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Do the politically-connected know more than the average Joe, about how Russian-operatives manipulated and targeted their Social Media activity, to nudge them into the “undecided camp” (or worse).
It would seem so. Afterall, the primary Intelligence Agencies have been warning us of such a clandestine data operation, for quite some time now …
[Emphasis added in all excerpts below]
Congressmen Expressed Interest in Talking to Big Data Firm in Russia Probe
by Bethania Palma, snopes.com — Aug 30th, 2017
[...]
On 25 July 2017, Schiff, a Democrat who represents the Los Angeles area, told “PBS NewsHour”:
We’re looking at any of the Russian active measures that may have been employed here that we know they employ in other places. We’re looking at allegations concerning the social media campaign, whether there was any kind of cooperation or coordination through Cambridge Analytica.
Similarly, Warner, the vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on 16 July 2017 that there was an undeniable presence of trolls on social media that may have influenced the U.S. elections:
[W]e do know that there was a series of Russian trolls, paid individuals, who worked for the Russian services that were trying to interfere and put fake news out. We also know they created what’s called bots. In effect, internet robots that actually could interfere as well.
The question we have is: Did they somehow get information from some of the Trump campaign efforts to target that interference? We don’t know that for sure. But what we do want to know is — I’d like to talk to the folks with Cambridge Analytica. I’d like to talk to some of the folks from the Trump digital campaign.
And according to this recent story, the Mueller Investigation is focusing in on these Social Media micro-targeting efforts too ...
Jared Kushner's Data Operation Increasingly Suspected of Aiding 2016 Russian Propaganda Attack
[...]
According to a Friday report in Vanity Fair by Chris Smith, investigators increasingly suspect that President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner helped guide Russian operatives to their targets.
“Mapping the full Russian propaganda effort is important,” said Smith. “Yet investigators in the House, Senate, and special counsel Robert Mueller’s office are equally focused on a more explosive question: did any Americans help target the memes and fake news to crucial swing districts and wavering voter demographics?”
One of Smith’s sources close to the investigations quipped, “By Americans, you mean, like, the Trump campaign?”
So why is the Trump “Czar of Everything” suddenly in this Investigative search light?
Could it be because of the celebratory interview he gave, right after pulling off his very unlikely Electoral Win, by the slimmest of margins …
Did Jared Kushner’s Data Operation Help Select Facebook Targets for the Russians?
[...] Indeed: probers are intrigued by the role of Jared Kushner, the now-president’s son-in-law, who eagerly took credit for crafting the Trump campaign’s online efforts in a rare interview right after the 2016 election. “I called somebody who works for one of the technology companies that I work with, and I had them give me a tutorial on how to use Facebook micro-targeting,” Kushner told Steven Bertoni of Forbes. “We brought in Cambridge Analytica. I called some of my friends from Silicon Valley who were some of the best digital marketers in the world. And I asked them how to scale this stuff . . . We basically had to build a $400 million operation with 1,500 people operating in 50 states, in five months to then be taken apart. We started really from scratch.”
Kushner’s chat with Forbes has provided a veritable bakery’s worth of investigatory bread crumbs to follow. Brad Parscale, who Kushner hired to run the campaign’s San Antonio-based Internet operation, has agreed to be interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee.
Bigger questions, however, revolve around Cambridge Analytica. It is unclear how Kushner first became aware of the data-mining firm, but one of its major investors is billionaire Trump backer Robert Mercer. Mercer was also a principal patron of Breitbart News and Steve Bannon, who was a vice president of Cambridge Analytica until he joined the Trump campaign. [...]
Robert Mueller is now taking those Kushner statements at face value, and “following the money” — the foreign money funding Facebook Poltical Ads.
The warrants have been issued.
Mueller Investigation Into Russian Facebook Ads May Be a Very Big Deal
by Benjamin Hart, nymag.com — Sept 16, 2017
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Facebook had turned over much more information to special counsel Robert Mueller about Russian-backed advertisements during the 2016 election than the company had shared with Congress:
The information Facebook shared with Mr. Mueller included copies of the ads and details about the accounts that bought them and the targeting criteria they used, the people familiar with the matter said. Facebook policy dictates that it would only turn over “the stored contents of any account,” including messages and location information, in response to a search warrant, some of them said.
CNN confirmed on Saturday that Mueller had indeed obtained the information with the help of a warrant.
Legal experts said that the news could signal a potentially explosive new phase in Mueller’s investigation. In a tweetstorm, Yale Law School associate dean Asha Rangappa said that to obtain the warrant, Mueller would have had to believe that a crime was committed — it is illegal for foreign people or entities to make contributions connected to American elections — and that the offense would need to be connected to “specific accounts” on Facebook.
[...]
If the micro-targeting of the Rust-Belt states with divisive Fake News stories, were the key to Jared’s unlikely win — then whom in the Data-operation was providing the daily “hit lists” for which precincts to swarm next?
Warning Will Robinson! … The Data Doctor has got ‘your number’ ...
Well, Jared’s hand-picked side-kick seems a likely “orchestrator” … for the Russian bot army.
A long-overlooked player is emerging as a key figure in the Trump-Russia investigation
[...]
Congressional investigators are now probing whether voter information stolen by Russian hackers from election databases in several states made its way to the Trump campaign, Time reported on Thursday. The data operation Parscale directed was supervised by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is now being scrutinized by the FBI over his contacts with Russia's ambassador and the CEO of a sanctioned Russian bank in December.
"If any campaign, Trump or otherwise, used inappropriate data the questions are, how did they get it? From whom? And with what level of knowledge?" the former top Democratic staffer on the House Intelligence Committee, Michael Bahar, told Time. "That is a crux of the investigation."
[...]
"Jared got [Brad Parscale] hired, despite the fact that a number of people in the campaign wondered whether he had any idea what he was doing," the person said. "He's Jared's boy. I had [campaign] deputies telling me they couldn't question anything the guy did or said, and they were unhappy about that."
[...]
Parscale's firm, Giles-Parscale, was paid a whopping $91 million by the Trump campaign, which famously shunned television ads. According to CNN, the data operation "helped the Trump campaign figure out where the candidate's message was resonating in states like Michigan and Wisconsin, places where conventional political wisdom suggested they would be wasting time and money."
Now that the ‘deed’s been done’ and the Trump-Kushner-Parscale data operation been dismantled, besides a future of constant denials, what other opportunities lie in Brad Parscale’s in ‘Big Data’ future? Can anyone spell CASHING-IN ...
New Board Member Brad Parscale Drives CloudCommerce's Strategy
CloudCommerce, Press Release, marketwired.com — Sept 05, 2017
SANTA BARBARA, CA--(Marketwired - September 05, 2017) - CloudCommerce, Inc. (OTCQB: CLWD) (the "Company"), a leading provider of data driven solutions, today commented that its recent acquisition of Parscale Creative, Inc. and Brad Parscale's appointment to the Company's board of directors have greatly strengthened and defined its opportunities for future success.
"Brad brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to CloudCommerce," said Andrew Van Noy, the Company's CEO. "His successful data analytics operations and digital marketing campaigns are credited with helping Donald J. Trump win the Presidential election. Very few people have accomplished so much in such a short period of time. We are fortunate to be able to call upon Brad to help guide CloudCommerce in becoming a significant player in the data analytics and digital marketing space. The opportunities in the commercial market segment dwarf the opportunities in the political market segment and Brad is the key to helping us penetrate this larger market."
Under Mr. Parscale's strategic leadership, CloudCommerce intends to recruit experts in data, machine learning and analytics and acquire companies with teams that are expert in data analytics and understanding how to fulfill sophisticated digital marketing campaigns.
[...]
Brad had better hope forensic investigators don’t find his “digital-fingerprints” on anything telling the Russian Bots where to “micro-target next” — otherwise his new-found celebrity, may be very short lived.
And let’s not forget this little gem from last year — why again was it, that Jared needed such a secret “back-channel”? … was there also this little matter of Sanctions-Resets, that he now had to deliver on? … Now that Trump had actually won ...
White House lawyers reportedly discussed getting Kushner booted
The Times of Israel — Sept 12, 2017
[...]
He [Jared Kushner] said he did speak with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, in December at Trump Tower. But he said that conversation was about policy in Syria.
Kushner said that when Kislyak asked if there was a secure line for him to provide information on Syria from what Kislyak called his “generals,” Kushner asked if there was an existing communications channel at the embassy that could be used. Kushner said he never proposed an ongoing secret form of communication.
He also said he met with a Russian banker, Sergey Gorkov, at the request of Kislyak. But he says no specific policies were discussed.
No Policies discussed? … just the Vladimir ‘favors repayment plan’ then?
With all the national attention suddenly turning his way, such a “back-channel” would certainly have expedited his repayment to those “Russian Dirt providers” … would it not?
Afterall Putin has a lot riding on, seeing the Magnitsky Act lifted, according to this Sanction-setting Act strongest advocate, William Browder.
As the 2016 Investigation (aka the Panama Papers) by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) shows, Putin has a lot of money at stake in offshore shell companies, also known as Oligarchs’ Secret Stash:
The Panama Papers revealed Russian President Vladimir Putin is linked to $2 billion in transactions funneled through banks and shadow companies. The leak reportedly reveals how Putin helped make members of his circle wealthy.
— huffingtonpost.com
That’s a LOT of Motive for getting behind some “Active Measures” to micro-target his financial and human rights adversaries, overseas.
Is it not? And a lot of incentive to ultimately see those Sanctions lifted.
Too bad for Putin, the Trump wrecking-crew is like the “Keystone Cops of Espionage Capers”.
No Sanctions lifting for you — anytime soon! So said the U.S. Congress.
The vote was 419-3 in the House … and 98-2 in Senate. With Trump ‘abstaining’ for as long a obstinately possible. Sorry Vlad.
But the Game Clock is running out on Team Trump. And the Referees are in no mood for ‘going easy on them’ … and their efforts to ‘rig the game’ ...
All their unsubstantiated Denials and ‘claims of Innocence’, notwithstanding. Cheaters should never prosper if there is any Karma left in the world.
