A Veteran Spy Has Given the FBI Information Alleging a Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump
Source: Mother Jones
On Friday, FBI Director James Comey set off a political blast when he informed congressional leaders that the bureau had stumbled across emails that might be pertinent to its completed inquiry into Hillary Clinton's handling of emails when she was secretary of state. The Clinton campaign and others criticized Comey for intervening in a presidential campaign by breaking with Justice Department tradition and revealing information about an investigationinformation that was vague and perhaps ultimately irrelevantso close to Election Day. On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid upped the ante. He sent Comey a fiery letter saying the FBI chief may have broken the law and pointed to a potentially greater controversy: "In my communications with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government
The public has a right to know this information."
Reid's missive set off a burst of speculation on Twitter and elsewhere. What was he referring to regarding the Republican presidential nominee? At the end of August, Reid had written to Comey and demanded an investigation of the "connections between the Russian government and Donald Trump's presidential campaign," and in that letter he indirectly referred to Carter Page, an American businessman cited by Trump as one of his foreign policy advisers, who had financial ties to Russia and had recently visited Moscow. Last month, Yahoo News reported that US intelligence officials were probing the links between Page and senior Russian officials. (Page has called accusations against him "garbage." On Monday, NBC News reported that the FBI has mounted a preliminary inquiry into the foreign business ties of Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chief. But Reid's recent note hinted at more than the Page or Manafort affairs. And a former senior intelligence officer for a Western country who specialized in Russian counterintelligence tells Mother Jones that in recent months he provided the bureau with memos, based on his recent interactions with Russian sources, contending the Russian government has for years tried to co-opt and assist Trumpand that the FBI requested more information from him.
"This is something of huge significance, way above party politics," the former intelligence officer says. "I think [Trump's] own party should be aware of this stuff as well."
Does this mean the FBI is investigating whether Russian intelligence has attempted to develop a secret relationship with Trump or cultivate him as an asset? Was the former intelligence officer and his material deemed credible or not? An FBI spokeswoman says, "Normally, we don't talk about whether we are investigating anything." But a senior US government official not involved in this case but familiar with the former spy tells Mother Jones that he has been a credible source with a proven record of providing reliable, sensitive, and important information to the US government.
Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/veteran-spy-gave-fbi-info-alleging-russian-operation-cultivate-donald-trump
Holy living f@ck.
ProudProgressiveNow
(6,129 posts)PeteSelman
(1,508 posts)No one is going to believe it as it is.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)PeteSelman
(1,508 posts)I enjoy his work. Let's hope it gets some traction and is picked up across the board. I just can't sell it to the people who need to hear it from MJ. Even with his being correct before.
Hekate
(90,860 posts)PeteSelman
(1,508 posts)The wingnuts and moderates I argue with have some ground rules. No Fox, no Breitbart, no WND. The other side of that is no Slate, no Mother Jones and so on.
Has to be a legitimate non-partisan news source.
I mean, this is great for us but no one in the mainstream or on the right will buy it.
Hekate
(90,860 posts)...work a lot better for Democrats than a lot of others. David Corn is known to be a good investigative journalist; his liberal slant is hardly a sin.
PeteSelman
(1,508 posts)I hope this gets picked up across the board. Until then I can't use it.
Sterling
(7,730 posts)Now get to work.
ncgrits
(916 posts)Really?
PeteSelman
(1,508 posts)And they're the people I need to convince.
Democat
(11,617 posts)Interesting choice of words.
Most of the people who are not on the left aren't going to believe it.
PSPS
(13,620 posts)PeteSelman
(1,508 posts)Last edited Mon Oct 31, 2016, 10:36 PM - Edit history (1)
Whether the story is true or not, it needs to be picked up by a mainstream news source, otherwise the only people who will buy it are liberals. And while a liberal circle jerk is nice and fun for us, nobody else is going to believe it.
It needs to be picked up by a mainstream news source to have any legitimacy.
That's all I'm saying, there's no "concern".
Some of you guys can be just as ignorant as the righties.
Hekate
(90,860 posts)JunkYardDogg
(873 posts)The CIA revealed that the KGB refers to Mein Trumpf as "Secret Agent Orange"
British Intelligence, M1, refers to him as Agent Double Oh Shit, with a license to Grope
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)deminks
(11,018 posts)Koinos
(2,792 posts)I have been following this story for months, and now everything I have read so far makes sense. This is very solid reporting. This isn't about emails. It is about a treasonous alliance of a political campaign and a foreign power to destabilize and weaken the democratic structure of the United States and to alienate this nation from its allies.
Thank you, Harry Reid, for your patriotism and courage in initiating the process of bringing this to light. More people will be willing to step forward now. This article is just the beginning.
And Mother Jones has the spy's memos!
At this point, I am greatly concerned about the hacking by Russia of more vulnerable voting systems across the country. Do Russian hackers already have equipment and software in place to change election results? Have the Russians been working on "cultivating" their "Manchurian candidate" and developing cyberwar weapons for attacking our voting process for the last five years?
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)hard to tell IMO how far they have penetrated the security walls.
Koinos
(2,792 posts)RKP5637
(67,112 posts)billpolonsky
(270 posts)"Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting TRUMP for at least 5 years. Aim, endorsed by PUTIN, has been to encourage splits and divisions in western alliance." It maintained that Trump "and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin, including on his Democratic and other political rivals." It claimed that Russian intelligence had "compromised" Trump during his visits to Moscow and could "blackmail him."
lindysalsagal
(20,747 posts)He acts desperate enough to make that seem possible.
sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)WTF?
Response to geek tragedy (Original post)
billpolonsky This message was self-deleted by its author.
Laser102
(816 posts)dawnie51
(959 posts)why would this family of pompous rich asses put themselves in this no-win position, jeopardizing their wealth and privilege? Because they're desperate. Putin must have them by the short hairs, and there must not be any escape hatch available. Damn.
Lefthacker
(264 posts)What Rick Wilson was referring to. The shit is going to hit the fan.
roamer65
(36,747 posts)These ties would have came up and it would have been "game over".
Zo Zig
(600 posts)Wasn't dumps daughter meeting with Murdock ex in Europe recently, you know the X that is supposedly fucking putin?
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)Naturally, I check out a couple of the big corporate news orgs to see if they've picked up on it in any way, and first thing I notice is how little actual news I see on their front page. I see some opinion pieces, a headline about Lewandowski (their paid contributor) being called a hypocrite, and something about an NBA player getting molested by a ghost.
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)jeffreyi
(1,945 posts)Does clicking the link help elevate it?
TomCADem
(17,390 posts)nt
KeepItReal
(7,769 posts)Put an attractive blonde in his orbit...
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)he didn't test drive 'his' girls? Think he wasn't recorded, even if he used his own private jet as 'the bedroom'?
progressoid
(50,000 posts)Hmmmm, wonder who that was?