Russian submarines are prowling around vital undersea cables. It’s making NATO nervous.

BRUSSELS — Russian submarines have dramatically stepped up activity around undersea data cables in the North Atlantic, part of a more aggressive naval posture that has driven NATO to revive a Cold War-era command, according to senior military officials.

The apparent Russian focus on the cables, which provide Internet and other communications connections to North America and Europe, could give the Kremlin the power to sever or tap into vital data lines, the officials said. Russian submarine activity has increased to levels unseen since the Cold War, they said, sparking hunts in recent months for the elusive watercraft.

"We are now seeing Russian underwater activity in the vicinity of undersea cables that I don't believe we have ever seen," said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Andrew Lennon, the commander of NATO's submarine forces. "Russia is clearly taking an interest in NATO and NATO nations' undersea infrastructure."

NATO has responded with plans to reestablish a command post, shuttered after the Cold War, to help secure the North Atlantic. NATO allies are also rushing to boost anti-submarine warfare capabilities and to develop advanced submarine- ­detecting planes.

More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-submarines-are-prowling-around-vital-undersea-cables-it%e2%80%99s-making-nato-nervous/ar-BBHaCLC?ocid=News

Prosecutors Examine Loan Made to Kushner Cos. Before Election

Unclear whether request is related to inquiry regarding company’s use of EB-5 investment-for-immigration program


By Erica Orden
Dec. 22, 2017 11:32 p.m. ET

Federal prosecutors in New York are examining a $285 million loan that Deutsche Bank AG made one month before election day last year to the real-estate company run by the family of Jared Kushner, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Prosecutors from the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office issued a document request in mid-November to Kushner Cos., asking for contracts and other information pertaining to the loan from the bank, this person said.

Chris Taylor, a spokeswoman for Kushner Cos., said the company “has cooperated and will continue to cooperate with any reasonable request for information.” A spokesman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

A spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office said he couldn’t “confirm or deny the existence of any investigation.”

More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/prosecutors-examine-loan-made-to-kushner-cos-before-election-1514003541

Jim Clapper Just Nuked the Trump Presidency

Spy bosses are by nature the most tight-lipped of people. Those who head our intelligence agencies got there in no small part by knowing precisely what to say to whom, when. In recent decades, as the heads of Western intelligence have emerged from the shadows and are expected to make occasional public statements, their utterances are customarily vague, requiring extensive tea-leaf analysis to derive their actual meanings.

Even in retirement, spymasters remain habitually enigmatic, and none has been more so than James Clapper, who is our nation’s most experienced spy boss. He retired as the Director of National Intelligence at the beginning of 2017, after over six years in that job—a record. That capped off a career in our Intelligence Community that lasted more than a half-century and included the directorships of two of our nation’s spy agencies. Nobody knows the IC better than Clapper.

While his career had its ups and downs—you don’t work in any trade for over 50 years without missteps—the former far outweighed the latter. Clapper, a retired Air Force three-star general, is widely respected in national security circles, across partisan lines, as a guy who knows his stuff and focuses on the job. Naturally, he’s exceptionally discreet as well.

... snip

Clapper went considerably further yesterday in his appearance on CNN’s The Lead, in which he finally let his top secret mask drop to say what he really thinks about our 45th president:



More: http://observer.com/2017/12/james-clapper-tells-cnn-donald-trump-is-vladimir-putins-kremlin-asset/

Scoop: Mueller obtains "tens of thousands” of Trump transition emails

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has obtained “many tens of thousands” of Trump transition emails, including sensitive emails of Jared Kushner, transition team sources tell Axios.

*Trump officials discovered Mueller had the emails when his prosecutors used them as the basis for questions to witnesses, the sources said.
*The emails include 12 accounts, one of which contains about 7,000 emails, the sources said.
*The accounts include the team's political leadership and the foreign-policy team, the sources said.

Why it matters: The transition emails are said to include sensitive exchanges on matters that include potential appointments, gossip about the views of particular senators involved in the confirmation process, speculation about vulnerabilities of Trump nominees, strategizing about press statements, and policy planning on everything from war to taxes.

*“Mueller is using the emails to confirm things, and get new leads,” a transition source told me.

How it happened: The sources say Mueller obtained the emails from the General Services Administration, the government agency that hosted the transition email system, which had addresses ending in “ptt.gov,” for Presidential Transition Team.

Axios has asked the Special Counsel’s Office for comment and will update this story with the response.

*The transition sources said they were surprised about the emails because they have been in touch with Mueller’s team and have cooperated.
*“They ask us to waive NDAs [nondisclosure agreements] and things like that,” a second source said. “We have never said ‘no’ to anything.”

The twist: The sources say that transition officials assumed that Mueller would come calling, and had sifted through the emails and separated the ones they considered privileged. But the sources said that was for naught, since Mueller has the complete cache from the dozen accounts.

Link: https://www.axios.com/scoop-mueller-obtains-tens-of-thousands-of-trump-transition-emails-2517994590.html

https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/941737646807769088

I’m increasingly worried Republicans will shut down the House Intelligence Committee investigation at the end of the month. Here’s why:

Since March, our investigation has made important progress. We’ve interviewed numerous key witnesses behind closed doors, held public hearings, reviewed thousands of documents, identified new leads — all to understand and expose Russia's meddling and protect our democracy.

Yet, Republicans have scheduled no witnesses after next Friday and none in 2017. We have dozens of outstanding witnesses on key aspects of our investigation that they refuse to contact and many document requests they continue to sit on.

It appears Republicans want to conduct just enough interviews to give the impression of a serious investigation.

Next week, they scheduled critical witness interviews out of state, when we are voting on the tax bill and vital government funding bills and no Members will be able to ask questions, in an effort to squeeze them in before end of year. These witnesses are willing to come to DC.

Despite our repeated urging, Majority has declined to issue subpoenas in numerous avenues of the investigation, where there's simply no other way to get the information. Some refusals we’ve made public, like witnesses hiding behind nonexistent privileges, many others we haven’t.

The responsibility to conduct a thorough investigation, or to prevent one, ultimately falls on @SpeakerRyan. I’m concerned he's heeding the calls of Bannon and @POTUS to “DO SOMETHING” by closing down the Russia investigation & opening up another investigation of Hilary Clinton.

Beyond our investigation, here’s what has me really concerned: The attacks on Mueller, DOJ and FBI this week make it clear they plan to go after Mueller’s investigation. Aggressively and soon.

By shutting down the congressional investigations when they continue to discover new and important evidence, the White House can exert tremendous pressure to end or curtail Mueller’s investigation or cast doubt on it. We cannot let that happen.

By shutting down the congressional investigations when they continue to discover new and important evidence, the White House can exert tremendous pressure to end or curtail Mueller’s investigation or cast doubt on it. We cannot let that happen.

Former high-level officials submit 'unusual' Russia brief in lawsuit against Trump and Roger Stone

... snip

The brief was submitted in support of neither party, and the former officials emphasized in the document that they could not disclose classified information. But their message was clear: The Kremlin uses local actors to help amplify the scope and impact of its influence operations, such as the one it carried out on the US election in 2016.

The cut-outs can range from "the unwitting accomplice who is manipulated to act in what he believes is his best interest, to the ideological or economic ally who broadly shares Russian interests, to the knowing agent of influence who is recruited or coerced to directly advance Russian operations and objectives," the former officials wrote.

Cut-outs can be anyone, they explained, from journalists and academics to "prominent pro-Russian businessmen."

These local actors help the Kremlin further its foreign influence operations and "active measures" campaigns, they wrote. Those operations often involve the spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories and cyberattacks — all in an attempt to "undermine confidence in democratic leaders and institutions" and "discredit candidates for office perceived as hostile to the Kremlin."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/unusual-russia-brief-lawsuit-trump-roger-stone-2017-12

https://twitter.com/AdamParkhomenko/status/937509670528475137
1/ Here are some key events worth noting as they relate to Michael Flynn:

2/

June 2015
Flynn Promotes Joint US-Russia Nuclear Project in Mideast

Summer 2015
Trump Campaign Reaches Out to Flynn

December 2015
Flynn Receives Money From RT

January 2016
Flynn applies for a five-year renewal of his security clearance.

3/

February 2016
Flynn Denies Taking Money From Russia

March 2016
Investigators Issue Report on Flynn’s Security Clearance

4/

April to November 2016
Mike Flynn and other advisers to the Trump campaign have at least 18 phone calls and emails with Russian officials, including six contacts involving Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

5/

August 2016
Flynn’s Consulting Firm Lobbies for Turkish Interests

September 2016
Report that Flynn Discusses Kidnapping Muslim Cleric

September 2016
Flynn Meets With Rohrabacher

6/

November 2016
Flynn Publishes Op-Ed on Turkey

November 2016
Obama Warns Trump Not to Hire Flynn

November 2016
Flynn’s Lobbying Activities for Turkey Resurface

November 2016
Democrats Denounce Flynn in a Letter to Pence
Trump Names Flynn National Security Adviser

7/

November 2016
Trump’s Team Acknowledges Cummings’ Letter

November 2016
Flynn Tells Senior Trump Advisers He’s Scheduled Kislyak Meeting

8/

December 2016:
Kushner Suggests Using Russian Embassy as Safe Communication Channel, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak visits Trump Tower to meet with Kushner and Trump’s national security adviser-designate Mike Flynn

9/

December 2016:

More Reporting that Flynn Reportedly Discusses Kidnapping Turkish Cleric

Bannon, Flynn and Kushner Meet Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi

Flynn Repeatedly Calls Kislyak

10/

January 2017
Flynn Tells McGahn He’s Under Investigation

Flynn Foils US-Kurdish Cooperation, a Longtime Goal for Turkey

Spicer Says Flynn’s Dec. 29 Conversation With Kislyak Was About ‘Logistical Information’

11/

January 2017 continued:
Pence Says Flynn’s Calls to Russian Ambassador Were Unrelated to Sanctions

Pence Denies Contacts Between Russia and the Trump Campaign

Flynn Sworn In as National Security Adviser

Spicer Denies Flynn Talked Sanctions With Kislyak

12/

January 2017 continued:
Flynn Denies Discussing Sanctions

President Trump Considers Lifting Sanctions on Russia

DOJ, Sally Yates Say Flynn Lied to Pence

DOJ Warns White House That Flynn Is Vulnerable to Blackmail

Trump to Comey: ‘I Need Loyalty’

13/

February 2017

Flynn Denies Discussing Sanctions With Kislyak

Flynn Can’t Remember If He Discussed Sanctions With Ambassador

Trump ‘Unaware’ of Flynn’s Sanctions Discussions

Flynn Resigns

Trump Hopes Comey Will ‘Let Flynn Go’

14/

February 2017 Continued:

Priebus Can’t Get the Story of Flynn’s Firing Straight

15/

March 2017
New York Times Reports on Undisclosed Meeting Between Kushner, Flynn and Russian Ambassador

Flynn Discloses Earnings From Turkish Company

Pence Says He Had No Idea About Flynn’s Lobbying in Turkey

Trump Fires US Attorney Preet Bharara and 45 Other US Attorneys

16/

March 2017 continued

Trump Says Adviser Brought in by Flynn Can Keep His Position

House Oversight Committee Requests Information About Flynn’s Foreign Lobbying Activities

Trump Asks Senior Intelligence Officials to Get Comey to Back Off

17/

March 2017 continued

Flynn Offers to Testify in Exchange for Immunity

Trump Calls Russia Investigation a ‘Witch Hunt’

18/

April 2017

White House Won’t Release Documents on Flynn’s Foreign Lobbying

Trump Reportedly Tells Flynn to ‘Stay Strong’

Senate Intelligence Committee Demands Records From Trump Campaign Advisers, Including Flynn

19/

May 2017

Trump Decides to Fire FBI Director Comey

Federal Grand Jury Issues Subpoenas to Flynn Associates

Pentagon Announces Plan to Fight ISIS Despite Turkey’s Objections

Senate Subpoenas Documents From Flynn

20/

May 2017 continued

Operative Who Searched for Clinton Emails Found Dead, about 10 days after an interview with The Wall Street Journal in which he claimed during the campaign to have connections to Trump adviser Mike Flynn

21/

May 2017 continued

Press Reports Comey Documented Conversations With Trump, including a contemporaneous memorandum documenting Trump’s Feb. 14 request to halt the Flynn investigation

Trump Denies Asking Comey to Back Down on Flynn Investigation

22/

May 2017 continued

Pence Questioned About Flynn’s Foreign Ties

Flynn Takes the Fifth

Subpoenas Issued to Flynn, Others

Administration Considers Returning Russian Intelligence Compounds

23/

June 2017

Mueller Takes Control of Flynn, Manafort Investigations

White House Lobbies Against Renewed Sanctions

24/

August 2017

Mueller Seeks White House Documents on Flynn and Turkey as Flynn Revises Disclosure Statement

Mueller Investigating Possible Flynn Connection to Clinton Email Project

25/

September 2017

House Democrats Refer Potential Flynn Misconduct to Mueller

Mueller Investigating Flynn’s Son

Mueller Seeking White House Documents on Flynn, Comey Firings

26/26

November 2017

NBC: Mueller Has Sufficient Evidence to Charge Flynn and His Son

Trump Won’t Pay Flynn’s or Manafort’s Legal Fees

Flynn Lawyers No Longer Sharing Information With Trump Lawyers

December 2017

Flynn Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements