The firing of Flynn has revived the Russian connection. Here are a few articles that sum up the connections and what we know about then so far, It is accepted beyond question by American intelligence that the Dems were hacked by the Russians and that Putin tired to influence the election, While sticking Trump with knowingly participating is still somewhat conjectural it is not a secret that Putin actively wanted Trump to win and they tired to alter the result, so Trump would win, There is evidence that Trump had motives to act. Just how many probes are going and which one's these articles will help clarify, Trump was the recipient of Russian favor in winning the election,weather or if he participated in some kind of organized plot would mean he had more complicity in plotting with the campaign strategy and a coordinated effort.What I don't see happening now is an investigation to link the FBI to Putin since Comey;s trick with the emails sot Hillary the election. That part seems forgotten,
USA Today
Trump Russia Connection: What We Know Now
Gregory Korte (Feb 15, 2017)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/15/trump-russia-connection-what-we-know-now/97957856/
accessed 2/22/17
Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald Trump's presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election. Time
Driving Wednesday's events was a New York Times report that people close to Trump — including campaign aides and other associates — had spoken to Russian intelligence operatives during the campaign. The report cited current and former law enforcement and intelligence officials, all anonymous. It's unclear what they spoke about or even if the Trump associates knew they were speaking to Russian agents, whose calls were being monitored as part of routine counterintelligence surveillance.
The story also made clear that officials had seen "no evidence" of a coordinated attempt to interfere with the presidential election.
But the New York Times report is significant both because it expands both the time frame of Russian contacts and the circle of those involved. Specifically named: Paul Manafort , Trump's campaign chairman.
Here is the NYT article mentioned in the USA Today aritcle you just read.NY Times
"Trump Campaign aides had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence"
WASHINGTON — Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former American officials.
American law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee, three of the officials said. The intelligence agencies then sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election.
The officials interviewed in recent weeks said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of such cooperation.
But the intercepts alarmed American intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in part because of the amount of contact that was occurring while Mr. Trump was speaking glowingly about the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. At one point last summer, Mr. Trump said at a campaign event that he hoped Russian intelligence services had stolen Hillary Clinton’s emails and would make them public. (read more)
Reuters
U.S. Inquiries Into Russian Election Hacking Include Three FBI probes
Feb 18,2017
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN15X0OE
accessed 2/22/17
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is pursuing at least three separate probes relating to alleged Russian hacking of the U.S. presidential elections, according to five current and former government officials with direct knowledge of the situation.While the fact that the FBI is investigating had been reported previously by the New York Times and other media, these officials shed new light on both the precise number of inquires and their focus.The FBI's Pittsburgh field office, which runs many cyber security investigations, is trying to identify the people behind breaches of the Democratic National Committee's computer systems, the officials said. Those breaches, in 2015 and the first half of 2016, exposed the internal communications of party officials as the Democratic nominating convention got underway and helped undermine support for Hillary Clinton.The Pittsburgh case has progressed furthest, but Justice Department officials in Washington believe there is not enough clear evidence yet for an indictment, two of the sources said.Meanwhile the bureau’s San Francisco office is trying to identify the people who called themselves “Guccifer 2” and posted emails stolen from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta’s account, the sources said. Those emails contained details about fundraising by the Clinton Foundation and other topics. (more)
The New Yorker
Trump,Putin, And The Big Hack
David Remnick
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trump-putin-and-the-big-hack?mbid=social_facebook_aud_dev_kw_jansub-trump-putin-and-the-big-hack&kwp_0=311437&kwp_4=1196065&kwp_1=540530
accessed 2/22/17
this is an extremely important article to read, it summarizes three US intelligence probes that show Putin ordered hacking ot influence US elections. (read more through link above)
NYT
Trump's Russia Motives
The second explanation is the business conspiracy. Because many American banks wouldn’t lend money to Trump’s debt-soaked company, he had to look elsewhere, like Russia. “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” Donald Trump Jr. said in 2008, specifically mentioning projects in SoHo and Dubai.Read the article see link above
NYT
For Trump Three Decades of Chasing Deals in Russia
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-business.html
accessed 2/22/17
Mr. Trump repeatedly sought business in Russia as far back as 1987, when he traveled there to explore building a hotel. He applied for his trademark in the country as early as 1996. And his children and associates have appeared in Moscow over and over in search of joint ventures, meeting with developers and government officials.
During a trip in 2006, Mr. Sater and two of Mr. Trump’s children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, stayed at the historic Hotel National Moscow opposite the Kremlin, connecting with potential partners over the course of several days.
As recently as 2013, Mr. Trump himself was in Moscow. He had sold Russian real estate developers the right to host his Miss Universe pageant that year, and he used the visit as a chance to discuss development deals, writing on Twitter at the time: “TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next.”
trump's Russian
Connection
I keep wondering what good old Joe McCarthy would think about all this.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he would love the anti-president
ReplyDelete