Сделаем Америку снова великой! Trump - Russia megathread

[Ivytalk]

Yeah? And (b)(5) to you, too.

[BDKJMU]

Trump never said there were tapes...

[Skjellyfetti]

Right wing nut jobs losing their minds over this picture of Comey and his wife from today:

[Ivytalk]

Right wing nut jobs losing their minds over this picture of Comey and his wife from today:

"The name is Comey. That's spelled L-E-A-K-Y."

[Skjellyfetti]

Absolutely fascinating article today in the Washington Post. Broadly, it's mostly stuff we knew (though, that Trump still denies). The details, though...

And, yeah, Obama should have been way more aggressive. Was worried about it appearing to be political... so kicked the can to the next President to deal with. Current President ignoring. Oops.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics ... 02a96943eb

[GannonFan]

Absolutely fascinating article today in the Washington Post. Broadly, it's mostly stuff we knew (though, that Trump still denies). The details, though...

And, yeah, Obama should have been way more aggressive. Was worried about it appearing to be political... so kicked the can to the next President to deal with. Current President ignoring. Oops.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics ... 02a96943eb

Great article, although it raises plenty of other questions:

- What did the Russians, ultimately, actually do? Despite claims that they were going to attack the voting systems in all 50 states even the article contends that maybe it was just the threat with no real chance of follow through (and frankly, the same people on this site that decry that the Russians were going to rig the election machines are the same people that have been saying for years that voter fraud can't happen because you can't rig the election machines - so which is it?).

- If the main thing that the Russians did was the hacking of the DNC, which from this report happened as early as 2015 and continued for almost a year, why didn't the DNC take better steps to stop this? And even more so, not once has there been a statement of any kind that the information hacked from the DNC was false or modified, or, to put it another way, not true.

- The hacked DNC memos showed what America already knew about the elite in the DNC - did anyone really think Clinton wasn't a pay to play politician (heck, even ABCNews had a great story on the Clinton gift giving to supporters that happened as part of the Haiti recovery effort)? The memos confirmed what the Bernie Sanders supporters had been saying for a year up to that point - that the DNC was doing everything, legal and illegal, to block their candidate and support Clinton. And the memos, at their core, confirmed the distaste that the public had of Clinton - that she was a status-quo candidate concerned with staying connected to the reins of power for largely self-serving reasons. Heck, that's the view Americans had of her that cost her the Dem nomination in 2008 as Obama used that to great extent in that campaign.

- So, when it comes down to it, if the Dems hadn't gift wrapped the nomination for Clinton in the first place, nothing the Russians actually did would've mattered at all - Sanders would've thumped Trump in the general election and we wouldn't be busy trying to come up with zingers like

In political terms, Russia’s interference was the crime of the century, an unprecedented and largely successful destabilizing attack on American democracy

. The Russian crime was pulling back the curtain on the DNC's crime - both bad.

- Oh, and the article had this nugget buried in it :

Despite the dire warnings, there were no meltdowns in the United States’ voting infrastructure on Nov. 8, no evidence of hacking-related fraud, crashing of electronic ballots or ma­nipu­la­tion of vote counts.

So to put it another way, the intention of the voters to elect Trump (via the electoral college, since that's how we elect Presidents), or at least, to not elect Clinton, is without doubt. Stew on that one for a bit.

- On other non Trump/Clinton things, the report mentions two compounds that the US demanded Russia to vacate as retaliation and punishment that Obama implemented in December. The compounds were just houses that were extensively modified to mask the antennas and listening devices to eavesdrop on US Naval facilities and NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland. Big question for me, since apparently we knew they were doing this for, from the article, years - why did we ever allow them to set up these compounds in the first place and why did we have to wait for this to demand they stop?

[CID1990]

Absolutely fascinating article today in the Washington Post. Broadly, it's mostly stuff we knew (though, that Trump still denies). The details, though...

And, yeah, Obama should have been way more aggressive. Was worried about it appearing to be political... so kicked the can to the next President to deal with. Current President ignoring. Oops.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics ... 02a96943eb

wait

so are we moving away from the "Trump conspired with the Russians to throw the election" meme?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[houndawg]

pm

Absolutely fascinating article today in the Washington Post. Broadly, it's mostly stuff we knew (though, that Trump still denies). The details, though...
Pm
And, yeah, Obama should have been way more aggressive. Was worried about it appearing to be political... so kicked the can to the next President to deal with. Current President ignoring. Oops. In in

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics ... 02a96943eb

wait

so are we moving away from the "Trump conspired with the Russians to throw the election" meme?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not me. I think the real story is his financial ties to the Russian mob. Everybody interferes inelections to whatever extent they can.

Can Mueller get his taxes?

[Skjellyfetti]

wait

so are we moving away from the "Trump conspired with the Russians to throw the election" meme?

why do you say that?

i've said repeatedly i doubt there is any evidence whatsoever of trump personally coordinating with the russians. whether anyone on his team did is another question. but, that's not the only thing this thread or the investigation is about.

Not me. I think the real story is his financial ties to the Russian mob. Everybody interferes inelections to whatever extent they can.

Can Mueller get his taxes?

i agree on this. the financial angle is going to be trump and co.'s undoing.

mueller can get access to his taxes. but, the fincen data will be even more compelling, imo.

[Skjellyfetti]

His television interviews are a shitshow. Can't imagine what he's like for 10 hours of FBI interviews.

FBI has questioned Trump campaign adviser Carter Page at length in Russia probe

FBI agents have repeatedly questioned former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page about his contacts with Russians and his interactions with the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Over a series of five meetings in March, totaling about 10 hours of questioning, Page repeatedly denied wrongdoing when asked about allegations that he may have acted as a kind of go-between for Russia and the Trump campaign, according to a person familiar with Page’s account.

The interviews with the FBI are the most extensive known questioning of a potential suspect in the probe of possible Russian connections to associates of President Trump. The questioning of Page came more than a month before the Russian investigation was put under the direction of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Page confirmed Monday that the interviews occurred, calling them “extensive discussions.” He declined to say if he’s spoken to investigators since the March interviews.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... 6ee41e132a

[Skjellyfetti]

Manafort finally retroactively registers as a foreign agent...

What's the purpose of this? Admitting and documenting your FARA violations (why?), getting ducks in a row for an FBI/Mueller deal? Or what?

A consulting firm led by Paul Manafort, who chaired Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for several months last year, retroactively filed forms Tuesday showing that his firm received $17.1 million over two years from a political party that dominated Ukraine before its leader fled to Russia in 2014.

Manafort disclosed the total payments his firm received between 2012 and 2014 in a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing late Tuesday that was submitted to the U.S. Justice Department. The report makes Manafort the second former senior Trump adviser to acknowledge the need to disclose work for foreign interests.

Manafort is one of a number of Trump associates whose campaign activities are being scrutinized by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of a probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Mueller’s team has been consolidating inquiries into matters unrelated to the election.

Manafort and a former associate in his consulting business, Richard Gates, who also worked for the Trump campaign, disclosed their lobbying campaign on behalf of Ukraine’s Party of Regions in an 87-page document which described the gross receipts the firm received, some expenses and some details of meetings undertaken to influence U.S. policy toward Ukraine.

Among other meetings, Manafort disclosed one in 2013 with Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, an outspoken California Republican known for advocating closer ties between the U.S. and the Kremlin.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... 9a2cfc73f2

[CID1990]

That isn't uncommon. When you pass the boundaries that would trigger a registration requirement (different for civilians and USG/military) and the government calls you on it, you are advised to register retroactively. I'm surprised it didn't happen before now.

The purpose is because the FBI told him to so he would come into compliance.

[Skjellyfetti]

Team Mueller still growing.

The US attorney’s office in Maryland — the office that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ran for 12 years — has been fertile ground for senior Justice Department hires in the Trump administration.

Now, one of the lawyers formerly under Rosenstein’s command has joined the special counsel team that is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, and, reportedly, whether Trump attempted to interfere with that probe.

Aaron Zelinsky, who has spent the past three years working for Rosenstein in Maryland as an assistant US attorney, was detailed to special counsel Robert Mueller III’s team in mid-June, a spokesperson for the special counsel’s office confirmed to BuzzFeed News. Zelinsky brings experience as a line prosecutor — he won an award last year for his work in Maryland on organized crime — and on civil procedure, which he’s taught at a law school.

Asked if Rosenstein had recommended Zelinsky to Mueller or played any role in his assignment, a Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment and referred questions about the special counsel team to that office. A spokesperson for the special counsel team also declined to comment. The New Haven Independent first reported Zelinsky’s new position.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/zoetillman/a-l ... .tgxdZwB8j

[Ivytalk]

Jelly has close to 800 posts in this thread

Trying to establish his legacy

Or to perfect linking ability

Can't tell which

[GannonFan]

Jelly has close to 800 posts in this thread

Trying to establish his legacy

Or to perfect linking ability

Can't tell which

If Trump ends up not being charged with anything and there's no charge of collusion with Russians Jelly may go full JSO-meltdown. When JSO did it he went from being conservative to be a full-fledged FOB/FOH (Friend of Bill/Friend of Hillary). Where will Jelly end up after his meltdown??

[CAA Flagship]

Jelly has close to 800 posts in this thread

Trying to establish his legacy

Or to perfect linking ability

Can't tell which

If Trump ends up not being charged with anything and there's no charge of collusion with Russians Jelly may go full JSO-meltdown. When JSO did it he went from being conservative to be a full-fledged FOB/FOH (Friend of Bill/Friend of Hillary). Where will Jelly end up after his meltdown??

[Skjellyfetti]

Well, I think there's very little chance at all that Trump is charged with anything. Can't indict a sitting president, Pence will pardon if he resigns or is (very unlikely) impeached and convicted. The wildcard here is Schneiderman since only federal charges can be pardoned.

And, I've said this whole damn thread that coordination also isn't very likely. It would be difficult to prove and if it happened, it may have been "unwitting" could also take many different forms - RICO, money laundering, etc.

If Mueller ends his investigation and finds nothing - I'll certainly have an egg on my face. But, I don't really give a shit about my internet reputation.

[Ivytalk]

But, I don't really give a **** about my internet reputation.

Sure you don't.

I may have just found a new siggy!

[CAA Flagship]

Well, I think there's very little chance at all that Trump is charged with anything. Can't indict a sitting president, Pence will pardon if he resigns or is (very unlikely) impeached and convicted. The wildcard here is Schneiderman since only federal charges can be pardoned.

And, I've said this whole damn thread that coordination also isn't very likely. It would be difficult to prove and if it happened, it may have been "unwitting" could also take many different forms - RICO, money laundering, etc.

If Mueller ends his investigation and finds nothing - I'll certainly have an egg on my face. But, I don't really give a shit about my internet reputation.

[Skjellyfetti]

Well, I think there's very little chance at all that Trump is charged with anything. Can't indict a sitting president, Pence will pardon if he resigns or is (very unlikely) impeached and convicted. The wildcard here is Schneiderman since only federal charges can be pardoned.

And, I've said this whole damn thread that coordination also isn't very likely. It would be difficult to prove and if it happened, it may have been "unwitting" could also take many different forms - RICO, money laundering, etc.

If Mueller ends his investigation and finds nothing - I'll certainly have an egg on my face. But, I don't really give a shit about my internet reputation.

Save it for after Mueller's investigation incase he finds no wrongdoing.

Still 12 - 18 months away, I'd imagine.

[Skjellyfetti]

New name to the mix - Peter W. Smith.

Part in red may be the most significant bit in the story.

WASHINGTON—Before the 2016 presidential election, a longtime Republican opposition researcher mounted an independent campaign to obtain emails he believed were stolen from Hillary Clinton’s private server, likely by Russian hackers.

In conversations with members of his circle and with others he tried to recruit to help him, the GOP operative, Peter W. Smith, implied he was working with retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, at the time a senior adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump.

“He said, ‘I’m talking to Michael Flynn about this—if you find anything, can you let me know?’” said Eric York, a computer-security expert from Atlanta who searched hacker forums on Mr. Smith’s behalf for people who might have access to the emails.

Emails written by Mr. Smith and one of his associates show that his small group considered Mr. Flynn and his consulting company, Flynn Intel Group, to be allies in their quest.

What role, if any, Mr. Flynn may have played in Mr. Smith’s project is unclear. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Smith said he knew Mr. Flynn, but he never stated that Mr. Flynn was involved.

Mr. Flynn didn’t respond to requests for comment.

A Trump campaign official said that Mr. Smith didn’t work for the campaign, and that if Mr. Flynn coordinated with him in any way, it would have been in his capacity as a private individual. The White House declined to comment.

Those investigators have examined reports from intelligence agencies that describe Russian hackers discussing how to obtain emails from Mrs. Clinton’s server and then transmit them to Mr. Flynn via an intermediary, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the intelligence.

It isn’t clear who that intermediary might have been or whether Mr. Smith’s operation was the one allegedly under discussion by the Russian hackers. The reports were compiled during the same period when Mr. Smith’s group was operating, according to the officials.

Mr. Smith said he worked independently and wasn’t part of the Trump campaign.

His project began over Labor Day weekend 2016 when Mr. Smith, a private-equity executive from Chicago active in Republican politics, said he assembled a group of technology experts, lawyers and a Russian-speaking investigator based in Europe to acquire emails the group theorized might have been stolen from the private server Mrs. Clinton used as secretary of state.

Mr. Smith’s focus was some 33,000 emails Mrs. Clinton said were deleted because they were deemed personal. Mr. Smith said he believed that the emails might have been obtained by hackers and that they actually concerned official matters Mrs. Clinton wanted to conceal—two notions for which he offered no evidence. Mrs. Clinton gave the State Department tens of thousands of emails related to official business.

Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said in July 2016 there was no evidence the private server had been hacked but held out the possibility it could have been.

In the interview with the Journal, Mr. Smith said he and his colleagues found five groups of hackers who claimed to possess Mrs. Clinton’s deleted emails, including two groups he determined were Russians.

“We knew the people who had these were probably around the Russian government,” Mr. Smith said.

Mr. Smith and one of his associates said they had a line of communication with Mr. Flynn and his consulting company.

In one Smith email reviewed by the Journal, intended to entice outside experts to join his work, he offered to make introductions to Mr. Flynn’s son, Michael G. Flynn, who worked as chief of staff in his father’s company. Mr. Smith’s email mentioned the son among a small number of other people he said were helping.

Michael G. Flynn didn’t respond to a request for comment.

In another recruiting email seen by the Journal, Jonathan Safron, a law student Mr. Smith described as a close colleague, included links to the websites and LinkedIn profiles of people purportedly working with the Smith team. At the top of the list was the name and website of Flynn Intel, which Mr. Flynn set up after his 2014 firing as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Mr. Safron declined to comment on his email or Mr. Smith’s project.

In phone conversations, Mr. Smith told a computer expert he was in direct contact with Mr. Flynn and his son, according to this expert. The person said an anti-Clinton research document prepared by Mr. Smith’s group identified the younger Mr. Flynn as someone associated with the effort. The expert said that based on his conversations with Mr. Smith, he understood the elder Mr. Flynn to be coordinating with Mr. Smith’s group in his capacity as a Trump campaign adviser.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-operat ... 1498770851

[Skjellyfetti]

Some additions after long July 4 weekend.

A follow up to the above WSJ article:

A longtime Republican activist who led an operation hoping to obtain Hillary Clinton emails from hackers listed senior members of the Trump campaign, including some who now serve as top aides in the White House, in a recruitment document for his effort.

The activist, Peter W. Smith, named the officials in a section of the document marked “Trump Campaign.” The document was dated Sept. 7, 2016. That was around the time Mr. Smith said he started his search for 33,000 emails Mrs. Clinton deleted from the private server she used for official business while secretary of state. She said the deleted emails concerned personal matters. She turned over tens of thousands of other emails to the State Department.

As reported Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Smith and people he recruited to his effort theorized the deleted emails might have been stolen by hackers and might contain matters that were politically damaging. He and his associates said they were in touch with several groups of hackers, including two from Russia they suspected were tied to the Moscow government, in a bid to find any stolen emails and potentially hurt Mrs. Clinton’s prospects.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-activi ... 1498872923

Article by one of the sources, British cyber security expert. Formerly with GCHQ.

The Time I Got Recruited to Collude with the Russians

...

Then, a few weeks into my interactions with Smith, he sent me a document, ostensibly a cover page for a dossier of opposition research to be compiled by Smith’s group, and which purported to clear up who was involved. The document was entitled “A Demonstrative Pedagogical Summary to be Developed and Released Prior to November 8, 2016,” and dated September 7. It detailed a company Smith and his colleagues had set up as a vehicle to conduct the research: “KLS Research”, set up as a Delaware LLC “to avoid campaign reporting,” and listing four groups who were involved in one way or another.

The first group, entitled “Trump Campaign (in coordination to the extent permitted as an independent expenditure)” listed a number of senior campaign officials: Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sam Clovis, Lt. Gen. Flynn and Lisa Nelson.

The largest group named a number of “independent groups / organizations / individuals / resources to be deployed.” My name appears on this list. At the time, I didn’t recognize most of the others; however, several made headlines in the weeks immediately prior to the election.

My perception then was that the inclusion of Trump campaign officials on this document was not merely a name-dropping exercise. This document was about establishing a company to conduct opposition research on behalf of the campaign, but operating at a distance so as to avoid campaign reporting. Indeed, the document says as much in black and white.

https://lawfareblog.com/time-i-got-recr ... e-russians





Mueller still hiring the big guns - Preet Bharara's corruption chief.

A top New York federal prosecutor is joining the team of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the former FBI director leading an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the presidential election, a senior Justice Department official with knowledge of the matter confirmed to NBC News.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Goldstein of the Southern District of New York will join Mueller’s team, the official said.

A top New York federal prosecutor is joining the team of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the former FBI director leading an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the presidential election, a senior Justice Department official with knowledge of the matter confirmed to NBC News.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Goldstein of the Southern District of New York will join Mueller’s team, the official said.

The New York Times first reported the move Friday.

Goldstein was former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's top public corruption prosecutor and kept the same role under Acting U.S Attorney Joon Kim.

He's known for multiple successful prosecutions of New York lawmakers on corruption charges. He's also highly regarded in the Southern District and across Justice for those prosecutions, his thoroughness in investigations, and high level of success.

Separately, a person with direct knowledge of the matter says that all cases previously handled in New York, which includes the probe of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, have been transferred to Mueller.

Mueller was appointed as special counsel by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in May, amid public and Congressional pressure after President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey.

Mueller led the FBI for 12 years under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new ... am-n778791

[Skjellyfetti]

Sater might want to hire a food taster...

Russia-born dealmaker linked to Trump assists laundering probe

Donald Trump faces renewed scrutiny of the riches that flowed into his real estate empire from the former Soviet Union after a fixer for a Kazakh family accused of pumping dirty money into US property agreed to assist an international investigation into his former business partners.

Felix Sater, a Russian-born dealmaker with organised-crime connections who worked on property ventures including Trump Soho in Manhattan, has attracted attention in recent months as efforts continue to chart the links between the US president’s circle and moneymen from Russia and its neighbours.

In October the Financial Times revealed Mr Sater had helped the family of Viktor Khrapunov, a former Kazakh minister now exiled in Switzerland, invest millions in US real estate through front companies. The Khrapunovs have spent heavily across the US, including, records indicate, buying apartments in Trump Soho.

Mr Khrapunov is accused by Kazakhstan’s rulers of embezzling government funds and hiding the cash around the world. Kazakh authorities claim the Khrapunovs’ laundering schemes also funnelled money from a fellow dissident, Mukhtar Ablyazov, an oligarch accused of stealing billions of dollars from a bank.

Mr Sater has now agreed to co-operate with an international investigation into the alleged money-laundering network, five people with knowledge of the matter said. The co-operation has included working with a team of lawyers and private investigators pursuing civil cases across three continents, the people said. Mr Sater declined to comment.

In Kazakhstan as in other former Soviet states, Mr Trump’s sprawling business interests threaten to impinge on the president as he manages American foreign policy commitments in the region.

Mr Sater visited the Russian capital with Mr Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son Donald Jr, and entered negotiations with Russian businessmen to secure a site for the tower, which he said in a subsequent deposition could have been “a mega-financial home run”.

Bayrock’s Moscow idea came to nothing, but money from the former Soviet Union did start to flow into Trump ventures in copious quantities. “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” Donald Trump Jr told a real estate conference in 2008, adding: “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”

It kept flowing. A Reuters tally published in March found that 63 Russians, some with political connections, had spent $100m buying property at seven Trump-branded luxury towers in Florida.

Money from the former Soviet Union also arrived through Mr Sater and Bayrock, whose flagship development with Mr Trump was the 46-storey Trump Soho, a glistening hotel-condominium building in Manhattan.

In court proceedings, Mr Trump said that he had “never really understood who owned Bayrock”. Jody Kriss, a former Bayrock finance director, has claimed in racketeering lawsuits filed against Bayrock that the company’s backers included “hidden interests in Russia and Kazakhstan”.

The source of Bayrock’s funding for Trump Soho and other collaborations with Mr Trump is unclear.

There are signs Bayrock’s finances may feature in the recently-constituted special prosecutor’s investigation the US justice department has ordered into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Robert Mueller, the former FBI chief running the investigation, recently hired Andrew Weissmann, an experienced fraud prosecutor to work on the probe. Mr Weissmann, then an assistant US attorney in New York, signed Mr Sater’s 1998 plea deal. Other reported hires have expertise in tracking illicit money flows from the former Soviet Union.

https://www.ft.com/content/159eb2d8-616 ... c7eb84e5f1

[Ivytalk]

Kazakhstan! He knows Borat!

[CAA Flagship]

Trump criticizes media over alleged mind-meld of ‘17 intelligence agencies’ over Russia meddling

So it’s an exaggeration to say that “17 U.S. intelligence agencies … blame Russia for election meddling” (AP, June 22); or that “the 17 intelligence agencies released a declassified report concluding that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign to influence the 2016 election with the goal of disparaging Hillary Clinton while boosting Trump and undermining the public’s faith in the democratic process” (CNN, June 28); or to ask, “How stunning is that to you, that the president of the United States disputes the evidence of 17 intelligence agencies in this country?” (Chuck Todd, “Meet the Press,” June 18); or to point out, “And then, on the broader question, the underlying issue of our relationship with Russia and the fact that Russia, according to our 17 intelligence agencies, interfered in our campaign, James Comey was unequivocal on that point” (George Stephanopoulos, ABC News, June 11).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/er ... 2cef15df42