Continued from previous entry.

c. Theft of Documents from DNC and DCCC Networks

Officers from Unit 26165 stole thousands of documents from the DCCC and DNC networks, including significant amounts of data pertaining to the 2016 U.S. federal elections. Stolen documents included internal strategy documents, fundraising data, opposition research, and emails from the work inboxes of DNC employees. 130

Most every candidate for office begins and works toward a list of supporters that contribute to their campaign. The idea a sovereign government can hack into a candidate's website and steal information completely compromises that candidate. It is unconscionable. But, I guess being Donald Trump and receiving support from Russia was the reason to ignore the crimes and not speak out to the unfortunate circumstances of his opponents.

See, the Russians were supplying cover to Trump. They would publish Clinton emails when there was bad news to the Trump Campaign. He knew who was pulling the strings. He didn't mind and he knew who obtained those emails and who was sabotaging the Clinton Campaign as often that was necessary. Trump also knew Russians were breaking USA law, but, he never once spoke out in abhorrence to the fact.

The GRU began stealing DCCC data shortly after it gained access to the network. On April 14, 2016 (approximately three days after the initial intrusion) GRU officers downloaded rar.exe onto the DCCC's document server. The following day, the GRU searched one compromised DCCC computer for files containing search terms that included "Hillary," "DNC," "Cruz," and "Trump." 131 On April 25, 2016, the GRU collected and compressed PDF and Microsoft documents from folders on the DCCC's shared file server that pertained to the 2016 election.132 The GRU appears to have compressed and exfiltrated over 70 gigabytes of data from this file server. 133

The theft occurred before the malware was installed.

The GRU also stole documents from the DNC network shortly after gaining access. On April 22, 2016, the GRU copied files from the DNC network to GRU-controlled computers. Stolen documents included the DNC' s opposition research into candidate Trump. 134 Between approximately May 25, 2016 and June 1, 2016, GRU officers accessed the DNC's mail server from a GRU-controlled computer leased inside the United States.135 During these connections, Unit 26165 officers appear to have stolen thousands of emails and attachments, which were later released by WikiLeaks in July 2016. 136

I am sure no one else sees it this way, but, I find the entire episode of stealing campaign information really creepy. They stole an enormous number of files and then installed malware to capture use of the compromised website by employees and volunteers. It is just creepy to think about. But, that isn't the worse part. Trump was receiving cover by Russia. It was obvious cover when stolen emails were deployed to end negative news about Trump. In my opinion, when he didn't speak out to end the document release, even if it was not successful in ending the document release; Trump was benefitting from stolen material. His silence indicts him and indebted him to Russia. The services of Russia in stealing invaluable information from the DNC, DCCC and the Clinton Campaign provided them leverage over Trump. He never tried to dilute that leverage. To me, he welcomed it.

130 Netyksho Indictment ,i,i 27-29; Investigative Technique
131 Investigative Technique
132 Investigative Technique
133 Investigative Technique
134 Investigative Technique SM-2589105-HACK-Serial 5 Investigative Technique
135 Investigative Technique See SM-2589105-GJ, serial 649. As part of its investigation, the FBI later received images ofDNC servers and copies of relevant traffic logs. Netyksho Indictment ,i,i 28-29

I guess the real question is, was Wikileaks picking up clues from Russia to release those emails at strategic times? If Wikileaks was acting autonomously in releasing those emails at strategic times, the question then is why? Assange? Knowing that Clinton would not provide an easy out for Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy.

If Wikileaks was acting autonomously when releasing emails as a strategy, it changes the nature of Wikileaks. It no longer simply publishes information provided, it uses it strategically to an agenda that is unknown to it's readers.

I sincerely believe Russia controlled the emails and their release by Wikileaks by not providing all of them at one time, so much as when the IRA and GRU found it helpful.

136 Netyksho Indictment ,i 29. The last-in-time DNC email released by WikiLeaks was dated May 25, 2016, the same period of time during which the GRU gained access to the DNC's email server. Netyksho Indictment ,i 45.

B. Dissemination of the Hacked Materials

The GRU's operations extended beyond stealing materials, and included releasing documents stolen from the Clinton Campaign and its supporters. The GRU carried out the anonymous release through two fictitious online personas that it created-DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0-and later through the organization WikiLeaks.

So the Russians didi control the release through two autonomous entities it had created. The GRU, the Russian Federation, was supporting Trump directly by providing cover for negative news about Trump. Wikileaks didn't exert any power over the releases. All the documents did not go to Wikileaks. 

1. DCLeaks 

The GRU began planning the releases at least as early as April 19, 2016, when Unit 26165 registered the domain dcleaks.com through a service that anonymized the registrant.137 Unit 26165 paid for the registration using a pool of bitcoin that it had mined. 138 The dcleaks.com landing page pointed to different tranches of stolen documents, arranged by victim or subject matter. Other dcleaks.com pages contained indexes of the stolen emails that were being released (bearing the sender, recipient, and date of the email). To control access and the timing of releases, pages were sometimes password-protected for a period of time and later made unrestricted to the public.

Starting in June 2016, the GRU posted stolen documents onto the website dcleaks.com, including documents stolen from a number of individuals associated with the Clinton Campaign. These documents appeared to have originated from personal email accounts (in particular, Google and Microsoft accounts), rather than the DNC and DCCC computer networks. DCLeaks victims included an advisor to the Clinton Campaign, a former DNC employee and Clinton Campaign employee, and four other campaign volunteers. 139 The GRU released through dcleaks.com thousands of documents, including personal identifying and financial information, internal correspondence related to the Clinton Campaign and prior political jobs, and fundraising files and information. 140 


In looking at the dates of the crime and then the releases, the GRU studied the documents before they were released. In other words, they did research from the documents before releasing them. That is how they found individuals of interest to publish emails. They weren't content with simply emails from the organizations of the election, they wanted more. Here again if Russia had been undetected as was the GRU's plans, those individuals were compromised. They could be sought after by Russia for it's own purpose.

137 Netyksho Indictment ,i 35. Approximately a week before the registration of dcleaks.com, the same actors attempted to register the website electionleaks.com using the same domain registration service. Investigative Technique

138 See SM-2589105, serial 181; Netyksho Indictment ,i 2l(a).

139 Investigative Technique

140 See, e.g., Internet Archive, "https://dcleaks.com/" archive date Nov. 10, 2016). Additionally, DCLeaks released documents relating to Personal Privacy , emails belonging to_Personal Privacy, and emails from 2015 relating to  Republican Party employees (under the portfolio name "The United States Republican Party"). "The United States Republican Party" portfolio contained approximately 300 emails from a variety of GOP members, PACs, campaigns, state parties, and businesses dated between May and October 2015. According to open-source reporting, these victims shared the same Tennessee-based web-hosting company, called Smartech Corporation. William Bastone, RNC E-Mail Was, In Fact, Hacked By Russians, The Smoking Gun (Dec. 13, 2016).

GRU officers operated a Facebook page under the DCLeaks moniker, which they primarily used to promote releases of materials. 141 The Facebook page was administered through a small number of preexisting GRU-controlled Facebook accounts. 142

GRU officers also used the DCLeaks Facebook account, the Twitter account @dcleaks_, and the email account dcleaksproject@gmail.com to communicate privately with reporters and · other U.S. persons. GRU officers using the DCLeaks persona gave certain reporters early access to archives of leaked files by sending them links and passwords to pages on the dcleaks.com website that had not yet become public. For example, on July 14, 2016, GRU officers operating under the DCLeaks persona sent a link and password for a non-public DCLeaks webpage to a U.S. reporter via the Facebook account. 143 Similarly, on September 14, 2016, GRU officers sent reporters Twitter direct messages from @dcleaks_, with a password to another non-public part of the dcleaks.com website. 144

The tangled webs they weaved. I am grateful to the FBI for being so very, very thorough in finding the criminal acts of these Russian agents in their official capacity for the Russian Federation. They did not leave a stone unturned. Putin was going to have his way and rule in the USA. So, Vlad, was this information fake news?

The DCLeaks.com website remained operational and public until March 2017
.
2. Guccifer 2.0

On June 14, 2016, the DNC and its cyber-response team announced the breach of the DNC network and suspected theft of DNC documents. In the statements, the cyber-response team alleged that Russian state-sponsored actors (which they referred to as "Fancy Bear") were responsible for the breach. 145 Apparently in response to that announcement, on June 15, 2016, GRU officers using the persona Guccifer 2.0 created a WordPress blog. In the hours leading up to the launch of that WordPress blog, GRU officers logged into a Moscow-based server used and managed by Unit 74455 and searched for a number of specific words and phrases in English, including "some hundred sheets," "illuminati," and "worldwide known." Approximately two hours after the last of those searches, Guccifer 2.0 published its first post, attributing the DNC server hack to a lone Romanian hacker and using several of the unique English words and phrases that the GRU officers had searched for that day. 146

They were prepared for every occasion. A lone wolf hacker from Russia, but, never Vladimir Putin. Of course not.

July 16, 2018
By Sophie Tatum

Washington - Russian President Vladimir Putin (click here for video) seemed to justify the hacking of Democrats because the information dispersed was true, after denying that Russia had interfered in the US 2016 presidential election.

The US intelligence community has concluded otherwise, and just on Friday the Justice Department announced charges against 12 Russian nationals as part of the special counsel's probe into Russian meddling in the election...

Many in the USA, including the press, did not appreciate the interference by Putin.

141 Netyksho Indictment ,r 38.

142 See, e.g., Facebook Account 100008825623541 (Alice Donovan).

143 7/14/16 Facebook Message, ID 793058100795341 (DC Leaks) to ID Personal Privacy

144 See, e .g. , 
9/14/16 Twitter DM, @dcleaks, to Personal Privacy   
9/14/16 Twitter OM, @dcleaks _ to Personal Privacy. The messages read: "Hi https://t.co/QTvKUjQcOx pass: KvFsgo/o* 14@gPgu& enjoy;)." 

145 Dmitri Alperovitch, Bears in the Midst: Intrusion into the Democratic National Committee, CrowdStrike Blog (June 14, 2016). CrowdStrike updated its post after the June 15, 2016 post by Guccifer 2.0 claiming responsibility for the intrusion. 

146 Netyksho Indictment ,r,r 41-42.

I am going to call it a day. I will start at the paragraph below tomorrow.

That same day, June 15, 2016, the GRU also used the Guccifer 2.0 WordPress blog to begin releasing to the public documents stolen from the DNC and DCCC computer networks. The Guccifer 2.0 persona ultimately released thousands of documents stolen from the DNC and DCCC in a series of blog posts between June 15, 2016 and October 18, 2016. 147 Released documents included opposition research performed by the DNC (including a memorandum analyzing potential criticisms of candidate Trump), internal policy documents (such as recommendations on how to address politically sensitive issues), analyses of specific congressional races, and fundraising documents. Releases were organized around thematic issues, such as specific states (e.g., Florida and Pennsylvania) that were perceived as competitive in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.  

It started with many and it is now down to two. (click here for list of candidates - thank you)

Continued from previous entry

2. Intrusions into the DCCC and DNC Networks 

a. Initial Access

By no later than April 12, 2016, the GRU had gained access to the DCCC computer network using the credentials stolen from a DCCC employee who had been successfully spearphished the week before. Over the ensuing weeks, the GRU traversed the network, identifying different computers connected to the DCCC network. By stealing network access credentials along the way (including those of IT administrators with unrestricted access to the system), the GRU compromised approximately 29 different computers on the DCCC network. 119

Approximately six days after first hacking into the DCCC network, on April 18, 2016, GRU officers gained access to the DNC network via a virtual private network (VPN) connection120 between the DCCC and DNC networks. 121 Between April 18, 2016 and June 8, 2016, Unit 26165 compromised more than 30 computers on the DNC network, including the DNC mail server and shared file server. 122

b. Implantation of Malware on DCCC and DNC Networks

Unit 26165 implanted on the DCCC and DNC networks two types of customized malware, 123 known as "X-Agent" and "X-Tunnel"; Mimikatz, a credential-harvesting tool; and rar.exe, a tool used in these intrusions to compile and compress materials for exfiltration. X-Agent was a multi-function hacking tool that allowed Unit 26165 to log keystrokes, take screenshots, and gather other data about the infected computers (e.g., file directories, operating systems). 124 XTunnel was a hacking tool that created an encrypted connection between the victim DCCC/DNC computers and GRU-controlled computers outside the DCCC and DNC networks that was capable of large-scale data transfers. 125 GRU officers then used X-Tunnel to exfiltrate stolen data from the victim computers.

Basically, X-Agent was used for spying and gathering information and X-Tunnel was used for encryption and theft.

119 Investigative Technique

120 A VPN extends a private network, allowing users to send and receive data across public networks (such as the internet) as if the connecting computer was directly connected to the private network. The VPN in this case had been created to give a small number of DCCC employees access to certain databases housed on the DNC network. Therefore, while the DCCC employees were outside the DNC's private network, they could access parts of the DNC network from their DCCC computers.

121 Investigative Technique SM-2589105-HACK, serial 5.

More of the same internal SM numbers that are in evidence files.

122 Investigative Technique  SM-2589105-HACK, serial 5.
middle servers 123 "Malware" is short for malicious software, and here refers to software designed to allow a third party to infiltrate a computer without the consent or knowledge of the computer's user or operator.

124 Investigative Technique

125 Investigative Technique

The Russians went through a lot of trouble and they planned on continuing their harvest of information.

To operate X-Agent and X-Tunnel on the DCCC and DNC networks, Unit 26165 officers set up a group of computers outside those networks to communicate with the implanted malware. 126 The first set of GRU-controlled computers, known by the GRU as "middle servers," sent and received messages to and from malware on the DNC/DCCC networks. The middle servers, in turn, relayed messages to a second set of GRU-controlled computers, labeled internally by the GRU as an "AMS Panel." The AMS Panel Investigative Technique served as a nerve center through which GRU officers monitored and directed the malware's operations on the DNC/DCCC networks. 127

The AMS Panel used to control X-Agent during the DCCC and DNC intrusions was housed on a leased computer near IT       Arizona. 128 Investigative Technique 
129

Investigative Technique  

Footnote 126 In connection with these intrusions, the GRU used computers (virtual private networks, dedicated servers operated by hosting companies, etc.) that it leased from third-party providers located all over the world. The investigation identified rental agreements and payments for computers located in, inter alia, -Investigative Technique all of which were used in the operations targeting the U.S. election.

Footnote 127 Netyksho Indictment ,r 25.

Footnote 128 Netyksho Indictment ,r 24( c ).

Footnote 129 Netyksho Indictment ,r 24(b ). 

The footnotes in this section indicate definitions which the Special Counsel Report does not contain in a dedicated area. So, it is easier to read this way. If there is any lack of understanding Former FBI Director Mueller spells it out at the bottom of the page.

The Arizona-based AMS Panel also stored thousands of files containing keylogging sessions captured through X-Agent. These sessions were captured as GRU officers monitored DCCC and DNC employees' work on infected computers regularly between April 2016 and June 2016. Data captured in these key logging sessions included passwords, internal communications between employees, banking information, and sensitive personal information. 

The DNC, DCCC and the Clinton Campaign didn't have a chance. The Russians had set up a spy network that would follow the users of over 30 computers in their daily activities. That is very scary. Every American should be grateful the FBI is this sophisticated and knows exactly what they are looking at. It is over for the people that Putin's intelligence agency was using to gather information. Just imagine if it wasn't. The FBI performed vital tasks to end the danger to American lives.

I don't want to hear another word about a Deep State, it doesn't exist. What does exist are highly qualified professionals that work very hard with every skill they have to protect this country.

I am going to take a break.

Continued from a previous entry.

This is from page 35 of the Special Counsel Report and page 43 of the PDF

In sum, the investigation established that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election through the "active measures" social media campaign carried out by the IRA, an organization funded by Prigozhin and companies that he controlled. As explained further in Volume I, Section V.A, infra, the Office concluded (and a grand jury has alleged) that Prigozhin, his companies, and IRA employees violated U.S. law through these operations, principally by undermining through deceptive acts the work of federal agencies charged with regulating foreign influence in U.S. elections.

There is no denying it. There is a vast amount of evidence finding the Russians violated the USA elections of 2016. It is not only known, but it is also known the primary person responsible for the operations and it is a man that has constant contact and relationships with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The footnotes below are self-explanatory.

Footnote 106 Harm of Ongoing Matter

Footnote 107 See, e.g., 
8/16/16 Email, joshmilton024@gmail.com to -@donaldtrump.com (asking for ~Pence signs for Florida rally);
8/18/16 Email, joshmilton024@gmail.com to -@donaldtrump.com (a-kin for Trump/Pence signs for Florida rally);
8/12/16 Email, joshmilton024@gmail.com to @donaldtrump.com (asking for "contact phone numbers for Trump Campaign affiliates" in various Florida cities and signs).

Footnote108 
8/15/16 Email, to joshmilton024 locations to the "Florida Goes Trump," list); 8/16/16 Email, to joshmi1ton024@gmail.com (volunteering to send an email blast to followers).

III. RUSSIAN HACKING AND DUMPING OPERATIONS

Beginning in March 2016, units of the Russian Federation' s Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU) (Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Federation) hacked the computers and email accounts of organizations, e·mployees, and volunteers supporting the Clinton Campaign, including the email account of campaign chairman John Podesta. Starting in April 2016, the GRU hacked into the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The GRU targeted hundreds of email accounts used by Clinton Campaign employees, advisors, and volunteers. In total, the GRU stole hundreds of thousands of documents from the compromised email accounts and networks. 109 The GRU later released stolen Clinton Campaign and DNC documents through online personas, "DCLeaks" and "Guccifer 2.0," and later through the organization WikiLeaks. The release of the documents was designed and timed to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election and undermine the Clinton Campaign.

The criticism at the time was that the Clinton Campaign and the DCCC had very poor security on their computers. Who knows that? This was not a hacker finding their way into these computers, it was a sovereign government that is an enemy of the USA. AGAIN, this was the compromise of a USA election at the direction and under the supervision of a hostile power to the USA. This is serious. This is an assault on national security.

The online names for the GRU are different and unique compared to the operations of the IRA. Evidently, Putin didn't want to give away his secrets about covert activities in the USA. These hackings were not performed domestically. These were hostile acts against the USA from Russia.

The Trump Campaign showed interest in Wikileaks releases and in the summer and fall of 2016. Harm of Ongoing Matter Wikileaks first Clinton related release HOM , the Trump Campaign stayed in contact HOM about Wikileaks activities. The investigation was unable to resolve  Harm of Ongoing Matter  WikiLeaks's release of the stolen Podesta emails on October 7, 2016, the same day a video from years earlier was published of Trump using graphic language about women.

Russia was coordinating the release of emails with adverse events that occurred in the Trump Campaign. There had to be some kind of appreciation of those Russian efforts. Trump and his campaign were facing adverse information in the general public and what interrupts the news cycle but stolen Podesta emails. The Campaign had to know by then they were being assisted by a sovereign authority in Russia.

Trump and his campaign cannot continue to state they had no knowledge of any of these activities. This was more than coincidence.

A. GRU Hacking Directed at the Clinton Campaign

1. GRU Units Target the Clinton Campaign 

Two military units of the GRU carried out the computer intrusions into the Clinton Campaign, DNC, and DCCC: Military Units 26165 and 74455. 110 Military Unit 26165 is a GRU cyber unit dedicated to targeting military, political, governmental, and non-governmental organizations outside of Russia, including in the United States. 111 The unit was sub-divided into departments with different specialties. One department, for example, developed specialized malicious software "malware" , while another de artment conducted large-scale spearphishing campaigns. 112 Investigative Technique a bitcoin mining operation to secure bitcoins used to purchase computer infrastructure used in hacking operations. 113

Russia is a desperate Third World power. It does not see it's currency increasing in value. Now, they are going to try a different strategy as if a cyber currency will disregard Russia's asset value. I suppose it can be done. Bitcoin has no sovereign backing it.

June 17, 2019
By Daniel Palmer

The head of Russia’s central bank (click here) has said the institution could one day launch its own digital currency.

Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina told a student conference that, while such a project “cannot be realized immediately,” various central banks, including Bank of Russia, are investigating the possibility, TASSreported Saturday.

Key to the utility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), she said, is that the technology must ensure “reliability and continuity.” “Technologies must be mature, including technologies of distributed registries,” Nabiullina said.

Another question is whether citizens are ready to leave cash behind....

109 As discussed in Section V below, our Office charged 12 GRU officers for crimes arising from the hacking of these computers, principally with conspiring to commit computer intrusions, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1030 and 371. See Volume I, Section V.B, infra; Indictment, United States v. Netyksho, No. I :18-cr-215 (D.D.C. July 13, 2018), Doc. 1 ("Netyksho Indictment"). 



110 Netyksho Indictment ,r 1. (click here)

The document is named after the first of the twelve Russians listed. The indictment is 29 pages long and signed by Robert S. Mueller III. These are the Russian GRU agents. They continued their activities right up to November 2016. They attempted to mask their identity by using computers around the world. They paid for this computer use in cryptocurrency. They used false identities the entire time which shows a real attempt to seclude the reality that Russia was behind the hacking and distribution of the stolen emails.

The indictment goes into a great deal of detail in explaining who exactly the 12 Russians are as Russian military personnel. Some of the identities talk about units within units. Basically, I am impressed by what the FBI knows about the Russian military structure and who exactly these people are and what their functions are.

"Spearfishing" is the technique used to rob passwords and gain access to computers. There were 300 people including staff and volunteers targeted by these Russians. That is very sad and scary. Until the FBI found the conspiracy and indicted them there was nothing preventing Russia from intimidation of very innocent people.

The Russians began their hacking in March of 2016. The indictment spells out every step the Russian's took when hacking and conducting research. They even explored open source information about the DNC to gain whatever online information they could that might give them a clue about the organization and how it arranged it's files.

How apropos, Kaspersky explains it online. (click here)

Let's just say as soon as Russia provided a footprint to it's presence in this crime, the FBI had no trouble finding the exact paths they took.

Item 41 is perfect. The FBI was able to trace their activities into the very GRU computers in Moscow and found the passwords they used in order to access the information Russia had to carry out the crime. MOSCOW COMPUTERS. The FBI was able to trace the GRU activity right into their own computers.

Now consider, the attempted covert identities and all the racing around the world using a wide variety of computers to hide who they were. Really, Vladimir?

Dates, times, keystrokes and the FBI has all that information.

They were charged with nine counts of aggravated identity theft, a tenth count of money laundering and an eleventh of Conspiracy to Commit an Offense Against the USA.

111 Separate from this Office's indictment of GRU officers, in October 2018 a grand jury sitting in the Western District of Pennsylvania returned an indictment charging certain members of Unit 26165 with hacking the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and other international sport associations. United States v. Aleksei Sergeyevich Morenets, No. 18-263 (W.D. Pa.). 

112 A spearphishing email is designed to appear as though it originates from a trusted source, and solicits information to enable the sender to gain access to an account or network, or causes the recipient to download malware that enables the sender to gain access to an account or network. Netyksho Indictment ~ 10.

113  Bitcoin mining consists of unlocking new bitcoins by solving computational problems. Ill 1111 kept its newly mined coins in an account on the bitcoin exchange platform CEX.io. To make purchases, the GRU routed funds into other accounts through transactions designed to obscure the source of funds. Netyksho Indictment~ 62.

continued in next entry

Acosta is a criminal and Trump is protecting him.

Why are there no charges and/or ethics violations against Acosta? Barr? Brothers in crime are taking care of each other, or what? There is absolutely no doubt this is corruption, so what is the problem?

December 10, 2018

By Oresti Avlonitis

While serving as a U.S. attorney, (click here) Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta arranged an extremely lenient plea deal in conjunction with lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein, a hedge fund managed accused of abusing dozens of underaged girls, that resulted in the billionaire serving a part time 13 month sentence, according to a Miami Herald investigation.

The Herald’s report revealed that Acosta worked with Epstein’s lawyers to get the billionaire an extremely favorable plea deal in a case where dozens of victims accused him of coercing them into performing sexual acts or aiding him in grooming other girls for that purpose.

Despite the mountain of evidence brought against Epstein by the victims and the FBI, Acosta took nearly every measure available to him to lessen the charges against the accused, and sought to shroud the case in secrecy to prevent public outcry.

In 2007, a year before Epstein’s plea, Acosta met with one of Epstein’s lawyers to secretly discuss a deal that would give the accused and “any potential co-conspirators” full immunity from federal charges, The Herald reported....

Both the US House and US Senate has passed laws to regulate sex trafficking under this president. The president did sign the bill. The bill remains controversial, but, online accounts that allow sex trafficking know they are doing it. They very quickly shutdown there activities as soon as the bill was signed into law.

The point is, passing a bill does not mean Acosta should remain as a Labor Secretary. He broke the law and allowed Epstein a great deal of comfort in his predatory sexual activities. Acosta must go.

July 2, 2018
By Aja Romano 

...The bill (click here) also conflates consensual sex work with nonconsensual sex work by doing nothing to differentiate between various kinds of sex work and related content — even if the workers and content are all legally protected by local law. In Nevada, where prostitution is legal in some areas of the state, sex workers have been bracing for FOSTA-SESTA. And one Nevada sex worker recently blamed the bill’s passage for a new local referendum that is attempting to shut down legal adult brothels.

It’s important to note that not differentiating between consensual and non-consensual sex work is part of an international legal standard codified in a 2000 United Nations protocol. This protocol was later expounded upon in a 2014 follow-up that examined issues of consent and asserted that “consent is always irrelevant to determining whether the crime of human trafficking has occurred.”

However, sex workers have argued vociferously that regardless of legal precedent, this conflation makes both consensual and nonconsensual sex workers less safe. Melissa Mariposa, who responded to the bill by creating an offshore-hosted, sex worker-friendly ISP, described the risks to the Daily Dot:

“If sex workers lose their storefront and safety tools, two things are going to happen,” Mariposa explained. “Number one, the predators will come out to play. Number two, prostitution is going to be pushed right back on the street and in hotel bars by women who will no longer want to see internet clientele and would rather take the risks freelancing. This will create more victims than it helps.”

There’s also plenty of research indicating that online avenues help officials do their work more effectively. A 2018 State Department report found that over a seven-year period, the number of identified victims of sex trafficking worldwide increased from fewer than 42,000 in 2011 to over 100,000 in 2017....

Continued from previous entry.

Indeed, the Tea Party didn't care about another group that would use their identity, they just wanted to win, even if it meant a Russian invasion.

The tweets below have absolutely no sound basis to them, yet they ring of Republican rhetoric as if they were the truth. The Trump Campaign should be ashamed of themselves as well as the Tea Party. They were snookered by Russians. But, who cares, right? You won. Winning at any cost, even the USA Constitution.

97 @EricTrump 10/20/16 Tweet ("RT @TEN_GOP: BREAKING Hillary shuts down press conference when asked about DNC Operatives corruption & #VoterFraud #debatenight #TrumpB").

98 @KellyannePolls 11/6/16 Tweet ("RT @TEN_ GOP: Mother of jailed sailor: 'Hold Hillary to same standards as my son on Classified info' #hillarysemail #WeinerGate.").

99 @parscale 10/15/16 Tweet ("Thousands of deplorables chanting to the media: 'Tell The Truth!' RT if you are also done w/ biased Media! #Friday Feeling").

100 @GenFlynn 11/7/16 (retweeting @TEN_GOP post that included in part "@rea!DonaldTrump & @mike_pence will be our next POTUS & VPOTUS.").

101 @TEN_GOP 10/11/16 Tweet ("North Carolina finds 2,214 voters over the age of 110!!").

102 @TEN_GOP 11/6/16 Tweet ("Mother of jailed sailor: 'Hold Hillary to same standards as my son on classified info #hillaryemail #WeinerGate."').

103 @DonaldJTrumpJr 11 /7 /16 Tweet ("RT @Pamela _Moore 13: Detroit residents speak out against the failed policies of Obama, Hillary & democrats .... ").

104 @rea!DonaldTrump 9/19/17 (7 :33 p.m.) Tweet ("THANK YOU for your support Miami! My team just shared photos from your TRUMP SIGN WA YING DAY, yesterday! I love you- and there is no question - TOGETHER, WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!").

105 8/23/16 Facebook Message, ID 100009922908461 (Matt Skiber) to ID   Personal Privacy 

Matt Skiber is a ghost. He is a spirit. He has no body. And the Trump inner circle swallowed the entire PLOT by Russians as if they were their dearest supporter. THESE TWEETERS AND POSTERS HAD NO BODY!

Flynn worked in military intelligence. HELLO!!!!!!

Harm of Ongoing Matter

b. Contact with Trump Campaign Officials in Connection to Rallies Starting in June 2016, the IRA contacted different U.S. persons affiliated with the Trump Campaign in an effort to coordinate pro-Trump IRA-organized rallies inside the United States. In all cases, the IRA contacted the Campaign while claiming to be U.S. political activists working on behalf of a conservative grassroots organization. The IRA's contacts included requests for signs and other materials to use at rallies, 107 as well as requests to promote the rallies and help coordinate Iogistics.108 While certain campaign volunteers agreed to provide the requested support (for example, agreeing to set aside a number of signs), the investigation has not identified evidence that any Trump Campaign official understood the requests were coming from foreign nationals. 

There is an agreement in acknowledging foreign nationals and then there is an agreement in ALLOWING foreign nationals. There is no doubt Trump allowed the Russians any blasted influence they could muster.

The Trump Campaign never bothered to secure their activities and ensure fraud was not part of their message. They didn't care. They welcomed any entity that would secure a single vote and Trump even asked the Russians to find lost Hillary emails. I think that says it all. The Trump inner circle welcomed all levers, even the help of Russians.

I don't know who is more ruthless, Trump or Putin, but, I do know who is smarter.

                                                    ***

Time for a cup of tea.

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Continued from previous entry.

Page 33 of the Special Counsel Report and page 41 on the PDF

7. Interactions and Contacts with the Trump Campaign

The investigation identified two different forms of connections between the IRA and members of the Trump Campaign.

(The investigation identified no similar connections between the IRA and the Clinton Campaign.)

The Special Counsel made to assumptions about the Clinton Campaign either. They examined the same connections to both campaigns and came up empty on Clinton.

First, on multiple occasions, members and surrogates of the Trump Campaign promoted-typically by linking, retweeting, or similar methods of reposting pro-Trump or anti-Clinton content published by the IRA through IRA-controlled social media accounts. Additionally, in a few instances, IRA employees represented themselves as U.S. persons to communicate with members of the Trump campaign in an effort to seek assistance and coordination on IRA-organized political rallies inside the United States.

The Russians PRACTICED their American identities on a regular basis and were trusted with the postings they conducted. They were good enough at being American so it's original content appeared to be as factual as at least the tabloids. It seems to me that is an American source to many fearful ideas in American society. Even Hillary Clinton appeared in an article whereby there was speculation she had a baby with an alien father.

The Russians were publishing original content. They were among the people and were able to anchor their material in online IDs that would eventually manifest into the actual use of Americans carrying their message. In other words, their content was very believable and it was inflammatory. The content of the Russian government was all based on increasing tensions between candidates and people. There were no messages of peace. There were only US AND THEM messages.

If there was one peace message, it was that Trump would not cause a nuclear holocaust, but, Clinton would that came directly from Putin. So, it wasn't as though it was a peace message, so much as a message of AN ALTERNATIVE to war. It was a message that the American people would surrender their identity as leaders of a free world and allow the Russian surrogate, namely Donald J. Trump, take the presidency and make the country into one that was to the liking of Russia.

Got that?

Putin came out of the shadows of his operation and stated there would be nuclear war if Hillary Clinton was elected. It was a veiled surrender to Putin in that statement. If the American people put Trump in the White House it, therefore, surrendered the identity the USA was mostly known for and that was as an enforcer of freedom and democracy.

Putin did not believe his words would be taken as Republican rhetoric or other subtle political statements, he believed what he said and expected Americans to capitulate their international authority.

Putin made a sincere threat against the people of the USA if they did not elect Trump. He expected the election of Trump to be a surrender to Russia. Putin did and does not expect the Legislative Branch of the USA to have sincere power either. I am quite confident US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a surprise to Russia.

The President of the United States of America does not have the power or clout that Putin has in Russia.

a. Trump Campaign Promotion of IRA Political Materials Among the U.S. "leaders of public opinion" targeted by the IRA were various members and surrogates of the Trump Campaign. In total, Trump Campaign affiliates promoted dozens of tweets, posts, and other political content created by the IRA. Posts from the IRA-controlled Twitter account @TEN_GOP were cited or retweeted by multiple Trump Campaign officials and surrogates, including Donald J. Trump Jr.,96 Eric Trump,97 Kellyanne Conway,98 Brad Parscale,99 and Michael T. Flynn. 100 These posts included allegations of voter fraud, 101 as well as allegations that Secretary Clinton had mishandled classified information.102

The Russian IRA hit it out of the park. They successfully created content that was believable and WANTED. The IRA was successful in their invasion into the very inner circle of the Trump Campaign. 

I take it none of the content cited and retweeted was by the Clinton Campaign. That only proves the Trump Campaign was interested in attracting votes and nor worried about content.

Voter Fraud and the email of Hillary Clinton was at the center of the momentum of the Trump Campaign. The immigration issue was as well. As of yet, I don't see references to immigration by Russians. They were concentrating their ethnic problems with African Americans and using that as a wedge issue. The Clinton Campaign was known, as a Democratic organization to carry African American voters in any election. At the time this was transpiring not cited in this report to date, Putin was filling Russian media with sympathy for the African American community in the USA and it's problems with law enforcement.

I find it curious the immigration issues that Trump ran on in 2016 was not the focus of a Russian ID group. I think Putin evaluated what it would take to push voters to Trump and decided long before 2014 it was important the Black Community would respond best to his interventions. Putin definitely wanted the African American voter pulling the election lever for Trump. It was enough of a percentage to ensure Trump's win without the Hispanic vote. His election research was completed before the project was begun. It also involved the idea of ending death. I don't mean to minimize the problems we face in the USA regarding racism, but, this American community was a focus of Putin's goals.

White Supremacists/Nationalists are hated by Russia. I believe it is primarily because of power and not the belief system. It seems to me as I read this report Putin concentrates on power and the movement of that power in favor of his outcomes. He is not aligned with belief systems, he chooses to align with areas of power within a country in order to achieve his goal. In this case, the 2016 Republican Party is known to be accepting of White Supremacists, but, in order for him to win the elections with Trump, he developed Group IDs that would move African Americans toward Trump. Putin knows what will be the ultimate goal and the ethnicity and belief systems of people are irrelevant to him. He wants power and once he has it, he doesn't care what happens to people, their identities or their beliefs. In reading this report I believe more than ever that Vladimir Putin is ruthlessly dangerous.

That idea of holding power is reflected in Russian actions as well. Putin has built a hospital for the wealthy in Russia. His inner circle has it's own hospital, physicians and staff. He also has seen the installation of mercy killing in Russia. Euthanasia. He is a very odd entity to me. On one hand, he protects tigers while ruthlessly carrying out power moves both internationally and domestically. Power moves that ensures his place at the top.

Oh, well.

A November 7, 2016 post from the IRA-controlled Twitter account @Pamela_ Moore 13 was retweeted by Donald J. Trump, Jr. 103

On September 19, 2017, President Trump's personal .. account @realDonaldTrump responded to a tweet from the IRA-controlled account @ l0_gop (the backup account of @TEN_ GOP, which had already been deactivated by Twitter). The tweet read: "We love you, Mr. President!"104

And doesn't Donald love to be loved, lies and all. 

Oops, there it is. Russian content embraced by Trump. What a victory that must have been for the Russian IRA.

IRA employees monitored the reaction of the Trump Campaign and, later, Trump Administration officials to their tweets. For example, on August 23, 2016, the IRA controlled persona "Matt Skiber" Facebook account sent a message to a U.S. Tea Party activist, writin.g that "Mr. Trump posted about our event in Miami! This is great!" 105 The IRA employee included a screenshot of candidate Trump's Facebook account, which included a post about the Screenshot of Trump Facebook August 20, 2016 political rallies organized by the IRA.

Ah, it's that sweet. The Russians and Tea Party all are in this together.

"Mr. Trump posted about our event in Miami! This is great!"

It is all so cozy and a profound feeling of commonality and togetherness. I almost expect them to break out in song.

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