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Yorkie Mom
Yorkie Mom's Journal
Yorkie Mom's Journal
September 15, 2017
Slowly but surely, we are getting there.
New: Did Jared Kushners Data Operation Help Select Facebook Targets for the Russians?
Did Jared Kushners Data Operation Help Select Facebook Targets for the Russians?
The Russians used social media to rile the electorate. Investigators wonder if they had inside help.
The headlines were about Facebook admitting it had sold ad space to Russian groups trying to sway the 2016 presidential campaign. But investigators shrugged: theyd known or assumed for months that Facebook, as well as Twitter and other social-media platforms, were a tool used in the Kremlins campaign. The only thing thats surprising is that more revelations like this havent come out sooner, said Congressman Mike Quigley, an Illinois Democrat and a member of the House Intelligence Committee. And I expect that more will.
Mapping the full Russian propaganda effort is important. Yet investigators in the House, Senate, and special counsel Robert Muellers office are equally focused on a more explosive question: did any Americans help target the memes and fake news to crucial swing districts and wavering voter demographics? By Americans, you mean, like, the Trump campaign? a source close to one of the investigations said with a dark laugh. Indeed: probers are intrigued by the role of Jared Kushner, the now-presidents son-in-law, who eagerly took credit for crafting the Trump campaigns online efforts in a rare interview right after the 2016 election. I called somebody who works for one of the technology companies that I work with, and I had them give me a tutorial on how to use Facebook micro-targeting, Kushner told Steven Bertoni of Forbes. We brought in Cambridge Analytica. I called some of my friends from Silicon Valley who were some of the best digital marketers in the world. And I asked them how to scale this stuff . . . We basically had to build a $400 million operation with 1,500 people operating in 50 states, in five months to then be taken apart. We started really from scratch.
Kushners chat with Forbes has provided a veritable bakerys worth of investigatory bread crumbs to follow. Brad Parscale, who Kushner hired to run the campaigns San Antonio-based Internet operation, has agreed to be interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee.
Bigger questions, however, revolve around Cambridge Analytica. It is unclear how Kushner first became aware of the data-mining firm, but one of its major investors is billionaire Trump backer Robert Mercer. Mercer was also a principal patron of Breitbart News and Steve Bannon, who was a vice president of Cambridge Analytica until he joined the Trump campaign. I think the Russians had help, said Congresswoman Jackie Speier, a California Democrat who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Ive always wondered if Cambridge Analytica was part of that. (Cambridge Analytica did not respond to a request for comment.)
More: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/jared-kushner-data-operation-russia-facebook
The Russians used social media to rile the electorate. Investigators wonder if they had inside help.
The headlines were about Facebook admitting it had sold ad space to Russian groups trying to sway the 2016 presidential campaign. But investigators shrugged: theyd known or assumed for months that Facebook, as well as Twitter and other social-media platforms, were a tool used in the Kremlins campaign. The only thing thats surprising is that more revelations like this havent come out sooner, said Congressman Mike Quigley, an Illinois Democrat and a member of the House Intelligence Committee. And I expect that more will.
Mapping the full Russian propaganda effort is important. Yet investigators in the House, Senate, and special counsel Robert Muellers office are equally focused on a more explosive question: did any Americans help target the memes and fake news to crucial swing districts and wavering voter demographics? By Americans, you mean, like, the Trump campaign? a source close to one of the investigations said with a dark laugh. Indeed: probers are intrigued by the role of Jared Kushner, the now-presidents son-in-law, who eagerly took credit for crafting the Trump campaigns online efforts in a rare interview right after the 2016 election. I called somebody who works for one of the technology companies that I work with, and I had them give me a tutorial on how to use Facebook micro-targeting, Kushner told Steven Bertoni of Forbes. We brought in Cambridge Analytica. I called some of my friends from Silicon Valley who were some of the best digital marketers in the world. And I asked them how to scale this stuff . . . We basically had to build a $400 million operation with 1,500 people operating in 50 states, in five months to then be taken apart. We started really from scratch.
Kushners chat with Forbes has provided a veritable bakerys worth of investigatory bread crumbs to follow. Brad Parscale, who Kushner hired to run the campaigns San Antonio-based Internet operation, has agreed to be interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee.
Bigger questions, however, revolve around Cambridge Analytica. It is unclear how Kushner first became aware of the data-mining firm, but one of its major investors is billionaire Trump backer Robert Mercer. Mercer was also a principal patron of Breitbart News and Steve Bannon, who was a vice president of Cambridge Analytica until he joined the Trump campaign. I think the Russians had help, said Congresswoman Jackie Speier, a California Democrat who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Ive always wondered if Cambridge Analytica was part of that. (Cambridge Analytica did not respond to a request for comment.)
More: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/jared-kushner-data-operation-russia-facebook
Slowly but surely, we are getting there.
September 15, 2017
New: Facebook Gave Special Counsel Robert Mueller More Details on Russian Ad Buys Than Congress
Facebook Gave Special Counsel Robert Mueller More Details on Russian Ad Buys Than Congress
Source: Wall Street Journal
Facebook Inc. has handed over to special counsel Robert Mueller detailed records about the Russian ad purchases on its platform that go beyond what it shared with Congress last week, according to people familiar with the matter.
The information Facebook shared with Mr. Mueller included copies of the ads and details about the accounts that bought them and the targeting criteria they used, the people familiar with the matter said. Facebook policy dictates that it would only turn over the stored contents of any account, including messages and location information, in response to a search warrant, some of them said.
A search warrant from Mr. Mueller would mean the special counsel now has a powerful tool in his arsenal to probe the details of how social media was used as part of a campaign of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Facebook hasnt shared the same information with Congress in part because of concerns about disrupting the Mueller probe, and possibly running afoul of U.S. privacy laws, people familiar with the matter said.
A Facebook spokesman said the company continues to investigate and is cooperating with U.S. authorities. A spokesman for Mr. Mueller declined to comment on the investigation.
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-gave-special-counsel-robert-mueller-more-details-on-russian-ad-buys-than-congress-1505514552
Source: Wall Street Journal
Facebook Inc. has handed over to special counsel Robert Mueller detailed records about the Russian ad purchases on its platform that go beyond what it shared with Congress last week, according to people familiar with the matter.
The information Facebook shared with Mr. Mueller included copies of the ads and details about the accounts that bought them and the targeting criteria they used, the people familiar with the matter said. Facebook policy dictates that it would only turn over the stored contents of any account, including messages and location information, in response to a search warrant, some of them said.
A search warrant from Mr. Mueller would mean the special counsel now has a powerful tool in his arsenal to probe the details of how social media was used as part of a campaign of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Facebook hasnt shared the same information with Congress in part because of concerns about disrupting the Mueller probe, and possibly running afoul of U.S. privacy laws, people familiar with the matter said.
A Facebook spokesman said the company continues to investigate and is cooperating with U.S. authorities. A spokesman for Mr. Mueller declined to comment on the investigation.
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-gave-special-counsel-robert-mueller-more-details-on-russian-ad-buys-than-congress-1505514552
September 15, 2017
I can only get the first paragraph. Sorry.
Edit: Found snip posted on twitter.
https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/908803918121054208
GOP Congressman Sought Trump Deal on WikiLeaks, Russia
GOP Congressman Sought Trump Deal on WikiLeaks, Russia
Rep. Rohrabacher asks for pardon of Julian Assange in return for evidence of no 2016 election meddling
By Byron Tau,
Peter Nicholas and
Siobhan Hughes
Sept. 15, 2017 5:11 p.m. ET
WASHINGTONA U.S. congressman contacted the White House this week trying to broker a deal that would end WikiLeaks founder Julian Assanges U.S. legal troubles in exchange for what he described as evidence that Russia wasnt the source of hacked emails published by the antisecrecy website during the 2016 presidential campaign.
More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-congressman-sought-trump-deal-on-wikileaks-russia-1505509918?tesla=y
Rep. Rohrabacher asks for pardon of Julian Assange in return for evidence of no 2016 election meddling
By Byron Tau,
Peter Nicholas and
Siobhan Hughes
Sept. 15, 2017 5:11 p.m. ET
WASHINGTONA U.S. congressman contacted the White House this week trying to broker a deal that would end WikiLeaks founder Julian Assanges U.S. legal troubles in exchange for what he described as evidence that Russia wasnt the source of hacked emails published by the antisecrecy website during the 2016 presidential campaign.
More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-congressman-sought-trump-deal-on-wikileaks-russia-1505509918?tesla=y
I can only get the first paragraph. Sorry.
Edit: Found snip posted on twitter.
https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/908803918121054208
September 15, 2017
Let's see... Firtash's phone was tapped. Odds of Manafort's phone being tapped?
Manafort-linked oligarch Dmitry Firtash's phone was tapped, and he's a flight risk.
Lawyer says extradition of oligarch tied to Trump campaign chief imminent
Billionaire Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash is at "great risk" of being brought from Austria to face justice in a Chicago courtroom "within weeks," his lawyer told a federal judge Monday.
But prosecutors say they are concerned that Firtash who is wanted on racketeering charges and has ties to President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort will jump on a private jet to Russia if a Chicago judge rules against him before he is handed over to U.S. authorities.
They revealed in court for the first time that they wiretapped telephone conversations in which Firtash allegedly discussed a co-defendant's trip to Chicago to meet with Boeing executives.
Firtash, who has friends in Russian President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin, has been fighting extradition from Austria since his high profile 2014 arrest in Vienna. Accused of masterminding an international titanium-mining racket involving Boeing, he claims he was targeted by the Obama administration as punishment for Putin's annexation of Crimea.
More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chicagoinc/ct-dmitry-firtash-inc-20170911-story.html
Billionaire Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash is at "great risk" of being brought from Austria to face justice in a Chicago courtroom "within weeks," his lawyer told a federal judge Monday.
But prosecutors say they are concerned that Firtash who is wanted on racketeering charges and has ties to President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort will jump on a private jet to Russia if a Chicago judge rules against him before he is handed over to U.S. authorities.
They revealed in court for the first time that they wiretapped telephone conversations in which Firtash allegedly discussed a co-defendant's trip to Chicago to meet with Boeing executives.
Firtash, who has friends in Russian President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin, has been fighting extradition from Austria since his high profile 2014 arrest in Vienna. Accused of masterminding an international titanium-mining racket involving Boeing, he claims he was targeted by the Obama administration as punishment for Putin's annexation of Crimea.
More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chicagoinc/ct-dmitry-firtash-inc-20170911-story.html
Let's see... Firtash's phone was tapped. Odds of Manafort's phone being tapped?
September 13, 2017
BOOM: Susan Rice says she unmasked some Trump people WHEN THEY WERE MAKING A BACKCHANNEL TO PUTIN
Rice told House investigators why she unmasked senior Trump officials
Washington (CNN)Former national security adviser Susan Rice privately told House investigators that she unmasked the identities of senior Trump officials to understand why the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates was in New York late last year, multiple sources told CNN.
The New York meeting preceded a separate effort by the UAE to facilitate a back-channel communication between Russia and the incoming Trump White House.
The crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, arrived in New York last December in the transition period before Trump was sworn into office for a meeting with several top Trump officials, including Michael Flynn, the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his top strategist Steve Bannon, sources said.
snip
But the Trump Tower meeting came shortly before the UAE brokered a meeting to open lines of communications with the United States and Russia, with a clandestine January meeting in the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, according to reports in CNN and The Washington Post. That meeting is now under investigation on Capitol Hill, though it's unclear whether Rice mentioned the Seychelles meeting in the testimony.
More: http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/politics/susan-rice-house-investigators-unmasked-trump-officials/index.html
Washington (CNN)Former national security adviser Susan Rice privately told House investigators that she unmasked the identities of senior Trump officials to understand why the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates was in New York late last year, multiple sources told CNN.
The New York meeting preceded a separate effort by the UAE to facilitate a back-channel communication between Russia and the incoming Trump White House.
The crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, arrived in New York last December in the transition period before Trump was sworn into office for a meeting with several top Trump officials, including Michael Flynn, the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his top strategist Steve Bannon, sources said.
snip
But the Trump Tower meeting came shortly before the UAE brokered a meeting to open lines of communications with the United States and Russia, with a clandestine January meeting in the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, according to reports in CNN and The Washington Post. That meeting is now under investigation on Capitol Hill, though it's unclear whether Rice mentioned the Seychelles meeting in the testimony.
More: http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/politics/susan-rice-house-investigators-unmasked-trump-officials/index.html
September 5, 2017
Matt Tait on twitter: https://twitter.com/pwnallthethings
If you are on twitter, I highly recommend following him.
Buried lede: Mueller may be investigating the suspicious death of GOP operative Peter Smith, who
Way buried lede: Mueller may be investigating the suspicious death of GOP operative Peter Smith, who sought hacked emails and talked to WSJ. -Eric Garland on twitter
Intensifying Russia probes could pit Hill against Mueller
... snip
And the Senate intelligence committee is pushing to obtain new information about the unusual circumstances surrounding Smith, the veteran GOP operative who told The Wall Street Journal he was on a mission to obtain the hacked Clinton emails. After the stories about his efforts were published this summer, Smith killed himself in a Minnesota hotel room.
Matt Tait, a cybersecurity expert who publicly acknowledged in July being contacted by Smith, is among those the Senate panel is interested in hearing from, sources said.
Tait declined to comment to CNN.
Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/05/politics/russia-mueller-hill/index.html?sr=twCNN090517russia-mueller-hill1156AMStory
... snip
And the Senate intelligence committee is pushing to obtain new information about the unusual circumstances surrounding Smith, the veteran GOP operative who told The Wall Street Journal he was on a mission to obtain the hacked Clinton emails. After the stories about his efforts were published this summer, Smith killed himself in a Minnesota hotel room.
Matt Tait, a cybersecurity expert who publicly acknowledged in July being contacted by Smith, is among those the Senate panel is interested in hearing from, sources said.
Tait declined to comment to CNN.
Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/05/politics/russia-mueller-hill/index.html?sr=twCNN090517russia-mueller-hill1156AMStory
Matt Tait on twitter: https://twitter.com/pwnallthethings
If you are on twitter, I highly recommend following him.
August 28, 2017
Felix Sater, shady figure and boastful salesman, saw Putin as key to Trump win
Trump Associate Boasted That Moscow Deal Will Get Donald Elected
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON A business associate of President Trump promised in 2015 to engineer a real estate deal with the aid of the president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, that he said would help Mr. Trump win the presidency.
The business associate, Felix Sater, wrote a series of emails to Mr. Trumps lawyer, Michael Cohen, in which he boasted about his ties to Mr. Putin and predicted that building a Trump Tower in Moscow would be a political boon to Mr. Trumps candidacy.
Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it, Mr. Sater wrote in an email. I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.
The emails show that, from the earliest months of Mr. Trumps campaign, his associates viewed close ties with Moscow as a political advantage. Those ties are now under investigation by the Justice Department and multiple congressional committees.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/us/politics/trump-tower-putin-felix-sater.html?referer=&_r=0
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON A business associate of President Trump promised in 2015 to engineer a real estate deal with the aid of the president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, that he said would help Mr. Trump win the presidency.
The business associate, Felix Sater, wrote a series of emails to Mr. Trumps lawyer, Michael Cohen, in which he boasted about his ties to Mr. Putin and predicted that building a Trump Tower in Moscow would be a political boon to Mr. Trumps candidacy.
Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it, Mr. Sater wrote in an email. I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.
The emails show that, from the earliest months of Mr. Trumps campaign, his associates viewed close ties with Moscow as a political advantage. Those ties are now under investigation by the Justice Department and multiple congressional committees.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/us/politics/trump-tower-putin-felix-sater.html?referer=&_r=0
August 23, 2017
I've got to say that Russian diplomats have a really high mortality rate.
Another dead Russian. Amb to Sudan found dead in his swimming pool. 9th Russian diplomat in year.
Russian ambassador to Sudan found dead, no foul play suspected
Russias ambassador to Sudan, Mirgayas Shirinsky, was found dead at his Khartoum residence on Wednesday, the Sudanese foreign ministry said.
The Russian ambassador died this evening at his Khartoum residence, the ministry said, without giving a cause of death.
An initial investigation had ruled out foul play as the cause of the ambassadors death, which was confirmed by Moscow, AFP reported.
The ambassador, who was born in 1954, died while he was swimming in his pool at his house, the officer said.
... snip
This is the ninth death of a Russian diplomat within a year.
More: https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2017/08/24/BREAKING-Russian-ambassador-to-Sudan-found-dead.html
Russias ambassador to Sudan, Mirgayas Shirinsky, was found dead at his Khartoum residence on Wednesday, the Sudanese foreign ministry said.
The Russian ambassador died this evening at his Khartoum residence, the ministry said, without giving a cause of death.
An initial investigation had ruled out foul play as the cause of the ambassadors death, which was confirmed by Moscow, AFP reported.
The ambassador, who was born in 1954, died while he was swimming in his pool at his house, the officer said.
... snip
This is the ninth death of a Russian diplomat within a year.
More: https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2017/08/24/BREAKING-Russian-ambassador-to-Sudan-found-dead.html
I've got to say that Russian diplomats have a really high mortality rate.
August 3, 2017
Investigators found intercepted comms of Russians talking about possibly coordinating with Manafort
BREAKING: US investigators found intercepted comms of Russians talking about possibly coordinating with Manafort
https://twitter.com/Marshall_Cohen/status/893203313432420354
Article here: http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/politics/mueller-investigation-russia-trump-one-year-financial-ties/index.html
August 3, 2017
BREAKING: Trump's onetime foreign policy adviser CARTER PAGE was under a FISA warrant since 2014,
BREAKING: Trump's onetime foreign policy adviser CARTER PAGE was under a FISA warrant since 2014, CNN has learned. - Marshall Cohen?Verified account
https://twitter.com/Marshall_Cohen/status/893204388847726592
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