RUSSIA/РОССИЯ THREAD—ASSANGE CHRGD W/ SPYING—DJT IMPEACHED TWICE-US TREASURY SANCTS KILIMNIK AS RUSSIAN AGNT

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TRUMP White House IS DIRECTLY UNDER INVESTIGATION!!!!!!!!!






Russia probe reaches current White House official, people familiar with the case say


Russia probe reaches current White House official, people familiar with the case say
The law enforcement investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign has identified a current White House official as a significant person of interest, showing that the probe is reaching into the highest levels of government, according to people familiar with the matter.

The senior White House adviser under scrutiny by investigators is someone close to the president, according to these people, who would not further identify the official.

The revelation comes as the investigation also appears to be entering a more overtly active phase, with investigators shifting from work that has remained largely hidden from the public to conducting interviews and using a grand jury to issue subpoenas. The intensity of the probe is expected to accelerate in the coming weeks, the people said.

The sources emphasized that investigators remain keenly interested in people who previously wielded influence in the Trump campaign and administration but are no longer part of it, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Flynn resigned in February after disclosures that he had lied to administration officials about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Current administration officials who have acknowledged contacts with Russian officials include President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Play Video 3:16

Justice Department appoints special counsel to investigate Trump and Russia

The Washington Post's Devlin Barrett explains the Justice Department's decision to appoint Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate possible connections between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. (Peter Stevenson,Jason Aldag,Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)

[Graphic: What we know so far about Team Trump’s ties to Russian interests]

People familiar with the investigation said the intensifying effort does not mean criminal charges are near, or that any such charges will result. Earlier this week, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein appointed former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III to serve as special counsel and lead the investigation into Russian meddling.

It is unclear exactly how Mueller’s leadership will affect the direction of the probe, and he is already bringing in new people to work on the team. Those familiar with the case said its significance had increased before Mueller’s appointment.

Although the case began quietly last July as an effort to determine whether any Trump associates coordinated with Russian operatives to meddle in the presidential election campaign, the investigative work now being done by the FBI also includes determining whether any financial crimes were committed by people close to the president. The people familiar with the matter said the probe has sharpened into something more fraught for the White House, the FBI and the Justice Department — particularly because of the public steps investigators know they now need to take, the people said.

When subpoenas are issued or interviews are requested, it is possible the people being asked to talk or provide documents will reveal publicly what they were asked about.

A small group of lawmakers known as the Gang of Eight were notified of the change in tempo and focus in the investigation at a classified briefing Wednesday evening, the people familiar with the matter said. Former FBI director James B. Comey had publicly confirmed the existence of the investigation in March.

Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said, “I can’t confirm or deny the existence or nonexistence of investigations or targets of investigations.” An FBI spokesman declined to comment.

Team Trump’s ties to Russian interests View Graphic
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said, “As the president has stated before, a thorough investigation will confirm that there was no collusion between the campaign and any foreign entity.’’

While there has been a loud public debate in recent days over the question of whether the president might have attempted to obstruct justice in his private dealings with Comey, who Trump fired last week, people familiar with the matter said investigators on the case are more focused on Russian influence operations and possible financial crimes.

The FBI’s investigation seeks to determine whether and to what extent Trump associates were in contact with Kremlin operatives, what business dealings they might have had in Russia, and whether they in any way facilitated the hacking and publishing of Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails during the presidential campaign. Several congressional committees are also investigating, though their probes could not produce criminal charges.

[Appointment of Mueller could complicate other probes into alleged Russian meddling]

A grand jury in Alexandria, Va. recently issued a subpoena for records related to Flynn’s business, the Flynn Intel Group, which had been paid more than $500,000 by a company owned by a Turkish American businessman close to top Turkish officials, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Flynn Intel Group was paid for research on Fethullah Gulen, a cleric who Turkey’s current president believes was responsible for a coup attempt last summer. Flynn retroactively registered with the Justice Department in March as a paid foreign agent for Turkish interests.

Separately from the probe now run by Mueller, Flynn is being investigated by the Pentagon’s top watchdog for his foreign payments. Flynn also received $45,000 to appear in 2015 with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a dinner for RT, a Kremlin-controlled media organization.

Flynn discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Russia’s ambassador to the United States during the month before Trump took office, and he withheld that fact from even the vice president. That prompted then-acting attorney general Sally Yates to warn the White House’s top lawyer he might be susceptible to blackmail. Flynn stepped down after The Washington Post reported on the contents of the call.

The president has nonetheless seemed to defend his former adviser. A memo by Comey alleged that Trump asked that the probe into Flynn be shut down.

[Notes made by FBI Director Comey say Trump pressured him to end Flynn probe]

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The White House also has acknowledged that Kushner met with Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, in late November. Kushner also has acknowledged that he met with the head of a Russian development bank, Vnesheconombank, which has been under U.S. sanctions since July 2014. The president’s son-in-law initially omitted contacts with foreign leaders from a national security questionnaire, though his lawyer has said publicly he submitted the form prematurely and informed the FBI soon after he would provide an update.

Vnesheconombank handles development for the state, and in early 2015, a man purporting to be one of its New York-based employees was arrested and accused of being an unregistered spy.

That man – Evgeny Buryakov – ultimately pleaded guilty and was eventually deported. He had been in contact with former Trump adviser Carter Page, though Page has said he shared only “basic immaterial information and publicly available research documents” with the Russian. Page was the subject of a secret warrant last year issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, based on suspicions he might have been acting as an agent of the Russian government, according to people familiar with the matter. Page has denied any wrongdoing, and accused the government of violating his civil rights.

Ellen Nakashima and Ashley Parker contributed to this report.

Read more:

What’s next in the Russia investigation? The week’s biggest bombshells.

White House offers shifting explanations of Trump’s disclosures to Russians

Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador

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Exactly :yeshrug:

I enjoy the fukkery as much as the next man, but he's not going anywhere. He's sloppy and an all time fukk up as President, but like you said, people been dropping bombs on him and his associations for years. YEARS brehs. He's the one politician who can legit say he gets stronger after Ether
At no time has dude ever been investigated by a special counsel though. This might take longer than expected but like I said in the other thread, I think the intelligence community has all of the ammo they need. ALL of it. But they aren't going to drop it on the American public all at once.
 

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STORY #3!!!

THE ISRAELIS YELLED AT THE WHITE HOUSE OVER TRUMP'S FU¢K UP!






Israeli Intelligence Furious Over Trump’s Loose Lips
May 19, 2017
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Just days before President Donald Trump’s arrival in Tel Aviv, Israeli intelligence officials were shouting at their American counterparts in meetings, furious over news that the U.S. command in chief may have compromised a vital source of information on the Islamic State and possibly Iran, according to a U.S. defense official in military planning.

“To them, it’s horrifying,” the official, who attended the meetings, told Foreign Policy. “Their first question was: What is going on? What is this?”

White House officials are touting Trump’s visit to Israel next week as a chance to show U.S. solidarity with its closest Middle East ally after eight years of friction between former President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But behind the public display of harmony, Israeli intelligence officers are angry and alarmed over sensitive information revealed by the U.S. president in a May 10 meeting in the White House with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Trump divulged classified information gathered by Israel about specific terrorist plotting by the Islamic State. The information reportedly revealed Islamic State advances in bomb-making that could be used to mask an explosive device inside a laptop, and also referenced the city where the unfolding plot was being hatched.

The details Trump spilled likely came from a source that was also useful on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and its Hezbollah proxies in Syria and Lebanon, which are much higher priorities for Israel, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

“To the Israelis, ISIS is not that big of a concern,” the defense official said. “We have a partner that has done us a favor. They went out of their way to support us in a campaign against ISIS, that they have no real skin in.”

In the first 48 hours after the news broke, the Israelis saw little engagement from the Trump administration on the issue. Instead, the administration remained focused on planning for the president’s visit next week.

“There’s been no collaboration on this issue, or any outreach. But it’s like a PR circus,” the official said.

The revelation that sensitive information may have been passed to Russia, a partner to Iran, was particularly concerning. Israel has become increasingly anxious about Russia’s military cooperation with Iran in support of the Syrian regime, and its growing cyber warfare capabilities.

In Israel, there is fear the compromise of intelligence could damage the country’s interests and even jeopardize lives, the official said.

The Trump administration, however, has denied any intelligence sources or methods were revealed in the president’s talks with the Russians. Trump’s national security advisor, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, said the counterterrorism information Trump shared was “wholly appropriate.”

John Sipher, who used to run intelligence operations against Russia for the Central Intelligence Agency, said sharing information with Moscow carried high risks. “The Russians are the biggest and most capable worldwide service other than the United States,” Sipher said. “Even giving them a little bit allows them to put it together.”

While Israeli intelligence officials were aware of Trump’s limited grasp of military operations and intelligence procedures, they didn’t expect the inexperienced president to play fast and loose with “one of their most sensitive of accesses,” the defense official said.

If the source was lost, it also could affect a U.S.-led military operation to take back Raqqa with American-backed Syrian Kurdish and Arab forces, he said.


“Sources aren’t infinite,” he said. “They are already reassessing: where are we going to be able to gain that kind of information?”“Sources aren’t infinite,” he said. “They are already reassessing: where are we going to be able to gain that kind of information?”


The value of the intelligence is virtually a holy grail for spy services, experts said. Insights into the workings of a terrorist group’s inner circle are coveted and “quite rare,” said Bruce Hoffman, a professor at Georgetown University who has advised the U.S. government on counter-terrorism. “It’s all solid gold. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

While the U.S.-Israel alliance will survive the episode intact, some former U.S. and Israeli officials worry that it could have a lasting effect on intelligence sharing while Trump remains in office.

“What Trump did is liable to cause heavy damage to Israel’s security, as well as the source, and U.S. security,’’ Danny Yatom, a former chief of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, told a Tel Aviv radio station. “Especially if this information reaches our good friends the Iranians.”

Yatom said there was a danger the breach could cause “a loss of faith between the intelligence services.”

Apart from dismay in Israel’s security establishment over Trump’s talk with the Russians, the president’s scheduled visit to Israel — part of a nine-day overseas trip — has generated some public relations headaches even before his arrival.

Junior advance staffers on the ground have reportedly scheduled only 15 minutes for Trump’s visit to Yad Vishem, the national Holocaust memorial, which did not go over well in Israel. And it’s unclear if that visit will be extended.

Trump had also wanted to give a speech at the ancient mountain fortress of Masada after a dramatic helicopter landing. But when that plan was ruled out by the Israeli military, his team opted to cancel the speech and have the president speak at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Daniel Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said when Trump sits down with Israeli and Palestinian leaders next week, his counterparts may be reluctant to share sensitive diplomatic stances with a president known for his lack of discretion, he told FP.

But U.S.-Israeli relations are resilient, and will ultimately survive both the scheduling hiccups and the intelligence disclosure. The alliance, defined by common interests in the region, is too important to let one intelligence leak, however damaging, upend the entire relationship.

“It’s a very dangerous thing that the president did,” Kurtzer said. “On the other hand, it’s not a deal breaker with Israel.”

Elias Groll contributed to this report.

Photo credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

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