Tag: Confirmation

Daily Check-In 10/19/2018

Friday, October 19, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

HAPPY FRIDAY AMERICA She’s the chief accountant and includes upto May 2018 Russian National Charged with Interfering in U.S. Political System | USAO-EDVA | Department of Justice

🇷🇺2016 interference: Project Lakhta includes multiple components, some involving domestic audiences within the Russian Federation and others targeting foreign audiences in the United States, members of the European Union, and Ukraine, among others.

Project Lakhta operation/activities expenditures for activists advertisements on social media platforms registration of domain names purchase of proxy server “promoting news postings on social networks INFORMATION WARFARE 2018 MIDTERMS

. last week you published an article saying NO Russia meddling in the 2018 midterms I now refer you to pages 6-12 of today’s Indictment MILLIONS OF DOLLARS MILLIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA POST Maybe you should retract your article?

RUSSIA NEVER STOPPED They spent tens of millions of dollars in social media campaigns. The fact some in the MSM continue to minimize or flat out Report disinformation, you get MSM outlets like ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM? cc

FYI this case was FARMED out by SC Mueller’s office to EDVA, DOJ National Security Division That’s a data point that should NOT be overlooked and yes was 💯 % about the social issues such as: woman’s march, nfl, nra, confederate flag…

I’ll say it again: RUSSIA is NOT our Friend Russia continues to attack our Country Every American should read this Indictment Also DOJ thanked both & Now do you get WHY 10M files were posted by Facebook?

Sorry I meant Twitter not Facebook But I still maintain Twitter went from oh it’s just a handful of accounts with a few thousand tweets. Oh it’s 2K account’s with 1.7M To now it’s 3K accounts with 10M tweets. Bleepers, but at least they worked w/ the DOJ
Also this is the article I referenced upthread. So you still sticking to “exclusive no Russian interference in 2018 mid-terms” But this Indictment blows up your article & narrative As recent as July 2018 Do better…

Notice the date? September 28, 2018…this was under seal for nearly 22 days. Interesting to look back and see what was going on

Also notice 1) this isn’t an indictment it’s a criminal complaint 2) which means it was some what expedited 3) the targeting of SC Mueller is also of note 4) I’d be curious to see how much Trump amplified these messages 5) WHAT WAS THE RUSH to bypass a Grand Jury ?

Page 250 to Book Fear noted that then NSA Gen McMaster stated Trump’s tweet was clearly Russian propaganda The unanswered question is HOW did Trump get that propaganda, no?

twitter accounts in Complaint: 2018 midterms DACA Special Counsel Mueller Perfect example of RUSSIA playing BOTH SIDES Russian horseshoe See pages 32-38

Sometimes, it’s easier to let the experts explain it, and Spicy Mic is probably the closest thing I have to an expert on criminal law.

Elena Alekseenvna Khusyaynova was charged with Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, in connection with the Russian’s continued attacks against the United States.  She is the main accountant on Project Lakhta, working for Putin’s Chef with the IRA.

If all of this sounds familiar, that’s because it is.  These are the same people that attacked the United States in 2016.  They conspired to fill social media with enticing and damaging information to both liberals and conservatives, in an effort to sow chaos.  They took advantage of everything from Trump’s actions on Immigration to the Women’s March to piss everyone off and get Americans to distrust and attack each other.

There are four things I find genuinely interesting with this.

First, this isn’t an Indictment from a Grand Jury, but a Criminal Complaint.  According to this site, the difference is that a criminal complaint comes from an affidavit from either the prosecuting attorney or investigator, while an indictment is a written report that was presented to a Grand Jury, complete with evidence and sworn testimony.  A criminal complaint can be used to get an indictment, but isn’t always necessary.

Second, this was filed on September 28th.  Daily Check-In 09/28/2018 shows that we were neck deep in the Kavanaugh Clusterfuck, but that was also the day the House Intel Committee released some transcripts(but with held Dana Rohrabacher’s), and the House Judiciary Committee threatened repeatedly Rod Rosenstein.  We were also 2 weeks into Manafort’s cooperation deal, and were learning more about the details of the money laundering that Argalov’s were engaging in.

Third, this didn’t come from Mueller’s team, but Main Justice.  Mueller’s team outsourced this to them, since the 2018 election is outside of his purview.

Finally, this complaint came with a joint statement from ODNI, the FBI, DOJ, and DHS.  Everyone is on board with this, but no mention of the White House.  Why?  Let’s look at who was attacked to get a clue.

Each series of attacks targeted whomever Trump’s enemy was at the time.  Whomever Trump was attacking, Project Lakhta attacked.  Democrats, Republicans, Celebrities, Athletes.  The attacks lined up perfectly.  Moreover, when those enemies became allies again, the attacks stopped.  When Trump was able to work with McConnell and Ryan, the memes attacked other people.  Now, there’s a chance that there was no coordination between these trolls and the Trump Administration, but they were following his lead.  Similar to inciting a riot, the crowd might not be under direct control of the ringleader, but if the ringleader says how much they hate the police and the mob throws bricks at the police station, they’re following his lead.

By the way, we’re just finding out about this now.  This was under seal for 3 weeks, and references activities and evidence from last July.  Mueller’s team is far ahead of where we’re at.

Smith & Stone

Speaking of being far ahead, we’re hearing more and more over the past couple weeks about Peter Smith, the GOP operative who committed “suicide” by suffocating himself with a bag and leaving a very suspicious note.  It looks like Smith had even more extensive connections to Mike Flynn than previously understood.

Remember, Mike Flynn is a Cooperating Witnesses.  And there’s a rumor floating around that Mueller’s team may be treating Smith’s death like a homicide, or at least a suicide under duress.

As far as Roger Stone goes, at this point I’m waiting for the hammer to drop on him.  He’s admitted to having multiple conversations with WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0, who has been proven to be GRU.  WikiLeaks was the go-between with Russian Intel to publish the stolen mails, and Roger knows quite a lot of information.  The only thing that might keep him out of a world of hurt is if somehow, by some galactic coincidence, he didn’t know that anyone was tied to Russian Intel, or that the emails were stolen.  The likelihood of that is slightly less than me sprouting wings out of my ass and flying to the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon.

 

Manafort

Good news, Paulie.  Judge Ellis dropped the ten charges that were hung and agreed to a February 8 sentencing date.

Bad news, Paulie.  You’re still likely to die in jail.  Unless he gives Mueller EVERYTHING, which it sounds like he’s trying to, the only time he’ll see fresh air is on his hour of exercise time each day.

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

The story keeps changing.  At first, Khashoggi was never at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey.  Then, he was in there, but left of his own accord.  Then, he left straight for Saudi Arabia, in one piece.  Then, he was in a fight.  Now, he was in a fight and “accidentally” died.

Meanwhile, Trump keeps going with the story of the day, trying to pass off the newest cover story as the truth.

Don’t buy it for a second.  They’re complicit.

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

Yeah, that happened.

 

SCOTUS 

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

Assaulting Journalists

 

 

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

STUDENT LOANS

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

ELECTION 2018

Then the good people of Texas should help Heidi’s husband get a new job that pays more than $174,000 a year.  Vote Beto O’Rouke, so Heidi’s husband can afford that second home.

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

PROJECT VERITAS

Quick thread about Project Veritas, the org run by convicted criminal James O’Keefe. They were spying on Claire McCaskill’s campaign and had access to voter information.

                                      Fake intern who recorded McCaskill campaign had access to voter info, campaign says U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill’s campaign has filed a complaint with Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office that reveals new details about how McCask… kansascity.com       

  1. They did the same thing to Clinton’s campaign.

                                          James O’Keefe Accidentally Stings Himself A failed attack on George Soros is part of a new era of secretly funded political hit jobs. newyorker.com       

    They also appear to be in bed with Tucker Carlson/Daily Caller. Remember when an NPR exec got in trouble? That was Project Veritas. Who broke that story? Daily Caller, not long after its launch.

                                          NPR Exec Slams Tea Party, Questions Federal Funds Political activist James O’Keefe’s latest undercover project took aim at NPR. Outgoing fundraising executive Ron Schiller was taped without his knowledge. npr.org          

  2. Top story in search results right now? Daily Caller. Thanks to botnets, IMO.

  3. Guess who’s given money to Project Veritas? Why, Donald Trump.

  4. It gets better. He gave Project Veritas that money through his “foundation.” The one currently under investigation for massive fraud. How much you wanna bet Project Veritas is one of the “nonprofits” they’re looking at?

  5. What’s amazing to me is that they spent all this time, money and energy and *barely* squeaked by in 2018 (I’m talking about the whole sh*tshow, not just PV). Imagine if it had been put towards good. They could do good and still be rich, and they chose not to.

  6. We outnumber them. We can do this. VOTE.

  7. h/t for the reminder that Project Veritas is also in the Manafort evidence – multiple times. Take a look for yourself. It starts on pp. 145 (of the overall document – pp. 20 of exhibit E)

  8. Among the email subjects: “Project Veritas Contract,” “Project Veritas Communications Strategy.” Let that sink in. They were paying Project Veritas to spy on opponents and god knows what else.

  9. And let’s not forget that Project Veritas is part of this:

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

Here it is, spelled out in black and white. A hostile foreign nation working in concert with operatives on the ground here in America, working all angles

HAPPY FRIDAY AMERICA She’s the chief accountant and includes upto May 2018 Russian National Charged with Interfering in U.S. Political System | USAO-EDVA | Department of Justice https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/russian-national-charged-interfering-us-political-system …

“The conspirators’ alleged activities did not exclusively adopt one ideological view; they wrote on topics from varied and sometimes opposing perspectives.” (cont’d)

“Members of the conspiracy were directed, among other things, to create ‘political intensity through supporting radical groups’ and to ‘aggravate the conflict between minorities and the rest of the population.'”

“The financial documents she controlled include detailed expenses for activities in the United States, such as expenditures for activists, advertisements on social media platforms, registration of domain names,” (cont’d)

“the purchase of proxy servers, and ‘promoting news postings on social networks.'”

Here’s maybe the worst part: “Members of the conspiracy took advantage of specific events in the United States to anchor their themes, including the shootings of church members in Charleston, South Carolina, and concert attendees in Las Vegas.”

They have a design department. And SEO. And IT. And analysis. Can you see now why it matters that sites share ad tech with Russian sites? Or with Breitbart? This is how they know what you’re clicking, reading, thinking, doing. And they use it as a weapon.

They were spending money – a lot of money – on Facebook ads as recently as this summer. Facebook, on the contrary, leads us to believe they’ve made great progress and effort in this area. Tell me again why we should trust anything that comes out of their f*cking mouth?

Here. This is f*cking horseshoe right here. LITERALLY playing both sides. This isn’t a THEORY. This is REAL. THEY WERE DOING THIS. And shout out to all the people before me who took copious amounts of abuse for telling the truth.

This here is what is called FRAMING.

Oh look. The old civil war bullshit. Here it is in black and white – this was a PRODUCT created for our CONSUMPTION.

Are you noticing a pattern? As in, all of this f*cking sh*t was coordinated with what was squirting out of DJ “the Mushroom” Tr*mp’s mouth? Take a gander at this smear tactic.

Do you get it yet? They’re using every possible issue to divide us. Why? Because our BEING UNITED IS THEIR SINGLE BIGGEST THREAT. VOTE. VOTE GODDAMMIT.

And read the whole thing yourself. You’ll be stunned. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/press-release/file/1102591/download …

One other important point – this was all done using our stolen metadata. If you want to do a deep dive this weekend, here is a ton of info, sources, and explanations. Please read, and once you understand, tell others.

Psychological Warfare

 

That’s it for Friday.  I’m not sure how to handle these longer Twitter threads.  If I’m going to include them going forward, I’ll have to limit them to only 1 or 2 a day, depending on the length.  Problem is, some of them are more in-depth than others, and the provide great information.  I don’t like including all of the pictures, but copying them over is the only way to keep the info.  Plus, things have a tendency to disappear.

I’m going to add Elena to The Indicted as soon as I post this.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 10/18/2018

Thursday, October 18, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

A Russian billionaire who orchestrated the June 2016 Trump Tower meetingformed a new American shell company a month beforehand with an accountant who has had clients accused of money laundering and embezzlement.

The billionaire, Aras Agalarov, created the US company anonymously while preparing to move almost $20m into the country during the time of the presidential election campaign, according to interviews and corporate filings.

The company was set up for him in May 2016 by his Russian-born accountant, who has also managed the US finances of compatriots accused of mishandling millions of dollars. One of those clients has its own connectionto the Trump Tower meeting.

That’s right, it’s Aras Agalarov, the oligarch behind the June 9 meeting.  This just gets more and more interesting.  While his son Emin was coordinating a meeting through Donnie Jr., Daddy A was setting up a shell company.  In the time around that meeting, mysterious money payments flowed from Daddy A to this shell company.  Hmm… it’s almost like they were laying the groundwork for making payments of an illicit nature.

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

I posted John Schindler’s piece on this last week on Daily Check-In 10/10/2018, it’s nice to see the MSM catch up.

In a normal, non-corrupt administration, what’s supposed to happen is that when the USIC learns about an attack against an American, they’re given authorization from the White House to intervene and protect this person.  Also, the White House would “strongly encourage” the aggressors to not even think about it.

Instead, our Intel groups heard about this attack, and the White House did… nothing.  They didn’t take any action to stop it.  Worse still, it’s not unreasonable to think that Trump, Kushner, and the lot were working WITH the Saudis on this.

Something else to keep in mind, Khashoggi wasn’t blackballed from Saudi Arabia until AFTER Trump was elected President.

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

Projects Where a Trump Family Member Overstated Sales Numbers

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Claim: Donald Trump claimed $365 million in sales in a 2007 letter to The Wall Street Journal.

Reality: Trump reported $290 million in a 2009 project audit.

Result: Never built.

FORT LAUDERDALE

Claim: Trump announced the hotel/condo was “pretty much sold out” in April 2006, according to a broker who attended the presentation.

Reality: 62 percent of units were sold as of July 2006, according to bank records that emerged in a court case.

Result: Entered foreclosure. Trump’s name removed before construction completed.

LAS VEGAS

Claim: Condos “sold out,” Trump told The Associated Press in 2005

Reality: About 25 percent of units were sold by 2011, according to press accounts.

Result: Built.

PANAMA

Claim: “It’s a 1,000-unit building, we’ve sold over 90 percent of it,” Ivanka told Portfolio in 2008.

Reality: As of three months later, 79 percent of the units were pre-sold, according to Moody’s.

Result: Built, but went bankrupt; Trump name removed.

SOHO

Claim: In 2008, Ivanka told reporters that 60 percent of units had sold.

Reality: A Trump partner’s affidavit revealed that 15 percent had been sold at the time.

Result: Built, but went bankrupt; Trump name removed.

TAMPA

Claim: The building “sold out,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal in 2007.

Reality: The developers failed to sell a minimum of 70 percent of units, according to a Trump company letter that year, which deemed that a violation of its contract.

Result: Never built.

TORONTO

Claim: In a 2009 interview, Ivanka referred to the property as “virtually sold out.”

Reality: 24.8 percent of units had sold, according to a 2016 bankruptcy filing by the developers.

Result: Built, but went bankrupt; Trump name removed.

Projects Where the Trumps Suggested They Were Developers, Partners or Equity Owners (They Weren’t)

BAJA

More than 50 buyers claimed Ivanka said the Trump Organization was a developer on the project at a 2007 sales event, according to a lawsuit quoted by Univision.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

“I am excited to be building Trump at Cap Cana,” Trump was quoted saying in a 2007 press release, according to Univision.

FORT LAUDERDALE

Trump called the hotel and tower “my latest development” in a letter announcing the project.

REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA

“TRUMP INVESTS IN GEORGIA” read banners for the project, according to The New Yorker. Asked by a Fox anchor what he was “investing in,” Trump responded, “I’m doing a big development” in Georgia.

PANAMA

“I am honored to develop this extraordinary high rise with my partner Roger Khafif of the K Group,” Trump said in a 2009 marketing statement.

TAMPA

Trump claimed an ownership stake in a news article at the time, stating it was less than 50 percent, then adding: “But it’s a substantial stake. I recently said I’d like to increase my stake but when they’re selling that well they don’t let you do that.”

WAIKIKI

In the final episode of season five of “The Apprentice,” Trump announced the project on national TV, saying “that’s why I’m building the magnificent Trump Hotel and Tower Waikiki.” In 2007, he told The Wall Street Journal: “This building is largely owned by me and being developed by me.”

I talked about Trump’s Producers-like skill at killing projects in Money Laundering, and it’s time I think I restate that hypothesis.

Like the move, play, and move “The Producers”, the protagonists try to raise money for a play  that they know will bomb because that way they’ll make more money by selling the same shares to multiple people.  It’s like selling the same apartment to 5 people when there’s no chance that any of them will ever move in.  When the project fails, the investors can’t come back for their money.

Trump only builds when they absolutely have to.  A failed project is an easy way to launder funds.  Let’s say Ruslav Mafiafsky wants to convert $500 million into something he can use.  He’ll call up a real estate “developer” like Trump, who will work with them to create a project somewhere.  It will be announced that it’s a multi-billion dollar project, and that they’re raising funds.  RM’s money is put in escrow in some holding company, and some expenses are paid out of it. Once some fund raising deadline passes and the project goes belly-up, RM gets most of their money back, laundered.

One other thing I love about this story, it straight up calls Ivanka a crook.  Because she is.

 

SCOTUS 

 

#METOO

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

The problem is not Brexit. The problem is the people who sold it to us cheated, lied & broke our electoral laws RT if you agree

The problem is not Brexit. It’s that we don’t know who paid for it. We don’t know where Farage’s mate got his money from. And we don’t know why the government is refusing to say if the authorities are investigating

The problem is not Brexit. The problem is a police force that seems to have parked an investigation. The problem is the PM’s political secretary is responsible & compromised. The problem is a serving minister who oversaw electoral fraud

 

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

STUDENT LOANS

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

The former Director of Sports Marketing and Alliances at Microsoft was indicted today by a federal grand jury for five counts of wire fraud for his scheme to profit by stealing from Microsoft, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes.  JEFF TRAN, a/k/a TRUNG TRAN, 45 of Seattle, is alleged to have used his position at Microsoft to attempt to steal more than $1.5 million through the creation and submission of fraudulent invoices and the unauthorized use of other Microsoft assets.  TRAN will be arraigned on the charges in U.S. District Court in Seattle in the next ten days.

According to the allegations in the indictment, TRAN oversaw Microsoft’s promotional relationship with the National Football League (NFL).  The indictment alleges that in March 2017, TRAN caused a fraudulent $775,000 invoice to be issued to Microsoft, supposedly for services related to the 2017 Super Bowl.  Tran caused the $775,000 payment from Microsoft to be routed through two Microsoft vendors and then to Tran’s personal bank account.  Tran then attempted to cause Microsoft to make a second payment for $670,000, based on another fraudulent invoice.  Tran intended to route that payment to a company Tran controlled.  When Microsoft vendors became suspicious of Tran’s activity and reported the conduct to Microsoft, Tran destroyed electronic communications and told the vendors to lie to Microsoft about the $775,000 payment.  After Microsoft confronted Tran, Tran returned the $775,000.

The indictment also alleges that Tran stole blocks of Super Bowl tickets belonging to Microsoft.  Because of his position, Tran was responsible for determining which Microsoft employees would receive Microsoft Super Bowl tickets.  However, instead of distributing all of the tickets to Microsoft employees, TRAN sold over 60 of the tickets through a ticket broker and pocketed more than $200,000.

Wire Fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations.  A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case was investigated by the FBI.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Seth Wilkinson.

 

 

PRIESTS

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

ELECTION 2018

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

RUMOR MILL

There was a mafia hit man known for his very specific way of killing people by luring them into a room, killing them, cutting them into pieces, then disposing of the bodies without a trace. His name was Roy DeMeo and he was part of the Gambino crime family.

He primarily served Paul Castellano. You might want to Google Castellano and his role in a certain golden tower in Manhattan.

If you’re wondering how in the hell these people could be so blasé about the torture, execution and dismemberment of an American resident, try looking at it through the lens of the mafia.

This was a human being. He was lured to his death. The guy chopping him up suggested to the others in the room to listen to music while he did it. And Trump’s lackeys were laughing and smiling and taking tourist selfies while they went to “look into it.”

 

That’s it for Thursday.  It would be nice for things to be quiet this weekend, but that’s not likely to happen.

I’ve got some ideas on stories I want to do, but I’m typing this with an infant in one arm and a bad shoulder on the other.  I’ll see how this goes.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

Daily Check-In 10/17/2018

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

 

The Treasury case centers on a dozen stories published by BuzzFeed News that described suspicious activity reports, or SARs, which are generated by banks when a financial transaction may involve illegal activity.

Prosecutors charged Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards with the unauthorized disclosure of suspicious activity reports and conspiracy. The charges were filed in federal court in New York but she made her first court appearance in Northern Virginia.

Edwards, 40, lives outside Richmond and works as a senior adviser at the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, often referred to as “FinCEN.” At a brief court appearance in Alexandria, she was released on $100,000 bond and instructed to appear next month in court in New York. She was also prohibited from speaking to anyone at FinCEN or accessing any FinCEN equipment.

…

Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Edwards “betrayed her position of trust by repeatedly disclosing highly sensitive information.”

The stories cited in the criminal complaint filed against Edwards match the headlines, wording and information contained in BuzzFeed News stories, though the court papers did not identify the news organization by name.

Those stories often focused on suspicious activity reports related to key figures in the investigation being conducted by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, including former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Russian diplomats and other Trump associates.

One of the stories published in September included financial transactions involving Rob Goldstone, a British music publicist who helped arrange a meeting between senior Trump advisers and a Russian lawyer in 2016 that has been a focus of the investigation.

…

The last BuzzFeed story cited in the charging documents was published on Monday, again drawing largely on information from SARs reports.

About 2 million suspicious activity reports were filed in 2017 by banks, money service businesses, casinos and others, according to FinCEN officials. On their own, suspicious activity reports often do not mean very much. But taken with other evidence, they can help guide investigators to specific transactions that might involve financial crimes.

The 18-page criminal complaint details a search of Edwards’s phone and a flash drive she possessed, on which FBI agents say they found a lengthy digital trail of her interactions with the reporters, in which she shared SARS reports.

“The majority of the files were saved to a folder on the flash drive entitled ‘Debacle — Operation-CF,’ and sub-folders bearing names such as ‘Debacle\Emails\Asshat’,” the complaint stated. “Edwards is not known to be involved in any official FinCEN project or task bearing these file titles or code names.”

The flash drive files “appear to contain thousands of SARs, along with other highly sensitive material relating to Russia, Iran, and the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” the complaint charges.

When FBI agents questioned Edwards on Tuesday, she initially denied having contacts with the reporter whose name appears on the stories at issue, then “changed her account, and admitted that on numerous occasions, she accessed SARs on her computer, photographed them, and sent those photographs to Reporter-1” using an encrypted application on her phone, according to the complaint.

The court filing said Edwards referred to herself as a whistleblower in the interview, but added while she had previously filed a whistleblower complaint related to her work, that did not involve the SARs disclosures.

The court documents also indicate the FBI has investigated one of Edwards’s bosses, an associate director of FinCEN, noting that person exchanged 325 text messages with the reporter in question during the month when the first story appeared citing SARs reports.

The boss, referred to in court papers as Edwards “co-conspirator,” was not identified in court papers. People familiar with the case identified the person as Kip Brailey. Brailey did not respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday.

A FinCEN spokesman said Edwards has been placed on administrative leave and declined to comment about Brailey.

A BuzzFeed spokesman declined to comment.

Remember a while back when we heard reports of SARs disappearing from the FinCEN system, so a Senior Treasury Official took what info they had and went to a reporter to put this in the press? (Daily Check-In 05/16/2018)  Yeah, this isn’t that.  That happened when the SAR’s for Michael Cohen went into a restricted status.  These charges are about Suspicious Activity Reports being given to BuzzFeed starting in the Fall of 2017, which formed the basis and groundwork for a lot of their reporting about the Russian Investigation.

It wasn’t just Manafort’s SAR’s that were given to the press, but also those of other parties in the Russian Investigation like Rob Goldstone, Rick Gates, The Argalov’s and Maria Butina.

I do appreciate the naming convention she used.  “Operation CF” isn’t an official project name or code name, unless the Treasury has let the agents name ops things like Clusterfuck.  CF=Clusterfuck.

She has claimed whistleblower protections.  Let’s see how this goes.

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

As more details come out, the worse this is going to get, and the worse it will look.  The newest reports now refer to specifics in a recording made of the murder and torture.

How? How could he have recorded his own murder?

“Hey Siri, Record.”

You’ll have to get an app that automatically records everything once it’s opened, but this is how Jamal Khashoggi likely recorded his own murder.

Jamal wore an Apple Watch, 3rd Generation.  Not the most recent version, but the version right before that, which comes with either built-in GPS and LTE connection, or just GPS connection.  The way to tell the difference is the LTE, or cell capable watches, have a red dot on the crown.  Both versions connect to their parent phone via Bluetooth, but the LTE version can make phone calls on its own.

Jamal likely started a recording with his watch while keeping his phone outside of the consulate, but close enough to be in Bluetooth range, say 50 feet.  If he was on LTE, the range likely wouldn’t matter as he’d be calling his phone from his watch.

According to the reports, as soon as he was inside, he was attacked by his murderers, who then started cutting off his fingers.  They didn’t sedate him, knock him out, or strip him, or even ask basic questions.  They went straight to the mutilation.  Because they started hacking him to pieces right off the bat, they didn’t check to see if his watch was doing anything.

Imagine being the person on the other end of the recording, hearing someone that trusted you being butchered like a farm animal by nonchalant killers.  Now imagine the rage at knowing that this all likely could have been prevented, if so ordered.

This is why Trump and Kushner are now Accessories to Murder.

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

FBI agents are probing the Manhattan district attorney’s office over its handling of high-profile cases that were dropped once lawyers for the well-connected subjects made donations, the Daily News has learned.

Investigators have been quietly seeking information in recent months about decision-making by DA Cy Vance Jr. and his staff, sources with knowledge of the undertaking said.

The queries are centered on how things are handled in the office and who the major players are, the sources said. The FBI interest grew out of revelations that investigations were closed once lawyers representing the bigwig suspects made hefty donations to Vance’s campaign coffers, sources said.

The team has asked about current and former high-level staff members and their relationships to private law firms and outside agencies, sources said. Investigators are considering whether undue influence was at play.

The extent of the inquiry was not immediately known and it was not clear whether criminal charges were being considered.

Manhattan’s top prosecutor came under fire last year after questions surfaced about his office’s 2015 decision not to go after ex-Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein after model Ambra Battilana accused him of groping her breasts in his Tribeca office.

A lawyer hired by Weinstein at the time had given Vance $24,000 and another attorney sent him $10,000 after the decision to spare the powerful producer an arrest.

In another case, the DA also failed to bring criminal charges against two of President Trump’s children in an alleged real estate scam.

Cyrus Vance, DA for Manhattan, has a lot of explaining to do.  Remember when his office wanted to press criminal charges against the Trump Children for fraud but he killed that after Trump’s lawyer Mark Kasowitz? (Daily Check-In 10/6/2017,Daily Check-In 10/11/2017)  That was last year.  In the time since then, his behavior has raised a lot of eyebrows.  Now, we finally have confirmation that his graft caught the attention of the FBI.

The question I have is how pervasive is this?  How deep does it go?

From the Pro Publica Piece:

Patterns of deceptive practices occurred in a dozen deals across the globe, as the business expanded into international projects, and the Trumps often participated. One common pattern, visible in more than half of those transactions, was a tendency to misstate key sales numbers.

In interviews and press conferences, Ivanka Trump gave false sales figures for projects in Mexico’s Baja California; Panama City, Panama; Toronto and New York’s SoHo neighborhood. These statements weren’t just the legendary Trump hype; they misled potential buyers about the viability of the developments.

Another pattern: Donald Trump repeatedly misled buyers about the amount (or existence) of his ownership in projects in Tampa, Florida; Panama; Baja and elsewhere. For a tower planned in Tampa, for example, Trump told a local paper in 2005 that his ownership would be less than 50 percent: “But it’s a substantial stake. I recently said I’d like to increase my stake but when they’re selling that well they don’t let you do that.” In reality, Trump had no ownership stake in the project.

The Trumps often made money even when projects failed. And when they tanked, the Trumps simply ignored their prior claims of close involvement, denied any responsibility and walked away.

…

Trump licensed his name for an initial fee of $1 million. But that was just the beginning of the revenue streams, a lengthy and varied assortment that granted him a piece of everything from sales of apartment units to a cut of minibar sales, and was notable for the myriad ways in which both success and failure triggered payments to him.

Consider the final accounting: In the wake of the project’s bankruptcy, a 50 percent default rate and his company’s expulsion from managing the hotel, Donald Trump walked away with between $30 million and $55 million.

…

If everything went smoothly, according to the bond prospectus, Trump’s take would be $74 million by 2010. That sum was equivalent to about a third of the entire financing for the project.

Of course, things would go less than perfectly. But Trump was protected if that happened, too. His contract created a safety net for him if prices rose so high that buyers failed to close. One provisionrequired that two years after the first closing, developers would pay the Trumps fees for unsold units — basing the amount on the average sales prices of the units that had closed. In theory, avoiding such payments provided an incentive to sell more units; in reality, it meant that Trump would get paid whether or not units actually sold.

The contract required that monthly sales and marketing reports be provided to the Trumps. It was a stipulation the Trump Organization appeared to value: In an email related to another project, Trump’s son Eric chastised business partners in the Dominican Republic for delays in making such reports. “I am getting weekly emails from my team who requests this info on all projects for basic monitoring purposes,” Eric wrote.

His sister, meanwhile, asserted her engagement with the company’s endeavors. “I’m involved in every aspect of our new construction projects,” Ivanka said in a 2008 interview. “[A] lot of what I do is get involved in the acquisition process, from sourcing the potential opportunities and then the initial due-diligence process, but then, of course, I follow the deals through to predevelopment planning, design, interior design, architectural design, sales and marketing, and, ultimately, through operations.”

…

Ivanka Trump’s exaggerations about the Ocean Club reflected a tactic she and her father employed repeatedly in other cases, ProPublica and WNYC found. Their statements, typically made in the midst of sales drives, tended to overstate the number of units under contract or the Trump Organization’s equity stake in projects scattered around the globe.

The Trumps’ propensity to overstate sales led them, as ProPublica, WNYC and the New Yorker reported last year, to be investigated on potential felony fraud charges in one case. Ivanka had announced in June 2008 that 60 percent of the units at the SoHo tower had been bought when in fact 15 percent had, according to an affidavit filed by a Trump partner. The Manhattan district attorney’s office considered charging the Trumps but backed off after a visit from a donor — Trump’s attorney Marc Kasowitz. (The DA, Cyrus Vance, denied he was influenced by the donation but later changed his policy and now refuses donations from lawyers with cases before him.)

 

SCOTUS & THE COURTS

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

STUDENT LOANS

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

Despite the upsides of his presidency, like tax cuts and broad deregulatory efforts, Donald Trump has always presented the most obvious reason to pull the parachute — but I’ve always believed in the fight to better the GOP. After the 2012 election, I wanted to help in expanding the party tent, in making the GOP more inclusive, and in thinking ahead to a less white America. But we all know what happened next.

When the Republican base doubled down on its worst instincts in backing Trump, I felt the fight for the soul of the GOP was more important than ever. Our country can’t abide with an increasingly authoritarian Democratic Party and a Republican Party whose response is to say “hold my beer.”

So why exit the GOP now, years later? A Republican president offering cover to neo-Nazis after the rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was pretty nauseating. I still can’t forget Trump’s pardon of Joe Arpaio or emphatic endorsement of Roy Moore. If you go by the running list of nasty things the Republican de facto leader has said or done, obviously that would seem like ample reason to have left long ago.

…

Supreme Court nominees have been dumped or withdrawn many times before, but this time it had to be do or die. Passions over Kavanaugh were inflamed not just out of a sense of injustice, but because the pursuit of domination requires ownership of the courts. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s success in getting Kavanaugh across the finish line despite sexual assault allegations was not the kind of moment where’d you’d expect a victory party. Yet the popping of corks ensued anyway across social media and hotel bars throughout D.C.

Republicans won, Democrats lost. But who is asking if the country won anything?

 

RACISM, PLAIN AND SIMPLE

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS

 

ENVIRONMENT

 

ELECTION 2018

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

WOAH In Sines v Kessler, Richard Spencer just filed a bunch of discovery without marking it confidential. This includes texts between him, Eli Mosley, and Jason Kessler regarding UTR 1 and UTR 2.

Or scratch that, just UTR 1.

This is the fucking sauce right here. A conversation between Spencer and Mosley about Jason, and talking about dropping him after UTR because he was “weird.” The context here is the presser Jason gave with the Warlocks biker gang.

And here’s Jason calling Spencer “my liege,” telling him that he’s “raising an army” and will “crack skulls.” Just go to fucking prison already.

I have to do actual work and my containers are done building so I will analyze more later but suffice it to say holy shit

In another text, Eli Mosley criticizes SURJ NoVa’s planning communication style, referring to their planning document as “our literal military operation document.” That’s gonna play real well in court, champ.

They discovered that someone in Jason’s family was Jewish, so these are the discussions. I’D LIKE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THAT FUNDER.

We’ve known about the funder for months, but not the identity. One of my sources has told me that Jason received a sum of about $40,000 sometime in late 2016 or early 2017, which was linked to his recall efforts for Wes Bellamy.

The source also told me that Jason used to move money in and out of his account whenever his application renewals for his community housing were due. (This is called ‘money laundering’).

So far we haven’t been able to pin down the source, but it’s a short list, and this nugget of information allows us to update our priors.

True story, Richard Spencer’s trolling of yours truly is an important element of this lawsuit.

As the excellent @JLRLawpointed out, these materials were exhibits to a brief by Spencer to try to limit further discovery. If this is what he’s handed over, I can’t imagine how bad the rest of it is.

In this exchange, Jason tells Spencer that he will “literally fight” to have Richard there. Spencer responds by acknowledging his presence on the poster may lead to danger. Shortly later, he agreed to come. And then a woman was murdered.

Is it me or does this all feel like it was a huge plan to do violence

Withholding the after party location from David Duke is the most Mean Girls shit in this entire affair

According to the texts, Eli and Richard think that Jason’s funder was Jimmy Fry. Fry was someone who harassed me a LOT on Twitter that summer. He was eccentric even by Nazi standards.

b r u t a l

This thread is 50% uncovering exhaustive evidence of a conspiracy to commit political violence and 50% marveling in the vicious cruelty that is hormonal Nazi drama

Richard: If I attend there will likely be violence Jason: yes me and many others are ready and willing to do much violence Richard: ok let me think a bit Jason: the cops are definitely on our side and will support us doing violence

Jason: hey I need some 1 on 1 time with you no middle men Richard: right on just go ahead and call my middle man to set it up

Man, Spencer has tried arguing in court that he had nothing to do with the planning of the rally but both main organizers, Jason and Eli, are in these texts seeking his advise and permission on a bunch of factors.

I hope the pictures show up this time.  If not, please check out the Twitter thread.

 

That’s it for Wednesday.  I really need to trim down what I cover.

I’m getting a lot of noise nowadays.  Especially on Reddit.  Part of it might be with how much new news there is, or how voting has started for the midterms in a few states across the country, but I’m having a hard time seeing Russia and Mueller related news on /r/Politics.  I’m seeing the stories in other feeds, but they only appear briefly there on the New page, then disappear.  Meanwhile, stories from a week or two ago are rising to the front page.

I’ve seen this happen before with Butina stories and with Ronan Farrow articles.  Sometimes the trolls bury pieces they don’t like.  They can get overpowered by the rest of the audience, but trolls coming out of the woodwork to bury a piece is, unfortunately, getting to be common.

It’s also why I use multiple sources of stories, and try to go to specific sites instead of just aggregates.  It’s easy to see patterns in the various battlefields, if one knows what to look for.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 10/16/2018

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

 

KHASHOGGI

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

 SCOTUS  & #METOO

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

I’m not going to link to a picture of the painting, because it’s stupid, tacky, and belongs in a psychotherapists dossier on him, but I’ll describe it.

Remember that stupid mall-quality portrait of all of the old Republican President’s playing poker?  This is almost the same thing, but puts Trump at the table, and everyone is drinking their drink of choice.

From a friend of mine, Kat, about Trump’s painting.

I’m pretty sure all of them would hate him.

Ronald Reagan might tolerate him at best, because Nancy told him to.

Gerald Ford would probably hate him at minimum for being a draft dodger.

Richard Nixon would hate him for being an idiot, and for wrecking the EPA.

Dwight D. Eisenhower would probably be suppressing the urge to light him on fire.

Theodore Roosevelt would ACTUALLY be lighting him on fire, because let’s face it. Teddy had no impulse control. Bully!

Lincoln would be generally trying to figure out what the hell happened to the party he helped create and how the fuck this moron ended up president. 

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

WARREN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

STUDENT LOANS

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

DATING APP?

A Trump Supporter Dating App? Is it called “Swipe Alt-Right”?.

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS

 

ENVIRONMENT

 

ELECTION 2018

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

Good morning, MSM. Do your damn jobs and put reporters on the following: child trafficking through churches, missions, charities. Tie it to the Mob, and money laundering. Get moving.

Got any actual reporters left after that? Do the state economic development corruption on legalizing gambling. Tie it to televised poker. Plenty of TV stars to make the stories clickbait-y. Now get hustling.

Still covering Elizabeth Warren’s DNA? Put it the fuck down on go look at how the Mob – particularly the Russian mafiya, led by Semion Mogilevich – has been stealing from our healthcare system for years. Leads are ALL OVER Justice Dot Gov.

Did you DARE to type the word “Kanye” into anything? Fuck that – get into and start looking at who’s lobbying for which foreign entities without registering FARA – and the donations to AMERICAN POLITICIANS. 100 Pulitzers are sitting there. Get moving.

Sorry to be brusque – but bone saws and Mobsters and child rape, you know. Patience is thinning and we could use some help. </>

Funny how that works.  It’s almost like he’s rage tweeting right after being asked by the press for a comment on a story they’re working on.

 

That’s it for Tuesday.  I’m tired, and could use a few hours off to recharge.  Instead, I’ll get caught up over the weekend.

There are some even more disturbing details about Khashoggi’s murder coming out that I’ll talk about on the next post.  Apparently, there’s about 7 minutes of audio of him being tortured and cut to pieces while still alive.

Also, expect some reports about Mueller’s team looking to report something after the midterms.  There’s something sketchy about this story, so let’s see how this plays out.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur