US Politics

[bustamente]

Lots of chatter that the CIA has lost quite a few informants around the World this past year, I wonder why, could there be any link to the classified top secret info that Trump was hoarding and maybe selling or maybe already sold

[Tracker]

On 2022-08-25 at 3:40 PM, Tracker said:

Nicolle Wallace sounds the alarm: 'Scariest thing I've heard on this program in a long time'
   
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace confessed that one of the stories she was covering was "the scariest thing I’ve heard on this program in a long time."

In a recent report by Washington Post reporter Aaron Davis, it was revealed that allies of former President Donald Trump copied files from Georgia's electronic voting systems and then shared them with Trump's lawyers and other election deniers.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/nicolle-wallace-sounds-alarm-scariest/

The Georgia criminal investigation into potential Trump election crimes has extended into a potential breach of voting equipment.

 The prosecutor investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia is seeking information about the alleged involvement of a Trump ally in the breach of voting equipment at a county roughly 200 miles south of her Atlanta office.

The widening of the probe highlights the latest instance in which unauthorized people appear to have gained access to voting equipment since the 2020 election, primarily in battleground states lost by Mr. Trump. Election experts have raised concerns that sensitive information shared online about the equipment may have exposed vulnerabilities that could be exploited by people intent on disrupting future elections.

https://www.politicususa.com/2022/08/27/trump-georgia-voting-data.html

32 minutes ago, bustamente said:

Lots of chatter that the CIA has lost quite a few informants around the World this past year, I wonder why, could there be any link to the classified top secret info that Trump was hoarding and maybe selling or maybe already sold

Trump Devastated As Affidavit Says He Had Information On US Spies

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell said described the information in the redacted affidavit:

Here are some of the classifications that were noted by the FBI agent who was designating the reasons in the affidavit. This is in the document to justify the affidavit. HCS, which is human control system, a designation by a report from a CIA officer or possibly defense intelligence agency based on conversations with a confidential, human source overseas. That is a spy.

And this could be the most alarming of any of these designations of these classifications. Another one is ORCON, originator control, the agency issuing the report controls that sees the document, no foreign, that is cannot be shared with foreign nationals indicating high sensitivity.

Mitchell went on to say that Trump had documents in his possession that were related to sources and methods and were the crown jewels of US intelligence agencies.

What was Trump intending to do with such sensitive national security information? He would not have kept those documents for his memoir or his own reading pleasure.

These kinds of US secrets would be priceless. If Trump was trying to sell them, he could have gotten hundreds of millions or even maybe billions of dollars for them.

From the information in the redacted affidavit, Trump didn’t accidentally take the documents. He stole US secrets that would have a high monetary value, and that could be why he is being investigated for violating the Espionage Act.

https://www.politicususa.com/2022/08/26/trump-affidavit-spies.html

[HardCoreBlue]

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

The Georgia criminal investigation into potential Trump election crimes has extended into a potential breach of voting equipment.

 The prosecutor investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia is seeking information about the alleged involvement of a Trump ally in the breach of voting equipment at a county roughly 200 miles south of her Atlanta office.

The widening of the probe highlights the latest instance in which unauthorized people appear to have gained access to voting equipment since the 2020 election, primarily in battleground states lost by Mr. Trump. Election experts have raised concerns that sensitive information shared online about the equipment may have exposed vulnerabilities that could be exploited by people intent on disrupting future elections.

https://www.politicususa.com/2022/08/27/trump-georgia-voting-data.html

Trump Devastated As Affidavit Says He Had Information On US Spies

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell said described the information in the redacted affidavit:

Here are some of the classifications that were noted by the FBI agent who was designating the reasons in the affidavit. This is in the document to justify the affidavit. HCS, which is human control system, a designation by a report from a CIA officer or possibly defense intelligence agency based on conversations with a confidential, human source overseas. That is a spy.

And this could be the most alarming of any of these designations of these classifications. Another one is ORCON, originator control, the agency issuing the report controls that sees the document, no foreign, that is cannot be shared with foreign nationals indicating high sensitivity.

Mitchell went on to say that Trump had documents in his possession that were related to sources and methods and were the crown jewels of US intelligence agencies.

What was Trump intending to do with such sensitive national security information? He would not have kept those documents for his memoir or his own reading pleasure.

These kinds of US secrets would be priceless. If Trump was trying to sell them, he could have gotten hundreds of millions or even maybe billions of dollars for them.

From the information in the redacted affidavit, Trump didn’t accidentally take the documents. He stole US secrets that would have a high monetary value, and that could be why he is being investigated for violating the Espionage Act.

https://www.politicususa.com/2022/08/26/trump-affidavit-spies.html

If Garland doesn’t indict him, precedent set, free for all.

[Tracker]

1 hour ago, HardCoreBlue said:

If Garland doesn’t indict him, precedent set, free for all.

And the end of democracy in America.

[HardCoreBlue]

32 minutes ago, Tracker said:

And the end of democracy in America.

I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. Garland has to understand this. If he thinks he needs to delay the indictment because of the midterms he is not accepting this is a completely different game with different rules. Keeping intact his individual legacy by thinking you need to play by normal rules (not influencing an election because of an ongoing investigation) on these wingnuts is not going to end well.

Edited August 28, 2022 by HardCoreBlue

[bustamente]

Sounds like a special master will be appointed making sure to slow down the process, For Garland and the DOJ it should be full steam ahead and if you got concrete solid evidence of criminality you must indict as most legal beagles have opined.

[Tracker]

13 hours ago, bustamente said:

Sounds like a special master will be appointed making sure to slow down the process, For Garland and the DOJ it should be full steam ahead and if you got concrete solid evidence of criminality you must indict as most legal beagles have opined.

As has been posted before in this forum, Garland is a meticulously patient, methodical prosecutor and he is at the center of a storm that will be the subject of debate for decades to come, whether Trump is indicted, convicted or given a pass. With all the potential consequences, he and his department have to have a watertight case before moving forward with prosecution so as to give the lunatic fringe as little reason as possible to declare Trump as a victim and martyr.

In retrospect, perhaps it was a good thing he was not confirmed to the SCOTUS as he is probably the perfect person for this incredibly difficult task.

[Tracker]

On 2022-08-26 at 8:45 PM, bustamente said:

The classified top secret files have Trump's sharpie all over them. His final excuse will be you can't indict me cause I'm an imbecile and can't read.

Warning ‘Troubling Number of Informants Killed or Captured’

According to the New York Times, the CIA sent a memo to every station across the globe warning that a “troubling number of informants” were being “captured or killed.” As the Times article emphasizes, when it comes to human intelligence, there are areas of the world in which the stakes couldn’t be higher.

C.I.A. espionage operations inside numerous hostile countries have been compromised in recent years when the governments of those countries have arrested, jailed and even killed the agency’s sources.

Last year, a top-secret memo sent to every C.I.A. station around the world warned about troubling numbers of informants being captured or killed, a stark reminder of how important human source networks are to the basic functions of the spy agency.

The New York Times doesn’t say that the increased numbers of killed and captured agents are related to Trump’s handling of the human intelligence files (Hum-Int files were found at Mar-a-Lago), but it reinforces the danger of having these types of documents outside of secure facilities. One also gets an unsettling feeling in one’s stomach. Even though the FBI and CIA haven’t found a link between Trump holding the human intelligence documents and the noticeable uptick in sources lost, at least not to our knowledge, one cannot help but notice that the time periods overlap (The memo came out in October of 2021) and Trump held those documents while in the White House residence

[Mark F]

4 hours ago, Tracker said:

a “troubling number of informants” were being “captured or killed.

 

he would gleefully kill anyone who he thought was a problem. he is a mafia criminal.

remember this?  she was told by friends in the know they were concerned she would be murdered, by Trump.

"MARIE YOVANOVITCH, THE former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told congressional investigators she was advised to leave Ukraine on “the next plane” in April because her security was at risk, and that she felt threatened comments President Trump made about her during his July 25th call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In her testimony, Yovanovitch shed light on the details surrounding her abrupt departure from her post this spring, noting that the State Department “had been under pressure from the president to remove me since the summer of 2018,” despite an assurance from a department official that she had “done nothing wrong.” The issue? Trump and allies like Rudy Giuliani couldn’t trust her not to interfere in their efforts to extort Ukraine into investigating the 2016 election and the Bidens.

The president relayed his misgivings about Yovanovich to Zelensky on July 25th, describing her as “bad news.” Trump added that “she’s going to go through some things,”

Edited August 28, 2022 by Mark F

[Tracker]

Donald Trump's supporters are now threatening the National Archives
   
The National Archives is now falling under the anti-government threats that other federal agencies have experienced in the past several weeks, Axios reported Sunday.

The attacks first began when the FBI conducted a search warrant at former President Donald Trump's golf club in Palm Beach to recover classified documents he'd stolen from the White House upon leaving his office. One man attacked the Cincinnati, Ohio FBI headquarters. Another man jumped the fence at the Chicago FBI offices.
Due to a Republican conspiracy theory, right-wing supporters are now threatening the IRS. Part of the Inflation Reduction Act gave funds to the IRS, which has been drastically underfunded for the past decade and has been unable to do audits against the super wealthy. Those individuals typically tie up the courts and cost the IRS more resources to fight just to get millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share. Republicans claim that the funds will be all about arming IRS agents to shoot everyday Americans.

Now the National Archives and Records Administration has faced an increase in threats after the Mar-a-Lago search.

“NARA has received messages from the public accusing us of corruption and conspiring against the former President, or congratulating NARA for ‘bringing him down,’” acting archivist Debra Steidel Wall explained in an email to staff this week, according to the Washington Post. “Neither is accurate or welcome."

Read the full report at Axios.com.

[Tracker]

Mar-A-Lago Is A Magnet For Spies, Warns Former FBI Official

Mar-a-Lago has long been a lure for foreign operatives seeking intelligence and access to Donald Trump and other U.S. political leaders even as the former president haphazardly stored top secret information at the unsecured resort, a former FBI official warned Sunday.

“Any competent foreign intelligence service, whether those belonging to China, those belonging to Iran, to Cuba, certainly including Russia are ... and were interested in gaining access to Mar-a-Lago,” Peter Strzok, former deputy assistant director of counterintelligence at the FBI, told MSNBC host Katie Phang.
Even without the knowledge that Trump was storing classified documents on the grounds “of course ... the intelligence services are going to have been trying to gain access,” said Strzok.

But the situation is “especially concerning” because of “information coming out right now about the absolute lack of any control or memorialization of who gets access to Mar-a-Lago at any given time,” Strzok pointed out.

The FBI earlier this month confiscated several boxes of government documents from Trump’s Florida estate, including classified information with highly sensitive material.

The sworn affidavit supporting the search released Friday indicated that there were “classified documents were strewn all over the facility, not just in the storage room” near the Mar-a-Lago pool, said Strzok.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mar-a-lago-spy-lure-peter-strzok-trump_n_630bdd72e4b0da54bae08f94

[bustamente]

So Blanche went there, indict Trump and there will be riots in the streets he says, this guy flips like I channel surf truly one of the worst politicians in US history.

[Tracker]

Review Of Possibly Privileged Trump Papers Already Over, DOJ Says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has completed its review of potentially privileged documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate this month and has identified “a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information,” according to a court filing Monday.

The filing from the department follows a judge’s weekend order indicating that she was inclined to grant the Trump legal team’s request for a special master who would oversee the review of documents taken during the Aug. 8 search of the Mar-a-Lago estate and ensure that any that might be protected by claims of legal privilege be set aside.
In revealing that the department had completed its review of potentially privileged communications, law enforcement officials appeared to be suggesting that the appointment of a third-party special master might now be moot. The department had been relying on a specialized team to filter out potentially privileged communications and said Monday that it had completed its review of those materials before the judge’s order.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon said on Saturday that it was her “preliminary intent” to appoint a special master — which would be an early procedural win for the Trump legal team — but gave the department an opportunity to respond and scheduled a Thursday hearing to discuss the matter further.

The judge also directed the Justice Department to submit under seal a more detailed description of the materials that were seized from Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, something the department on Monday said it would do.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-fbi-privileged-papers-mar-a-lago_n_630ce126e4b0da54bae182da

[Tracker]

One Key Element of Affidavit Shows FBI Has a Source Very Close to Trump

The very fact that the FBI walked out with the very boxes that they listed in the warrant proved that the FBI had sources close to Trump. The assumption is that very few people would know exactly which documents were where. But now, The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell believes that he’s found a single unredacted element in the affidavit in support of probable cause that proves without a doubt that the source is even closer than one could have assumed simply from the warrant and receipt.

The very fact that the FBI walked out with the very boxes that they listed in the warrant proved that the FBI had sources close to Trump. The assumption is that very few people would know exactly which documents were where. But now, The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell believes that he’s found a single unredacted element in the affidavit in support of probable cause that proves without a doubt that the source is even closer than one could have assumed simply from the warrant and receipt.

As Lowell told Morning Joe’s crew:  “The fact that Pine Hall was mentioned, you know, among other places, was really interesting. Pine Hall is an entrance way that leads into Trump’s area, and so the fact that the FBI has pinpointed that location suggests to me, and certainly to people around the former president, that the FBI has someone on the inside, someone close to Trump himself or around his family that knows the kind of documents that were being left around them.  That spooked them to have that level of detail and knowledge. It’s not going to come from people from the help or the staff, that close quarters to the former president."

To the average reader, the fact that a private area is named “Pine Hall” doesn’t scream out that it’s almost impossible for someone – especially Mar-a-Lago staff – to know, but Lowell knows the context and dynamic better than the average reader.

Lowell also said the open-ended questions, the fact that Trump’s team has no idea where the FBI is going next with their investigation, is frustrating Trump’s team and is surely driving Trump into vessel-popping hysterics:

I think a lot of this is coming from the fact that Trump’s lawyers don’t know where the Justice Department wants to go next.

The Espionage Act, classified documents at Mar-A-Lago, they’re also monitoring the obstruction side. That’s where lawyers are very nervous, not least because it sounds like Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb, two of the former president’s lawyers, might themselves be witnesses to that because of their interactions with the Justice Department, and that’s indicative of the general inability to find defense here.

Lowell’s observation above is a little vague and is a bit of a head-scratcher. There is no question that Trump’s team should be worried about obstruction of justice charges. If Trump has scribbled all over documents or destroyed some of the nation’s most secret documents, that is just another very serious crime, and it is evidence that Trump knowingly possessed this stuff for a specific purpose. Why destroy it when he could simply give it back?

But the comment about Trump’s former lawyers possibly being witnesses is odd unless those lawyers knew that Trump was lying to the FBI and National Archives. If that is true, they certainly are witnesses, but they might want to get lawyers themselves because it’s possible they would be accused of conspiring with Trump to obstruct justice. If they knowingly conveyed a lie to DOJ… well, DOJ will certainly evaluate that better than anyone on the outside.

https://www.politicususa.com/2022/08/29/one-key-element-of-affidavit-shows-fbi-has-a-source-very-close-to-trump.html

Edited August 29, 2022 by Tracker

[Mark F]

Trump lawyer re espionage

 

"Two lawyers who are working with Trump on the documents case — Corcoran and Jim Trusty — have prosecutorial experience with the federal government. But the team was put together quickly.

Trusty was hired after Trump saw him on television"

 

blockhead.

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Mark F

[HardCoreBlue]

2 hours ago, Mark F said:

Trump lawyer re espionage

 

"Two lawyers who are working with Trump on the documents case — Corcoran and Jim Trusty — have prosecutorial experience with the federal government. But the team was put together quickly.

Trusty was hired after Trump saw him on television"

 

blockhead.

 

My theory in taking Trump on as a client.

You know full well you're likely not going to get paid in full or at all but you do know listing Trump as a client or a former client will make it easier for you to grift the knuckle draggers with red hats on. 

[Tracker]

3 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

My theory in taking Trump on as a client.

You know full well you're likely not going to get paid in full or at all but you do know listing Trump as a client or a former client will make it easier for you to grift the knuckle draggers with red hats on. 

And get an 8-figure retainer in advance.

[Tracker]

Trump Demands To Be Declared President Nearly 2 Years After Election

If anyone needed more evidence of Donald Trump’s mind-bending view of reality, on Monday he demanded to be declared president — nearly two years after the election he decisively lost.

But he was also open to another option. In a “minimal” alternative “solution,” someone (probably not President Joe Biden) must “immediately” launch a do-over election, he said in a message on Truth Social.
“Declare the rightful winner or — and this would be the minimal solution —declare the 2020 Election irreparably compromised and have a new Election, immediately!” Trump wrote.

Conspiracist podcaster Alex Jones said he was ready to vote for Trump in such an election. When Trump “does something like this, it makes me love him even more,” Jones added.
Constitutional expert and Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Tribe quipped that if Trump is trying for an “insanity defense” against the various investigations against him, “it won’t work.”
Trump continues to use “Hunter Biden’s laptop” as justification for his wild demands to completely upend a legitimate election. The former president has boosted unsubstantiated claims repeatedly accusing Biden and his son Hunter of corruption, after Hunter’s laptop ended in the hands of the FBI.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-declare-me-president-hunter-biden_n_630d29dce4b063d5e61dd319

[blue_gold_84]

Next level daddy issues.

[Tracker]

A fascinating but chilling look at the possibility that the Trump coup was much more widespread and organized than it first appeared:

 

https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/donald-trump-conspiracy-even-bigger/

[bustamente]

Trump was on a texting rant today up until the DOJ released their 36 page document tonight.

[blue_gold_84]

[Mark F]

Those psychiatrists warned us about Trump. should have listened to them. 

I am thankful he cant launch.

good breakdown of release.

 

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/photo-of-classified-material-at-mar-a-lago

 

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Mark F

[blue_gold_84]

The caption. LMAO

[TrueBlue4ever]

I just love how Trump has been daring the DOJ to do stuff and they have called his bluff every time and exposed him more. 

“Release the warrant!” OK, here it is showing probable cause

”Show the underlying affidavit” OK, bet you thought we wouldn’t because it would expose sources, but here is a redacted version approved by a judge which shows we had plenty of grounds and that your “total co-operation and declassification” were all lies

”Get a special master to view docs or explain why one should not be used” OK, here is our brief outlining your criminal conduct, complete with photos of how you ”stored” classified top secret human source info on your office floor and endangered lives. 

Any other requests? Unhinged Trump without his handlers to protect him from  his own base instincts is the best Trump to watch, especially when he has no actual executive power to dictate things. 

Edited August 31, 2022 by TrueBlue4ever