1/ Was the Downer tip really Downer's tip?

Revisiting the July 31, 2016 Electronic Communication that opened Crossfire Hurricane.

2/ The backstory is that Mueller reported that, on May 6, 2016, Papadopoulos told a friendly foreign government that the Russians could assist the Trump campaign. That is at odds with the fact that Papadopoulos met Downer - the person who provided the tip - on May 10, 2016.

3/ @Techno_Fog contacted SCO about this discrepancy and concluded that it was not a typo but "essential". That opened the possibility that while Downer gave the information to the US embassy, it wasn't Downer who received the information from Papadopoulos.

4/ We know that Papadopoulos met another Australian official, Erika Thompson, on May 6, 2016. That's because Erika sent Papa an email on May 9, saying that they'd had enormous fun when they met on May 6. She also invited Papa to meet Alexander Downer on the following day, May 10.

5/ For some time now, this circumstance has caused speculation in this corner of Twitter that Papa may have bragged about Russia to Erika, that she then told her boss Downer about this guy bragging about Russian assistance and that Downer decided to check this guy out himself.

6/ But it was just speculation. Now we have the EC though and it speaks of "meetings" in the plural in which Papa is supposed to have talked about alleged Russian assistance. We know that Downer only met Papa once so that suggests the EC info did not come from Downer alone.

7/ There's an element of guess work because we can't be sure what's behind the long, third redaction. But it is still the best evidence thus far that the Downer tip was not about (or at least not just about) what Papa told Downer but also what Papa told Erika a few days earlier.

8/ This also sets up the possibility that the FBI got additional information or corroboration from Christian Cantor, the current Israeli Ambassador to Colombia, who is rumored to have attended the May 6 meeting between Papa and Erika. Tbc, nothing is known about his role, if any.

9/ PS If the thread looks familiar, that's because I reposted it as Twitter pulled the previous one apart, something that I've seen happening a few times in recent days.