US Politics The Mueller Investigation - report is out

[cduggles]

Another prosecutor joins Trump-Russia probe


An attorney working on the Justice Department's highest-profile money laundering case recently transferred off that assignment in order to join the staff of the special prosecutor investigating the Trump campaign's potential ties to Russia, POLITICO has learned.

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Freeny, whose assignment to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's staff has not been previously reported, is the 16th lawyer known to be working with the former FBI chief on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

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Before being detailed to Mueller's team, Freeny was shepherding the Justice Department's headline-grabbing effort to seize the profits from the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" on grounds that the film was financed with assets looted from the Malaysian government.

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the redacted report is out, download the pdf or read it here

 

[Scrofula]

So he worked with those dastardly Malaysians? The conspiracy thickens . . . like a good curry.

These sixteen lawyers (OJ only had like five), I bet that does not include the IRS Criminal Division lawyers either, or the New York Attorney General's office, which would bring state charges a President can't pardon, I bet. So really, now we're starting to talk, ALL the lawyers are working on this. Soon the Postal Inspectors will be involved after the peepee tape gets mailed without the proper biohazaard labels.

Will lots of people be going to prison soon? Is it OK to find a little bit of hope now? What does Mueller say?

 

[Shimmer.Fade]

Manafort offered to give Russian billionaire ‘private briefings’ on 2016 campaign

Less than two weeks before Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, his campaign chairman offered to provide briefings on the race to a Russian billionaire closely aligned with the Kremlin, according to people familiar with the discussions.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/manafort-offered-to-give-russian-billionaire-private-briefings-on-2016-campaign/2017/09/20/399bba1a-9d48-11e7-8ea1-ed975285475e_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.5c2bdeebed95

Man, this Russia thing just won't go away. I wonder why? Drip, drip, drip.

Cue LiquidMethod's attempt to convince us that this is completely normal, and that we should focus on a female Democrat.

It is going to be grandiose when this investigation is complete. They have Trump Jr., only need Sr. to complete the pair. I just hope we have enough law enforcement to round up all the perps.

 

[JahSEEuS]

LOL

This is also in the article

"There is no evidence in the documents showing that Deripaska received Manafort’s offer or that any briefings took place."

 

[Shimmer.Fade]

Is that really all you take from the article? Lol indeed. By the way, one party not being complicit doesn't free the other party from guilt. Moreover, the true dirt on these guys has not been made public, and it will remain that way until the Mueller investigation is complete.

This is also in the article:

The emails turned over to investigators show that Manafort remained in regular contact with Kilimnik, his longtime employee in Kiev, throughout his five-month tenure at the Trump campaign.

Kilimnik, a Soviet army veteran, had worked for Manafort in his Kiev political consulting operation since 2005. Kilimnik began as an office manager and translator and attained a larger role with Manafort, working as a liaison to Deripaska and others, people familiar with his work have said.

People close to Manafort told The Post that he and Kilimnik used coded language as a precaution because they were transmitting sensitive information internationally.

In late July, eight days after Trump delivered his GOP nomination acceptance speech in Cleveland, Kilimnik wrote Manafort with an update, according to people familiar with the email exchange.

Kilimnik wrote in the July 29 email that he had met that day with the person “who gave you the biggest black caviar jar several years ago,” according to the people familiar with the exchange. Kilimnik said it would take some time to discuss the “long caviar story,” and the two agreed to meet in New York.

And then there is this little gem:

That encounter took place at the Grand Havana Club, an upscale cigar bar in Manhattan.

Kushner Properties owns the building in which this meeting was held.

 

[Shimmer.Fade]

Facebook to turn over thousands of Russian ads to Congress, reversing decision

Facebook has decided to turn over to Congress copies of more than 3,000 online political advertisements bought through Russian accounts during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign...The Facebook ads were bought, through fake accounts, by the Internet Research Agency, a shadowy troll farm based in St. Petersburg, Russia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/facebook-to-turn-over-thousands-of-russian-ads-to-congress-reversing-decision/2017/09/21/9790b242-9f00-11e7-9083-fbfddf6804c2_story.html?utm_term=.15c66c2a46c0&utm_term=.6e11af57938b&outputType=default-article&deferJs=true

 

[Shimmer.Fade]

TWITTER WILL MEET WITH SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE ON RUSSIA

TWITTER HAS CONFIRMED it will meet with the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. The company tells WIRED that it will speak with Senators next Wednesday about the prevalence of bot accounts, as well as the widespread dissemination of fake news and misinformation, on its platform.

https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-senate-committee-russia-bots/

Here is another video article explaining how the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, Russia was behind an organization aimed at right wing GOP voters called Tea Party News:
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/09/20/pro-trump-twitter-accounts-weaponized-russia-us-election-ebof-pkg-griffin.cnn

 

[spacejunk]

Facebook to turn over thousands of Russian ads to Congress, reversing decision




https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/facebook-to-turn-over-thousands-of-russian-ads-to-congress-reversing-decision/2017/09/21/9790b242-9f00-11e7-9083-fbfddf6804c2_story.html?utm_term=.15c66c2a46c0&utm_term=.6e11af57938b&outputType=default-article&deferJs=true

That's pretty interesting.

I like the story about how Donald jr no longer having Secret Service protection; he's maybe been made aware that they can (and do) report on his movements and actions to the FBI.

Donald Trump Jr. Gives Up Secret Service Protection, Seeking Privacy

This rotten mob are going down. I just hope it happens soon - it seems to be shaping up nicely.

 

[Scrofula]

Here is another video article explaining how the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, Russia was behind an organization aimed at right wing GOP voters called Tea Party News:
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politi...kg-griffin.cnn

Wait, are you telling me, that a lot of the soundbites we hear coming from certain voters, those sort of catchy aphorisms that get repeated too often, might have been produced as deliberate propaganda, and from a foreign hostile power to boot?

And spread through weird "news" sites, the sort of conspiracy-filled small-type logorrhea that attract these voters with tales of shenanigans on 9/11, with sneakily inserted "articles" describing the competitor eating Haitian orphan babies?

This is shocking. Why don't we have non-stop congressional hearings on this? Now that it's been exposed, why aren't those voters screaming for a new election? Why haven't those voters been derided as "pinko-fags*" by the public, and called in for Un-American Activities hearings?

Oh right, the House will ride this auto-signer as far as they think people can remember before midterms, try to destroy health care as best they can; and get rid of the oh-so-evil capital gains tax, the secret final boss of the GOP game. Being led by a Manchurian candidate? Who cares, they're rich. So, they'll stick with Pres. Doesn't-even-know-he's-a-ark-treason up to about two weeks prior.

 

[cduggles]

So he worked with those dastardly Malaysians? The conspiracy thickens . . . like a good curry.

These sixteen lawyers (OJ only had like five), I bet that does not include the IRS Criminal Division lawyers either, or the New York Attorney General's office, which would bring state charges a President can't pardon, I bet. So really, now we're starting to talk, ALL the lawyers are working on this. Soon the Postal Inspectors will be involved after the peepee tape gets mailed without the proper biohazaard labels.

The IRS Criminal Division's elite unit and the NY Attorney General are not included in the total of sixteen lawyers working for Mueller. Also, you are correct that Trump cannot pardon criminal prosecution at the state level, only federal.

pptape would be great. I'll bet Congress would insist on seeing it.

Will lots of people be going to prison soon? Is it OK to find a little bit of hope now? What does Mueller say?

Unfortunately or fortunately, Mueller and his team are not saying anything. No leaks.

 

[cduggles]

Manafort offered to give Russian billionaire ‘private briefings’ on 2016 campaign

Manafort offered to give Russian billionaire private briefings on 2016 campaign

Man, this Russia thing just won't go away. I wonder why? Drip, drip, drip.

Cue LiquidMethod's attempt to convince us that this is completely normal, and that we should focus on a female Democrat.

It is going to be grandiose when this investigation is complete. They have Trump Jr., only need Sr. to complete the pair. I just hope we have enough law enforcement to round up all the perps.

Great article. Lots of great information.

Deripaska has very close ties to Putin. And billionaires in Russia are nasty pieces of work.

A U.S. diplomatic cable from 2006, published by WikiLeaks, referred to Deripaska as “among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis.”

The billionaire [Deripaska] has struggled to get visas to travel to the United States because of concerns he might have ties to organized crime in Russia, according to the Wall Street Journal. He has vigorously denied any criminal ties.

The first thing that came to my mind is that one doesn't cold call someone like Deripaska without a reason. You certainly wouldn't offer private campaign updates without some idea that he might be interested any more than you would try to sell him Amway.

Also, Deripaska might not be the only person to whom Manafort was offering his wares.

Manafort also is believed to be a money launderer.

I'm posting an article that includes Manafort's troubles, but in short, he will either become a cooperating witness or an example. He's screwed.

 

[cduggles]

Facebook to turn over thousands of Russian ads to Congress, reversing decision

Facebook to turn over thousands of Russian ads to Congress reversing decision

Another great article, Shimmer.Fade. An interesting legal aspect exists to the Mueller investigation getting the ads from Facebook.


Will ads on Facebook lead to criminal territory?

...Mueller served Facebook with a criminal search warrant, requesting buyer and ad information on hundreds of accounts. A search warrant can only be issued if a federal judge finds probable cause that a crime may have been committed, and that evidence of that crime is likely to be found in the location searched.

In this instance, federal election law prohibits foreign governments and nationals from making any contributions to an election. If Mueller can trace any of the ads bought on Facebook back to individuals in Russia or the Russian government -- which he likely already has, since a judge signed off on the search warrant in the first place -- he can potentially bring criminal charges against them.

At first glance, it might seem that Russia wouldn't have needed any help in its Facebook disinformation campaign. After all, it looks like most of the account holders were located in Russia and operating in secret. But one big clue that they might have received some help from a person or people in the United States is that the ads they placed weren't meant for everyone to see.

Rather, the ads were specifically targeted to specific geographic areas and people with particular (mostly racist) preferences. Even a very sophisticated intelligence service like Russia's would have difficulty figuring out this kind of "micro-targeting" on its own.

If any American companies or individuals did have this information and passed it to the Russians with the knowledge that it would be used to create fake Facebook ads, Mueller could charge them with conspiracy or aiding and abetting in violation of federal election law. This would be true even if they didn't know about Russia's "master plan" or all the details of its operation.

Interestingly, the Trump campaign used data mining to target and lure individuals who could be radicalized to become white supremacists on Reddit and 4chan, as well as profiling Facebook users for mostly racist ads. The architects of this targeting were Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner.

Steve Bannon’s data firm in talks for lucrative White House contracts

The London-based firm [Cambridge Analytica] said it has marketing and psychological data on around 230 million Americans...

Exclusive Interview: How Jared Kushner Won Trump The White House

Kushner's crew was able to tap into the Republican National Committee's data machine, and it hired targeting partners like Cambridge Analytica to map voter universes and identify which parts of the Trump platform mattered most: trade, immigration or change. Tools like Deep Root drove the scaled-back TV ad spending by identifying shows popular with specific voter blocks in specific regions--say, NCIS for anti-ObamaCare voters or The Walking Dead for people worried about immigration. Kushner built a custom geo-location tool that plotted the location density of about 20 voter types over a live Google Maps interface.

 

[cduggles]

TWITTER WILL MEET WITH SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE ON RUSSIA

https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-senate-committee-russia-bots/

Here is another video article explaining how the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg, Russia was behind an organization aimed at right wing GOP voters called Tea Party News:
Russia weaponized Twitter to sway election

As I indicated in the post above, Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner headed data mining efforts and building tools to target ads.

The fact that Brad Parscale appeared in front of the House Intelligence Committee is significant. He's one step away from Steve Bannon and worked closely with Jared Kushner.

And now of course, Facebook and Twitter are going to testify about the ads and other content that their platform facilitated.

Note: This article was posted July, 2017.

DID TRUMP'S DATA TEAM HELP RUSSIANS? FACEBOOK MIGHT HAVE THE ANSWER

[Brad] Parscale, [the Trump campaign’s former digital director] specifically points out how closely the campaign worked with Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

Parscale has credited that collaboration with delivering Trump's victory. "Facebook and Twitter were the reason we won this thing," Parscale told WIRED shortly after the election. "Twitter for Mr. Trump. And Facebook for fundraising."

Photo of Brad Parscale

 

[cduggles]

That's pretty interesting.

I like the story about how Donald jr no longer having Secret Service protection; he's maybe been made aware that they can (and do) report on his movements and actions to the FBI.

Donald Trump Jr. Gives Up Secret Service Protection, Seeking Privacy

This rotten mob are going down. I just hope it happens soon - it seems to be shaping up nicely.

I was also very surprised at Donald Trump Jr.'s decision. Hopefully his wife and five children still receive Secret Service protection.

Apparently "Donnie" was a jerk in college. It's shocking, I know. He is said to have urinated in his bed completely drunk so frequently that his nickname was "Donnie Diaper".

Even People magazine trashed him, which is rare.

‘Stay Away from Donnie Trump’: Inside Don Jr.’s Drinking, Womanizing and Frat Guy Antics

This pic of Donnie and Dad is something...

 

[spacejunk]

Gross.
Money doesn't buy class, or dignity.

 

[Scrofula]

Don't get too excited, Foreign Policy has a weird article on why we should not like Mueller:

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s got everyone convinced he’s such an upstanding public servant. In The Threat Matrix, Garrett Graff writes that “both political parties respect” Mueller as “a consummate law enforcement professional with a track record, forged in Vietnam, of grace under fire and getting organizations on track.”

Whatever. Don’t be fooled by Mueller’s Boy Scout act. As his critics point out, if America is never great again, it’ll be all Mueller’s fault. We have to admit, they’ve got some good points.​

10 Things to Hate About Mueller

I think either the author is just having some trouble with sarcasm, or it was the whole finding it at 4am on meth thing, and it made me feel high. Anyway, he is actually saying good things about Mueller, or why Mueller is good.

Yes, I do things at 4am on meth like try to get past the Foreign Policy paywall, so what?

 

[cduggles]

Odd, I saw a link from Business Insider to this list.

10 very good and totally serious things to hate about Mueller and the Russia investigation

Saturday, September 23 - 12:30 PM

Business Insider - Benjamin Wittes, Susan Hennessey
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Editors note: This is satire.

[Read More]

 

[Scrofula]

You should link, Ms. Duggles, if Business Insider has an easier paywall.

 

[cduggles]

I tried. I think it displays content of FP, for some reason without aforementioned comment.

Has satire qualifier

This one too

Sorry not to post working links.

 

[cduggles]

If we only had chins...