The pot of gold at the end of the Russian rainbow.
I apologize. I lost myself for a minute.
Spring 2016. Campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos made early contact with Joseph Mifsud, a London-based professor who had connections to Russia and traveled to Moscow in April 2016....
That is at least one country to include in the Special Counsel report. Great Britain. In the picture of Joseph Mifsud below that is not English on the wall behind him. It tells me he has contact with people that know this foreign language.
His new notoriety did not serve him well. He is up on charges for an inflated salary. But, PROFESSOR Mifsud would be a perfect contact for the Trump Campaign. Professor Mifsud is an academic. It is very reasonable to believe people involved with universities meet each other at symposiums and meetings and begin friendships. That means Professor Mifsud has friends and peers in Russia. That in and of itself is not nefarious. It is, however, a convenient tool for Russia.
Maltese Professor Joseph Mifsud, (click here) who has gained international notoriety for allegedly being the person who connected the Trump campaign to the Russians looking to derail Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, is not only on the run from the Americans, Russians and the press, but also from the Italian judicial authorities, who have been unable to track down the wayward academic.
This week, in fact, Mifsud was a no-show in the courts of Palermo, where he was to answer to charges, along with two others, of having unjustifiably inflated salaries at a university consortium in Agrigento, Sicily, which he presided almost a decade ago....
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...Immediately upon his return to London from that trip, Mifsud told Papadopoulos that the Russian government had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of emails. One week later, in the first week of May 2016, Papadopoulos suggested to a representative of a foreign government that the Trump Campaign had received indications from the Russian government that it could assist the Campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to candidate Clinton. Throughout that period of time and for several months thereafter, Papadopoulos worked with Mifsud and two Russian nationals to arrange a meeting between the Campaign and the Russian government. No meeting took place.
Hm.
...in the form of thousands of emails....
"Russia if your listening...."
So, Mifsud stated that there was not only dirt on Hillary Clinton, but, thousands of emails. Did they set him up or what? Papadopoulos heard those words from Mifsud and said those exact words to Donald J. Trump. In turn, when Trump was worried about winning he called out Russia to supply thousands of emails that Papadopoulos stated exists. Donald J. Trump expected those 30,000 emails to show up for the mighty USA press and their rewards that would make Russia look like a hero.
The 30,000 emails Hillary Clinton stated were personal and erased were never found. The FBI had the undamaged server and they were never found.
Popadopoulos did nine months in jail for lying to the FBI. These weren't small lies. The Special Council had to do it's homework. No one was making it easy.
No meeting took place, but, the understanding of emails still existed in the mind of Donald J. Trump.
I going to fix myself a cup of tea.
Russia never had the 30,000 personal emails that Hillary Clinton's attorneys erased. They were no one's business anyway. But, when Trump stated "Russia if you're listening..." I think Putin realized what he had. In realizing Trump was a full partner in the election and Russia never had the emails, Putin set his IRA to work hacking at the DCCC and Clinton Campaign in an attempt to uphold Trump's belief in his abilities and priorities.
Summer 2016. Russian outreach to the Trump Campaign continued into the summer of 2016, as candidate Trump was becoming the presumptive Republican nominee for President. On June 9, 2016, for example, a Russian lawyer met with senior Trump Campaign officials Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and campaign chairman Paul Manafort to deliver what the email proposing the meeting had described as "official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary." The materials were offered to Trump Jr. as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." The written communications setting up the meeting showed that the Campaign anticipated receiving information from Russia that could assist candidate Trump's electoral prospects, but the Russian lawyer's presentation did not provide such information.
Days after the June 9 meeting, on June 14, 2016, a cybersecurity firm and the DNC announced that Russian government hackers had infiltrated the DNC and obtained access to opposition research on candidate Trump, among other documents.
That is all self-explanatory.
In July 2016, Campaign foreign policy advisor Carter Page traveled in his personal capacity to Moscow and gave the keynote address at the New Economic School. Page had lived and worked in Russia between 2003 and 2007. After returning to the United States, Page became acquainted with at least two Russian intelligence officers, one of whom was later charged in 2015 with conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of Russia. Page's July 2016 trip to Moscow and his advocacy for pro-Russian foreign policy drew media attention. The Campaign then distanced itself from Page and, by late September 2016, removed him from the Campaign.
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Information between the dotted lines is related information.
2004 to 2007 – According to Page’s biography (click here) on the website of Global Energy Capital, his venture capital firm, he served as a vice president at the Merrill Lynch office in Moscow and remained there for three years. The bio adds that Page served as an adviser “on key transactions for Gazprom, RAO UES and others.” Page told Bloomberg News in March 2016 that he advised Russian energy giant Gazprom as it was buying a stake in a lucrative Russian Far East oil and gas project called Sakhalin II.
However, Politico later reported that the CEO of Sakhalin Energy, who negotiated with Gazprom on the deal, said that he didn’t know anyone named Carter Page and did not believe Merrill Lynch was involved with front-line deal negotiations at all, because the negotiations were political and done at the CEO level, with Putin himself giving the final approval....
...On June 13, 2013, court documents show that FBI agents interview Page for the first time in relation to his Podobnyy contacts. Page tells them that he has exchanged emails and met in person with Podobnyy over the past several months, sharing his views on the current and future energy industry. The documents state that Page has also provided Podobnyy with documents about the energy business.
Podobnyy: [Page] wrote that he is sorry, he went to Moscow and forgot to check his inbox, but he wants to meet when he gets back. I think he is an idiot and forgot who I am. Plus he writes to me in Russian [to] practice the language. He flies to Moscow more often than I do. He got hooked on Gazprom thinking that if they have a project, he could be rise up. Maybe he can. I don’t know, but it’s obvious that he wants to earn lots of money....
...Podobnyy: […] For now his enthusiasm works for me. I also promised him a lot…
That is very Russian. Americans like lots of money and that enthusiasm works for the oligarch lucky enough to land one for the motherland. The picture is of Carter Page.
It is interesting. Carter Page was of interest to the FBI before he became involved with Trump. But, what is really interesting is that he did become involved with Trump while he was involved with a Russian businessman. That doesn't happen by itself. At least that is my opinion. How is it that all these professionals from academicians to businessmen have contact with Russians, significant Russians, and then find themselves involved with the Trump campaign? I find that odd.
September 19. 2018By Natasha Bertrand
...But one of the more bizarre subplots (click here) in the ongoing saga of Trump and House Republicans condemning alleged “deep state” corruption has been the martyrdom of Carter Page—a former Trump campaign adviser suspected by the FBI of acting as a foreign agent for Russia, and the subject of the fisa warrants that Trump and his allies now want declassified. “Carter Page is a very unlikely GOP hero,” Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, told me. “But there’s a desperation by Republicans to cast the initiation of the Russia investigation as illegitimate. And that includes creating a completely different story around Carter Page.”...
...while in Moscow Page had met with Igor Sechin—a Vladimir Putin ally and the executive chairman of Russia’s state oil company, Rosneft—to discuss lifting U.S. sanctions in exchange for the brokerage of a 19 percent stake in the oil giant. Unredacted portions of the Page FISA application, released by the Justice Department in July in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, said that “the FBI believes that the Russian government’s efforts are being coordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals associated with” Trump’s campaign, and that Page “has established relationships with Russian government officials, including Russian intelligence officers.”...
Sanctions work. In my opinion, the FBI was too patient with Page. They should have gotten a FISA warrant long before they did.
Below is from "The Washington Times." (click here)
January 26, 2015
by Phillip Schwartz
In a Cold War-style spy scenario that replaces communist ideology with capitalist growth, the FBI arrested a Russian man on suspicion of posing as a Russian banker in order to dupe Americans into providing the Kremlin with intelligence on U.S. banks, possible sanctions and the energy industry.
Counterintelligence agents arrested Evgeny Buryakov, 39, also known as “Zhenya,” on Monday on charges of spying and attempting to recruit spies on U.S. soil — including using media outlets and reporters — as part of his work for SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence agency.
Two other Russian officials — Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy — were indicted Monday, but they have not been arrested and are not believed to be in the U.S.
U.S. officials say the three men are part of a Russian spy ring that has been operating in New York City — complete with drop-offs of “bags” in public parks — since 2012 or earlier to gather information that would help the Kremlin economically.
“More than two decades after the presumptive end of the Cold War, Russian spies continue to seek to operate in our midst under cover of secrecy,” said Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York....
The FBI was chasing these guys down for a long time. I am not surprised these same people are showing up as operatives involved with Trump, his campaign and beyond. This is not a surprise to those in the FBI. The fact the American people are not aware of ROUTINE activity of the FBI allows Republicans to pretend this is all new and drummed up for some kind of idea there is an evil Deep State. The Republicans are full of hot air and crony money and not much else.
Carter Page is lucky he wasn't indicted in ways that the FBI hates to see Americans compromised by those that want power over them. Oh, well.
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July 2016 was also the month WikiLeaks first released emails stolen by the GRU from the DNC. On July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks posted thousands of internal DNC documents revealing information about the Clinton Campaign. Within days, there was public reporting that U.S. intelligence agencies had "high confidence" that the Russian government was.behind the theft of emails and documents from the DNC. And within a week of the release, a foreign government informed the FBI about its May 2016 interaction with Papadopoulos and his statement that the Russian government could assist the Trump Campaign. On July 31, 2016, based on the foreign government rep01ting, the FBI opened an investigation into potential coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign.
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