trying to achieve a particular election outcome"; and...

5)"whether there were any ties between the Russian government and Trump and his campaign." (Page 93) Seems Simpson had a pretty good bead on the "narrative" long before the govt. claims to have had it and before even his own source had reported it to him. Huh.

6) Let's hope Attorney John Durham provides some answers on who exactly knew what in the spring of 2016.

Here is Glenn Simpson appearing on Meet the Press November 24.  Does he look like a guy who could make it through years in prison with his bodily integrity intact?  Or would he give up the higher-ups?

YouTube screen grab.