sturg33
I
Big!
Russia Collusion Scandal (aka A Leftist fantasy)
- Thread starter Runnin
- Start date
Big!
Runnin
Well-known member
Trump needs another distraction.
Runnin
Well-known member
Looks like Rosenstein refused to resign and Trump punted. Mexican standoff?
Oklahomahawk
Boras' Client
57Brave
Well-known member
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...Trump-Tower-meeting-killed-chopper-crash.html
Karapetyan had been in charge of Russian criminal investigations into the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK, and the deaths of Putin critic Boris Berezovsky and of dissident Alexander Litvinenko.
Karapetyan had been in charge of Russian criminal investigations into the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK, and the deaths of Putin critic Boris Berezovsky and of dissident Alexander Litvinenko.
Runnin
Well-known member
A Russian deputy attorney general who is thought to have directed attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya in her efforts abroad on behalf of Russia's government died Wednesday night in a helicopter crash.
The Daily Beast reports that Albertovich Karapetyan died Wedesday night in an unauthorized helicopter flight that ended in a crash near the village of Vonyshevo, northeast of Moscow.
Karapetyan was reportedly behind Veselnitskaya's global efforts to lobby lawmakers to overturn anti-corruption acts such as the U.S. Magnitsky Act, a law similar to others around the world passed in honor of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died during the course of exposing a $230 million fraud scheme in Russia.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
New details on Peter W Smith's activities.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-op...or-clinton-emails-1538913614?mod=hp_lead_pos1
https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-op...or-clinton-emails-1538913614?mod=hp_lead_pos1
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Mr. Smith often communicated with associates using a Gmail account under the name “Robert Tyler” that both he and several others had access to, according to emails and a person familiar with the matter. He sometimes asked associates to communicate with him by writing a note and saving it the draft folder of the account, according to correspondence reviewed by the Journal.
He also had one phone number that he used for sensitive matters and a commercially available encrypted email account. Hard drives that Mr. Smith’s estate turned over to federal investigators were also encrypted, according to people familiar with the matter.
According to an email in the “Robert Tyler” account reviewed by the Journal, Mr. Smith obtained $100,000 from at least four financiers as well as a $50,000 contribution from Mr. Smith himself. People familiar with Mr. Smith’s financial transactions confirm there were donations.
The email, dated Oct. 11, 2016, in the “Robert Tyler” account, included the subject line “Wire Instructions—Clinton Email Reconnaissance Initiative” and was addressed to Mr. Smith. The writer, who identified himself as “ROB, ” said: “This $100k total with the $50k received from you will allow us to fund the Washington Scholarship Fund for the Russian students for the promised $150K.” The Journal couldn’t determine if such a fund actually exists.
“The students are very pleased with the email releases they have seen, and are thrilled with their educational advancement opportunities,” the email read. Because multiple people had access to the “Robert Tyler” email account, it couldn’t be determined who sent the email to Mr. Smith.
The email about obtaining the pledges came just days after WikiLeaks and the website DCLeaks began releasing emails damaging to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and four days after the U.S. government publicly warned that Russia was attempting to interfere in the U.S. election through the hacking and release of stolen emails and doing so at the direction of the Kremlin’s “senior-most officials.” Russia denies interfering in the election.
He also had one phone number that he used for sensitive matters and a commercially available encrypted email account. Hard drives that Mr. Smith’s estate turned over to federal investigators were also encrypted, according to people familiar with the matter.
According to an email in the “Robert Tyler” account reviewed by the Journal, Mr. Smith obtained $100,000 from at least four financiers as well as a $50,000 contribution from Mr. Smith himself. People familiar with Mr. Smith’s financial transactions confirm there were donations.
The email, dated Oct. 11, 2016, in the “Robert Tyler” account, included the subject line “Wire Instructions—Clinton Email Reconnaissance Initiative” and was addressed to Mr. Smith. The writer, who identified himself as “ROB, ” said: “This $100k total with the $50k received from you will allow us to fund the Washington Scholarship Fund for the Russian students for the promised $150K.” The Journal couldn’t determine if such a fund actually exists.
“The students are very pleased with the email releases they have seen, and are thrilled with their educational advancement opportunities,” the email read. Because multiple people had access to the “Robert Tyler” email account, it couldn’t be determined who sent the email to Mr. Smith.
The email about obtaining the pledges came just days after WikiLeaks and the website DCLeaks began releasing emails damaging to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and four days after the U.S. government publicly warned that Russia was attempting to interfere in the U.S. election through the hacking and release of stolen emails and doing so at the direction of the Kremlin’s “senior-most officials.” Russia denies interfering in the election.
Julio3000
<B>A Chip Off the Old Rock</B>
I think the possibility still exists that he was being scammed, or even set up. The key IMO is whether Flynn was really involved or whether that was puffery on Smith’s part.
I think that Flynn is a linchpin in the big picture. I’ve always thought it was odd that he took a cooperation deal based on a single charge with a 6-month max. He could probably have lawyered his way out of that, so it stands to reason that there’s something else in the shadows.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Peter W Smith: deluded old man or cut-out between Trump campaign and the Russians?
The latest from the WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/late-g...-2015-sources-say-1539196064?mod=hp_lead_pos2
A veteran Republican activist whose quest to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails from hackers dominated the final months of his life struck up a professional relationship with Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Trump, as early as 2015, and told associates during the presidential campaign that he was using the retired general’s connections to help him on the email project.
The late Peter W. Smith, an Illinois financier with a long history in Republican politics, met with Mr. Flynn in 2015, according to people familiar with the matter. At the time, Mr. Flynn had recently left his job as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and was trying to set up his own consulting firm, while Mr. Smith was looking at investment opportunities in cybersecurity.
Mr. Flynn was a top adviser to Mr. Trump during the 2016 campaign. He served briefly as national security adviser in Mr. Trump’s administration before being forced to resign and pleading guilty to a charge of lying to authorities about his conversations with a Russian ambassador. He is scheduled to be sentenced in December.
Additionally, in an email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, one of Mr. Smith’s former associates wrote to a friend last week, “As you are aware Peter started a business relationship with Gen. Mike Flynn in November 2015. We spoke with him on the day he left for his trip to Moscow.” The associate, John Szobocsan, sent the email as the Journal was preparing a story on Mr. Smith and was attempting to reach Mr. Szobocsan. He didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The latest from the WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/late-g...-2015-sources-say-1539196064?mod=hp_lead_pos2
A veteran Republican activist whose quest to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails from hackers dominated the final months of his life struck up a professional relationship with Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Trump, as early as 2015, and told associates during the presidential campaign that he was using the retired general’s connections to help him on the email project.
The late Peter W. Smith, an Illinois financier with a long history in Republican politics, met with Mr. Flynn in 2015, according to people familiar with the matter. At the time, Mr. Flynn had recently left his job as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and was trying to set up his own consulting firm, while Mr. Smith was looking at investment opportunities in cybersecurity.
Mr. Flynn was a top adviser to Mr. Trump during the 2016 campaign. He served briefly as national security adviser in Mr. Trump’s administration before being forced to resign and pleading guilty to a charge of lying to authorities about his conversations with a Russian ambassador. He is scheduled to be sentenced in December.
Additionally, in an email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, one of Mr. Smith’s former associates wrote to a friend last week, “As you are aware Peter started a business relationship with Gen. Mike Flynn in November 2015. We spoke with him on the day he left for his trip to Moscow.” The associate, John Szobocsan, sent the email as the Journal was preparing a story on Mr. Smith and was attempting to reach Mr. Szobocsan. He didn’t respond to requests for comment.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Looks like we will be hearing from Mueller not long after the elections.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...dy-to-deliver-key-findings-in-his-trump-probe
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...dy-to-deliver-key-findings-in-his-trump-probe
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Someone close to Peter W Smith (I assume John Szobocsan) is feeding the Journal some interesting scoops.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/muelle...rvative-activists-1539978208?mod=hp_lead_pos2
The person familiar with Mr. Smith recalled him repeatedly implying that he knew ahead of time about leaks of Mr. Podesta’s emails.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/muelle...rvative-activists-1539978208?mod=hp_lead_pos2
The person familiar with Mr. Smith recalled him repeatedly implying that he knew ahead of time about leaks of Mr. Podesta’s emails.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Meanwhile back at the ranch
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/19/politics/elena-alekseevna-khusyaynova-russia-charged/index.html
The effort had an operating budget of $35 million, prosecutors say, and was allegedly funded by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin and his companies. Prigozhin has not responded to a criminal charge he faces from Mueller for funding the scheme before the 2016 election.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/19/politics/elena-alekseevna-khusyaynova-russia-charged/index.html
The effort had an operating budget of $35 million, prosecutors say, and was allegedly funded by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin and his companies. Prigozhin has not responded to a criminal charge he faces from Mueller for funding the scheme before the 2016 election.
Julio3000
<B>A Chip Off the Old Rock</B>
The article mentions Roger Stone, and since he’s presumably weeks from being indicted, I’ll mention that I thought, at the time, that his departure from the Trump campaign was fishy. I heard him on some right-wing talk radio show discussing it then, and it stuck with me—it seemed to me a transparent attempt to put a layer of distance between the campaign and a guy who was a renowned rat****er and dirty trickster.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
He and Smith had rather murky roles. Cutouts it would appear whose role was to obscure a degree of coordination or collaboration between principles who did not want to appear to be too close.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-op...8770851?mod=article_inline&mod=article_inline
Above is a link to one of the early articles by the Journal on Smith's activities. It seems to me that before he died Smith knew some of this would come out and he reached out to the Journal to try to shape the coverage. For example there is this claim in the linked Journal article:
Mr. Smith said he never intended to pay for any emails found by hackers.
But we now know that he raised $150K for "scholarships for Russian students."
There is also this sentence near the end of the article:
While he said he believed Russians were likely among those who tried to steal Mrs. Clinton’s emails, he dismissed intelligence agencies’ conclusion that the Russia’s government meddled in the election to discredit Mrs. Clinton and to help Mr. Trump.
Now we know of course that Guccifer II was GRU. I suspect Smith knew that all along. I wouldn't say the Journal has been complicit in trying to present a relatively benign view of Smith's activities. But they have also not exactly gone out of their way to note the ways in which he tried to shape a misleading narrative about what was going on.
And I can't shake the suspicion that whoever is feeding stuff about the Smith angle to the Journal now (whether Szobocsan or people connected to Flynn or someone else) is not playing a clean game.
Above is a link to one of the early articles by the Journal on Smith's activities. It seems to me that before he died Smith knew some of this would come out and he reached out to the Journal to try to shape the coverage. For example there is this claim in the linked Journal article:
Mr. Smith said he never intended to pay for any emails found by hackers.
But we now know that he raised $150K for "scholarships for Russian students."
There is also this sentence near the end of the article:
While he said he believed Russians were likely among those who tried to steal Mrs. Clinton’s emails, he dismissed intelligence agencies’ conclusion that the Russia’s government meddled in the election to discredit Mrs. Clinton and to help Mr. Trump.
Now we know of course that Guccifer II was GRU. I suspect Smith knew that all along. I wouldn't say the Journal has been complicit in trying to present a relatively benign view of Smith's activities. But they have also not exactly gone out of their way to note the ways in which he tried to shape a misleading narrative about what was going on.
And I can't shake the suspicion that whoever is feeding stuff about the Smith angle to the Journal now (whether Szobocsan or people connected to Flynn or someone else) is not playing a clean game.
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