Dumb ass :denzelcryin:
RUSSIA/РОССИЯ THREAD—ASSANGE CHRGD W/ SPYING—DJT IMPEACHED TWICE-US TREASURY SANCTS KILIMNIK AS RUSSIAN AGNT
- Thread starter ☑︎#VoteDemocrat
- Start date
Dumb ass :denzelcryin:
Sergei Skripal: ‘Forthwith’ gave MI6 telephone directory of Russian agents
Sergei Skripal: ‘Forthwith’ gave MI6 telephone directory of Russian agents
2TwinMarch 10 2018, 12:01am,
Experts wearing protective suits were drafted in to Salisbury as the investigation continued. Areas of interest were the graves of Sergei Skripal’s wife and son, which may have been visited by him on SundayINS NEWS AGENCY
Sergei Skripal was a highly paid, highly valued MI6 spy codenamed “Forthwith” who provided important material to British intelligence over a ten-year period, including the entire telephone directory of the GRU, Russian military intelligence, The Times has learnt.
As investigations continue into the poisoning of Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter in Salisbury on Sunday, this newspaper has been able to build a picture of his recruitment and work as a double agent for MI6.
Mr Skripal during his time with the Russian military
He was spotted as a potential recruit by the Spanish intelligence service but run by UK intelligence as it was believed he would respond better to British handling. Stationed in Spain as a GRU officer, Mr Skripal was approached around July 1995 by an MI6 officer posing as a commercial Spanish business partner, intelligence sources said. Initially Mr Skripal had no idea, or gave the impression he was unaware, that the man was a representative of British intelligence. The Russian, then 44, was the first to reveal that he was an officer of the GRU, which the operative already knew, but maintained his cover by suggesting this would be useful for commercial reasons.
He was diagnosed with diabetes soon after and returned to Moscow but he frequently visited Spain to recuperate, and the contact with MI6 gradually expanded until he was being run by a fulltime case officer. Mr Skripal retired from the GRU in 2000 but through a former army colleague he obtained a job in the Moscow provincial government and continued to provide useful information, it is understood.
MI6 bought him a timeshare holiday home near Malaga, and the case officer would fly out for meetings over three days, with sessions lasting three or four hours. After each meeting, Mr Skripal would be paid between $5,000 and $6,000 in cash, which he deposited in a Spanish bank account.
Intelligence sources said that although Mr Skripal’s initial motivation was financial, the personal element became more important and he became increasingly interested in Britain. MI6 was careful not to bring him to the UK, however, to avoid giving away any link between “Forthwith” (meaning without delay) and the service running him.
On one occasion Mr Skripal called an emergency meeting in Spain and demanded $10,000 in cash. An officer flew out with the money the following day.
Intelligence sources believe Russia may be specifically targeting double agents resident in Britain because of MI6’s success in recruiting Russian spies since the collapse of communism. There are believed to be at least a dozen more former MI6 agents living in the UK. Their names are unknown to the public, but may well be known to President Putin as a former high-ranking intelligence officer.
Mr Skripal did not expose large numbers of “illegals”, Russian spies working undercover in the West, it is understood, but he was able to furnish precise information on the structure and personnel in Russian military intelligence, including the identities of hundreds of Russian intelligence officers.
That information was shared with MI5 and selected allies, including the CIA, undermining a key sector of Russian intelligence at the very moment Mr Putin was rising up the ranks.
Long after his retirement from the GRU, Mr Skripal continued to meet his former colleagues in Russian intelligence and pass on the information he gathered to his case officer at meetings in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. He was finally exposed as a double agent after an officer in the Spanish security service learnt of Mr Skripal’s activities and passed the information back to Moscow. He was arrested in 2004. The Spanish mole was subsequently tried and convicted in Spain. MI6 first knew that the “Forthwith” case had been blown when Mr Skripal failed to turn up for a meeting in Spain that year.
On at least one occasion when he was unwell with diabetes, Mr Skripal’s Russian wife, Liudmila, would travel to Spain to collect his payments, alerting London to a meeting by calling a dedicated telephone number. Mrs Skripal was not involved in espionage and was unaware that it came from MI6, believing it was part of a commercial transaction. The case was run in conjunction with the Spanish intelligence service.
After he was swapped with a group of Russian “sleeper” agents at Vienna airport, Mr Skripal was flown to a secret debriefing centre on the south coast of England. He continued to meet British intelligence after settling in Britain and continued to provide expertise in the methods and structure of Russian espionage operations.
Mr Skripal was first approached during the Yeltsin years when Russian government money was in short supply, and Russian intelligence officers stationed abroad frequently went unpaid for long periods. He was described as “someone who was always looking for a bit of business on the side”. MI6 sources stressed, however, that as an agent Mr Skripal was highly efficient and one of the most productive spies of the post-Cold War period. His value during that time will form part of investigations into who may have wanted to assassinate him and his daughter.
@DonKnock @dza @88m3 @wire28 @smitty22 @fact @Hood Critic @ExodusNirvana @Blessed Is the Man @dtownreppin214 @JKFrazier @BigMoneyGrip @Soymuscle Mike @.r. @Dorian Breh @Dameon Farrow @TheNig @VR Tripper @re'up @Blackfyre_Berserker @Cali_livin
Someone needs to do a concise 1-2 page write-up, with links, of what we know so far, and why people believe Trump colluded with the Russians.
Honestly guys, I've been contributing to this thread for a long time, but asking people to go to the first page of a 4,000+ page thread to catch up is a little unfair. If we have something like this, Nap can put it in the OP or everyone can just post the link to the write-up in case someone (honestly) comes in asking questions.
...
I guess I'll do it.
Go find one in Reddit and link it. Support Mueller, resist Donald, or the Mueller would probably have it.
Cambridge academics fought man at centre of Facebook furore
Colleagues had been concerned about Aleksandr Kogan’s use of research
yesterday
Aleksandr Kogan’s app, which was was downloaded by 270,000 Facebook users, acted as a gateway that allowed him to access 50m profiles
The University of Cambridge resorted to external arbitration in an attempt to resolve a bitter dispute between Aleksandr Kogan, the academic at the heart of the Facebook scandal, and colleagues concerned by how he was planning to use data in work with Cambridge Analytica four years ago.
Members of the Cambridge Psychometrics Centre, which has worked for years on tools that can analyse anonymised Facebook data for political and psychological insights, raised questions about Mr Kogan’s alleged use of university research to develop a similar app for Cambridge Analytica that could be used commercially, according to messages seen by the Financial Times.
Mr Kogan built an app that was downloaded by 270,000 Facebook users and acted as a gateway that allowed him to access up to 50m profiles. These data were allegedly passed to Cambridge Analytica — according to Christopher Wylie, a former employee-turned-whistleblower at the British data analytics firm — and used in Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The University of Cambridge has sought to distance itself from Cambridge Analytica, which chose its name to invoke the university’s renowned academic reputation. Mr Kogan joined its psychology department as a senior research associate in 2012.
According to an academic working at the university who wished to remain anonymous, Mr Kogan’s work for Cambridge Analytica used Facebook information in “ways that we might not have approved of and clearly threatened to undermine liberal democracy”.
“He shouldn’t have done it and when he did the department should have done something about it,” the person said.
Documents raising concerns were exchanged between the university’s legal office and the psychometrics department. Hostile messages, seen by the FT, went back and forth before an external lawyer was appointed to arbitrate the dispute, with costs split between the Psychometrics Centre and Mr Kogan. The case was abandoned because of its complexity, which the university warned could become costly, according to the academic.
Cambridge university declined to comment on whether specific concerns had been raised by academics but said it had “previously sought and received assurances from Mr Kogan that no university data, resources or facilities were used as the basis for his work with Global Science Research”. It has also contacted Facebook to request further information following the revelations this week.
Mr Kogan did not reply to requests for comment.
According to the messages sent four years ago and seen by the FT, he said concerns raised about his work were inaccurate and unfounded and that he had developed his own tools without relying on university research.
Mr Kogan, who is also chief executive of Philometrics, a big data and machine-learning survey company in Silicon Valley, has said his work was carried out solely for research purposes.
In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday he said he was being “used as a scapegoat”.
Mr Kogan has agreed to undergo an audit by Facebook, according to the social media company.
Mr Kogan’s app drew heavily on research conducted by Michal Kosinski, former deputy director at the Psychometrics Centre, and David Stillwell, a professor in organisational behaviour in the department.
Profs Stillwell and Kosinski’s myPersonality Project used more than 4m anonymised Facebook profiles and responses from 6m personality surveys to draw links between different interests and personality traits. Parts of the database are available online and have been used by academics in research that has linked interests with voting tendencies.
A person close to Mr Kogan said a lack of regulation and common agreement about social media data had made it difficult for academics to make ethical decisions. “He is definitely aware that he made mistakes, not necessarily legal mistakes, but I think he feels that he misjudged how people would react to what had happened,” the person said.
“A lot of people thought it was worth doing spin-off companies on what people were liking and thinking about on Facebook.”
About this series
Personal data of 50m US voters from Facebook was gathered and then allegedly used by the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. The developing scandal has not only wiped billions off the social network’s market value, it has also raised questions about its role in the democratic process. Here is the best of the FT’s coverage
@DonKnock @dza @88m3 @wire28 @smitty22 @fact @Hood Critic @ExodusNirvana @Blessed Is the Man @dtownreppin214 @JKFrazier @BigMoneyGrip @Soymuscle Mike @.r. @Dorian Breh @Dameon Farrow @TheNig @VR Tripper @re'up @Blackfyre_Berserker @Cali_livin
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Putin fukked up. European nations are linking up to oust Russian intelligence networks: 
@DonKnock @dza @88m3 @wire28 @smitty22 @fact @Hood Critic @ExodusNirvana @Blessed Is the Man @dtownreppin214 @JKFrazier @BigMoneyGrip @Soymuscle Mike @.r. @Dorian Breh @Dameon Farrow @TheNig @VR Tripper @re'up @Blackfyre_Berserker @Cali_livin
resurrection
By Way of Deception, Thou Shalt Do War
Nah I know, but the ads were created by CA for the super PAC. And it's not supposed to be legal for the campaign to give input/guidance on ad content or placement, which is what this appears and Trump has confirmed. But you're right I guess laws don't matter and nobody cares anyway so fukk it whatever.
This is a pretty good tweet thread on it that's fairly recent and breaks down a lot of solid infoSomeone needs to do a concise 1-2 page write-up, with links, of what we know so far, and why people believe Trump colluded with the Russians.
Honestly guys, I've been contributing to this thread for a long time, but asking people to go to the first page of a 4,000+ page thread to catch up is a little unfair. If we have something like this, Nap can put it in the OP or everyone can just post the link to the write-up in case someone (honestly) comes in asking questions.
I guess I'll do it.
resurrection
By Way of Deception, Thou Shalt Do War
Here is the thread from above unrolled @The Black Panther :
Unrolled thread from @SethAbramson
1. Steele Dossier intel says Sergei Lavrov ran a blackmail/money laundering scheme in which Trump got money, blackmail forbearance, and—later—election assistance in exchange for a pro-Russia policy and other perks. Trump then leaked classified intel to Lavrov in the Oval Office.
2. Trump aided his son in covering up a clandestine meeting with Kremlin agents—designed to transmit stolen Clinton material from Russia to Trump—by drafting a false statement and forcing Don to sign it under his own name. Trump knew Don would be called to testify on the meeting.
3. According to both Emin Agalarov and his father Aras, Trump signed a letter-of-intent to build Trump Tower Moscow using Putin's real estate developer, banker, and permits man in November 2013—a deal that was active until February 2017. Trump has lied about this deal from Day 1.
4. Trump held a secret meeting with Putin at an international conference, during which he discussed sanctions with the Russian strongman. His administration had no intention of acknowledging or admitting the meeting until a journalist happened to find out about it accidentally.
5. Trump admitted discussing U.S.-Russia relations with Putin in Moscow in 2013—then, after announcing a run, retracted the claim, saying he "spoke to top officials" but "couldn't say more." His fixer, Cohen, sent a witness to the call to Stormy Daniels' lawyer to kill the story.
6. An eyewitness to the judging process of the 2002 Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico has told Special Counsel Bob Mueller that Trump directly and unambiguously attempted to rig the pageant so that Miss Russia would win. Miss Russia was Putin's mistress at the time.
She won.
7. Through clandestine negotiations conducted by Sessions—lied about before Congress, under oath, by Sessions—Trump agreed to unilaterally drop Russia sanctions while he knew from briefings Russia was attacking America. His secret plan was discovered by the DoS post-inauguration.
8. During the presidential campaign, Trump directed his fixer, Cohen, to negotiate a new Trump Tower Moscow deal with the Russians—including direct contact with the Kremlin—and the negotiations went on for months. He lied about this deal (as he did with the 2013 one) from Day 1.
9. Steele's dossier says Trump agreed with the Kremlin in mid-2016—in a meeting with the Kremlin we know Carter Page had, then lied about—to not impose sanctions on Russia.
Despite a 517-5 vote in Congress to impose sanctions, Trump has refused—in violation of the law—to do so.
10. Steele's dossier also says Russian oligarchs systematically overpaid for Trump properties to help develop him as a Russian asset—a claim bolstered by Trump business partner and ex-Russian mobster Felix Sater. Trump lied under oath—Perjury—to hide his relationship with Sater.
11. After George Papadopoulos told Trump—to his face, on March 31, 2016—the Kremlin had authorized him to negotiate a clandestine mid-campaign Trump-Putin meeting, instead of firing him Trump moved him to his Russia policy team and let him edit his first foreign policy speech.
12. During the same meeting Papadopoulos told Trump that he was a Kremlin agent, Trump ordered J.D. Gordon, a top member of his national security team, to change the GOP platform in July to benefit Putin on the Crimea issue. He issued his order after learning about Putin's offer.
13. After learning his Campaign Manager was an unregistered foreign agent who'd colluded illegally with pro-Putin oligarchs, Trump kept using him as a secret advisor for at least 6 months, while publicly claiming Manafort—who lived in Trump Tower—was basically a stranger to him.
14. In a breach of protocol, Trump forbade U.S. persons from entering the Oval while he met the Russian ambassador and the man Steele says ran the Russian interference campaign. In another protocol breach, he forbade U.S. translators from attending his first meeting with Putin.
14 (addendum). These protocol breaches are a pattern: in April '17, Trump invited the Russian ambassador to be a front-row VIP at a speech in which Trump promised Russia "a good deal" on sanctions. The invite was a protocol breach; the Trump-Kislyak VIP event beforehand was also.
15. After learning that Russia was committing cyberwarfare against the United States, and after saying that Putin watches carefully what he—Trump—says on television, Trump invited Russian hackers to continue committing crimes against the U.S. and said they'd be "richly rewarded."
16. Our intel community agrees Russia interfered with our election to a) sow chaos, and b) do so without getting caught. Despite being told in an August 2016 briefing Russia was attacking us, Trump has denied Russia did so, sows chaos on the issue, and refuses to criticize Putin.
17. While acting under color of authority from his father-in-law, Kushner smuggled Russia's ambassador into Trump's house (Trump Tower) through a back door in December 2016 to discuss establishing a secret Trump-Putin channel using a secure Russian facility—which plan is illegal.
18. Russia's main interest, now—in the matter of its cyber-crimes—is that Congress not find out what it did, with whom, or when. Trump illegally—without asserting executive privilege—directed key Congressional witnesses to refuse to answer Congressional inquiries on the subject.
19. Don Jr. told his dad about his contacts with Kremlin client WikiLeaks, and indeed as soon as WikiLeaks contacted Don saying it supported Trump's campaign, Trump began inserting praise of WikiLeaks into every stump speech in a transparent attempt to reward and encourage leaks.
19 (addendum). Trump's first effusive, out-of-nowhere praise of WikiLeaks as a noble organization that should be widely supported, and which would be releasing great campaign information, came just 15 minutes—that's not a typo—after WikiLeaks contacted his son for the first time.
20. Bannon says it was accepted in the White House that Don also told his dad of his meeting with Kremlin agents at Trump Tower and *on the day it happened*—a day Trump was meeting with all U.S. participants in the meeting on the *very same subject* as the meeting (Clinton dirt).
BONUS. (Surely you knew there were more than 20?) After Russia's stateside crimewave, it had no ability to stop *investigation* of its crimes—but Trump did. Trump brought in Sessions—he says—to kill the probe, then fired Comey to try to kill it, then used Nunes to try to kill it.
BONUS. After Russia committed what intelligence experts refer to—in the context of U.S. history—as a "cyber Pearl Harbor," Trump publicly proposed, as a serious policy proposal, that the U.S. intelligence community cooperate with the Kremlin on an important topic: cyber-security.
BONUS. After learning Flynn was secretly and illegally negotiating U.S.-Russia policy in 2016, Trump first did nothing, then fired him for another reason, then tried to rehire him, then fired the man prosecuting him, then told him to "stay strong," then said he did nothing wrong.
BONUS. Trump awarded the 2013 Miss Universe pageant to Russia—over 19 other nations—within hours of Russia offering him $20 million and the opportunity to meet Putin (which he immediately tweeted excitedly about). The other 19 nations were given no chance to match Russia's offer.
BONUS. After learning the Agalarovs were Kremlin agents—recipients of an award from Putin; authorized to act as Putin's messengers; no-bid developers for the Kremlin—Trump and his son Don developed a close friendship with Aras and Emin and stayed in touch throughout the campaign.
BONUS. Though he knew of Manafort's ties to the Kremlin via pro-Putin oligarchs, and though Manafort offered—in-context, a huge red flag for criminal intent—to work for free, Trump hired him and his equally conflicted partner Gates as Campaign Manager and Deputy Campaign Manager.
BONUS. Papadopoulos told Greek media he met Trump *after* meeting Kremlin agent Mifsud but *before* Trump named him to the NatSec team. Trump denies it. If true, Trump knew Papadopoulos had met Russians when he chose him to be the one NatSec team member he personally vouched for.
BONUS (addendum). Papadopoulos' claim is bolstered by his accuracy in describing his campaign role—versus Trump's deceit on the same topic—and that eyewitnesses say that when Papadopoulos told Trump he was aiding the Kremlin on March 31, 2016, Trump didn't react or shut him down.
BONUS. If you've been reading this feed a long time, you know how much evidence there is—including Trump's own words—bolstering the claim the Kremlin is blackmailing him over conduct at the Ritz Moscow. Trump's lies on this topic constitute collusion with the Kremlin's narrative.
CONCLUSION. I'm at 28—and could go on—but I'll stop here to try to keep this thread a reasonable length. Note: everything I've written is taken from the public record—and is only a *fraction* of what Bob Mueller knows. So let's stop reading or sharing "no collusion" think-pieces.
NOTE. There are attendant facts augmenting *all* these points (e.g., Trump's effort to gut election security/sanctions administration units in his government; his refusal to authorize NSA to counter Russian cyber-attacks; his ongoing war on those investigating Russia; and so on.)
Unrolled thread from @SethAbramson
1. Steele Dossier intel says Sergei Lavrov ran a blackmail/money laundering scheme in which Trump got money, blackmail forbearance, and—later—election assistance in exchange for a pro-Russia policy and other perks. Trump then leaked classified intel to Lavrov in the Oval Office.
2. Trump aided his son in covering up a clandestine meeting with Kremlin agents—designed to transmit stolen Clinton material from Russia to Trump—by drafting a false statement and forcing Don to sign it under his own name. Trump knew Don would be called to testify on the meeting.
3. According to both Emin Agalarov and his father Aras, Trump signed a letter-of-intent to build Trump Tower Moscow using Putin's real estate developer, banker, and permits man in November 2013—a deal that was active until February 2017. Trump has lied about this deal from Day 1.
4. Trump held a secret meeting with Putin at an international conference, during which he discussed sanctions with the Russian strongman. His administration had no intention of acknowledging or admitting the meeting until a journalist happened to find out about it accidentally.
5. Trump admitted discussing U.S.-Russia relations with Putin in Moscow in 2013—then, after announcing a run, retracted the claim, saying he "spoke to top officials" but "couldn't say more." His fixer, Cohen, sent a witness to the call to Stormy Daniels' lawyer to kill the story.
6. An eyewitness to the judging process of the 2002 Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico has told Special Counsel Bob Mueller that Trump directly and unambiguously attempted to rig the pageant so that Miss Russia would win. Miss Russia was Putin's mistress at the time.
She won.
7. Through clandestine negotiations conducted by Sessions—lied about before Congress, under oath, by Sessions—Trump agreed to unilaterally drop Russia sanctions while he knew from briefings Russia was attacking America. His secret plan was discovered by the DoS post-inauguration.
8. During the presidential campaign, Trump directed his fixer, Cohen, to negotiate a new Trump Tower Moscow deal with the Russians—including direct contact with the Kremlin—and the negotiations went on for months. He lied about this deal (as he did with the 2013 one) from Day 1.
9. Steele's dossier says Trump agreed with the Kremlin in mid-2016—in a meeting with the Kremlin we know Carter Page had, then lied about—to not impose sanctions on Russia.
Despite a 517-5 vote in Congress to impose sanctions, Trump has refused—in violation of the law—to do so.
10. Steele's dossier also says Russian oligarchs systematically overpaid for Trump properties to help develop him as a Russian asset—a claim bolstered by Trump business partner and ex-Russian mobster Felix Sater. Trump lied under oath—Perjury—to hide his relationship with Sater.
11. After George Papadopoulos told Trump—to his face, on March 31, 2016—the Kremlin had authorized him to negotiate a clandestine mid-campaign Trump-Putin meeting, instead of firing him Trump moved him to his Russia policy team and let him edit his first foreign policy speech.
12. During the same meeting Papadopoulos told Trump that he was a Kremlin agent, Trump ordered J.D. Gordon, a top member of his national security team, to change the GOP platform in July to benefit Putin on the Crimea issue. He issued his order after learning about Putin's offer.
13. After learning his Campaign Manager was an unregistered foreign agent who'd colluded illegally with pro-Putin oligarchs, Trump kept using him as a secret advisor for at least 6 months, while publicly claiming Manafort—who lived in Trump Tower—was basically a stranger to him.
14. In a breach of protocol, Trump forbade U.S. persons from entering the Oval while he met the Russian ambassador and the man Steele says ran the Russian interference campaign. In another protocol breach, he forbade U.S. translators from attending his first meeting with Putin.
14 (addendum). These protocol breaches are a pattern: in April '17, Trump invited the Russian ambassador to be a front-row VIP at a speech in which Trump promised Russia "a good deal" on sanctions. The invite was a protocol breach; the Trump-Kislyak VIP event beforehand was also.
15. After learning that Russia was committing cyberwarfare against the United States, and after saying that Putin watches carefully what he—Trump—says on television, Trump invited Russian hackers to continue committing crimes against the U.S. and said they'd be "richly rewarded."
16. Our intel community agrees Russia interfered with our election to a) sow chaos, and b) do so without getting caught. Despite being told in an August 2016 briefing Russia was attacking us, Trump has denied Russia did so, sows chaos on the issue, and refuses to criticize Putin.
17. While acting under color of authority from his father-in-law, Kushner smuggled Russia's ambassador into Trump's house (Trump Tower) through a back door in December 2016 to discuss establishing a secret Trump-Putin channel using a secure Russian facility—which plan is illegal.
18. Russia's main interest, now—in the matter of its cyber-crimes—is that Congress not find out what it did, with whom, or when. Trump illegally—without asserting executive privilege—directed key Congressional witnesses to refuse to answer Congressional inquiries on the subject.
19. Don Jr. told his dad about his contacts with Kremlin client WikiLeaks, and indeed as soon as WikiLeaks contacted Don saying it supported Trump's campaign, Trump began inserting praise of WikiLeaks into every stump speech in a transparent attempt to reward and encourage leaks.
19 (addendum). Trump's first effusive, out-of-nowhere praise of WikiLeaks as a noble organization that should be widely supported, and which would be releasing great campaign information, came just 15 minutes—that's not a typo—after WikiLeaks contacted his son for the first time.
20. Bannon says it was accepted in the White House that Don also told his dad of his meeting with Kremlin agents at Trump Tower and *on the day it happened*—a day Trump was meeting with all U.S. participants in the meeting on the *very same subject* as the meeting (Clinton dirt).
BONUS. (Surely you knew there were more than 20?) After Russia's stateside crimewave, it had no ability to stop *investigation* of its crimes—but Trump did. Trump brought in Sessions—he says—to kill the probe, then fired Comey to try to kill it, then used Nunes to try to kill it.
BONUS. After Russia committed what intelligence experts refer to—in the context of U.S. history—as a "cyber Pearl Harbor," Trump publicly proposed, as a serious policy proposal, that the U.S. intelligence community cooperate with the Kremlin on an important topic: cyber-security.
BONUS. After learning Flynn was secretly and illegally negotiating U.S.-Russia policy in 2016, Trump first did nothing, then fired him for another reason, then tried to rehire him, then fired the man prosecuting him, then told him to "stay strong," then said he did nothing wrong.
BONUS. Trump awarded the 2013 Miss Universe pageant to Russia—over 19 other nations—within hours of Russia offering him $20 million and the opportunity to meet Putin (which he immediately tweeted excitedly about). The other 19 nations were given no chance to match Russia's offer.
BONUS. After learning the Agalarovs were Kremlin agents—recipients of an award from Putin; authorized to act as Putin's messengers; no-bid developers for the Kremlin—Trump and his son Don developed a close friendship with Aras and Emin and stayed in touch throughout the campaign.
BONUS. Though he knew of Manafort's ties to the Kremlin via pro-Putin oligarchs, and though Manafort offered—in-context, a huge red flag for criminal intent—to work for free, Trump hired him and his equally conflicted partner Gates as Campaign Manager and Deputy Campaign Manager.
BONUS. Papadopoulos told Greek media he met Trump *after* meeting Kremlin agent Mifsud but *before* Trump named him to the NatSec team. Trump denies it. If true, Trump knew Papadopoulos had met Russians when he chose him to be the one NatSec team member he personally vouched for.
BONUS (addendum). Papadopoulos' claim is bolstered by his accuracy in describing his campaign role—versus Trump's deceit on the same topic—and that eyewitnesses say that when Papadopoulos told Trump he was aiding the Kremlin on March 31, 2016, Trump didn't react or shut him down.
BONUS. If you've been reading this feed a long time, you know how much evidence there is—including Trump's own words—bolstering the claim the Kremlin is blackmailing him over conduct at the Ritz Moscow. Trump's lies on this topic constitute collusion with the Kremlin's narrative.
CONCLUSION. I'm at 28—and could go on—but I'll stop here to try to keep this thread a reasonable length. Note: everything I've written is taken from the public record—and is only a *fraction* of what Bob Mueller knows. So let's stop reading or sharing "no collusion" think-pieces.
NOTE. There are attendant facts augmenting *all* these points (e.g., Trump's effort to gut election security/sanctions administration units in his government; his refusal to authorize NSA to counter Russian cyber-attacks; his ongoing war on those investigating Russia; and so on.)
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:ALERTRED:
:ALERTRED:
Avenatti turns up the heat
Avenatti turns up the heat
The adult film actress plans to use many legal tools to "uncover the truth about the cover-up," her lawyer says
Stormy Daniels' lawyer is demanding that the Trump Organization preserve all records related to the adult film actress and he plans to subpoena them — citing "unmistakable links" between President Donald Trump's company and a secrecy agreement she signed.
Attorney Michael Avenatti also sent similar requests Thursday to two banks involved in a $130,000 payment facilitated by Trump attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford.
"We request that you immediately preserve all evidence, documents, tangible things and electronically stored information ("ESI") potentially relevant to the claim," Avenatti wrote to the Trump Organization and the banks.
In a statement to NBC News, Avenatti said, "We intend on using all legal means at our disposal to uncover the truth about the cover-up and what happened. And this is but one of many tools we will use. When we are done, the truth will be laid bare for the American people."
Clifford said in a lawsuit filed earlier this month that she had an "intimate" relationship with President Donald Trump in 2006 and 2007, and she is now locked in a legal battle over whether she can publicly discuss it.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has said Trump denies the affair. She also has said that as far as she knows, the president was not aware Cohen paid Clifford. Cohen has said he used his personal funds and was not reimbursed by Trump's company or campaign.
Clifford contends that the nondisclosure agreement she filed weeks before the election is invalid because Trump never signed it. Cohen, however, says it's still in force and secretly obtained a temporary restraining order against her from a private arbitrator.
Related: Stormy Daniels passed a lie detector test about sex with Trump
In a filing joined by Trump, Cohen had Clifford's lawsuit moved from California state court to federal court. Court papers say their goal is to push the dispute back into private arbitration and collect $20 million in damages from Clifford.
The legal threats have not silenced Clifford, who gave an interview to "60 Minutes" set to air Sunday and has been tweeting up a storm.
"Technically I didn't sleep with the POTUS 12 years ago," she tweeted this week. "There was no sleeping (hehe) and he was just a goofy reality TV star. But I digress...People DO care that he lied about it, had me bullied, broke laws to cover it up, etc. And PS...I am NOT going anywhere. xoxoxo"
Adult-movie star Stormy Daniels during a 2009 appearance. Arely D. Castillo / AP file
While Trump's team has sought to distance the president and his company from the agreement with Clifford, the letters sent by Avenatti on Thursday highlight ties between them.
They note that Cohen used his Trump Organization email account to correspond with one of the banks; Cohen has said he uses that account for nearly everything. Avenatti also noted that Trump Organization assistant general counsel Jill Martin initiated an arbitration proceeding, which the company says she did in "her individual capacity."
The letter to the Trump Organization requests it preserve all records — including texts, emails, photos, memos and financial statements — related to the Clifford matter. It also asks for records related to a February exchange "whereby Mr. Cohen attempted to interfere with Ms. Clifford/Daniels' ability to hire new counsel (i.e. Michael Avenatti)." Avenatti provided no other details about that.
Related: Lawyer says ex-Playboy model had relationship with Trump
The letter to First Republic Bank, where Cohen and a company he created have accounts, seeks the preservation of all data and records related to the $130,000 wire transfer to Clifford, including a suspicious activity report it filed with the Treasury Department. A letter to City National Bank, where the payment was accepted, seeks similar material.
"You must act immediately to preserve any and all potentially relevant evidence, documents, tangible things and ESI. Failure to do so may subject you to liability," Avenatti warned in the letter.
The Trump Organization, Cohen and the banks did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letters.
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:sadtrump:
Tony D'Amato
It's all about the inches
:sadtrump:
Mexico will pay the rest