Saturday, July 01, 2017

More evidence of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

As you probably read yesterday the Wall Street Journal has now unearthed the first evidence of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian hackers.

That story had to do with a GOP operative names Peter W. Smith and his attempts to get his hands on some Hillary e-mails that he was convinced had to have been hacked by the Russians, or at least somebody.

So late last night one of the folks who served as a source for that story has now written an account of how he found himself being recruited to help collude with the Russians.

His name is Matt Tait and he is the CEO and founder of Capital Alpha Security, a UK based security consultancy.

His story appears on the very well known law blog,  LawFare.

I urge you to read the piece yourself as it is quite interesting, but the part that really jumped out at me was toward the bottom: 

Then, a few weeks into my interactions with Smith, he sent me a document, ostensibly a cover page for a dossier of opposition research to be compiled by Smith’s group, and which purported to clear up who was involved. The document was entitled “A Demonstrative Pedagogical Summary to be Developed and Released Prior to November 8, 2016,” and dated September 7. It detailed a company Smith and his colleagues had set up as a vehicle to conduct the research: “KLS Research”, set up as a Delaware LLC “to avoid campaign reporting,” and listing four groups who were involved in one way or another. 

The first group, entitled “Trump Campaign (in coordination to the extent permitted as an independent expenditure)” listed a number of senior campaign officials: Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sam Clovis, Lt. Gen. Flynn and Lisa Nelson.

My perception then was that the inclusion of Trump campaign officials on this document was not merely a name-dropping exercise. This document was about establishing a company to conduct opposition research on behalf of the campaign, but operating at a distance so as to avoid campaign reporting. Indeed, the document says as much in black and white. 

The combination of Smith’s deep knowledge of the inner workings of the campaign, this document naming him in the “Trump campaign” group, and the multiple references to needing to avoid campaign reporting suggested to me that the group was formed with the blessing of the Trump campaign.

I know, right?

Tait's assertion that the names of Trump campaign operatives were included as part of a group involved in trying to get their hands on information that was hacked from American servers by Russian operatives, is fucking huge!

And what's more this is right after Donald Trump said this. So to be clear, right after Donald Trump is on stage openly asking the Russians to provide information about e-mails stolen from Hillary Clinton's private server, Mr. Tait saw a document listing Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, and Michael Flynn as interested parties working to get their hands on that same information.

Does this prove that there was collusion? 

Not quite, but it is DEFINITELY a big step in that direction.

19 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:34 AM

    Hopefully this information is indicative of the arrogant behavior exhibited by the buffoon during the presidential debates with Presidential candidate, The Honorable Hillary
    Clinton.
    trump was very confident in his disrespectful behavior at or away from the debates. Plus he had zero specifics to offer as the "better candidate" and was nonetheless elected.It is starting to add up that he knew something that ensured his win beforehand.
    Hope they hang the stupid hateful, cheating,lying ,treasonous bastard!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:51 AM

    The day Donnie announced his political aspirations was clue #1 he planned to expand his Crime Family into a syndicate. Clue #2, his cabinet appointments. A question I have asked many times and have received a range between no responses to unsatisfactory responses: why were the recounts stopped in the states where Donnie 'won' a marginal Electoral College victory? Maybe the FBI is, or maybe the FBI isn't. But it seems that focusing their investigation on those 3 states, then following where the threads lead them would be a more expeditious route to resolving this mess.

    Also, where's the IRS? Confidentiality and all that prevents them from comment. But like Al Capone before him, they could be the agency that in the end to bring the Tang tinged Manatee from Manhattan to justice.

    If ever there was a time to hope for "sooner rather than later" it's with ridding ourselves of Dolt45's administration.

    And, Congress. Before tax cuts for those moochers at the top who pay less taxes than anyone, throw a few $ at cyber security.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:41 PM

    Just saw it on Twitter. I love it!

    "Impeach Now ,Replace Later"

    And no pence the zealot

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous12:53 PM

    JARED KUSH IS NOT THE WONDER BOY DONALD THINK HE IS

    DUMBASS IS STUPID, WAS INVOLVED IN BLACKMAIL

    Business Insider:
    Rex Tillerson and James Mattis are cleaning up Jared Kushner's Middle East mess

    ....Tillerson's aides, I was told, were convinced that the true author of Trump's statement was U.A.E. ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, a close friend of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. "Rex put two-and-two together," his close associate says, "and concluded that this absolutely vacuous kid was running a second foreign policy out of the White House family quarters. Otaiba weighed in with Jared and Jared weighed in with Trump. What a mess."

    The Trump statement was nearly the last straw for Tillerson, this close associate explains: "Rex is just exhausted. He can't get any of his appointments approved and is running around the world cleaning up after a president whose primary foreign policy adviser is a 36-year-old amateur."

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1:01 PM

    I hope no one is surprised by this info. Kellyann Conjob and President Bannon are known lowlifes. Something they prove again daily.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous1:08 PM

    Lock 'em up. Start with Flynn. He'll sing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous1:14 PM

    FOX NEWS

    WHITE HOUSETrump, Kushner never blackmailed Scarborough, source says

    A top White House aide never suggested a quid pro quo during a call with Joe Scarborough regarding an upcoming National Enquirer Story, a source told Fox News – despite Scarborough’s claim Friday morning that a Trump adviser recently tried to blackmail him into giving positive coverage of the president.....

    But the source who spoke to Fox News said there was nothing in the conversation between Kushner and Scarborough to suggest a quid pro quo or blackmail – merely presenting the idea that if Scarborough wanted to get back on speaking terms with the president, perhaps an apology was in order....

    Scarborough portrayed the conversation far differently on “Morning Joe,” saying a top presidential aide threatened him with a negative story unless he stopped being so negative about Trump, implying Trump’s team was blackmailing him. He never identified the aide to which he spoke....

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous1:43 PM

    JARED KUSHNER DESCRIBED AS "VACUOUS" KID

    vac·u·ous - adjective

    having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless.

    "a vacuous smile"

    synonyms:silly, inane, unintelligent, insipid, foolish,stupid, fatuous, idiotic, brainless,witless, vapid, vacant, empty-headed;

    informal dumb, moronic, brain-dead,fluffy, fluffball

    "that vacuous laugh of his drives me nuts"



    "Rex put two-and-two together," his close associate says, "and concluded that this absolutely vacuous kid was running a second foreign policy out of the White House family quarters. Otaiba weighed in with Jared and Jared weighed in with Trump. What a mess."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous2:08 PM

      Sounds like an apt description of both Jared and Ivanka.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous2:39 PM

      I'd say fits all of trumps administration to the letter.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous2:35 PM

    First and foremost steve bannon needs to be hung, literally, with the other cohorts ( drumph too ) lined up in rapid fire secession ..

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous3:37 PM

    Tic..tic...tic...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous3:43 PM

    My opinion is that Kellyanne Conway's best friend is either Jack Daniels or a liquid Russian named Smirnoff. Nobody I know looks that haggard at age 50 unless they spend a lot of time at the liquor store.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous5:41 PM

    Oh and by the way, Smith is now suddenly dead.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous6:12 PM

    Trump has never done anything ethically or legally in his life. Why would we expect him to obey the law when he was so desperate to prove himself better than that black guy?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous6:49 PM

    Now We Have a Roadmap to the Trump Campaign’s Collusion with Russia

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/now-we-have-a-roadmap-to-trump-campaigns-russia-collusion.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous8:07 PM

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bear-cubs-ride-mama-alaska-lake_us_5958112fe4b0da2c7323f6b8?y6c&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous8:53 PM

    The reason POTUS finally admitted he has no Comey tapes was to start setting the stage to fire Mueller as unnecessary. It's in the works.

    https://twitter.com/RoguePOTUSStaff/status/881287550127755264

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous9:01 PM

    It is a known common practice to do opposition research. It is also known that hacking is illegal. If the Trump campaign set up a LLC to evade campaign reporting this indicates they knew this was underhanded and illegal. This smells to me like people who were confident they could pull this off and not be caught.
    Consider the outrageous and heinous lies, spins of fiction and even the public humiliation they contrived to have women allegedly involved with Bill Climton at the debate.

    The election was rigged it appears by Trump and his campaign.

    ReplyDelete

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