GOP Operative Made "Suspicious" Cash Withdrawals During Pursuit Of Clinton Emails

[MelissaB]

Source: BuzzFeed News

Peter W. Smith withdrew $4,900 in cash the day after he finalized a plan to work with “dark web” hackers.

In one of the most intriguing episodes of the 2016 presidential campaign, Republican activist Peter W. Smith launched an independent effort to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails to help defeat her and elect Donald Trump. His quest, which reportedly brought him into contact with at least two sets of hackers that he himself believed were Russian, remains a key focus of investigations into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

Now, BuzzFeed News has reviewed documents showing that FBI agents and congressional investigators have zeroed in on transactions Smith made right as his effort to procure Clinton’s emails heated up. Just a day after he finished a report suggesting he was working with Trump campaign officials, for example, he transferred $9,500 from an account he had set up to fund the email project to his personal account, later taking out more than $4,900 in cash. According to a person with direct knowledge of Smith’s project, the Republican operative stated that he was prepared to pay hackers “many thousands of dollars” for Clinton’s emails — and ultimately did so.

Smith is dead, and his lawyer, former business partner, and wife did not respond to numerous requests for an interview. The White House did not immediately return a message seeking comment, but the president has frequently denied colluding with Russia and denounced Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe as a partisan witch hunt. Smith said in a press interview that he was not part of the Trump campaign and was working independently.

The money trail, made public here for the first time, sheds new light on Smith’s effort, in which he told people he was in touch with both Russians on the dark web and Trump campaign officials — particularly Michael Flynn, who was then a top advisor to the Trump campaign and later served as national security adviser before having to resign after misleading White House officials about his meetings with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/peter-w-smith-hillary-clinton-emails-trump-flynn-money

---

Link to tweet

[Grasswire2]

1. How did Smith die? nt

[Randomthought]

2. Suicide

at least that's the official story.

[bronxiteforever]

4. Really odd suicide though (esp after talking to paper)

According to wiki Smith died on May 14, 2017 in a Rochester, Minnesota hotel room. He had checked into the hotel, which is near the Mayo Clinic, the day after speaking to the Wall Street Journal . Nine days later he was found with a bag over his head that was attached to a helium source. Medical records list Smith's cause of death as "asphyxiation due to displacement of oxygen in confined space with helium." Police discovered a suicide note by Smith that stated no foul play was involved in his committing suicide, and that he was in poor health and his life insurance policy was expiring.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_W._Smith

[joshcryer]

11. "Exit bags" are the "best" way to go.

Just fall asleep. No drugs, no pain, no bodily reaction. Just pass out. You don't even convulse. There's a video out there of a pig being put down using the method. I would post but it's pretty graphic, but if you search for "Pig Euthanasia with Inert Gas Helium" you can see the effects. (The pig does move around a bit as it's passing out but that's only because it doesn't know what's happening and is feeling faint, it is not convulsing.)

[bronxiteforever]

12. Thanks and I never knew this.

[pecosbob]

3. Suicide, or so the coroner's report said

Evidently he put a bag over his head that was attached to a helium tank.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-peter-smith-death-met-0713-20170713-story.html#

[wishstar]

5. Suicide according to state of Minnesota authorities

Smith’s quest to find Clinton’s emails appears to have fizzled. He never released any of the email samples he reportedly received, because he could not verify them. About 10 days after being interviewed by the Journal, Smith went to a Minnesota hotel room and killed himself.

Investigators do not believe there was any foul play. They discovered that Smith had been in failing health and was concerned about an expiring life insurance policy. Inside his room, the Chicago Tribune reported, authorities discovered that Smith left behind carefully curated files and a receipt for an item used in the suicide.

the Chicago Tribune obtained a Minnesota state death record filed in Olmsted County saying Smith committed suicide in a hotel near the Mayo Clinic at 1:17 p.m. on Sunday, May 14. He was found with a bag over his head with a source of helium attached. A medical examiner's report gives the same account, without specifying the time, and a report from Rochester police further details his suicide.

In the note recovered by police, Smith apologized to authorities and said that "NO FOUL PLAY WHATSOEVER" was involved in his death. He wrote that he was taking his own life because of a "RECENT BAD TURN IN HEALTH SINCE JANUARY, 2017" and timing related "TO LIFE INSURANCE OF $5 MILLION EXPIRING."

[pecosbob]

6. They need to stop pushing this false characterization

"particularly Michael Flynn...before having to resign after misleading White House officials about his meetings with the Russian ambassador to the United States."

Flynn didn't mislead anyone except the FBI. Trump knew what Flynn was doing. Trump knew Flynn was being investigated by the FBI for lying about his ties to the government of Turkey in their attempt to have the exiled cleric Gulen extradited and Trump knew Flynn was being investigated by the FBI for lying about his connections to Russian government officials.

All this horseshit about misleading administration officials is just that...horseshit.

[karin_sj]

7. This whole thing is strange

I've always thought there was much more to this story than anyone knows yet.

[radical noodle]

8. I've never understood why

an expiring life insurance policy would be a trigger for suicide. Most policies don't pay out if the death is suicide, and why would anyone be that concerned over money they would never see anyway?

[PSPS]

9. Actually, suicide is covered by life insurance after a policy has been in effect for two years.

[radical noodle]

13. Really?

Because I've known people who committed suicide whose life insurance policies didn't pay. There was also a man in our area who paid to have himself murdered because suicide would have prevented an insurance pay-out. Obviously, the truth eventually came out and they still didn't pay off.

Maybe those were older policies and there are new regulations?

[PSPS]

14. Different policies have different guidelines, but two years is the most common.

I'm very sorry to hear about your friends or acquaintances. I have gone through such a sad loss myself a few times, and it is very horrible. It is truly "a permanent solution to a temporary problem."

As for the policies, the people you knew who committed suicide probably had not had their policies in effect beyond the initial period when such things are specifically excluded (the beneficiary would only receive a refund of the premiums, not the benefit amount, during this initial period.) Life insurance policies have been that way for as long as I can remember. From their actuarial viewpoint, the risk of a suicide claim is minuscule after that initial period.

The murder thing was likely excluded because the loss of life was deemed to be the result of criminal activity on the part of the policy holder. Such claims are always denied.

[radical noodle]

15. Thanks so much for the information

Not that I have any plans to require it.

The guy who planned his own murder did it only for insurance money for his family because he was in financial trouble. A total waste.

[karin_sj]

10. And who in the world...

would include the words, "NO FOUL PLAY WHATSOEVER" in a suicide note? Very bizarre.