Russia probes kick into high gear

[ExpandMyMind]

28 minutes ago, hacktorp said:

By the way, did you hear that Lisa Bloom (Gloria Allred's daughter) is reported to have been offering women as much as $750,000 to publicly accuse Trump of sexual misconduct?

I wonder if that kind of cash might entice someone to "embellish" their story just a bit...

Exclusive: Prominent lawyer sought donor cash for two Trump accusers

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/365068-exclusive-prominent-lawyer-sought-donor-cash-for-two-trump-accusers

For $750,000 I'd let him sexually assault me.

[Paranormal Panther]

21 hours ago, ExpandMyMind said:

This could be very important. They reached out to Assange in an attempt to get Hillary's emails. God knows what else they were up to.

That begs the question. Did Assange grant their request?

[Paranormal Panther]

31 minutes ago, hacktorp said:

By the way, did you hear that Lisa Bloom (Gloria Allred's daughter) is reported to have been offering women as much as $750,000 to publicly accuse Trump of sexual misconduct?

I wonder if that kind of cash might entice someone to "embellish" their story just a bit...

Exclusive: Prominent lawyer sought donor cash for two Trump accusers

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/365068-exclusive-prominent-lawyer-sought-donor-cash-for-two-trump-accusers

That's shocking news. She and her mom seem like paragons of honesty. Will this madness ever end? Next, you'll tell me that Allred's "Moore scandal" client is lying.

[ExpandMyMind]

Just now, Paranormal Panther said:

That begs the question. Did Assange grant their request?

No, he denied it. I don't think anyone has claimed that he granted their request? The point is that it looks like they (CA) might have been actively seeking - from a foreign power - illegally hacked emails, which itself might be an attempt to commit a crime. Getting hold of them without telling the government I assume would be a really serious crime. They're lucky they didn't get them and Trump didn't then release them, or he'd likely have ended up in Chelsea Manning's old cell.

[Paranormal Panther]

Just now, ExpandMyMind said:

No, he denied it. I don't think anyone has claimed that he granted their request? The point is that it looks like they (CA) might have been actively seeking - from a foreign power - illegally hacked emails, which itself might be an attempt to commit a crime. Getting hold of them without telling the government I assume would be a really serious crime. They're lucky they didn't get them and Trump didn't then release them, or he'd likely have ended up in Chelsea Manning's old cell.

He denied it. That's odd behavior for individuals who are in collusion with the Trump organization. You would think that he would give the emails to them, without a moment's hesitation, if he was working with Trump and/or Putin to put Trump in the White House. It looks like Assange didn't provide the proverbial smoking gun, after all.

[ExpandMyMind]

Just now, Paranormal Panther said:

He denied it. That's odd behavior for individuals who are in collusion with the Trump organization. You would think that he would give the emails to them, without a moment's hesitation, if he was working with Trump and/or Putin to put Trump in the White House. It looks like Assange didn't provide the proverbial smoking gun, after all.

I don't think he had the emails, did he? They still haven't surfaced, have they?

[Paranormal Panther]

2 minutes ago, ExpandMyMind said:

I don't think he had the emails, did he? They still haven't surfaced, have they?

I don't know about that. It's often hard to deny something if you don't have it. It makes no sense, otherwise. On the surface, it looks like Assange denied their request for her emails that may or may not have come from Democratic operatives or Russian hackers.

[ExpandMyMind]

16 minutes ago, Paranormal Panther said:

I don't know about that. It's often hard to deny something if you don't have it. It makes no sense, otherwise. On the surface, it looks like Assange denied their request for her emails that may or may not have come from Democratic operatives or Russian hackers.

I'm not sure what you've just said. No offence, it's probably down to me being tired, but could you simplify what you mean by the first and last sentences? 

[Paranormal Panther]

Just now, ExpandMyMind said:

I'm not sure what you've just said. No offence, it's probably down to me being tired, but could you simplify what you mean by the first and last sentences? 

It's the internet. It happens. I have a cookie. My nephew and my niece ask for it, but I deny their request. I couldn't deny their request if I didn't have a cookie. The group purportedly asked Assange for a "cookie". He evidently denied their request. That's odd behavior for two or more individuals in collusion to overthrow an election. 

[.ZZ.]

[ian hacktorp]

Here's a tweet today from Jerry Falwell Jr. to Attorney General Jeff Sessions:

Quote

Ok @USAGSessions it’s time to prove you are still breathing by acting to stop the corrupt Obama FBI and Dept of Justice after it has imposed double standards of justice on HRC & @POTUS. If you don’t step up now, you are as useless as teats on a boar hog as we say in the south!

Lol...this entire thing is starting to feel like a toboggan run.  Will Sessions rise to the call to duty?

[F3SS]

Absolutely. Sessions has been a huge disappointment so far.

Some of us knew a long time ago that this investigation was going to come back and bite all the Democrats hard and right now that looks to be coming true. That whole party just reeks of corruption and deceit and has for quite a long time. They lack any sincerity and will do anything to win from violence, intimidation, lying to voter fraud and all the way to conspiring against a presidential candidate, president elect and president of the United States.

The Russian collusion story is the insurance policy. It was concocted and the hubris filled people involved probably thought it would never go this far. I think they thought his base would turn on him being involved with those damn commies. Couple that with the msm fostering outrage for everybody else and the public would overwhelmingly demand he step down. However it was ever supposed to work Russiagate was the insurance policy. Created from thin air and likely inspired when Trump said at that one rally, “if Russia happens to have her emails and wants to share them...”

If things keep going the way I think they will and they way they look like they will then we are going to see a top down conspiracy uncovered that amounts to a coup gone wrong. People need to go to prison.

[+DieChecker]

On 12/14/2017 at 4:06 PM, ExpandMyMind said:

And I should also add to that, Tiggs, the recent revelation that came directly from a Russian courtroom, for any who missed it:

Jailed Russian hacker: I hacked Democrats 'under the command' of Russian intelligence agents

 

WHAT? A Russian hacker told a Moscow court that he acted under Putin's (indirect) orders? And he lived for six months in a Russian political jail and testified? Sounds completely contrived. Putin would have had the guy killed in jail back in August.

[Tiggs]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions sidestepped a question Friday on whether there's a need for a second special counsel to investigate the Justice Department, instead using the opportunity to detail the rocky past two weeks for his department and suggesting "things that might appear to be bad in the press have more innocent explanations."

Source: CNN

[Tiggs]

5 hours ago, DieChecker said:

WHAT? A Russian hacker told a Moscow court that he acted under Putin's (indirect) orders? And he lived for six months in a Russian political jail and testified? Sounds completely contrived. Putin would have had the guy killed in jail back in August.

I'm also unconvinced. Russian disinformation, I suspect.

[ExpandMyMind]

14 hours ago, DieChecker said:

WHAT? A Russian hacker told a Moscow court that he acted under Putin's (indirect) orders? And he lived for six months in a Russian political jail and testified? Sounds completely contrived. Putin would have had the guy killed in jail back in August.

Well, as far as I know, the admission came when he was testifying about another crime he had committed, so there was no reason for Russia to expect that he would mention the DNC. He also mentioned an well-known FSB agent as being his handler, giving the story some credence.

I'm not going to claim that I have a definitive opinion on the matter (when I first posted about a few pages back the only comment I made was 'interesting', I believe), but I'm not sure that given the way it came out into the open that it should be automatically dismissed.

8 hours ago, Tiggs said:

I'm also unconvinced. Russian disinformation, I suspect.

To what end? 

I'm open to believing so but I just can't see why - when Putin has spent so long denying having anything to do with the hack - they would fabricate and release this story.

[ExpandMyMind]

It might be a very interesting Christmas across the pond.

 

[Tiggs]

46 minutes ago, ExpandMyMind said:

To what end? 

I'm open to believing so but I just can't see why - when Putin has spent so long denying having anything to do with the hack - they would fabricate and release this story.

From Putin's perspective -- CIA has him nailed giving the order for the election disruption.

Creating a "chatty hacker" allows them to create an alternative narrative to protect others.

Like "I gave the emails to Bob in the US, who then passed them onto Wikileaks" would protect Assange, who'll say "Crikey. I thought Bob worked for the DNC". Embarrassing for Assange, but gives him enough smoke cover to pretend he's not Putin's glove puppet. 

Even the fact he's just a solitary hacker with a GRU handler is probably protecting that there's an entire military cyberwarfare arm of the Russian government, somewhere.

Maybe Putin will try and claim that the GRU handler went rogue, and did this all of his own initiative.

And now the bad hacker is in jail, Putin doesn't need to find & punish the bad hackers, anymore.

It's all just a little bit too convenient.

Russian government is great at muddying a story, throwing disinformation at it until it becomes a hall of mirrors. No definitive evidence, but my tinfoil spidey-sense is telling me this is probably one of those occasions.

 

[Tiggs]

1 hour ago, ExpandMyMind said:

It might be a very interesting Christmas across the pond.

May well be.

[Tiggs]

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has obtained “many tens of thousands” of Trump transition emails, including sensitive emails of Jared Kushner, transition team sources tell Axios.

Trump officials discovered Mueller had the emails when his prosecutors used them as the basis for questions to witnesses, the sources said.

Source: Axios

[Lilly]

The 'transition team' means the emails took place after the election. Seems kind of odd to be focusing on what took place after the election.

[Likely Guy]

23 minutes ago, Lilly said:

The 'transition team' means the emails took place after the election. Seems kind of odd to be focusing on what took place after the election.

I may be wrong but it seems pertinent. You can't have two branches of the executive office.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Likely Guy

[Lilly]

Isn't the whole point of the investigation that Trump allegedly colluded with Russia to illegally throw/steal the 2016 election? I'm pretty sure I'm correct about this.

Also, transition teams historically reach out to other governments as to what the future policy will be when the new administration comes into power.

[Tiggs]

43 minutes ago, Lilly said:

Isn't the whole point of the investigation that Trump allegedly colluded with Russia to illegally throw/steal the 2016 election? I'm pretty sure I'm correct about this.

Lots of interesting things happened, post-election, including Trump being briefed about the existence of the Steele Dossier by Comey on Jan 6th.

[Tiggs]

An organization established for U.S. President Donald Trump’s transition to the White House a year ago said on Saturday that the special counsel investigating allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election had obtained tens of thousands of emails unlawfully.

Source: Reuters