VICE News is suing the FBI, demanding the bureau release records related to its curious disclosures, behind-the-scenes actions, and apparent leaks in the days leading up to the U.S. presidential election.
The wide-ranging Freedom of Information Act lawsuit was filed Tuesday morning in conjunction with Ryan Shapiro, a doctoral candidate at MIT and research affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Earlier this month, VICE News and Shapiro filed more than 50 FOIA requests with the FBI seeking documents about the bureau’s discussions regarding Donald Trump, along with other documents that would shed light on the FBI’s decision a week before the election to tweet newly posted records from a long-dormant Twitter account about Bill Clinton’s 2000 pardon of financier Marc Rich.
The pardon, a controversial decision by the former president, was investigated at the time by current FBI director James Comey while he was U.S. attorney.
Our FOIA lawsuit notes that the FBI failed to respond to our requests for expedited processing. We argued that we urgently needed the documents to immediately inform the public. Among the FBI records we seek to compel the FBI to disclose:
• Allegations of the FBI violating the Hatch Act by allegedly using its authority to influence the course of the 2016 U.S. presidential election • Internal discontent at the FBI regarding the bureau’s Hillary Clinton investigations
• All leaks of information by the FBI to the media and political operatives about FBI investigations of Clinton
• All FBI communications with Breitbart News; Breitbart executive chairman Steve Bannon, who Trump named his chief strategist and White House counselor after Bannon served as his campaign CEO; former Trump campaign manager Corey R. Lewandowski, Fox News, and Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Sean Hannity; former New York City mayor and Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani; and Republican strategist and Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone
• White nationalist Richard Spencer, his National Policy Institute, and the “alt-right.”
I am not sure how successful this lawsuit will be, but I am pretty stoked to read about any records they might get from it.
Especially the ones about the Clinton e-mail investigation as well as anything to do with Bretibart or Fox News.
Yeah, I would really like to see those.
Rogue faction in the FBI?
ReplyDeleteWhat did Rudy "Julie Annie" know and when did he know it? He was gleefully wetting his Depends with the Comey info and he also said there would be more coming.....
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/eric-trump-auctions-off-72k-coffee-date-with-ivanka-where-bidders-hope-to-talk-government-business/
DeleteHe's selling his own daughter? Go figure!
DeleteExactly. He KNEW this was coming. He said it. He knew what it was, when it would come out and that it would give Trump the election.
DeleteI'm surprised Trump hasn't rewarded him. Probably because, like Christie, when the investigations are through his criminal culpabilities will be exposed and he'll face legal consequences.
Never heard of vice news
ReplyDeleteGreat reporting.
DeleteThey're on HBO.
I watch Viceland (don't have HBO) and enjoy their documentaries very much. Great stuff.
Deletewho appointed Comey head of the FBI anyway?
ReplyDeleteObama did.
DeleteComey is a Republican. Part of that bipartisan compromise hands across the aisle shit he never should have bought in to.
DeleteRussian President Vladimir Putin supervised his intelligence agencies' hacking of the U.S. presidential election and turned it from a general attempt to discredit American democracy to an effort to help Donald Trump, according to three U.S. officials.
ReplyDelete...“I don’t think things happen in the Russian government of this consequence without Vladimir Putin knowing about it,” Ben Rhodes, the White House’s deputy national security adviser, told MSNBC. “When you’re talking about a significant cyber intrusion like this, we’re talking about the highest levels of government.”
The U.S. officials – who have knowledge of intelligence information on the matter – said on the condition of anonymity that the hacking of U.S. political groups and figures had a more general focus at first.
“This began merely as an effort to show that American democracy is no more credible than Putin’s version is,” one of the officials said.
“It gradually evolved from that to publicizing (Hillary) Clinton’s shortcomings and ignoring the products of hacking Republican institutions, which the Russians also did,” the official said.
By the fall, the official said, it became an effort to help Trump’s campaign because “Putin believed he would be much friendlier to Russia, especially on the matter of economic sanctions” than Democratic rival Clinton.
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/12/16/u-s-officials-putin-turned-russia-election-hacks-trumps-favor.html
And the electors will still put him in the White House because REPUBLICAN.
DeleteLock 'em up!
ReplyDeleteAs US Government Traces Hacks to Putin, Russia Cracks Down on Hackers at Home
ReplyDeleteRussian hackers could face up to 10 years in prison, even as their president is alleged to have been behind hacks.
As the leaks from US security agencies continue to mount, so does the evidence that the government is increasingly certain that hacks of political communications during the presidential election can be traced to the highest levels of the Russian government—including President Vladimir Putin.
The latest leak, reported Wednesday night by NBC News, alleges that Putin was personally involved in directing Russia-connected hackers on how to use the hacked material. The Russian government has consistently denied the accusations. In response to the latest allegations, a Russian government official in Moscow told NBC's Richard Engel that Western media "have gone beyond the reach of reason."
The NBC report comes on the heels of a New York Times report laying out the most detail to date on how the hack of the Democratic National Committee unfolded and an earlier Washington Post story reporting that the CIA had concluded that the Russian government was trying to help Donald Trump win the election.
At the same time that the Russian government has denied hacking the DNC and trying to sway the US election, senior Russian government officials are seeking to increase punishments for hackers caught attempting to attack Russian infrastructure.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/12/putin-hacks-us-government-russian-penalties-hackers
President Obama Promises Russia There Will Be Retaliation
ReplyDelete...Speaking to NPR's Steve Inskeep, Obama said, "I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections ... we need to take action. And we will — at a time and place of our own choosing. Some of it may be explicit and publicized; some of it may not be."
http://crooksandliars.com/2016/12/president-obama-promises-russia-there-will
Like what? A stern talking to?
DeleteSanctions for a month? Trump and his Nazi cabinet don't believe in sanctions.
So, threatening retaliation is pretty much toothless.
ReplyDelete‘Infuriating’: John Podesta Unleashes On ‘Deeply Broken’ FBI
The former campaign chairman accuses the bureau of bias in dwelling on Clinton’s email server rather than pursuing the Russian hacking threat.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-podesta-fbi-james-comey_us_58536287e4b0b3ddfd8c0796
New Questions On Whether FBI Broke Federal Rules to Search Huma Abedin’s Emails
Deletehttp://lawnewz.com/high-profile/new-questions-on-whether-fbi-broke-federal-rules-to-search-huma-abedins-email/
America needs to know
ReplyDeleteOT? "Media Matters focuses on pointing out the bias and error in conservative media." The creation of a closed media ecosystem, fed by distrust in outside sources and increasingly disconnected from fact, leads to a politics built on misperception and misinformation. aka PROPAGANDA
ReplyDelete"Do liberals really want to claw their way to power through media activism devoted to the spread of disinformation? Do they want to build communities around fear, anger, and disdain? Are we this now>" the John Birch Society, the conspiratorial anti-communist organization founded in 1958. Robert Welch, the founder of the Birch Society, modeled it after what he believed was the most effective political organization of the 20th century: the Communist Party. He structured the organization as a dictatorship (with himself at the top), with front groups, small local chapters, and secret membership. And it appeared as alien and alarming to most Americans as the Communist Party itself."
Who Are We?
http://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2016/12/16/13980320/breitbart-left-conservative-media-liberal-brock
"Do liberals really want to claw their way to power through media activism devoted to the spread of disinformation? Do they want to build communities around fear, anger, and disdain? Are we this now>"
DeleteFunny, but that is exactly what the Republicans have done and what Republicans are. Well, not communists. Fascists. I'm sure Hitler is having a good laugh at what America has done to itself.
We may have lasted longer than Communism and the Soviet Union, but we've fallen far short of a constitutional Monarchy like the U.K.
So much for the checks and balances. In they end, they were our undoing, not our protection.
Podesta Slams FBI In Op-Ed On Hacked Emails: 'Something Is Deeply Broken'
ReplyDelete...“The more we learn about the Russian plot to sabotage Hillary Clinton’s campaign and elect Donald Trump, and the failure of the FBI to adequately respond, the more shocking it gets,” Podesta began, before quoting Michael Morell, the former acting director of the CIA who called the hacks "the political equivalent of 9/11.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/john-podesta-something-deeply-broken-fbi-email-hack
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/john-podesta-something-is-deeply-broken-at-the-fbi/2016/12/15/51668ab4-c303-11e6-9a51-cd56ea1c2bb7_story.html
“Why is Donald Trump pushing back on something that is coming straight at us?” he continued.
Deletehttp://www.mediaite.com/online/scarborough-why-is-trump-denying-russian-attack-when-we-all-know-there-will-be-a-huge-investigation/
"As reporters left, a woman called out, “There goes the fake news,” according to a pool report."
Deletehttp://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-josh-earnest-foolish-guy-232726
1. Probably want to stay away from saying looks like Ivanka is an esc___t being pimped out to the highest bidder. It is not true.
ReplyDelete2. Probably want to stay from saying looks like Eric is the one who pimped out his sister to the highest bidder? That is not true.
3. Probably want to stay away from saying this is another Trump Charity scam organized by Eric. I have to say that it looks like the money from auctioning off his sister is going to a good cause and if you can put in a bid go for it. It is all legit:
"The money from the a The money was to go to a foundation led by Ms. Trump’s brother Eric to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital of Tennessee."
New York Times:
Available to the Highest Bidder: Coffee With Ivanka Trump
WASHINGTON — Ozan M. Ozkural, a London-based investment manager, found a creative way to gain one-on-one access to the new first family: He bid nearly $60,000 to have a cup of coffee with Ivanka Trump for a charity event she was hosting.
Mr. Ozkural wanted to meet with Ms. Trump — who is considering playing an informal role in her father’s administration — to gain insight into topics like President-elect Donald J. Trump’s possible future dealings with Turkey and other nations where Mr. Ozkural invests, he said.
“The nature of my business, we talk to a lot of different governments, a lot of politicians and lawmakers across the world,” Mr. Ozkural said in an interview on Thursday, adding that he recently had a conversation with the president of Argentina. “You end up getting a better sense of what the modus operandi will be.”
Read more at New York Times
They call it coffee now?
DeleteLandslide 94% MoveOn Member Vote Launches Effort to Push Electors to Reject Trump
ReplyDeleteMoveOn will campaign hard over the next three days to persuade electors not to cast their ballots for an unfit demagogue with foreign entanglements, financial conflicts of interest, and whose victory may have been the result of tampering by a foreign power.
We can't waste any time. So we've created a powerful ad with a Texas Republican elector who will NOT cast his Electoral College vote for Trump on Monday. We are running the ad twice today on an influential cable show with bipartisan appeal, MSNBC's "Morning Joe." To pay for the ad, and to have the resources to go bigger—running the ad on other networks like Fox, promoting it online, turning out members to rallies in all 50 state capitols on Monday, and driving other tactics—we need to raise $250,000.
Here's some of what we're doing already and planning to do over the next three days:
Running an ad on TV and social media—and sending our advertisement and messages of encouragement to electors directly.
Flooding the White House with calls, asking President Obama to declassify the CIA evidence of Russian influence on our election and call for a special session of Congress to address this crisis. Already, 200,000 MoveOn members have signed a petition to the president and 17,457 called the White House in just one day.
Recruiting members to attend peaceful, lawful actions over the next three days to show popular outrage over Trump's foreign entanglements and his refusal to address his financial conflicts of interest—including gatherings at statehouses where electors will cast ballots on Monday.
Calling on Congressional leaders, who have the power to delay the Electoral College vote to do so until the CIA evidence has been shared and Trump has suitably addressed his financial conflicts.
But we have less than 72 hours to do all of this—and if we're pulling out all the stops, we need to do so together.
http://front.moveon.org/landslide-94-moveon-member-vote-launches-effort-to-push-electors-to-reject-trump/
https://act.moveon.org/donate/electoral_college?suggested_ask=3&t=5&akid=174836.9546344.PcKryz
Why wait so long and then beg for money? This should have been happening ever since Nov 9th. Kinda like Obama wait WAY too long to come out forcefully against the hacks.
Delete7:54 AM - you just don't get why the WH remained silent, do you???
DeleteUseless.
DeleteThe electors aren't going to pay attention to MoveOn. It's a liberal action website.
The Electoral College has the right and the duty to see the evidence that the CIA has related to Russia's impact on our elections. Declassify the evidence and brief the electors before they vote on December 19.
ReplyDeletehttp://petitions.moveon.org/sign/direct-the-cia-to-declassify
oT. Has anyone seen anything on the child rape case against Trump, it was due in court in December.
ReplyDeleteThe court date is December 19.
DeleteThe plaintiff dropped the charges shortly before the election. Why? Threats or settlement. We will probably never know why. Trump settled the Trump U suit for 25 milllion right before the election also, too.
DeleteThe Resistance Goes Cyber As Sens. Warren And Sanders Roll Out Website On Trump Treasury Nominee
ReplyDeleteA group of Democratic Senators led by Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) launched a website inviting the American people to share their stories of how their lives were impacted by the practices of Trump's "foreclosure king" Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin.
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/12/16/resistance-cyber-sens-warren-sanders-roll-website-trump-treasury-nominee.html
They should be putting up websites on all of his candidates. ALL known information about each and every one of them. Including videos. Then they should advertise the hell out of them.
DeleteTime for Dems to use the internet forcefully as the r's have done.
That won't last long.
DeleteAs soon as Trump installs his FCC picks they'll rescind Net Neutrality and shut down websites critical of the government. It's what all Fascist regimes do.
OT?
ReplyDelete"For a quarter century, climate scientists have been ignored and even attacked, putting the fate of our children "The stakes in the renewed war on science are existential and irreversible."
https://thinkprogress.org/the-war-on-science-by-trump-86418d7d0d35#.p0c24k3xe
Can women run the world yet? Men are inept assholes who deserve nothing. I used to side with men but then I got a job in corporate America and, even though I climbed the ladder, I started to realize men are basically scum. They are the cause of worldly problems. All of them. Cmon ladies. Stand your ground. Call men whores and dickwads. Stare at men's crotches in public and giggle. Take back power. End the patriarchy.
ReplyDelete7:33, your misandry is showing!
DeleteNot ALL men are as you describe, just as not all women are sweet and kind. Please stop painting ALL of one group with the same brush.
That's what most of the mean who really do fit your description have been doing and it is that which you are fighting against.
You want to change the world by having women run it? Fine, go for it. Just don't fall into their habits, please.
not all men and not all women are assholes.
DeleteFOIA is a sham - the government does NOT release records. As seen from Malia Litman's 4 year battle for records, the ONLY way to get the documents requested is to file a very expensive lawsuit and then have the government refuse to cover the legal fees. How many of us, We The People, have $100K to gamble on getting the documents we need?
ReplyDeleteOne example does not a case make. I got my FBI files (from the Nixon era) through the FOIA and all I did was request it. Naturally, I had to be able to prove who I was, but it cost me nothing.
DeleteWashington Post.com:
ReplyDeleteIvanka Trump could be the most powerful first lady ever
First ladies aren’t always presidential spouses. In fact, two early uses of the title refer to the beautiful, popular Harriet Lane, niece of James Buchanan, the only lifelong bachelor president...
Good for her but James Buchanan is a bachelor and President-elect Trump is happily married man.
"...President-elect Trump is happily married man."
DeleteYou're sure of that?
Anonymous 8:58 AM, I'm guessing and assuming
DeleteRepublican men most especially suck! Cannot think of one that I admire or respect. Total assholes and horrid politicians! Especially The Donald!
ReplyDeleteProtect yourselves from them America - all of them on the national, state and community levels.
Hhhmmm. I suppose you are going to bundle Collin Powell into that group, huh?
DeleteLock her up? Then fair is fair:
ReplyDeleteLock up Putin up and all his American accomplices
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-russian-espionage-was-a-good-thing-for-america_us_5853ffaee4b0b3ddfd8c272f
Deletedrumpf>"got it backwards, falsely claiming that the Russians did the United States a favor by exposing “illegal” activity."
unethical? If she actually DID it?. BUT there is NO LAW governing what a party official can do with questions if they receive them ahead of a primary debate."
Gosh this must be serious even Dick Chaney is pushing the conformation of the texas oil man.
ReplyDeleteG -
ReplyDeleteYou are probably already on this story - China has seized an unmanned US drone off the Philippines. The story is still developing and not much news yet beyond that.
In the past 8 years a common phrase was, "Thanks Obama!" It would seem we have Mr. Trump to thank for this.
Pat Padrnos
US Says Chinese Warship Stole Navy Underwater Drone From South China Sea
Deletehttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/world-news/us-china-warship-drone-south-china-sea
Considering in the last month we’ve learned how cosy Trump is with Russia how can this be a surprise? An international incident is inevitable and this is just the beginning of considerable unrest among nuclear powers. I have never been so afraid since I was 8 and crouching with my hands over my head in the hallway at my elementary school in 1963. Trump has created nothing but chaos and he hasn’t even become president yet.
DeleteLet's see how Trump "negotiates" to get it back.
DeleteOf course, Obama will be blamed. After all, they took it "on his watch."
The Chinese need to lay this at Trump's door in plain speak.
Ivanka is looking for a house in Washington DC. After reading all the media stories, they report Ivanka maybe working in the White House with a title. Is President-elect Trump grooming Ivanka to be the first woman president? She's been sitting in meetings with powerful politicians from other countries.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Sarah Palin, Ivanka will be able to say she knows numerous leaders from other countries and has also traveled to numerous countries.
Eric, Donnie and Ivanka all have a chance of becoming presidents in the future since they are all on the ground floor getting exposure and on the job training.
When I turned on my TV this morn, NBC was in the middle of talking about the hacking and I was glad to FINALLY hear someone other than people like Malcolm Nance on MSNBC address what is meant when people in the intel biz use lingo like "high level of confidence." All the Trump fools hear these phrases and say, well, nobody knows because they aren't 100% sure. I am so tired of this easy dismissal. I was glad to finally hear people on a network other than my progressive one address this matter. But more needs to be said on all these networks and repeatedly to get it through all the Trump idiots' heads that the intel is as close to absolutely certain as you can get and that when the people in the know say they know, they know.
ReplyDeleteAs has been pointed out many times by many journalists, Trump has not held a press conference for a long time – today is Day 142 – and none since elected. Instead, he acts like he is on the election trail again.
ReplyDeleteStelter explains that “Normally presidents-elect do that within a few days of the election.” Instead, what we get is cameras pointed “at the Trump Tower lobby,” which is “not enough to know what is actually happening upstairs.”
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/12/16/trump-threat-how-journalists-gather-information-daily-basis.html
I'm convinced the reason Trump only has meetings in his tower are his fears he will be hacked. And no doubt he has his own servers and the place is swept every day for bugs. He will never be comfortable anywhere he can’t control his environment. I give him six months in the WH.
DeleteWhat happened to his promised "divest himself of businesses" press conference we were supposed to get this week?
DeleteYeah, right after that Melania press conference that never happened.
Liar in Chief. President Pussygrabber. Totus - Twit of the United States.
SHAMELESS: TRUMP NOW GLOATING ABOUT ELECTION HACK
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-russian-espionage-was-a-good-thing-for-america_us_5853ffaee4b0b3ddfd8c272f?61kgk1oy2hj6vfgvi
So he's all but admitting that their hacking and interference got him elected? Yeah, probably because at this point there is nothing that can be done about it. The electoral is going to hand him the keys to the kingdom. Fucking assholes.
DeleteRepublican members of Congress are complaining that U.S. intelligence agencies are refusing to brief them widely on a classified CIA report that concluded Russia hacked Democratic Party data in an effort to help Donald Trump win the presidency.
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans said Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has refused their requests for full briefings of Congress’ two intelligence committees. U.S. government officials said the leaders of Congress and the chairmen of the two intelligence committees, known as the “Gang of Eight,” have been briefed on the CIA’s conclusion.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/us-intelligence-agencies-feuding-with-republicans-over-russian-hacking/
Why Donald Trump’s Electoral College win is the weakest victory in American history
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/why-donald-trumps-electoral-college-win-is-the-weakest-victory-in-american-history/
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/donald-trump-is-the-least-popular-us-president-elect-in-more-than-two-decades/
It will be weaker once a few electors have deserted. Suprun says he will. I'm betting there will be a few others than have kept silent but in the end will vote for someone else. Not Hillary, but probably Kasich or maybe Romney. Romney would really stick it to Trump. A big "FUCK YOU" for making him grovel and then making Tillerson Secretary of State.
DeleteYES!
ReplyDeleteInside The Latest GOP Thinking On How To Repeal Obamacare
ReplyDeletehttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/reality-sets-in-as-gop-cahart-course-to-rpeal-obamacare
Wow, this brings back bushes and jfk. And jfk jr. Skull n bones. Pos.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/12/the_only_enemies_donald_trump_sees_are_his_fellow_americans.html
ReplyDeleteM.M. Tells it>
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/mmflint/posts/10154015321206857
beautiful...We need to file a class action suit when we get more info..
ReplyDeleteNice to see SOMEONE is doing something. It's too late to prevent Trump but will go a long way to discredit him and the Electoral College FOOLS that are aiding him in stealing the office.
ReplyDelete