AZProgressive
AZProgressive's JournalHere's that original David Corn story on the dossier: October 31, 2016: A Veteran Spy Has Given the
Here's that original David Corn story on the dossier: October 31, 2016: A Veteran Spy Has Given the FBI Information Alleging a Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump
https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/939321000688340992?s=17
Comey set off a political blast when he informed congressional leaders that the bureau had stumbled across emails that might be pertinent to its completed inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s handling of emails when she was secretary of state. The Clinton campaign and others criticized Comey for intervening in a presidential campaign by breaking with Justice Department tradition and revealing information about an investigation—information that was vague and perhaps ultimately irrelevant—so close to Election Day. On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid upped the ante. He sent Comey a fiery letter saying the FBI chief may have broken the law and pointed to a potentially greater controversy: “In my communications with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government…The public has a right to know this information.”
Reid’s missive set off a burst of speculation on Twitter and elsewhere. What was he referring to regarding the Republican presidential nominee? At the end of August, Reid had written to Comey and demanded an investigation of the “connections between the Russian government and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign,” and in that letter he indirectly referred to Carter Page, an American businessman cited by Trump as one of his foreign policy advisers, who had financial ties to Russia and had recently visited Moscow. Last month, Yahoo News reported that US intelligence officials were probing the links between Page and senior Russian officials. (Page has called accusations against him “garbage.”) On Monday, NBC News reported that the FBI has mounted a preliminary inquiry into the foreign business ties of Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chief. But Reid’s recent note hinted at more than the Page or Manafort affairs. And a former senior intelligence officer for a Western country who specialized in Russian counterintelligence tells Mother Jones that in recent months he provided the bureau with memos, based on his recent interactions with Russian sources, contending the Russian government has for years tried to co-opt and assist Trump—and that the FBI requested more information from him.
Does this mean the FBI is investigating whether Russian intelligence has attempted to develop a secret relationship with Trump or cultivate him as an asset? Was the former intelligence officer and his material deemed credible or not? An FBI spokeswoman says, “Normally, we don’t talk about whether we are investigating anything.” But a senior US government official not involved in this case but familiar with the former spy tells Mother Jones that he has been a credible source with a proven record of providing reliable, sensitive, and important information to the US government.
In June, the former Western intelligence officer—who spent almost two decades on Russian intelligence matters and who now works with a US firm that gathers information on Russia for corporate clients—was assigned the task of researching Trump’s dealings in Russia and elsewhere, according to the former spy and his associates in this American firm. This was for an opposition research project originally financed by a Republican client critical of the celebrity mogul. (Before the former spy was retained, the project’s financing switched to a client allied with Democrats.) “It started off as a fairly general inquiry,” says the former spook, who asks not to be identified. But when he dug into Trump, he notes, he came across troubling information indicating connections between Trump and the Russian government. According to his sources, he says, “there was an established exchange of information between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin of mutual benefit.”
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/veteran-spy-gave-fbi-info-alleging-russian-operation-cultivate-donald-trump/
Kiwi spies knew of Donald Trump's 'collusion' with Russia as it unfolded book
New Zealand spies knew about Donald Trump colluding with Russia in the lead-up to the extraordinary 2016 US election, an investigative journalist says.
Luke Harding is a Guardian journalist and author of Collusion, a new book exploring the US president's longstanding ties with Russia.
It was the evidence of European spy agencies and, according to one source, the Australians, that helped nudge an initially reticent FBI into investigating the Trump-Russia ties that continue to unfold.
Five Eyes intelligence partners, including the New Zealand Government Communications Security Bureau, were monitoring the meetings between Trump associates and "known and suspected" Russian agents in the year preceding the US election, Harding says.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99411726/kiwi-spies-knew-of-trumps-collusion-with-russia-as-it-unfolded--guardian-journalist
BALTIMORE POLICE OFFICER KILLED BEFORE TESTIFYING AGAINST FELLOW COPS, FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED
Sean Suiter, a Baltimore detective with 18 years of experience, was going to testify before a grand jury against a group of indicted officers on the day after he was killed, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis told the press Wednesday evening.
Suiter's murder on November 15 has jolted the city and the police department, following the indictment of eight members of the gun task force who are accused of conspiring with drug dealers, filing false affidavits and claiming fraudulent overtime, according to CNN.
Davis noted that Suiter was conducting a follow-up investigation on a killing in West Baltimore’s Harlem Park neighborhood, when he noticed someone acting suspiciously. When asked if there was a connection between Suiter’s pending testimony and his killing, Davis said that “the BPD and FBI do not possess any information that this incident…is part of any conspiracy” adding that the shooting occurred spontaneously, according to The Baltimore Sun. But some believe that there are indications of foul play.
Shaun King, a prominent journalist, tweeted about the killing: “This is dirty. Baltimore Police officer who was just murdered was scheduled to testify AGAINST other corrupt cops on the force. I believe they had this man killed.”
https://www.google.com/amp/www.newsweek.com/baltimore-police-officer-killed-testifying-against-fellow-cops-foul-play-720574%3famp=1
Theres a third-world America that no one notices
By Parker Abt
November 22, 2017 at 12:00 PM
Parker Abt is a research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Americans in Puerto Rico have spent weeks without reliable access to clean water, electricity and cellphone service. The conditions on the ground remain deplorable, with shattered homes and damaged infrastructure everywhere.
But what if hundreds of thousands of Americans lived in these conditions for generations and no one noticed? That's exactly what some border communities in Texas experience on a daily basis: third-world conditions compounded by public and official indifference to their plight.
In the "colonias" of the American Southwest, hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens have lived without running water for decades (not to mention the lack of electricity, sewage treatment and drainage). Homes are built without regard for safety codes or regulations. The result is structures that look like shacks, hastily built by residents with little money and even less construction expertise.
Some colonia houses have dirt floors and fit a full family in a single room. Many families in the colonias live on less than $250 a week. I visited one colonia this past summer where a family showed me the blackened shell of their house, which burned to the ground after firefighters took 30 minutes to arrive at the scene.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/opinions/theres-a-third-world-america-that-no-one-notices/2017/11/21/640c4c1a-c499-11e7-aae0-cb18a8c29c65_story.html
Donald Trump's LaVar Ball tweets cross a line even for him
CNN)Before 6 a.m. ET, Donald Trump had already sent two tweets about the self-proclaimed "big baller" LaVar Ball.
Here's the full two-tweet set:
"It wasn't the White House, it wasn't the State Department, it wasn't father LaVar's so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence - IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man's version of Don King, but without the hair. Just think LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you. But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It's a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool!"
Even for Trump, who has defined the idea of the presidency downward, these tweets are shocking. So shocking in fact that I had to check multiple times that they were actually from Trump's verified Twitter account rather than some satirical one. But, they are very real -- and telling.
At the root of Trump's personality is grievance and a sense of victimhood. He has spent his whole life -- in his own mind -- on the outside looking in. His father was a successful developer, but not in Manhattan. When Trump became a player in Manhattan real estate, the old money in the city wouldn't accept him as one of their own. When he went to Washington in 2011 amid public speculation of a potential presidential bid, President Obama and the rest of the so-called media elites laughed at him.
At every stage, Trump has been driven by these perceived snubs. His operating principle in life can be boiled down to "I'll show you. I'll show you all!" And he is forever convinced that he's not being given proper credit for things he actually has done. He will find any evidence of these alleged snubs and do whatever it takes to "right the wrong."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/22/politics/donald-trump-lavar-ball/index.html
Hes a Member of Congress. The Kremlin Likes Him So Much It Gave Him a Code Name.
By Nicholas Fandos
Nov. 21, 2017
WASHINGTON — For two decades, Representative Dana Rohrabacher has been of value to the Kremlin, so valuable in recent years that the F.B.I. warned him in 2012 that Russia regarded him as an intelligence source worthy of a Kremlin code name.
The following year, the California Republican became even more valuable, assuming the chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee that oversees Russia policy. He sailed to re-election again and again, even as he developed ties to Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia.
Then came President Trump.
As revelations of Russia’s campaign to influence American politics consume Washington, Mr. Rohrabacher, 70, who had no known role in the Trump election campaign, has come under political and investigative scrutiny. The F.B.I. and the Senate Intelligence Committee are each seeking to interview him about an August meeting with Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, Mr. Rohrabacher said. The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, is said to be interested in a meeting he had last year with Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s short-lived national security adviser.
At the same time, fellow Republicans — questioning his judgment and intentions — have moved to curtail his power as chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats. And back home in Southern California, where Democrats and Republicans alike smell blood, the 15-term congressman is facing his toughest re-election contest in decades, with well-funded candidates from both parties lining up to unseat him.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/politics/dana-rohrabacher-putin-trump-kremlin-under-fire.html?referer=https://t.co/ZedUGq4GI8?amp=1
Collusion: How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win, by the Guardian journalist
Guardian journalist has book coming on Trump and Russia
NEW YORK — A journalist who has reported on the so-called “Steele Dossier” compiled on Donald Trump has a book coming out Nov. 16.
Vintage Books told The Associated Press on Monday that Luke Harding’s “Collusion: Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win” will be a detailed narrative on Trump’s connections with the Russians.
Harding is a foreign correspondent for The Guardian. He met last year with former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, whose dossier on Trump contains explosive allegations about the president and Russia. The book also investigates such Trump aides and family members as Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager who was indicted last week for money laundering and other charges.
Harding said in a statement that the Trump-Russia story is one of “follow the money,” a phrase dating back to the Watergate scandals.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/guardian-journalist-has-book-coming-on-trump-and-russia/2017/11/06/209533ea-c2f3-11e7-9922-4151f5ca6168_story.html?utm_term=.befc58c9f165
GOP campaigns took $7.35 million from oligarch linked to Russia
https://twitter.com/1Progressivism/status/927432935522922496Party loyalty is often cited as the reason that GOP leaders have not been more outspoken in their criticism of President Donald Trump and his refusal to condemn Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. Yet there may be another reason that top Republicans have not been more vocal in their condemnation.
Perhaps it's because they have their own links to the Russian oligarchy that they would prefer go unnoticed.
Donald Trump and the political action committees for Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich and John McCain accepted $7.35 million in contributions from a Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank.
During the 2015-2016 election season, Ukrainian-born billionaire Leonard "Len" Blavatnik contributed $6.35 million to leading Republican candidates and incumbent senators. Mitch McConnell was the top recipient of Blavatnik's donations, collecting $2.5 million for his GOP Senate Leadership Fund under the names of two of Blavatnik's holding companies, Access Industries and AI Altep Holdings, according to Federal Election Commission documents and OpenSecrets.org.
Marco Rubio's Conservative Solutions PAC and his Florida First Project received $1.5 million through Blavatnik's two holding companies. Other high dollar recipients of funding from Blavatnik were PACS representing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at $1.1 million, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham at $800,000, Ohio Governor John Kasich at $250,000 and Arizona Senator John McCain at $200,000.
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/03/tangled-web-connects-russian-oligarch-money-gop-campaigns
Roger Stone Twitter Account Suspended After Obscene, Threatening Rant At CNN Anchors Update
Update Roger Stone’s Twitter account has been suspended, almost certainly permanently. Twitter does not comment on individual comments but Stone’s offending tweets apparently violated the company’s policy against harassment and intimidation. In any case, they’re gone from the site – but you can read them below. Deadline wrote about the offensive rant this morning.
CNN’s Ana Navarro, who was among the targets of Stone’s menacing obscenity-filled tweets, responded to his banishment with appropriate concision: “Boo-hoo. Can you hear me playing my little violin for him?”9
https://twitter.com/ananavarro/status/924404188821577728
Previous, Saturday a.m. Former Trump adviser Roger Stone reacted to CNN’s then-exclusive news of imminent charges in the Mueller investigation with a string of crude, obscenity-filled, personal and vaguely threatening tweets against the network’s anchors and contributors Don Lemon, Jake Tapper, Ana Navarro, Bill Kristol, Carl Bernstein and Charles Blow.
Two of the tweets against Lemon included homophobic dog-whistles, including one making an obscene reference to oral sex and another calling the anchor an “arrogant partyboi.” (See the tweets below.) The one targeting Kristol mocked his appearance.
http://deadline.com/2017/10/roger-stone-tweet-don-lemon-jake-tapper-ana-navarro-cnn-severe-punishment-1202196664/
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