foreigncontributions

foreigncontributions https://www.dailykos.com/news/foreigncontributions News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Mon, 27 Jan 2020 12:43:42 +0000 Mon, 27 Jan 2020 12:43:42 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Connecting some New Cambridge Analytica Dots with some Old ones ... https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/10/29/1710757/-Connecting-some-New-Dots-with-some-Older-ones <h3>• Dot 1 </h3> from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/26/julian-assange-confirms-cambridge-analytica-sought-wikileaks-help" target="_blank">theguardian.com</a> — 10-25-2017 <blockquote> A data-mining firm that worked for Donald Trump’s election campaign made an approach to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/wikileaks">WikiLeaks</a>, founder Julian Assange said on Wednesday. The statement followed <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-data-guru-i-tried-to-team-up-with-julian-assange">a report in the Daily Beast</a> that Cambridge Analytica chief executive Alexander Nix made contact with Assange about the possible release of 33,000 of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s missing emails. </blockquote> <h3>• Dot 2</h3> from <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/357558-top-trump-donor-asked-data-firm-to-help-organize-hacked-wikileaks-emails" target="_blank">thehill.com </a>— 10-27-2017 <blockquote> A top donor to President Trump’s 2016 election effort asked the campaign's data firm if it could help organize hacked emails released by WikiLeaks on <a href="http://thehill.com/people/hillary-clinton">Hillary Clinton</a>, according to a new report. A source familiar with the matter told <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-donor-asked-data-firm-if-it-could-better-organize-hacked-emails-1509133587" target="_blank">The Wall Street Journal</a> that Rebekah Mercer, a billionaire supporter of Trump, exchanged emails with Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix about the hacked emails. </blockquote> <h3>• Dot 3</h3> from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/14/robert-mercer-cambridge-analytica-leave-eu-referendum-brexit-campaigns" target="_blank">theguardian.com </a>— 5-14-2017 <blockquote> But this signed legal document — a document that was never meant to be made public and was leaked by a concerned source — connects both Vote Leave and Leave.EU’s data firms directly to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage" title="">Robert Mercer, the American billionaire who bankrolled Donald Trump</a>. [...] This created a binding “exclusive” “worldwide” agreement “in perpetuity” for all of AggregateIQ’s intellectual property to be used by SCL Elections (a British firm that created Cambridge Analytica with Mercer). [...] The link between Cambridge Analytica and AggregateIQ was never supposed to come to light. <figure class="image-captioned"><img alt="" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/432267/large/Mercer_Brexit_Linkage.jpg?1501862943"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> </blockquote> <h3>• Dot 4</h3> from the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/magnitsky-act-russian-adoptions-donald-trump-jr-meeting-2017-7" target="_blank">businessinsider.com </a>— 7-10-2017 <blockquote> Donald Trump Jr. said he met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya last June at Trump Tower to discuss compromising information she said she had on Hillary Clinton, but was disappointed when she changed the subject to Russia's adoption policy. [...] Veselnitskaya would have had her own motivations for pivoting from promises of dirt on Clinton to a discussion of Russia's adoption policy, which was altered to bar American families from adopting Russian children in retaliation for the signing of the Magnitsky Act in 2012. </blockquote> <h3>• Dot 5</h3> from the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-jr-russia-meeting-lawyer-kremlin-links-natalia-veselnitskaya-reports-a8024151.html" target="_blank">independent.co.uk </a>— 10-28-2017 <blockquote> The Russian lawyer who met with <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/donald-trump-jr">Donald Trump Jr</a> in June 2016 shared the information she was going to give the campaign with the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/kremlin">Kremlin</a> first. According to the New York Times, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/natalia-veselnitskaya">Natalia Veselnitskaya</a> was reportedly going to give President <a href="http://independent.co.uk/topic/donaldtrump">Donald Trump</a>’s son information she thought would be disparaging to then-candidate <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/HillaryClinton">Hillary Clinton</a>. It was a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/us/politics/trump-tower-veselnitskaya-russia.html?smid=tw-share" target="_blank">memo </a>she had apparently shared with Russian prosecutor general Yuri Chaika months before. [...] That revelation is contradictory to Ms Veselnitskaya’s claim she was acting independent of the Kremlin when she had a third party reach out to the Trump family and ultimately met with the younger Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort. </blockquote> <h3>• Dot 6</h3> from the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-yuri-chaika-2017-7" target="_blank">businessinsider.com </a>— 10-27-2017 <blockquote> Russia's top prosecutor [Yuri Chaika] and "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/world/europe/russia-donald-trump-jr-kompromat-yuri-chaika.html?mcubz=1" target="_blank">master of kompromat</a>" has been working since at least last year to overturn legislation passed by President Barack Obama in 2012 that levied punishing sanctions and travel restrictions on high-level Kremlin officials suspected of human rights abuses and corruption. Yuri Chaika, who served as Russia’s justice minister during Putin’s first term and was appointed prosecutor general in 2006, is far from a household name in the United States. [...] As Business Insider <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/veselnitskaya-memo-trump-tower-russia-meeting-2017-10" target="_blank">has previously reported</a>, Veselnitskaya brought a memo to her meeting with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort last June at Trump Tower that contained many of the same talking points as one written by Chaika's office two months earlier. The document is marked “confidential” but made the rounds on Capitol Hill upon the lawmaker's return [congressman Dana Rohrabacher return from Moscow] to the US and was obtained by Business Insider. Browder was targeted by Chaika's office because of his role in spearheading the Magnitsky Act </blockquote> <div> <div> <h3>• Dot 7</h3> from the <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/10/trump-campaign-distances-itself-from-cambridge-analytica-after-assange-connection-surfaces" target="_blank">vanityfair.com </a>— 10-25-2017 <blockquote> When Trump adviser <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/people/jared-kushner#intcid=dt-hot-link">Jared Kushner</a> bragged to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2017/05/26/jared-kushner-in-his-own-words-on-the-trump-data-operation-the-fbi-is-reportedly-probing/#705ef129a90f">Forbes</a> about his role in steering the Trump campaign to victory, he emphasized the merits of its unique data operation. “We brought in Cambridge Analytica,” he said, referring to the Robert Mercer-backed analytics company. “We basically had to build a $400 million operation with 1,500 people operating in 50 states, in five months.” The relationship was lucrative for the firm, too: Between July 29 and December 12 of last year, the Trump campaign <a href="https://twitter.com/samstein/status/923294037108391936">reportedly</a> paid Cambridge Analytica $5.9 million, according to Federal Election Commission data. But on Wednesday, after the Daily Beast <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-data-guru-i-tried-to-team-up-with-julian-assange">reported</a> that its C.E.O., Alexander Nix, had reached out to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with an offer to help release Hillary Clinton’s missing e-mails, Team Trump moved to distance itself from the company. </blockquote> </div> </div> Dot 1, Cambridge Analytica chief executive Alexander Nix made contact with Assange, presumably as the behest of Dot 2, Rebekah Mercer, a billionaire supporter of Trump, who want to see that “Dirt on Hillary” spread far and wide. Since Dot 2 is the <s>wife</s> daughter of Dot 3, to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage" title="">Robert Mercer, the American billionaire who bankrolled Donald Trump</a>, and in a “licensed agreement” sort of way — is Dot 1’s Boss. So, CEO Nix obliged the request of Dot 2, and approach to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/wikileaks" title="">WikiLeaks</a> for more “Dirt on Hillary”. The “promised Dirt” was presumably handed over to Wikileaks (Dots 2 & 3), <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/07/11/timeline-donald-trump-jr-interactions-kremlin-linked-lawyer/467634001/" target="_blank">AFTER the “meeting of the minds”</a> of the Trump Team “brain trust” (in Dot 4) and the Russian lawyers to get the Magnitsky Act watered down and repealed. Russian Lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya Dot 5, lied when claim she was acting independent of the Kremlin when she had a third party reach out to the Trump family, proffering “disparaging info” on Hillary Clinton. Because, as we learned this week (Dot 6) Veselnitskaya, was circulating Kremlin-vetted “talking points” when she met with Trump Team. Those “talking points” were written by Russia's top prosecutor Yuri Chaika and "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/world/europe/russia-donald-trump-jr-kompromat-yuri-chaika.html?mcubz=1" target="_blank">master of kompromat</a>" who has been working since at least last year to overturn Magnitsky Act legislation — using a variety of routes including congressman Dana Rohrabacher (Dot 6b). Even as the Trump Team tries to disavow, back-pedal, accuse and distract, from the rapid-closing dragnet (Dot 7), that is honing-in on their “working with Russians” data operations — they CANNOT disavow the $5.9 million they paid Cambridge Analytica (Dot 1) — to carry out their instructions ‘to use the Russian-provided Dirt’ in their “$400 million operation”. And the Trump Team cannot back-pedal away from their previous bragging claims, about the effectiveness of Cambridge Analytica … <h3>• Dot 8</h3> <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwinrdfPk43XAhVHKGMKHefOBU4QFggoMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fstevenbertoni%2F2016%2F11%2F22%2Fexclusive-interview-how-jared-kushner-won-trump-the-white-house%2F&usg=AOvVaw1k_mbWe972kJVDwFGm1xM7" target="_blank">Exclusive Interview</a>: How Jared Kushner Won Trump The White House by<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/"> Steven Bertoni</a>, Forbes — Dec 20, 2016 <blockquote> [...] This wasn't a completely raw startup. Kushner's crew was able to tap into the Republican National Committee's data machine, and it hired targeting partners like Cambridge Analytica to map voter universes and identify which parts of the Trump platform mattered most: trade, immigration or change. Tools like Deep Root drove the scaled-back TV ad spending by identifying shows popular with specific voter blocks in specific regions--say, NCIS for anti-ObamaCare voters or The Walking Dead for people worried about immigration. Kushner built a custom geo-location tool that plotted the location density of about 20 voter types over a live Google Maps interface. Soon the data operation dictated every campaign decision: travel, fundraising, advertising, rally locations — even the topics of the speeches. "He put all the different pieces together," Parscale says. "And what's funny is the outside world was so obsessed about this little piece or that, they didn't pick up that it was all being orchestrated so well." </blockquote> The Trump Team can’t back-away from their previous micro-management boasts: <blockquote> The data operation (Cambridge Analytica) dictated every campaign decision: travel, fundraising, advertising, rally locations--even the topics of the speeches. </blockquote> It’s all one big Use the Russian Dirt to the greatest effect “<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/9/1705642/-Life-in-the-Trump-Data-bunker-Project-Alamo" target="_blank">operation</a>” — when you take the time to connect the ever-tightening circle-of-Investigative-Dots. rss@dailykos.com (jamess) AlexanderNix CambridgeAnalytica ConnectingTheDots CyberWarfareFooting FollowTheMoney foreigncontributions magnitskyact Microtargeting QuestionOfIntent QuidProQuo RepealForDirt RobertMercer RussianCollusion RussianDirt RussianInterference Russiansanctions ThePutinHandshake TheyLoveIt UsingRussianDirt Wikileaks _1710757 Sun, 29 Oct 2017 19:32:32 +0000 This Russian-Interference Stuff just got "Serious" https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/9/17/1699334/-This-Russian-Interference-Stuff-just-got-Serious — If CBS News and Business Insider want to call this “Biggest News” concerning the Mueller Investigation, in quite a while — who are we to doubt them ... <h3><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-facebook-warrant-could-signal-a-turning-point-in-muellers-investigation/" target="_blank" title="">Why a Facebook warrant could signal a turning point in Mueller's investigation</a></h3> CBSNews — Sept 17, 2017 <blockquote> Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti <a href="https://twitter.com/renato_mariotti/status/909441005426024449" target="_blank">says</a> reports that special counsel Robert Mueller got a search warrant for Facebook content could be "the biggest news" related to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-mueller-team-prosecutors-trump-investigation/" target="_blank">Mueller's investigation</a> since a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-conducted-raid-of-paul-manaforts-home/" target="_blank">raid on Paul Manafort's home</a>. [...] In an interview with CBSN on Sunday, Mariotti said that until now, Mueller and his investigators were looking into fairly "narrow" and "specific crimes." "Things like false disclosures on forms that Mr. Manafort or Michael Flynn made or Jared Kushner; things like obstruction as to the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-comey-donald-trump-relationship-timeline/" target="_blank">firing of James Comey</a>. For the first time here, what we've learned -- assuming that The Wall Street Journal's report about a search warrant is correct -- is that Bob Muller went to a federal judge and presented evidence and convinced the judge that a crime was committed involving foreign individuals contributing to a political election here in the United States through their actions on Facebook," Mariotti told CBS News' Elaine Quijano. [...] [emphasis added] </blockquote> <h3><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mueller-obtains-warrant-for-russia-linked-facebook-ads-and-accounts-2017-9" target="_blank" title="">Mueller just obtained a warrant that could change the entire nature of the Russia investigation</a></h3> by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/author/natasha-bertrand">Natasha Bertrand</a>, businessinsider.com — Sept 16, 2017 <blockquote> [...] Legal experts say the revelation [of the Facebook warrant] has enormous implications for the trajectory of Mueller's investigation into Russia's election interference, and whether Moscow had any help from President Donald Trump's campaign team. "This is big news — and potentially bad news for the Russian election interference 'deniers,'" <a href="https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status/909051809657966592" target="_blank">said Asha Rangappa</a>, a former FBI counterintelligence agent. Rangappa, now an associate dean at Yale Law School, explained that to obtain a search warrant a prosecutor needs to prove to a judge that there is reason to believe a crime has been committed. The prosecutor then has to show that the information being sought will provide evidence of that crime. [...] "The key here, though, is that Mueller clearly already has enough information on these accounts — and their link to a potential crime to justify forcing [Facebook] to give up the info," she said. "That means that he has uncovered a great deal of evidence through other avenues of Russian election interference." [...] [emphasis added] </blockquote> As the evidence is piling up, the Trump-enablers are having some “<a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/russia-probes-leave-trump-associates-struggling-with-huge-legal-bills/article/2634655" target="_blank">second thoughts</a>” about the course they’ve chosen. And the fact that they have been seemingly “hung out to dry,” by the Billionaire with a heart of stone. Tic-Toc. rss@dailykos.com (jamess) bignews CBSNews DenialIsNotanOption DonaldTrump electioncrimes Facebook FacebookWarrant foreigncontributions foreigninterference LegalHurdles MountingEvidence Recommended RobertMueller RussiaInvestigation RussianInterference StatesEvidence TurningPoint _1699334 Sun, 17 Sep 2017 23:44:27 +0000 Trump’s Illegal Chinese Donation Scandal https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/10/25/1586662/-Trump-s-Illegal-Chinese-Donations-Scandal The Trump camp has been caught in an illegal Chinese donation scandal through an undercover investigation by one of the UK’s most respected conservative newspapers, the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/24/exclusive-investigation-donald-trump-faces-foreign-donor-fundrai/" target="_blank">Daily Telegraph</a>: <blockquote> Senior figures involved with the Great America PAC, one of the leading "independent" groups organising television advertisements and grassroots support for the Republican nominee, sought to channel $2 million from a Chinese donor into the campaign to elect the billionaire despite laws prohibiting donations from foreigners. In return, undercover reporters purporting to represent the fictitious donor were assured that he would obtain “influence” if Mr Trump made it to the White House. </blockquote> The co-chair of the pro-Trump Great America PAC suggested that a proposed Chinese donation be laundered through a 501(c)(4) organization, which he claimed would make it legal. Later, a more elaborate plan was suggested that would conceal the $2 million donation by channeling it first through a private public affairs firm and then through two 501(c)(4)s. Trump has lambasted super PACs in the past but things have changed and Trump’s Great America PAC is supported by both Eric Trump and Rudy Giuliani. The Trump campaign, however, officially disassociated itself from the group back in April. Organizations supporting Hillary Clinton were also approached but were not drawn in by the Chinese scheme. This is not the first time the Trump camp has been caught in a foreign donations scandal. Previous targets have included <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/09/07/1567537/-Trump-Hits-Up-Israelis-for-Foreign-Donations-to-US-Campaign" target="_blank">Israelis</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/26/donald-trump-keeps-asking-foreign-leaders-for-money-the-latest-vicente-fox/" target="_blank">foreign leaders</a>. rss@dailykos.com (grahamlester) DailyTelegraph foreigncontributions greatamericapac illegalcontributions trumforeigndonations trump trumpchinesedonation trumpchinesemoney trumpdonations trumpforeigncontributions trumpillegalcontributions trumpillegaldonations _1586662 Tue, 25 Oct 2016 14:07:06 +0000 Trump Hits Up Israelis for Foreign Donations to US Campaign https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/9/7/1567537/-Trump-Hits-Up-Israelis-for-Foreign-Donations-to-US-Campaign The Trump campaign is brazenly ignoring US election laws by soliciting campaign contributions from Israelis who are not US citizens. According to the report linked below from i24 News, a privately owned Israeli station, the Trump campaign has opened offices in the West Bank and is seeking donations from Israelis whether or not they are US citizens. According to US Federal Election Commission, “Foreign nationals are prohibited from making any contributions or expenditures in connection with any election in the U.S.” <a href="http://www.i24news.tv/en/tv/replay/the-daily-beat/x4s3yx7" target="_blank">Here is the i24 report.</a> The whole report is well worth watching but the part that starts around 3.25 is the most relevant. Trump’s campaign claims that the foreign donations are legal because they are being laundered through an Israeli NGO but the Federal Election Commission rule gives no suggestion that such an exception would be acceptable. This is not the first time the Trump campaign has been caught going after foreign contributions. The non-partisan Campaign Legal Center has already filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission and sent a letter to the Department of Justice seeking an investigation over previous incidents involving contributions that the Trump camp requested from British politicians. rss@dailykos.com (grahamlester) campaignviolations DonaldTrump FederalElectionCommission foreigncontributions ForeignDonations i24 illegalcontributions illegaldontions Israel trump trumpcampaign WestBank _1567537 Wed, 07 Sep 2016 12:40:30 +0000 Barack Obama, Establishment Man https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/13/456158/-Barack-Obama-Establishment-Man By L.C. Johnson (<a href="http://noquarterusa.net/blog/">bio/blog</a>) What's wrong with this picture?  Barack Obama runs as the "outsider" fighting against the "special" interests.  Barack claims: <blockquote> “I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists — and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not get a job in my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president.” <cite>— Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA, November 10, 2007</cite> </blockquote> Okay.  Then if he is the candidate of change fighting Washington, why did a majority of the Washington, DC and the government employees in the surrounding suburbs and those pesky lobbyists and their spouses and employees, vote for Barack?  You see, I believe that people act in their own interest.  So, when the folks who live inside the beltway, vote in large measure for Barack, then maybe he is not what he claims to be. rss@dailykos.com (L C Johnson) Barack Obama BarackObama FEC foreigncontributions Hillary Clinton HillaryClinton JohnKerry MaggieWilliams PatrickLeahy TedKennedy TomDaschle _456158 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:08:53 +0000