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According to Trump, his son’s meeting with Russian representatives to get Opposition Research on an Opponent is NO BIG DEAL! Anyone would take such a Meeting. What’s the Problem?
The implied sub-text of the non-denial is: “It worked, didn’t it? No Harm, No Foul.”
Well, I would beg to differ with that rosy blame-free assessment. When you collude with meet with the Enemy, you are playing with matches in a leaky Oil Refinery.
Besides it’s probably against the Law. And if we bother to look at the “other parts” of "Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump" — the “foul play” the Trump Crew were getting in league with, goes WAY beyond … your run-of-the-mill Oppo Research ...
Everything We Know About Russia's Election-Hacking Playbook
by Andy Greenberg, wired.com — 06.09.17
[...]
Even now, nearly a year after news first broke that Russian hackers had breached the Democratic National Committee and published its internal files, a leaked NSA document pointing to Russian attempts to hack a voting-tech firm has again redefined the scope of the threat. Taken with the recent history of Russia's digital fingerprints on foreign elections, it points to a disturbing trend: Moscow's habit of hacking democratic processes has only gotten more aggressive and technically focused over time.
This week, the national-security-focused news outlet the Intercept published a top-secret NSA file outlining how Russian hackers, believed to have been part of the country's GRU military agency, attempted to phish the credentials of employees at VR Systems, a Florida-based tech firm that sells equipment and software used in voting registration. The leak represents the first solid evidence that Russian election hacking has escalated beyond mere political leaks and disinformation to threaten the core systems of America’s voting apparatus.
"We were all kind of hoping that the election hacking was at the cognitive level: propaganda, doxing, influence operations. But this is proof that they were actually closer to the tactical, technical level," says Kenneth Geers, an ambassador to NATO's Cyber Center who has long followed Russian hacking campaigns. “They were closer to the guts, to the operating system of our democracy, than we knew.”
That’s nice. Probing the gears of Democracy … to what end? If they managed to flip votes for Trump, or delete Dems from Voter roles, would we even know? What audit trail would we check?
But it does seem the Russian “support effort for Trump” — did have another auxiliary goal or two ...
MADDOW: [...]
He got the speech translated from Russian. It`s Vladimir Putin`s cyber war senior adviser telling his audience in Moscow last February, quote, “You think we are living in 2016, no, we are living in 1948. Do you know why? Because in 1949, the Soviet Union had its first atomic bomb test, and if until that moment, the Americans were not taking us seriously in 1949, everything changed and they started talking to us on an equal footing. I`m warning you,” he said, “We are on the verge of having something in the information arena that will allow us to talk to the Americans as equals.”
So, the Kremlin bragging last year about how they had a new nuclear-level information warfare capability that they were about to deploy against the United States. Something that would bring America down, make America recognize Russia`s strength, make us see them as our equal. That was February of last year.
Then in March, we know from the intelligence community`s report on Russia`s attack, in March, Russian military intelligence indeed started their attack. Quote, “The GRU, which is Russian military intelligence, the GRU probably began cyber operations aimed at the U.S. election by March, 2016. We assess –” and this is the U.S. intelligence report on what Russia did. “We assessed that the GRU operations resulted in the compromise of the personal e-mail accounts of Democratic Party officials and political figures.” By May, the GRU had exfiltrated large volumes of data from the DNC.
Rachel Maddow Show, Transcript — Mar 21, 2017
So by May 2016, the GRU had the DNC emails in hand. When was it again, that the Friends of Putin reached out to the Friends (and Family) of Trump? From the Newsweek timeline ...
[...] publicist Rob Goldstone first messaged Trump Jr. on the morning of June 3, 2016, requesting a meeting about "some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia." Trump Jr. responded almost immediately, and by the afternoon of June 7 the meeting was set.
And just because the Family that lies as a first-reflex, says that ‘No Information changed hands’ — THAT doesn’t mean it’s true … their hollow denials, don’t really prove anything. Junior’s Denials don’t prove “that No deal was struck” — which involved the releasing of those DNC Emails to the public, later that month. Because Donald Senior sure made use of that “promised Hillary Dirt” like he had some inside gambling tips, down at the local track.
And Junior’s Denials didn’t stop the “other parts” of the Russian Government “support for Trump” — from kicking into ‘another gear’ — as if, the Magnitsky Deal was implicitly or explicitly agreed to ...
responderventures.com — Mar 31, 2017
[...]
“Follow the trail of dead Russians,” [former FBI special agent Clint] Watts said. “There’s been more dead Russians in the past three months that are tied to this investigation who have assets in banks all over the world” (see “Ukrainian businessman with links to Trump, Russia dies in mysterious circumstances,” HSNW, 6 March 2017).
Watts told the lawmakers that one reason why the intervention by hackers from the FSB and the GRU, the two Russian intelligence agencies, worked, was the willingness by Donald Trump and his senior advisers to use Russian disinformation, which was disseminated by the nearly 1,200 websites (“trolls”) created by the FSB and the GRU to disseminate fake news to harm the Hillary Clinton campaign and help Trump win the election.
[...]
“On 11 October, President Trump stood on stage and cited what appears to be a fake news story from [the Russian government propaganda outlet] Sputnik News that disappeared from the internet. He denies the intel from the United States about Russia. He claimed that the election could be rigged – that was the number one theme pushed by RT, Sputnik News,” Watts testified.
Yet this disturbing alliance between the Trump Crew and the Putin Agenda, which becomes ever more clear everyday — fails to raise the ire or even the suspicions of anyone in Congress, from the Party that gained an overwhelming advantage, from “the Art of the Trump-lite Deal” … No we have to look to the Party that has been cheated, the Party that was Hacked, to get those words of dire concern and civic outrage …
Senator's Riveting Statement at Intelligence Committee Raises Fresh Questions About Trump and Russia
“There is nothing to stop them from doing this again in 2018, for those of you who are up (for re-election), or in 2020, as Americans again go back to the polls,” [Sen. Mark] Warner [ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee] said.
He also pointed out that the GOP platform was “mysteriously watered down” during the convention to benefit Putin, and the senator said no one had explained who made the changes or why.
[...]
The senator wondered why the president didn’t seem especially eager to examine what had happened — which raised his suspicions about Trump.
“I would hope that the president is as anxious as we are to get to the bottom of what happened, but I have to say editorially that the president’s recent conduct, with his wild and uncorroborated accusations about wiretapping and his inappropriate and unjustified attacks on America’s hardworking intelligence professionals, does give me grave concern,” Warner said.
But the Trump apologists still claim that It’s NO BIG DEAL!
Anyone would take such a Meeting. What’s the Problem? “It worked, didn’t it?
Well the “problem” according to 4 Intelligence Agencies, that the president refuses to listen to — goes WAY beyond your typical GOP voter-suppression efforts.
The on-going problems continue to strike at the very heart of our once-free Democracy … so much for their slogan of “Country First” ...
Top-Secret NSA Report Details Russian Hacking Effort Days Before 2016 Election
by Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Sam Biddle, Ryan Grim, theintercept.com — June 5 2017
Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election, according to a highly classified intelligence report obtained by The Intercept.
The top-secret National Security Agency document, which was provided anonymously to The Intercept and independently authenticated, analyzes intelligence very recently acquired by the agency about a months-long Russian intelligence cyber effort against elements of the U.S. election and voting infrastructure. The report, dated May 5, 2017, is the most detailed U.S. government account of Russian interference in the election that has yet come to light.
[...]
The report adds significant new detail to the picture that emerged from the unclassified intelligence assessment about Russian election meddling released by the Obama administration in January. The January assessment presented the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusions but omitted many specifics, citing concerns about disclosing sensitive sources and methods. The assessment concluded with high confidence that the Kremlin ordered an extensive, multi-pronged propaganda effort “to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency.”
And the response from the GOP enablers, as shoes keep dropping, as guns keep smoking …
As the Russian cyber-warfare advisers keep plotting … as the President keeps be-friending them?
Nada. “No Comment.” Oh those pranksters!
…
The GOP should just get on with their “Patriotism” re-branding effort, and get it over with,
and unveil the new symbol of their Double-standards Party, for all to see ...
Republicans "gather their thoughts" about those Email impacts on National Security
by jamess — July 14, 2017