The cash, delivered in a suitcase to a Berlin hotel room in September, was intended as the first installment of a $1 million payout, according to American officials, the Russian and communications reviewed by The New York Times. The theft of the secret hacking tools had been devastating to the N.S.A., and the agency was struggling to get a full inventory of what was missing.
Several American intelligence officials said they made clear that they did not want the Trump material from the Russian, who was suspected of having murky ties to Russian intelligence and to Eastern European cybercriminals. He claimed the information would link the president and his associates to Russia. Instead of providing the hacking tools, the Russian produced unverified and possibly fabricated information involving Mr. Trump and others, including bank records, emails and purported Russian intelligence data.
The United States intelligence officials said they cut off the deal because they were wary of being entangled in a Russian operation to create discord inside the American government. They were also fearful of political fallout in Washington if they were seen to be buying scurrilous information on the president....
February 9, 2018
"American Spies Gave $100,000 to Russian Who Wanted to Sell Material on Trump."
The NYT reports.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
123 comments:
How, exactly, are you supposed to buy back hacking tools? Wouldn't they have been copied and spread far and wide?
The important fact about Abscam long ago was how little money it took to buy a congressman.
Does the NYT think you wipe servers with a cloth? Hacking tools are software.
As the blogger Ace of Spades points out, how can you "buy back" "hacking tools"? The tools are nothing but either source or binary code, & can be easily copied thousands of times in a few hours. The CIA already has the tools themselves. What did they think they were buying? The hackers' promise not to release the code "into the wild"? And how could that condition possibly be enforced?
Sorry, CIA guys, this just smells. It looks as if the CIA was either 1) out buying the Trump material for their own political use or 2) maybe they were buying it to keep it off the market, in which case see my question on "enforcement" above.
Ya gotta admit, though: there ain't no moss growin' on those Russkies' backs. They busy little guys.
Oh! Oh! All us great minds be thinkin' alike!
Yeah, there's something weird here. "hacking tools" aren't a physical thing to be "recovered", they're software.
If the goal of all this was to make the American Intelligence apparatus look more ridiculous, well... mission accomplished?
How pathetic. The “top” men fall for a Craig’s List scam.
If something first appears in the NYT as a "scoop", then it was intentionally leaked (apparently NYT was able to review documents) so that the best possible light could be written BEFORE the Real Shit Hits The Fan. My gawd, do they really believe that we aren't on to these tricks?
Боже! Эти американские шпионы глупы.
NYT quickly running the first story to twist Criminal Gang FBI facts they know are about to come out into an idealist group of good people that only try to do innocent things, as 70 years of FBI PR narratives tell us....and the smoke just keeps blowing up our asses.
Despite the NYT's best effort to put lipstick on this pig, it's reasonable to infer from the facts reported that the deep state at the CIA was (and is) determined to undermine Trump. BTW, the comments on the article at the Times are hilarious; the commenters blame the Trump Administration.
SENATOR WARNER (D) tried to have secret meeting with Christopher Steele in April 2017 - and didn't get round to telling his good buddies on the Senate Intelligence committee till Sept 2017 or the public - you know, you and me - till now.
Why is that?
kinda like Ted Kennedy trying to meet with USSR in 1983 - SECRETLY - and undercut Reagan.
Is there any Democrat Senator who isn't a fucking traitor?
This country would be 100% better off, if New England would simply LEAVE and form its own country or join Canada.
Get rid of 12 Democrat/liberal/screwball Senators from New England and the USA might return to normal.
“Despite the NYT's best effort to put lipstick on this pig, it's reasonable to infer from the facts reported that the deep state at the CIA was (and is) determined to undermine Trump. BTW, the comments on the article at the Times are hilarious; the commenters blame the Trump Administration.”
Marist Poll
http://maristpoll.marist.edu/29-showdown-with-the-intelligence-community-americans-more-likely-to-believe-the-fbi-than-president-trump/
Two-thirds of Americans (66%) say, if President Donald Trump and the FBI disagree, they would believe the FBI over the president. Only 24% of U.S. residents report they would take the side of Mr. Trump. With the exception of the president’s most ardent supporters, more Americans put credence in the FBI than in the president.
More than seven in ten Americans do not think the FBI is out to get President Trump’s administration. 71% of U.S. residents assert the Bureau is just trying to do its job. In contrast, 23% believe the FBI is biased against the president. Although 49% of Republicans believe the FBI has a grievance against Mr. Trump, more than four in ten (43%) say the Bureau is just carrying out its duties.
Inga - I have a video of President Trump with a Russian prostitute. I got it on my last trip to Moscow. I will sell it, but only to you. Post your contact information here. I will be in touch.
“SENATOR WARNER (D) tried to have secret meeting with Christopher Steele in April 2017 - and didn't get round to telling his good buddies on the Senate Intelligence committee till Sept 2017 or the public - you know, you and me - till now. Why is that? kinda like Ted Kennedy trying to meet with USSR in 1983 - SECRETLY - and undercut Reagan? Is there any Democrat Senator who isn't a fucking traitor?”
Nunes sent his senior staffer Kashyap Patel and another committee staff member to London last summer to meet with Steele, The New York Times reported early this month. The two showed up unannounced at Steele’s office, and neither Democrats on the committee nor the U.S. Embassy in London were made aware of the trip. Steele refused to meet with the Republican staffers at the time. The trip was first reported last year soon after it happened.
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-angry-mark-warner-tried-speak-dossier-author-christopher-steele-so-did-801934
“Inga - I have a video of President Trump with a Russian prostitute. I got it on my last trip to Moscow. I will sell it, but only to you. Post your contact information here. I will be in touch.”
Ew, no thanks.
Hacking tools? You mean like a cloth?
Inga quoted: "More than seven in ten Americans do not think the FBI is out to get President Trump’s administration."
If you watched MSNBC all day, the topic was Porter, and by extension Trump. FBI? Who are they?
“Confucius say "never trust" Maoist poll.”
Worth a chuckle.
Sorry, I double deleted that due to an iPad malfunction.
Inga-Binga is just a lame Tokyo Rose. Ignore her and she’ll broadcast elsewhere.
I'll take the morning consult poll, Newsweek whose office were seized because it was conducting subscription fraud.
Take away the FBI's guns and badges until the Obama-era upper management is safely in prison. Use the Library of Congress SWAT team if there is an emergency.
“Inga-Binga is just a lame Tokyo Rose. Ignore her and she’ll broadcast elsewhere.”
Dusty Wusty, has anyone ever told you that Althouse’s blog isn’t an arm of the Trump White House or the Republican Party? I’m sorry that it upsets you that the opposition expresses themselves here too. Wouldn’t an echo chamber be boring? Democrats and liberals are Americans too, don’t you forget it.
Krays understand the difference between contacting a,witness, and using an oligarch connected and even foreign ministry asset like walberg to contact a,witness.
At least the NSA didn’t give billions to Iran.
Fen's Law writ large.
"Democrats and liberals are Americans too, don’t you forget it."
Military parades not included in this special offer.
Or maybe it was the CIA that paid the $100k.
I won’t buy a NYT subscription, but did the Director approve this operation? Did he know?
"Oh, sure. We paid $100,000 for anti-Trump rumors. But you have to understand, what we bought is not what we wanted."
"Just an impulse buy, really. You ever seen those little kids grabbing candy off the shelf and putting it in the grocery cart? Same principle."
"Democrats and liberals are Americans too, don’t you forget it."
Hilarious!
Goddamn, its amazing. Just when you think the Left/liberals are being serious, they come up with the funniest Joke of all time.
Imagine. A liberal/leftist showing an OUNCE of patriotism (aka "Love of country" for you liberals out there).
Comedy Gold. Baby, you can't get anything more funny.
Sadly, the moronic Conservatives won't get the joke. They still think Pelosi/Schumer are "patriotic" Americans.
Found out Brennan was Director at the time of this genius play.
I wonder if Chuck Todd will quiz paid shill Brennan on MTP on this incident. See below.
Did you give the okay on this operation?
How could you get back the source code when the Russians already had it and likely had already made hundreds of copies?
Isn’t this “recover the hacking tools” a cover story for your effort to get dirt on Trump?
Why should taxpayer money be used to purchase Dem party oppo research?
What were you going to do with the Trump dirt?
How stupid do you think the American people are?
Do you think the Jesuits who taught you at Fordham would be proud of your stupid partisan skullduggery and law breaking?
Amy McGrath (D)for Congress. “We must have members of Congress willing to stand up to partisanship, divisiveness and duplicity, and meet our challenges head on, always putting country before politics.
That’s the style of decisive leadership I learned in the Marines and it’s what I’m prepared to bring to Congress. Our country is in crisis. We need leaders who never flinch.”
————————————————
“We don't live in a dictatorship or monarchy. I swore an oath - in the military and in the Senate - to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap," Duckworth wrote in a tweet, using a nickname she had given Trump, who had said in previous interviews that he was granted medical deferment during the Vietnam War after he was diagnosed with bone spurs in his feet.”
Senator Tammy Duckworth, Army helicopter pilot who lost both legs while serving in Iraq
"The United States intelligence officials said they cut off the deal because they were wary of being entangled in a Russian operation to create discord inside the American government. They were also fearful of political fallout in Washington if they were seen to be buying scurrilous information on the president...."
Sure. My first reaction is that this was a phone operation, that would be leaked at the appropriate time (now) to make the spies look principled.
Or
"They were also fearful of political fallout in Washington if they were seen to be buying scurrilous information on the president . . ." Which means they saw how badly the existing effort to discredit Trump had gone and did not want to get entangled in that.
Always ask: "Who benefits by this leak?" That will put you closer to the leaker and their motive.
were seen to be buying scurrilous information on the president....
Didn't we reserve the lower case 'p' for Obama?
it's reasonable to infer from the facts reported that the deep state at the CIA was (and is) determined to undermine Trump
Yes, but with a mountain of information, misinformation, and disinformation being piled up so as to lead to a mass of confusion, even the glaringly obvious gets obscured and few people will catch on.
Inga hardest hit.
Breaking! Some Russian Oligarchs were discussing something on a yacht, and we suspect they were talking about Trump.
"The United States intelligence officials said they cut off the deal because they were wary of being entangled in a Russian operation to create discord inside the American government." So when does Mueller close up shop?
I Should Know: Dems' Intel Abuse Is Reminiscent of My Work for Ceausescu
"Forty years ago, I paid with two death sentences from my native Romania. I had publicly revealed that Ceausescu's highly praised independence from Moscow was in fact an undercover intelligence dictatorship, designed to transform Romania into a monument to him by annihilating his critics and enemies. "I'll give you a name, and you'll build a criminal record for him," Ceausescu used to tell the head of the Securitate -- his Marxist version of the FBI. For him, lying was the first step toward stealing and killing."
The democrat party is a sham. A corrupt sham.
Obama speaks in Ceausescu. Yes. He does.
So ...
Schiff talked 8 minutes with Russians taking notes hoping to get dirt on Trump and ...
Warner tried to work with Russians for months getting dirt on Trump and ...
The Brennan-led CIA spent $100,000 as a down payment to get dirt on Trump so ...
We can safely conclude two things: 1) Russia did try to meddle with our election results and 2) by making patsies of Democrat stooges.
And one more thing: we are witnessing corruption on levels never before seen in the U.S.
we are witnessing corruption on levels never before seen in the U.S.
Corruption born from desperation. They wanted... nay, needed... someone amenable to spinning their ball of yarns. Trump may or may not be legit, but he is not their kind, not their class.
The CIA is full of tools alright.
My, how credible.
My first thought is that maybe they have too much money to spend at the CIA.
The way the article is written makes no sense at all to me. So they wanted their electronic wrench back? Not exactly how it works, is it? And the Russian is talking to the NYT, is he? What would the Russian's motive be to do so? Is he advertising for a buyer?
Or are these people just trying to keep the money flowing? Do they believe that Dems will spend any amount for films, which with modern image-processing ability, can literally be made up? Like they think we've got "SUCKER" printed on our foreheads?
Inga, I have to say - I’d like to know what you think. As opposed to what/who you copy in quotation marks.
Do you think anything? Or do you just cut and paste quotes? Because if all you do is cut and paste DNC talking points, we can read that for ourselves pretty much anywhere. Seriously. Tell us what you think.
... *facepalm*
It's a shame Trump blocked the Schiff/Nadler memo. Because... this is a farce.
I am going to assume that the CIA is not so stupid to think that they can buy back software. I'm sure some of them used Napster at some point.
The only explanation that makes sense at this point would be if the tools had not been released into the wild, so to speak, and the CIA wanted to know exactly what had been stolen before it got public so they could prepare countermeasures. They probably have lots of tools and trying to develop countermeasures to all of them would be a massive undertaking. Except if the CIA was smart they would already have countermeasures for their tools in case they fell into the wrong hands. And they almost certainly do.
This sounds more like an ad hoc excuse for a teenager caught watching porn by his parents. "I was using your credit card to buy you a rosary for your birthday, but when I clicked on the links there were boobs! I didn't look. And my belt broke. And I forgot to wear underwear today. Did you know they put Viagra in the drinking water?" The story is not remotely believable unless the agents involved are morons.
Makes sense this was an attempt to put it in the best light by a selective leak to the NYT. Great catch / comment!
Warner’s action is inconceivable! Think if the GOP had done something like this to Obama what the reaction would be.
Russians are doing an amazing job of causing chaos in the us with disinformation.
And I believe even worse stuff will come out.
#3 personn in Justice just resigned to work at Walmart. Walmart who’s home state is Arkansa. Which ex Presidents was from there? Probably coincidence...
Yesterday Winer was given an editorial in WaPo to deflect his involvement in this act of subversion. Clapper gets his attempt at spin in the The New York Times today. The seditious lefties now know they can no longer mask their evil deeds so they're trying to put forth their deniability. Will the fall guy (or gal) please step forward -- we're ready for your close-up.
Sounds a little like operation Merlin in the 90s, where they tried to sell a,phony nuclear design to the iranians,but it didn't work because they reverse engineered it, then the operative involved sterling leaked the story to James risen, who wrote this story in the intercept Btw. Sterling was prosecuted by one of red Stevens witchhunters and they subpoenaed risen.
"Russians are doing an amazing job of causing chaos in the us with disinformation."
True, though how much of it they are "causing" is not clear: much of the chaos is created by the Dem Deep Staters.
They thought Hill would win. They thought it would all be OK. They thought they would be rewarded. But not only could the not prevent Trump's victory, now they have to scramble and justify and dissemble. The only question is what price they will pay, if any.
Still, the Russians will be pleased: it doesn't take much to rile up the Dems against their own country. They are easily played because they want to be played. Domestic power overrides everything, which makes them easy patsies for foreign troublemakers. Not one Dem has expressed contrition about the damage done to the country so far.
But the Chinese and others are undoubtedly watching, rejoicing at the sight of the Clappers and Comeys and Brennans and Strzoks and McCabes, and Rosenstein mobilizing Mueller against the sitting president, thinking: this, this is what we are up against? Bring it on. Whether Trump has hired better help remains to be seen.
Democrats and liberals are Americans too, don’t you forget it.
Traitors are worse than enemies.
"Lucien said...
Inga, I have to say - I’d like to know what you think. As opposed to what/who you copy in quotation marks.
Do you think anything? Or do you just cut and paste quotes? Because if all you do is cut and paste DNC talking points, we can read that for ourselves pretty much anywhere. Seriously. Tell us what you think."
You new around here? What she thinks? LOL She's a dullard. The amazing thing is that she can hit Crt-C and then find her way back here.
“Do you think anything? Or do you just cut and paste quotes? Because if all you do is cut and paste DNC talking points, we can read that for ourselves pretty much anywhere. Seriously. Tell us what you think.”
I tell you what I think all the damn time. I also post pertinent things that others say. Why did you have such an issue with information? Seriously, I think you folks don’t want any information that doesn’t come from your own sources. That is your real beef.
It’s hilarious to hear you people give yourselves credit for posting “original” thoughts. I’m happy to tell you that this is yet another delusion of yours. The stuff you regurgitate comes straight out of right wing rags and conspiracy theory sites, almost word for word. You are simply too dishonest to post your sources.
Dear Lefties:
Assume for a moment that a fifth of what the FBI is alleged to have done - based on the own internal communications - is in fact true.
What level of corruption of that variety do you accept from your governmemt?I
Is it truly BAMN?
Declare it openly.
“You new around here? What she thinks? LOL She's a dullard. The amazing thing is that she can hit Crt-C and then find her way back here.”
Coming from this retarded chimp.... laughable. As for dullards, I have yet to read anything from you that sounds like it’s above sixth grade level.
Act 1 is over now. The stage has been set. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Act 2 begins. The rats are going to start turning States evidence soon. The left is going to be politically irrelevant nationally and the states importing illegals are going to be brought to heel. Obama will be remembered as the most corrupt president in history. Hillary is going to be a complete laughingstock. Not only was she massively corrupt but pathetic and incompetent.
Obama has many years to live with his shame.
The leftists have been screeching for violence against Rand Paul vocally and publicly all week.
Expect them to be even more violent over the next 6 months as it becomes clear 2018 is going to go poorly for them.
And I am betting Mr. Rosenstein is feeling pretty lonely right now.
The Althouse blog’s comments sections have become a repository for nuts and bolts. The conspiracy theories come fast and loose, one after another after another. It’s really a site/sight to behold. You folks sound like you have no foothold in reality anymore
Prime example, comment @11:08. Good lord. Has Trump done this to you people? This is a sad sight to see.
Is it 17 FBI resignations/retirements since the news about this FISA tapp started brraking? And all involved in that process?
Imagine the odds.
"Imagine the odds."
An infamous cut-and-paster said it was all conspiracy theories.
Inga said...
The Althouse blog’s comments sections have become a repository for nuts and bolts. The conspiracy theories come fast and loose, one after another after another. It’s really a site/sight to behold. You folks sound like you have no foothold in realty anymore.
Over the last two years you have been wrong about everything.
Over the last two years I have been right about everything.
The next year will be no different.
The resignations at the DOJ FBI are going to start coming faster. As soon as Rosenstein resigns/is indicted all hell is going to break loose. The Obama administration corruption is going to be revealed to everyone. The democrat party will likely split apart.
Republicans will have 60 seats in the senate and McConnell will still find a way to cave in to Schumer.
Scanning the comments on the NYT article, it's more clear to me than ever that this nation no longer inhabits a single world. The filters are now so strong that conservatives and libs can read a story like this and both see confirmation of their views on the Trump/Russia story.
It's astounding. And sad.
Hard rains gonna fall, you can take the original version or that by the former Mrs Paul Simon , edie brickell.
As a film script, the Berlin imbroglio needs work. I wonder which hotel they used if 100k was involved perhaps the adlon kempinski, featured in unknown, although there are aspects of spy's slapstick even a little of derringers do from the first mission impossible film
Republicans will have 60 seats in the senate and McConnell will still find a way to cave in to Schumer.
And isn't that about a Bitch?
Whole business was obvious in 2015 when the email scandal broke. It was instantly clear that everyone in government at senior levels, implicating not just the appointees but the upper professional levels of every security agency, going back to 2009 at the very least, was implicated in the practice or coverup of illegal, unsecured communications designed to evade FOIA or official investigations.
The only questions at the time was what it was all for; and whether they would get away with it.
The amazing series of conspiratorial maneuvers, designed to avoid being brought to book, subsequent to that, just piled crimes on crimes.
Whats not yet been explored, much, yet, is the first question, what it was all for. What was so important that so many went to such extraordinary lengths to accomodate Secretary Clintons whims.
Hilary's server will, one day, need to be found for preservation at the Smithsonian. I hope someone has hung on to it.
This story sounds like literal horseshit. How exactly do you buy back hacking tools?
If this story has anything in it that relates to a real event, I would wager that the item offered for sale and purchase was dirt on Trump, and if the deal really was scuttled, it was scuttled because the info was nothing but a story. What would intelligence officers claim about such a meeting if they got found out? I imagine lie would be the first thing they would do.
Lucien, here what I think. I think the day will come when this investigation concludes. What it may very likely reveal:
Obstruction of Justice
Conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Money Laundering
When one or all of these crimes are revealed, Trump will be impeached and quite a few of you just won’t be able to cope. People like Achilles will go off the deep end because he’s already teetering on the edge. Violence by nuts and bolts like him may ensue. You folks will be in shock and deeply dissapointed. The more well adjusted of you will do the reading for yourselves and recognize the truth of the matter. Then it will take decades, for you who made Trump into a cult figure, to live down the horrible fact that you, because of stupidity, bigotry or naïveté voted for him and worse, despite the daily evidence of his incompetency, continued to support him. The history books won’t be kind to Trump or Trumpists, indeed your grandchildren will ask why grandma of grandpa could’ve fallen prey to such a despot and your adult children will have to make excuses for you. You Trumpists have lost your way, you veer from one nutty conspiracy theory to the next, not realizing that they’ve been spun by people whose goal is to distract and confuse you, in order to protect this president from being held accountable. Wake up, get your heads out of Trump’s ass.
That is what I think
So the CIA thinks you can buy back stolen digital copies and that is the end to it. Somebody should explain to the CIA how digital copies work. "Gee Agent Bob, I just hacked your system. What if I just send it back to you? We'll be cool, OK?"
The logical counter to the Trump-as-devil theory is that the deep corruption of the state, which these scandals are revealing, was obvious before Trump even announced his candidacy.
Even if one concedes that Trump has been a secret criminal for his entire career - as a private person - this has no bearing on the politically relevant crimes carried out by persons in political office and senior functionaries of the state.
It is this corruption of the state itself that is relevant to the public welfare and requires an exercise of civic responsibility.
buwaya: "The logical counter to the Trump-as-devil theory is that the deep corruption of the state, which these scandals are revealing, was obvious before Trump even announced his candidacy"
We know from the FISA court judge last year that the surveillance requests thru the FISA process has been abused for years.
For years. Outright lies, lies of omissions, etc.
All of that is found in the "Memorandum Opinion and Order" issued by FISA Judge Rosemary Collyer last year which was unsealed by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats last year.
Judge Collyer called out the obama admin for grave and widespread abuses.
I guess Inga is going to think that Judge Rosemary Collyer is part of some bizarre conspiracy.
Here's some highlights from her 99 page Opinion:
From the FISA Court ruling:
The October 26, 2016 Notice informed the Court that NSA Analysts had been conducting such queries in violation of that prohibition, with much greater frequency than had previously been disclosed to the Court.
The Court ascribed the government’s failure to disclose the IG and OCO reviews at the October 4, 2016 hearing [Obama’s NSD Director John Carlin – NOT Rogers] to an institutional “Lack of Candor” and emphasized that “this is a very serious Fourth Amendment Issue”.
A non-compliance rate of 85% raises substantial questions about the propriety of using of [Redacted – likely “About”] query FISA data.
There is no apparent reason to believe the November 2015-April 2016 period coincided with an unusually high rate.
The FBI had disclosed raw FISA information, including but not limited to Section 702-acquired information, to a [Redacted].
Is largely staffed by private contractors.
The {Redacted} contractors had access to raw FISA information that went well beyond what was necessary to respond to the FBI’s requests.
The FBI discontinued the above-described access to raw FISA information as of April 18, 2016.
Their [contractors] access was not limited to raw information for which the FBI sought assistance – and access continued even after they had completed work in response to an FBI request.
The FBI had given the information to the private entity [Redacted] not to an assisting federal agency.
The Court is nonetheless concerned about the FBI’s apparent disregard of minimization rules and whether the FBI may be engaging in similar disclosures of raw Section 702 information that have not been reported.
The improper access granted to the [Redacted] contractors was apparently in place [Redacted] and seems to have been the result of deliberate decision-making.
This all points to substantial instances of improper surveillance. Going back to at least November 2015 – probably longer.
You can read the whole thing here:
https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/icotr/51117/2016_Cert_FISC_Memo_Opin_Order_Apr_2017.pdf
Inga: "That is what I think"
LOL
There is no "thinking" going on there....
whom should I believe about obama govt abuses of the FISA system?
Inga, or FISA Court Judge Rosemary Collyer who issed a 99-page scathing rebuke of the DOJ/FBI/NSA for their abuses?
Hmmmmmmm.
Tough call, but on balance, I'm going to have to go with Judge Collyer.
Add Mike Kortan to the list of rats jumping ship.
Blogger Achilles said...
Act 1 is over now. The stage has been set. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
ETC
I'd like to think so. But I suspect it will be like when the EPA ruined that river: nobody goes to jail, a few discreet early retirements, some put on administrative leave (paid vacation..).
Best we can hope for is Trump gradually cleans house. Hillary will skate, Obama will skate. Maybe some fourth tier guy somewhere becomes a sacrificial goat.
Inga said...
Lucien, here what I think. I think the day will come when this investigation concludes. What it may very likely reveal:
Obstruction of Justice
Conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Money Laundering
[gibberish]
That is what I think
Is Inga denouncing the democrats who have been openly calling for violence against Rand Paul?
Of course not.
She and her traitorous allies in the FBI/DOJ came up with a list of things they want to Impeach Trump for. They have been wish casting for 2 years.
I used to say that Inga and her ilk were stupid or traitorous.
Foolish of me.
I am embracing the power of and.
The DOJ is going through unprecedented resignations. The indictments will follow. Shit is going to get real. Obama is going to be hiding and dodging questions in disgrace. Hillary is already a decrepit joke. She is going to spawn numerous cautionary tales of political about political stupidity and corruption.
Inga is going to have to realize only a small percentage of American citizens want to live in a country with open borders and free shit for illegals and a corrupt federal government that spies on political opponents. Or she could move to Cuba where she has ideological allies already in power.
Unknown said...
Blogger Achilles said...
Act 1 is over now. The stage has been set. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
ETC
I'd like to think so. But I suspect it will be like when the EPA ruined that river: nobody goes to jail, a few discreet early retirements, some put on administrative leave (paid vacation..).
Best we can hope for is Trump gradually cleans house. Hillary will skate, Obama will skate. Maybe some fourth tier guy somewhere becomes a sacrificial goat.
November is going to tell the tale. GOPe hacks are already retiring in mass. Democrats are losing on generic ballots. They are also defending 10 senate seats in states Trump won. Republicans are defending 8 seats total. It is going to turn out well.
Civil service reform is starting to bubble to the surface as a priority. CC reciprocity is out of committee. Watch the Dem's fold like cheap suits on immigration because they know if that is on the ballot in 2018 they are done.
A shaggy-dog story is dumped on a Friday afternoon. Let’s let the author summarize it, shall we?
“American spies went out looking for these hacking tools that the NSA had created that had been stolen. And they found a Russian who said he could sell it all, but said, ‘You are also going to get all the kompromat on Donald Trump. The sex tape. All of it.’ The Americans were like, ‘Oh, God, we don’t really want that, we want those hacking tools.’”
Riiiiiiiiiight.
Hey, Jennifer Lawrence. I stole all your pictures from the Apple Cloud. But I'll send them all back to you if you send me $100,000. You can count them. They'll all be there.
Obama spied, Clinton colluded, the DNC denied the nomination to the Jew, and JournoLists at NYT, WaPo, etc. of the Fourth Estate provided a progressive (i.e. monotonic) cover-up.
That said, $100,000 is nothing in the context of trillion dollar redistributive change schemes. There must have been more at risk, and a forward imperative, for Obama et al to back yet another "social justice" uprising a la Libya, Syria, Egypt, creation of yet another abortion field, and Catastrophic Anthropogenic Immigration Reform (CAIR) in Ukraine.
It’s all been said. The Times guys must think us flyover folks are really stupid enough to fall for this shit.
Perhaps they wanted to buy back the Internet ("Moss Introduces Jen To The Internet The IT Crowd")
buwaya,
"Whole business was obvious in 2015 when the email scandal broke. "
I would say Benghazi was when it first became apparent to those who don't follow politics closely. The poor decisions followed by multi-department coverup that the media was very complicit it.
You know, once upon a time the CIA could at least come up with a good cover story for their screw-ups. Between Panetta and Brennan’s “leadership,” Pompeo has a lot of work to do to make that $15 billion dollar agency* functional again.
_________
* As estimated by Wikipedia. True budget is probably impossible to know within a billion or so.
I see that Inga is apparently unaware that when her heartthrob Tammy Duckworth was sued for her part in covering up misconduct and abuse of veterans back when she was head of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. The fact that she participated in covering up the abuse of veterans needing services when she herself is a veteran, and a disabled veteran at that, lowers her considerably in my eyes, and takes a lot of the shine off her heroism.
Sorry about the extra linefeeds. Accident.
I think this country of more than 330 million people should be run based on opinion polls by partisan institutions that draw on samples of less than 2,000 people. Yeah, that's the way to do it.
"Act 2 begins. The rats are going to start turning States evidence soon."
-- Why? We know for a fact -- a fact -- that Abedin committed perjury. That Mills committed perjury. That Clinton ordered the destruction of subpoenaed evidence. That Podesta committed the same crimes as Manafort. That Clinton ordered classified documents sent to unclassified devices, to have her maid handled classified materials. Comey has admitted to stealing documents from the FBI and leaking at least one classified document to a person without a clearance or need to know. And not *one* of them have been in legal jeopardy at any point.
There is no rational reason to believe a Democrat will ever be held to account for breaking secrecy laws or for committing "process" crimes.
"Is it truly BAMN?"
-- I assumed a good percentage of the people claiming BAMN meant it when the street violence started before Trump was even elected. The problem is that there's a lot of people who SAY BAMN without realizing exactly what means the other people saying BAMN are really willing to embrace.
M jordan@9:43 nails it.
The NYTimes article could be a little more clear about the timing, but if am reading this right, the actions we are talking about occured during 2017 -- under the Trump Presidency; Brennan left CIA in Jan 2017, so if anyone can correct me, or help me understand the timing, I'd appreciate it.
An effort started earlier continued with bureaucratic inertia into 2017?
The Trump Administration deliberately tried to buy information damaging to Trump (to take it off the market??).
The Trump Administration undertook actions to learn more about, and reduce effectiveness of RUssian related hacking effortss?
The "deep state" CIA wanted info to force Trump out of office?
Maybe there are other interpretations/explanations.
"He claimed the information would link the president and his associates to Russia. Instead of providing the hacking tools, the Russian produced unverified and possibly fabricated information involving Mr. Trump and others, including bank records, emails and purported Russian intelligence data."
-- Sounds like exactly the trick that the Russian lawyer tried to pull on Don Jr., only Don Jr. didn't pay up, but the CIA did.
"But his apparent eagerness to sell the Trump “kompromat” — a Russian term for information used to gain leverage over someone — to American spies raised suspicions among officials that he was part of an operation to feed the information to United States intelligence agencies and pit them against Mr. Trump. "
-- Why not just say "blackmail material?"
"No audio could be heard on the video, and there was no way to verify if the man was Mr. Trump, as the Russian claimed."
-- ... Why is this not part of the lead of the story? Has the NYT not learned about the inverted pyramid and putting the most important stuff at the front of the story?
"American intelligence officials were also wary of the purported kompromat the Russian wanted to sell. They saw the information, especially the video, as the stuff of tabloid gossip pages, not intelligence collection, American officials said."
-- Man. They need to get on the FBI's level.
I just read that article. What a waste of time.
Inga said...
Lucien, here what I think. I think the day will come when this investigation concludes. What it may very likely reveal:
Obstruction of Justice
Conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Money Laundering"
That's just a list of stuff you have cut and pasted.
"When one or all of these crimes are revealed, Trump will be impeached and quite a few of you just won’t be able to cope. People like Achilles will go off the deep end because he’s already teetering on the edge. Violence by nuts and bolts like him may ensue. You folks will be in shock and deeply dissapointed. The more well adjusted of you will do the reading for yourselves and recognize the truth of the matter. Then it will take decades, for you who made Trump into a cult figure, to live down the horrible fact that you, because of stupidity, bigotry or naïveté voted for him and worse, despite the daily evidence of his incompetency, continued to support him. The history books won’t be kind to Trump or Trumpists, indeed your grandchildren will ask why grandma of grandpa could’ve fallen prey to such a despot and your adult children will have to make excuses for you. You Trumpists have lost your way, you veer from one nutty conspiracy theory to the next, not realizing that they’ve been spun by people whose goal is to distract and confuse you, in order to protect this president from being held accountable. Wake up, get your heads out of Trump’s ass.
That is what I think"
I think that you will be changing your blog name again and running from any post on exoneration of Trump, like you do Walker. My suggestion was going to be "Dullard", but now think "Blithering Idiot" is better suited.
Inga said, "That's what I think."
Ah I see your problem right there.
I don't think(uh-oh) that our Inga can reconcile two opposing thoughts. Trump is a loud mouthed braggart. Disgusting.Bad Trump. Trump kept his campaign promise to lower taxes. Wonderful. Good Trump. No. Like a child she must see everything stemming from her nemesis as evil and some how contrived to effect her personally in a negative way.
Poor girl. She's stuck in high school.
Rusty and Dumb Monkey George, are you two sock puppets of each other?
Poor retarded chimp George not only writes at a sixth grade level, he thinks at a six grade level. Rusty isn’t far behind. It’s not my problem that you two cannot grasp that the conspiracy theory ‘reality’ that you and many here cling to nowadays will come crashing down around your heads. Your President, who is under investigation, likely won’t escape without either being impeached or yes, even indicted. Do a bit of research and you’ll discover that a president can be indicted. But this will probably be too difficult for dumb chimp and poor Rusty to do and to understand if they were able to do it.
As I said last night, I have serious concerns about the mental health of some Trumpists presently and in the future when this Mueller investigation is completed. The entire tone of the comments sections has become so bizzare and hostile that after reading comments and engaging in discussion ( or something resembling it) I come away with a feeling of doom. If even 33% of this nation, the true blue Trumpists, are so disturbed and deluded, as the comments suggest, this nation may be in trouble.
What caused this mass hysteria? I can only surmise. Bigotry, hatred, spite, many base emotions seem to drive Trumpists. Even evangelicals have closed their eyes or even embraced this madness. I hope that when all is said and done that love of country can be the motivating emotion for the rest of you who aren’t totally immersed in Trumpism.
I hope enough of you can emerge from this dark place you’ve created. I know some won’t be able to rise above and will either engage in violence or end up dying themselves while engaging in violence. Try using the brain that God gave you, try listening to your conscience, try looking at Trump and your unhealthy attachment to him with clear eyes. Try placing your trust in a true higher power, that higher power is not the flawed human, Trump.
I hope you take my words in the spirit in which they’re given.
Inga: "I hope you take my words in the spirit in which they’re given."
Kim Jong Un could not have said it better.
"Pompeo has a lot of work to do to make that $15 billion dollar agency* functional again."
Porter Goss tried and gave up.
Inga's comment at 2/10/18, 8:36 AM is so great. A masterpiece of stupidity and projection.
So the current administration can buy (with taxpayer money!) information from the Russians about the rival candidate, but that candidate can't meet with the Russians about his rival. Is that what we are learning?
“I hope you take my words in the spirit in which they’re given.“
We do. You are a Stalinist. We will react accordingly.
Inga. Do you want want to know the truth?
I take your words as if they were dialog in some cartoon.
The American people can smell a rat. Despite the embargo on negative news for Democrats and especially Clinton and Obama, polls show the majority of Americans believe that Obama spied on the Trump campaign, according to a IBD/TIPP poll:
Some 55% of those said it was "likely" that the Obama administration "improperly surveilled the Trump campaign during the 2016 election."
On the question of whether a special counsel was needed to "investigate whether the FBI and the Department of Justice improperly surveilled the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election," 54% responded "yes," and 44% "no."
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/most-think-obama-white-house-spied-on-trump-campaign-want-special-counsel-ibdtipp-poll/
Matthew Sablan said...
“There is no rational reason to believe a Democrat will ever be held to account for breaking secrecy laws or for committing "process" crimes.”
That is up to people like you.
People here get all weak kneed and squishy when talk of executing traitors comes up.
They have resolve.
Things won’t change until enough of you at least let others do what needs to be done.
Rusty said...
“Inga. Do you want want to know the truth?“
That is not how leftists handle investigations.
They knew the truth before they started the investigation.
It was a means to an end.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Catalina. In that case the conspirators were strangled to death without trial. Catalina died leading his legion into battle. The good old days. Won't happen to Comey, Brennan et al. They have their Praetorians CNN, Times, Post, MSNBC on the march.
Mark Nielsen:
"Scanning the comments on the NYT article, it's more clear to me than ever that this nation no longer inhabits a single world. The filters are now so strong that conservatives and libs can read a story like this and both see confirmation of their views on the Trump/Russia story.
It's astounding. And sad.”
This has been more clearly brought home to me lately: no matter what “facts” the country settles on, left and right will have a grasp of them that is polar opposites to each other. So I’m not getting my hopes up that anything can be done to shame anyone. We are well beyond that. If a stone cold legal case can be made, or legal pressure be brought to bear behind the scenes, I think you’ll continue to see attrition in the top of thei ntelligence community and maybe even contrition by those one level below that. I really think the best way forward—the one with the least drama and which is most effective—is for things to take shape behind the scenes. People whose hands are dirty will find they need more time with their families.
Mark Nielsen and Bruce Gee: Others of us see this and agree. And are discouraged.
When the Russians see the CIA guy coming they must chortle with glee. "Hey Yuri, that guy with suitcases full of Yankee money just flew into town again. Help me with this fantasy I'm writing. Half a day's work and he'll give me that suitcase. How much Vodka can we buy for $100k?"
Post a Comment