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US Politics The Mueller Investigation - report is out

I'm concerned about people who take this to mean that the Russians don't have an agenda to use social media/etc to destabilize our system, moreso than whether it was rightfully or wrongfully used to attack Trump.
 
I don't think people on either side, or even hiding under a rock, believe foreign entities aren't working to give us problems. Russians, Iranians, Chinese...e'erbody.
 
^exactly. If the US establishment was genuinely concerned about election interference then we'd be obsessing more about countries like China or Israel.

It's also a bit rich for the US to claim that a foreign country is significantly influencing their elections when a study has shown that the US has done this 81 times since the last half of the 20th century. Often directly going into countries, deposing their leaders and replacing them with a friendly puppet (who then sometimes eventually shifts their stance and must be removed themselves).

What people should take this to mean (and what I've been saying all along) is that this entire Russian collusion narrative was mostly fabricated BS used to demonize and remove Trump from office. I called it from the start since I was following it closely and didn't buy into the media hype of the MSM.
 
JGrimez said:
It's also a bit rich for the US to claim that a foreign country is significantly influencing their elections when a study has shown that the US has done this 81 times since the last half of the 20th century. Often directly going into countries, deposing their leaders and replacing them with a friendly puppet (who then sometimes eventually shifts their stance and must be removed themselves).
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There are some who are very vocal about the US messing in other countries, but not enough of them (the voices, not more countries to mess with), IMO.
 
We should be much more aware of the US's shady practices as a nation and quit this blind "Amurrica!" patriotism that causes us to turn a blind eye to our own injustice, absolutely. However our own sketchy practices should not be used to apologize for others doing the same to us.
 
Xorkoth said:
should not be used to apologize for mothers doing the same to us.
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YEAH!! Damn those mothers, too!!

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CrowdStrike Had No Evidence Of Russians Stealing Emails From DNC, Declassified Transcript Shows

bold emphasis from original article

The cybersecurity firm that investigated and remediated the alleged hack of the Democratic National Committee’s servers in 2016 found no direct evidence that hackers stole any data or emails, according to a newly declassified interview transcript.

Shawn Henry, the president of CrowdStrike Services, told the House Intelligence Committee in late 2017 that his firm had no evidence that the alleged Russian hackers stole any data from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) servers.

The publication by WikiLeaks of more than 44,000 emails from senior DNC officials became one of the biggest stories of the turbulent 2016 presidential race and served as the predicate for the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller, who took over the probe in May 2017, eventually charged a group of Russians with hacking the DNC. The indictment alleges that the Russians hacked into the DNC and stole thousands of emails.

Prior to Mueller’s indictment, the public knowledge of the alleged DNC hack consisted of CrowdStrike’s brief report on the matter released on June 14, 2016, days after the firm claims to have ousted the hackers from the committee’s systems. The report makes no mention of stolen data, although Henry told The Washington Post in an article published the same day that the Russians allegedly “stole two files.”

Of the more than 44,000 emails published by WikiLeaks, more than 98 percent were sent and received by senior DNC officials between April 18 and May 25 of 2016. During more than half of that time frame, CrowdStrike had already installed its software on the DNC’s servers and was monitoring the network. The company did not respond to a request to explain how the emails were allegedly pilfered under its watch and why it failed to find evidence despite closely monitoring the servers with full awareness that hackers were present.

Mueller’s indictment alleges that Russian hackers broke into a DNC server and stole emails on or about May 25 and June 1 of 2016, roughly three weeks after CrowdStrike installed its software on the DNC servers and assessed that Russian hackers had gained access.

CrowdStrike’s involvement in the events surrounding the alleged DNC hack has long been the subject of controversy. Some facts about the firm’s involvement remain disputed by key players, including Henry, who told the House Intelligence Committee that he was not aware of the DNC or CrowdStrike denying any FBI requests related to the server hack. Henry’s testimony contradicted what then-FBI Director James Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee in January 2017. Comey told senators that the FBI sought and was repeatedly denied access to the physical DNC servers.


Henry was not the only one to contradict Comey. The DNC’s director of technology, Andrew Brown, told the House Intelligence Committee the DNC fully cooperated with every FBI request. The DNC’s IT director, Yared Tamene, told the committee the FBI never requested access to the physical servers. And Michael Sussman, the DNC’s outside counsel, told the committee that the FBI declined a DNC offer for full access to its servers.

According to Tamene, the DNC handed over images of its servers to CrowdStrike, which then handed them over to the FBI in May and June of 2016. Mueller’s final report on the Russia investigation cites these images, alongside redacted grand jury material, as the source for the allegation that Russian hackers stole the DNC emails.

According to a CrowdStrike report cited by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) the hackers allegedly “staged” a trove of DNC files for exfiltration on April 22. According to the Netyshko indictment, the hackers allegedly “compressed gigabytes of data from DNC computers, including opposition research” and “later moved the compressed DNC data” to a computer leased in Illinois. The indictment does not allege that the hackers moved the files from the Illinois system.

The charges in the Netyshko indictment remain alleged as the case is unlikely to be heard before a court since the defendants are in Russia. The government recently moved to drop the charges against an alleged Russian social media influence operation after the defendants mounted a defense in court.

The special counsel concluded his 22-month investigation last year finding insufficient evidence that anyone on the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

The DNC did not respond to a request for comment.
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tl;dr summary:

  • Crowdstrike was in control of DNC server security weeks before the supposed hacking. No report of issues other than 2 stolen emails.
  • Crowdstrike never denied any requests from Comey's FBI for server data = direct contradiction of Comey's testimony to Senate Intel Comm.
  • DNC IT officials indicate FBI 'never requested access' to the physical servers and declined a DNC offer for full access = direct contradiction of Comey's testimony.


Comey lying to congress. Isn't that illegal?
Why issue indictments you cannot prove, nor prosecute?
 
Soooo...... how about that Michael Flynn?

Explosive New FBI Notes Confirm Obama Directed Anti-Flynn Operation

The Federalist said:
Newly released notes confirm President Barack Obama’s key role in surveillance and leak operation against Michael Flynn, the incoming Trump administration national security adviser. The handwritten notes, which were first disclosed in a federal court filing made by the Department of Justice on Tuesday, show President Obama himself personally directed former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to investigate Flynn for having routine phone calls with a Russian counterpart. He also suggests they withhold information from President Trump and his key national security figures.

The handwritten notes from fired former FBI agent Peter Strzok appear to describe a Jan. 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting between Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Comey, Yates, and then-national security adviser Susan Rice. The meeting and its substance were confirmed in a bizarre Inauguration Day email Rice wrote to herself.


It was at this meeting, which was confirmed by testimony from Comey and Yates, that Obama gave guidance to key officials who would be tasked with protecting his administration’s utilization of secretly funded Clinton campaign research, which alleged Trump was involved in a treasonous plot to collude with Russia, from being discovered or stopped by the incoming administration.

Yates told the special counsel that Obama broke the news of Flynn’s phone calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to her during the Jan. 5 meeting. Yates detailed further involvement from Obama. “President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia,” she wrote in her email.

The new notes, which record Comey’s accounting to Strzok of the meeting’s substance, constitute definitive evidence that Obama himself was personally directing significant aspects of a criminal investigation into his political enemy’s top foreign policy adviser. An image of the notes is reproduced below. This is a rough transcript of the unredacted portion of the notes:
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Again, who's been saying this for years?
Who was labeled a conspiracy theorist?
 
BREAKING: Appeals court orders judge to dismiss charges in Flynn case

...
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan declined to immediately dismiss the case, seeking instead to evaluate on his own the department’s unusual dismissal request. He appointed retired federal Judge John Gleeson to argue against the department’s position and to consider whether Flynn could be held in criminal contempt for perjury, the wire service reports.

Flynn was the only White House official charged in Mueller’s investigation.

The Justice Department moved to dismiss the case as part of a broader effort by Barr to scrutinize, and even undo, some of the decisions reached during the Russia investigation.
...
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Court opinion


The majority also did not apparently care for Judge Sullivan's decision to retain John Gleeson to write an amicus brief.
In the end, it broke down political lines: Rao, a Trump appointee and Henderson, a Reagan and Bush appointee, formed the majority; Wilkins, a two time Obama appointee, who served in the same district as Sullivan by the way, dissented.
 
@TheLoveBandit I'm jaded and not excited by any of these developments anymore. Do you think that anyone at that high a level can or will be brought to justice?
 
mal3volent said:
If Flynn is so innocent, why did he lie to the FBI ? Why did Trump fire him?
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The 'lie' was a set up by those doing the interview with him. FBI investigators were ready to close the book on Flynn as there was nothing to investigate until Obama/Comey/et al decided to get Flynn out of the way.

Why did Trump fire him? HA!!! Ok, could be he took the last peanut butter cracker at a meeting, or he heard Flynn was being investigated and wanted to distance ANY investigations from his presidency, or Flynn wouldn't let Trump ogle-grope his wife-daughter-cousin, or any number of reasons real or imagined.
 
TheLoveBandit said:
The 'lie' was a set up by those doing the interview with him. FBI investigators were ready to close the book on Flynn as there was nothing to investigate until Obama/Comey/et al decided to get Flynn out of the way.

Why did Trump fire him? HA!!! Ok, could be he took the last peanut butter cracker at a meeting, or he heard Flynn was being investigated and wanted to distance ANY investigations from his presidency, or Flynn wouldn't let Trump ogle-grope his wife-daughter-cousin, or any number of reasons real or imagined.
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Well Trump fired him for lying to the FBI, so he obviously had trust in their findings or had other sources that were telling him the same info. It just makes my head spin, is there some kind of formula to determine when we trust the FBI and when we don't ?
 
This shit doesn't matter, as much as Pizzagate was a real time happening.

IMO and FWIW

This Administration is corrupt to the core; Donald Trump has always been a charlatan and a huckster.

If the GOP is lucky, this trainwreck of a term will not take them down with the Resident and Chief.

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This presidency is just a symptom. I sometimes think Trump may have been the better choice over Hillary in the context of a historical perspective, because we needed someone to shake it up. Because of this (and other things), we have been faced with the existential crisis we have been grappling with as a nation. We need something to push the people from apathy to action, instead of just string along the same bullshit corporate gangbanging of this country. Bernie would have been a far better choice, but at least Trump's presidency MAY (remains to be seen) lead to change , hopefully in the right direction.

What I really don't think we need is another term though, I hope very much that we don't get that.

What I'm getting at is that no politician will change this country. A good, real leader could help, but we, the people, have to decide to change, and make it happen, for any real change to take place. The scary thing is that we have two basically diametrically opposed ideas of what America should be. So I don't know how we will deal with that, but in a way, it's good that we had this sort of incendiary ridiculous leader in place to empower both sides to have a voice. Now we know what we're dealing with, cards on the table.

I definitely don't support Trump at all, I think he's a malignant narcissist. I very much doubt that he has ever had any sort of benevolent intentions for the people of this country, this is for his ego, as is everything he does (having been close with a couple of narcissists in my life, all it takes is watching any time he gives a speech and it becomes crystal clear). I just think that, despite his own motivations, there is a lot of potential good, in the long run, that could come from this.

We're watching history play out, this period of time will be a landmark for America and will be studied in textbooks. Not only America but the whole world. It's a crazy time right now.
 
So long as we keep thinking of it as two different sides, and that one has to inevitably win, I don't see any progress happening. Progress can't happen so long as so many people act like political extremists.

In the meantime, the damage trumps presidency is doing and the time in history in which it's happening could take decades for the country to recover from. It might not recover from it at all.
 
mal3volent said:
Well Trump fired him for lying to the FBI, so he obviously had trust in their findings or had other sources that were telling him the same info. It just makes my head spin, is there some kind of formula to determine when we trust the FBI and when we don't ?
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When the FBI is being weaponized against you then who are you supposed to call?
All bets are off at that point. It's a dirty game and certain decisions may not make sense to an outside observer.
But the law was being subverted to attack/remove/imprison Trump - that's the main issue.

Trump is not all-powerful - and neither is the deep state, as the exposure of this scandal showed.


Noodle said:
This shit doesn't matter, as much as Pizzagate was a real time happening.
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Doesn't matter to you for political expediency. Corruption at the FBI does matter.
Conflating this with pizzagate is a disingenuous leftist tactic (even though pizzagate is also a legitimate scandal, it's off-topic)
 
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