CIA assessment: Russia helped Trump win & Senate knew it

[RTH10260]

WikiLeaks publish 1000s of what they say are CIA documents

http://www.chron.com/business/technolog ... 982575.php
)

Wikileaks tweet at https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/83 ... 20/photo/1

According to this tweet the CIA lost a yuuge package of computer code used for hacking. For a foreign government a treasure trove to see how the CIA operated and compare it to own efforts. They will likely not find much of value to use themselves, but may get a clue or two where their own countermeasures may show soft spots. What really is dangerous is that now the real life hackers with nasty intentions get to learn some lesser known ways to attack bonafide web servers accross the globe. Get ready to see new waves of hacking attacks by mid summer.

[MsDaisy]

Trump personally met with Russian ambassador during campaign
Trump has repeatedly denied meeting with any Russian officials as a candidate

Donald Trump has claimed repeatedly that he has had no contact with Russian officials as a presidential candidate.

He was lying.

Trump personally met with the Russian ambassador on April 27, 2016, prior to a major foreign policy speech. The Wall Street Journal, in a report that was little-noticed at the time but was recently picked up by AMERICABlog News, reported the meeting last year.

A few minutes before he made those remarks, Mr. Trump met at a VIP reception with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak. Mr. Trump warmly greeted Mr. Kislyak and three other foreign ambassadors who came to the reception.

Kislyak, according to multiple contemporaneous news reports, was seated in the front row. It was an invitation-only event.

http://thinkprogress.org/trump-personal ... .mqxmaufgb

Trump lie? Go on!

[MsDaisy]

The article the TP article referred to that claimed Trump “personally” met with Kislyak doesn’t exactly say that.


Trump Vows To Seek Better Relations With Russia If Elected

WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has vowed to seek improved relations with Russia and China if he is elected to the White House, saying Washington and Moscow "should seek common ground based on shared interests."

In an April 27 foreign-policy speech, Trump said that while the United States and Russia had "serious differences," he believes it is "absolutely possible" to ease current tensions with Moscow if Washington approaches the relationship "from a position of strength."

"Common sense says this cycle -- this horrible cycle of hostility -- must end, and ideally it will end soon," Trump said as Russia's ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, sat in the front row for the candidate's wide-ranging speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.

U.S.-Russian ties have plunged to levels of acrimony unseen since the end of the Cold War following Russia's military seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and an ensuing war between Kyiv's forces and Russia-backed separatists that has killed more than 9,100 people.

http://www.rferl.org/a/us-trump-foreign ... 02091.html

[Suranis]

The WSJ story it quotes from apparently says that the SFV personally greeted the Ambassador. Its behind a paywall so I cant be sure directly it's an accurate quote but here is the link, and quote from the page

https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-tru ... 1463172396

A few minutes before he made those remarks, Mr. Trump met at a VIP reception with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak. Mr. Trump warmly greeted Mr. Kislyak and three other foreign ambassadors who came to the reception.

So that's handshake level. So unless Trump was thinking of England...

[Lani]

WikiLeaks publish 1000s of what they say are CIA documents

http://www.chron.com/business/technolog ... 982575.php


So, we can blame this on Trump?

Breitbart and WikiLeaks are promoting the idea that the CIA stole Russian malware to hack targets and blame Russia. Venture over to Breitbart if you can stomach it and read the feeding frenzy comments about the CIA being behind the DNC hack.

Article title: WikiLeaks: CIA Uses ‘Stolen’ Malware to ‘Attribute’ Cyberattacks to Nations Like Russia

[Slim Cognito]

WikiLeaks publish 1000s of what they say are CIA documents

http://www.chron.com/business/technolog ... 982575.php


So, we can blame this on Trump?

Breitbart and WikiLeaks are promoting the idea that the CIA stole Russian malware to hack targets and blame Russia. Venture over to Breitbart if you can stomach it and read the feeding frenzy comments about the CIA being behind the DNC hack.

Article title: WikiLeaks: CIA Uses ‘Stolen’ Malware to ‘Attribute’ Cyberattacks to Nations Like Russia

Because Trump doesn't have enough problems with the IC.

But seriously, why does Bannon want to burn bridges with Intelligence? Does he WANT a terrorist attack to happen here?

Oh wait. I think I figured it out (sorry, it's early). If we have an attack carried out by non-white-skinned people, he'll have a reason to get rid of all the NWS people, even citizens. Am I close?

[RVInit]

WikiLeaks publish 1000s of what they say are CIA documents

http://www.chron.com/business/technolog ... 982575.php


So, we can blame this on Trump?

Breitbart and WikiLeaks are promoting the idea that the CIA stole Russian malware to hack targets and blame Russia. Venture over to Breitbart if you can stomach it and read the feeding frenzy comments about the CIA being behind the DNC hack.

Article title: WikiLeaks: CIA Uses ‘Stolen’ Malware to ‘Attribute’ Cyberattacks to Nations Like Russia

Because Trump doesn't have enough problems with the IC.

But seriously, why does Bannon want to burn bridges with Intelligence? Does he WANT a terrorist attack to happen here?

Oh wait. I think I figured it out (sorry, it's early). If we have an attack carried out by non-white-skinned people, he'll have a reason to get rid of all the NWS people, even citizens. Am I close?

[Addie]

Interesting article in Politico Mag.

How the CIA Forgot the Art of Spying

[Slartibartfast]

Interesting article in Politico Mag.

How the CIA Forgot the Art of Spying

Thanks Addie! That was awesome and terrifying.

[SueDB]

It's possible that the war on terror should have been shunted to the DOD rather than the CIA and let the CIA continue to do what they used to do best - turning the other guys into spies.

What say?

[Addie]

Washington Monthly

The Steele Dossier Is Increasingly Being Corroborated

One of the lessons that reverberates from the whole Watergate investigation is that “Deep Throat” counseled Woodward and Bernstein to “follow the money.” To the extent that holds for the investigation into whether or not the Trump campaign cooperated with Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election, a guy by the name of Mikhail Kalugin – head of the Economics Section of the Russian Embassy in the U.S. at the time – is a critical piece of the puzzle. ...

The “so-called veterans’ pension ruse” is reported in the dossier to be the way that Russia arranged to pay hackers and others who were involved in the presidential election operation. That report is dated September 14th and, as it turns out, Kalugin actually left DC and returned to Russia in August. Even more significantly, here is what McClatchy reported about Kalugin last month.

A Russian diplomat who worked in the Washington embassy left the country last August while federal investigators examined whether he played a key covert role in the alleged Kremlin-directed plot to influence last fall’s U.S. elections.

Two people with knowledge of a multi-agency investigation into the Kremlin’s meddling have told McClatchy that Mikhail Kalugin was under scrutiny when he departed. He has been an important figure in the inquiry into how Russia bankrolled the email hacking of top Democrats and took other measures to defeat Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump capture the White House, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

What’s interesting about this is that these sources suggest that Kalugin was under investigation back in August – which would pre-date his mention in the Steele dossier. All of this points to the idea that U.S. intelligence was pretty deeply involved in investigating this story – and as the Steele documents indicate – the Russians knew it. Getting Kalugin out of the country would have been a way to ensure that his secrets left with him.

[Orlylicious]

This guy is GREAT! And cute.

Rep. Eric SwalwellVerified account @RepSwalwell
I represent the Bay Area in the U.S. Congress. Senior Dem overseeing @cia on @HouseIntelComm. Working to expand our #FreedomToDream.
East Bay, CA & DC (CA-15)

He's been posting #TrumpRussia info on his congressional website, easy to understand, check it out: https://swalwell.house.gov/issues/protect-our-democracy

trumprussia.JPG

He went to the same HS or at least same area as Rachel, he was on her show tonight and terrific.

Rep. Eric Swalwell‏ Verified account @RepSwalwell
My interview moments ago w/@MSNBC's Rachel @Maddow about the #TrumpRussia ties and the #ProtectOurDemocracy Act:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXEmJpJO8u4

[Addie]

Politico

Authorities looked into Manafort protégé

U.S. and Ukrainian authorities have expressed interest in the activities of a Kiev-based operative with suspected ties to Russian intelligence who consulted regularly with Paul Manafort last year while Manafort was running Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

The operative, Konstantin Kilimnik, came under scrutiny from officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Department partly because of at least two trips he took to the U.S. during the presidential campaign, according to three international political operatives familiar with the agencies’ interest in Kilimnik.

Kilimnik, a joint Russian-Ukrainian citizen who trained in the Russian army as a linguist, told operatives in Kiev and Washington that he met with Manafort during an April trip to the United States. And, after a late summer trip to the U.S., Kilimnik suggested that he had played a role in gutting a proposed amendment to the Republican Party platform that would have staked out a more adversarial stance towards Russia, according to a Kiev operative.

The FBI declined to comment on Kilimnik, while the State Department did not respond to a request for comment. It’s unclear if either agency launched any kind of official inquiry into Kilimnik, nor is it clear whether the interest from the U.S. authorities is ongoing.

The Ukrainian prosecutor general in August did launch a formal investigation into Kilimnik’s suspected ties to Russian intelligence, according to documents obtained by POLITICO. The prosecutor’s office subsequently told POLITICO that it has cleared Kilimnik, though the Ukrainian parliamentarian who requested the investigation questioned its thoroughness and suggested the agency was trying to avoid an investigation that could have had implications in the U.S. presidential race.

The revelations about the authorities' interest in Kilimnik come amid ongoing FBI and congressional investigations into Russia’s alleged meddling in the presidential race, as well as probes into ties between Russia and President Trump’s associates.

[MsDaisy]

I have no idea where to put this, guess it can always be moved or cross posted.

How Russian oil giant Rosneft could claim U.S. oil

Rosneft, an oil corporation majority-owned by the Russian government, says it has the right to claim an ownership stake in U.S. oil company Citgo Petroleum if Citgo’s cash-strapped parent company defaults on billions in loans, according to a lien Rosneft recently filed in Delaware. If that claim succeeds, Rosneft, which is run by one of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, would own a sizable chunk of a company that is among the 10 largest petroleum refiners in America.

Russian ownership of a large portion of a U.S.-based oil company would be unprecedented, according to experts contacted by CBS News. Those experts also emphasize that the White House has the power to block the deal -- either on national security grounds or simply by leaving in place Obama administration sanctions against Russia.

Citgo’s parent company, the Venezuela state-owned PDVSA, pledged a 49.9 percent stake in Citgo to Rosneft as collateral for a $1.5 billion loan signed on Nov. 30. That same day, attorneys for Rosneft filed the lien with the Delaware Department of State, asserting that Rosneft — whose CEO, Igor Sechin, has long been considered Putin’s right-hand man — would claim the collateralized 49.9 percent if the struggling Venezuelan debtor defaults or folds.

A PDVSA default in the near future would not be a surprise, said Praveen Kumar, who is the executive director of the Gutierrez Energy Management Institute at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business.

Lots more
http://cbsnews.cbs.com/news/rosneft-rus ... ump-cfius/

[Volkonski]

No big deal. In the grand scheme of things Citgo only accounts for 5000 of the 30,000 major or refiner branded gas stations in the US (there are over 150,000 branded and unbranded stations total).

Citgo does not drill for or produce oil. It is just a refining, retail, pipeline and terminal business.

[Chilidog]

I have a gas card from them, but I almost never use it as there very few Citco stations around.

[Addie]

ABC News

'No evidence' Trump campaign aides recruited by Russia, former top spy chief says

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told ABC News he did not see anything to suggest that Russia successfully infiltrated Donald Trump’s presidential campaign or recruited any of Trump’s advisers – at least as of Jan. 20, when the retired three-star general left office.

"There was no evidence whatsoever, at the time, of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians," Clapper, a career intelligence officer, told ABC News' Brian Ross in an interview Monday for "World News Tonight."

The Clapper comments came amid a fight between the Trump administration and the FBI over the wiretapping claim the President made in a series of early morning tweets Saturday from his Palm Beach getaway, in which he accused former President Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower. The president compared it to the Watergate scandal but without backing that up with any explanation as to why he believes the eavesdropping occurred.

Clapper denied in the same interview that there were any wiretaps on Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign, saying "there was no wiretap against Trump Tower during the campaign conducted by any part of the National Intelligence Community."

"None at all...including the FBI," he said. ...

Asked what parts of the dossier had been corroborated by "other sources", Clapper said that the intelligence community was able to confirm that Putin hated former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He refused to comment further on the dossier.

[Addie]

CNN

FBI investigation continues into 'odd' computer link between Russian bank and Trump Organization

Federal investigators and computer scientists continue to examine whether there was a computer server connection between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank, sources close to the investigation tell CNN.

Questions about the possible connection were widely dismissed four months ago. But the FBI's investigation remains open, the sources said, and is in the hands of the FBI's counterintelligence team -- the same one looking into Russia's suspected interference in the 2016 election. One U.S. official said investigators find the server relationship "odd" and are not ignoring it. But the official said there is still more work for the FBI to do. Investigators have not yet determined whether a connection would be significant.

Internet data shows that last summer, a computer server owned by Russia-based Alfa Bank repeatedly looked up the contact information for a computer server being used by the Trump Organization -- far more than other companies did, representing 80% of all lookups to the Trump server.

It's unclear if the Trump Organization server itself did anything in return. No one has produced evidence that the servers actually communicated.

[Skip Intro]

Fox "News" go all out to defend Russia against the evil CIA.

[kate520]

As the days and days and days of this administration slither slowly by I am less and less hopeful that there will be an independent investigation or that anything will come of our suspicions.

Republicans. Can't live with them, can't...no, that's it. Can't live with them. They really are

[Addie]

New York Times

‘No Comment,’ Justice Dept. Says, Asked About a Trump Inquiry

WASHINGTON — With questions still swirling over President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that he was wiretapped on orders of President Barack Obama, the Justice Department on Thursday declined to confirm statements a day earlier from the White House that Mr. Trump was not the target of a counterintelligence investigation.

Officials also said the White House had not relied on any information from the Justice Department in offering a statement denying the existence of an investigation.

The White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, told reporters on Wednesday that “there is no reason to believe there is any type of investigation with respect to the Department of Justice” or “ that the president is the target of any investigation whatsoever.”

But a Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that there was no indication that anyone at the Justice Department had given the White House that assurance.

Asked whether Mr. Trump was in fact the target of an investigation, the official offered a “no comment.”

[RTH10260]

China says it's got reason to be huffed about CIA hacking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n_8DEpm0LM

[Addie]

Associated Press

Ex-Trump adviser Carter Page at center of Russia storm

WASHINGTON (AP) — At Moscow's New Economic School, the annual graduation ceremony often features a prominent political figure. President Barack Obama addressed graduates at the prestigious institution in 2009. The former presidents of Mexico and the Czech Republic have spoken at recent ceremonies.

Last year, the university invited Carter Page, a little-known former investment banker and foreign policy adviser to then-U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump. It wouldn't be the last time Page would draw unexpected — and some say outsized — attention for his relationship to Trump, his entanglements in Russia and the murky nexus between the two.

Page, who left the campaign before the election, has emerged as a key figure in the controversy surrounding Trump associates' connections to Russia. The New York Times has reported that Page is among the Trump associates whose potential contacts with Russia are being investigated by the FBI. Congressional committees probing Russia's hacking during the election and Trump campaign ties have asked Page to preserve materials related to their investigations.

For those who contend the scrutiny of Trump is overblown, Page is the sort of figure often associated with an understaffed presidential campaign that struggled to recruit policy advisers and spent little time vetting those who did join the team. But to those who believe Trump's campaign was colluding with Russia as it hacked Democratic groups, Page may be the key link between the candidate and Moscow. Page contends he's the target of a plot hatched by Trump's former rival Hillary Clinton and allies who engaged in "severe election fraud in the form of disinformation, suppression of dissent, hate crimes and other extensive abuses."

[Addie]

CNN

The super-secret division in charge of the Russia investigation

Washington (CNN) Somewhere in the halls of the J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington, a closely held number of FBI agents face the daunting task of determining how the Russian government sought to manipulate the US presidential election.

It's a case that's been the subject of endless speculation in Washington and beyond.

But to those tasked with getting to the bottom of the allegations and innuendo, it's just another "standard counterintelligence investigation," as one highly placed US official put it. Add to that the freshly assigned task of determining how a huge cache of what appear to be authentic CIA documents ended up on the WikiLeaks website.

Welcome to the super-secret world of the Counterintelligence Division, home to the spy catchers of the FBI.

It's a shadowy world that's closed off even to those typically in the know in bureau headquarters, a silo of secrecy in which agents are valued as much for their ability to keep quiet as they are for their investigative skills.

[Addie]

Salon interview with Malcolm Nance.

One depressing snip of many:

Intelligence expert Malcolm Nance on Trump scandal: “As close to Benedict Arnold as we’re ever going to get” ...

If you view Trump as a “Manchurian candidate” in league with Russia, how does that complicate the battle against ISIS and international terrorism?

Well, as far as Trump and Russia is concerned, it doesn’t because they view ISIS as the vanguard of Islam and as being a fundamentalist basis of the religion. The worst part of it all is that this comes from Osama bin Laden. He attacked us on 9/11 in order to induce a clash of civilizations between the Christian West and Islam. In all of these insane right-wingers, none of them have any military experience, and the military people that they do have that are on board with their ideology are the ones who we consider insane. These are the Jack D. Rippers from “Dr. Strangelove,” who want to start a global war and would use their authority at whatever level. This is dangerous.

This administration has got me frightened on a strategic scale because we’re all going to suffer from this. We have a saying in the military: “The stupid shall be punished.” This nation voted for stupid, and we are going to get punished because these people have no sense of decorum, no sense of decency, no sense of living up to any of the traditions enacted over 240 years of this great nation growing.

They are the wrecking crew, and they don’t work for this nation. I really think their ideology is based on an ideology they got from Putin’s philosopher, Alexander Dugin, the man who believes that Western liberal democracy must be destroyed and a strongman authoritarianism [must] step into its place, and then you could reshape the world as you saw fit. That’s Hitler and Stalin talk.