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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHere's How the FBI Investigation Into Russia and Trump Campaign Actually Started
Heres How the FBI Investigation Into Russia and Trump Campaign Actually Started
By John R. Schindler 05/28/18 9:50am
http://observer.com/2018/05/what-did-the-fbi-do-in-2016-about-russian-connections-to-donald-trump/
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Let me put my cards on the table: The counterintelligence investigation of Donald Trump was kicked off by not one, not two, but multiple SIGINT reports which set off alarm bells inside our Intelligence Community. This has been publicly known, in a general way, for some time. A little over a year ago, the Guardian reported, based on multiple intelligence sources, that the lead was taken by Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ Britains NSA), which first became aware in late 2015 of suspicious interactions between figures connected to Trump and known or suspected Russian agents, a source close to UK intelligence said. This intelligence was passed to the U.S. as part of a routine exchange of information.
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In truth, NSA understood quite a bit about Trumps connections to Moscow, and by mid-2016 it had increased its efforts to get to the bottom of the mystery regarding the candidates Russian ties. In response to urgent FBI requests for more information, NSA rose to the occasion, and by the time that Donald Trump officially accepted the Republican nomination in mid-July 2016, We knew we had a Russian agent on our hands, as a senior NSA official put it to me recently.
The official went on: We had several reports in late 2015 and early 2016, mostly from Second and Third Partythat being spy-speak for NSAs foreign friendsbut by the spring of 2016 we had plenty of our own collection. These reports, based on multiple intercepts, were tightly compartmented, that is, restricted to a small group of counterintelligence officials, given their obvious sensitivity, but they painted an indelible picture of a compromised GOP nominee. The Kremlin talked about Trump like he was their boy, and their comments werent always flattering. The NSA official stated that those above-top-secret reports left no doubt that the Russians were subverting our democracy in 2016and that Team Trump was a witting participant in the Kremlins criminal conspiracy: Trump and his kids knew what they were doing, and who they were doing it with, the official explained.
This information helps explain why James Clapper, our countrys most experienced spy-boss, recently amplified his previous statement that our president was Vladimir Putins asset by explaining that he has no doubt that Russian spies swung the election to a Trump win. This weekend, Clapper stated that he was absolutely unaware of the FBIs use of informants to gain information about the Trump campaign in 2016. Tellingly, Clapper said nothing about top-secret-plus intelligence which might have spurred the Bureau to rustle up some informants in this caseand, like any veteran spook with a half-century
in the spy business, Clapper isnt likely to blab about high-grade SIGINT anytime soon, particularly when it implicates the president in espionage and worse.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)Or put it another some in the IC helped t-rump with Russia's influence. Therefore, our IC's have been compromised.
The Republican party has been compromised for many years.
global1
(25,241 posts)nipped in the bud back then and why are we stuck today with this traitor Trump. He shouldn't have been allowed to make it this far.
And look what he's done to this country since. And the kicker is - it doesn't look that anytime soon we'll be rid of him. I think we're stuck with him until 2020 - even if we win back the House and/or Senate or both.
The damage we'll take on from his undoing of everything will be with us for decades.
RainCaster
(10,865 posts)Yes history will be harsh on the Mango Maggot, but it will also be harsh on our IC (Intelligence Community) who saw this coming and did nothing.
Zorro
(15,737 posts)It is the responsibility of the administration to whom the IC reports to do something.