Obama’s secret struggle to retaliate against Putin’s election interference
Epic, frustrating reporting on the Obama Administration’s failure to deal with Russian election interference
Trump, Russia, and Those Shadowy Sater Deals at Bayrock
Fairly juicy longread about Felix Sater, the Trump associate with ties to Russia, the mob and the FBI.
[An ex-Bayrock employee] says that it was Arif and Sater who pitched the future president on the idea of launching an international chain of Trump-branded, mixed-use hotels and condominiums. And Bayrock got to Trump at a time when his “brand” could help get a little extra attention for a condo project, but didn’t amount to much more than that.
A Very, Very Dangerous Situation
What would happen if Trump fires Mueller & Rosenstein
Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Donald Trump for possible obstruction of justice, officials say
Trump had received private assurances from then-FBI Director James B. Comey starting in January that he was not personally under investigation. Officials say that changed shortly after Comey’s firing.
Hahahahahaha
Russian Cyber Hacks on U.S. Electoral System Far Wider Than Previously Known
Hmmm.
In Illinois, investigators found evidence that cyber intruders tried to delete or alter voter data. The hackers accessed software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day, and in at least one state accessed a campaign finance database. Details of the wave of attacks, in the summer and fall of 2016, were provided by three people with direct knowledge of the U.S. investigation into the matter. In all, the Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states, one of them said.
Nope. Comey’s Assurance To Trump Was Far From a Clean Bill of Health
Comey lays out the case that Trump obstructed justice
Legal analysts said Comey’s testimony clarified and bolstered the case that the president obstructed justice — adding rich new color about the former FBI director’s interactions with the president.
Top-Secret NSA Report Details Russian Hacking Effort Days Before 2016 Election
The report raises the possibility that Russian hacking may have breached at least some elements of the voting system, with disconcertingly uncertain results.
Rebecca Solnit: The Loneliness of Donald Trump
Trump ‘gaining weight’ and ‘emotionally withdrawing’ as Russia probe swamps White House: report
Poor snowflake.
Commenting on the White House’s less-than-strategic handling of all matters Russia, another ally remarked, “These guys don’t play chess. They play checkers.”
Sources: Russians discussed ‘derogatory’ information about Trump and associates during campaign
“according to two former intelligence officials and a congressional source”. Does sound like the NSA is up to something here, as this is from signals intelligence.
Russian ambassador told Moscow that Kushner wanted secret communications channel with Kremlin
That’s nuts. See Josh Marshall’s post as well.
Exclusive: NSA Chief Admits Donald Trump Colluded With Russia
the NSA apparently has the dirt, as mentioned in a town hall with NSA agents worldwide:
a series of SIGINT reports from 2016 based on intercepts of communications between known Russian intelligence officials and key members of Trump’s campaign, in which they discussed methods of damaging Hillary Clinton.
Get ready for the ‘impeachment election’
The real collision point ahead is the 2018 midterm election. This will be the “impeachment election,” and it may be as bitterly contested as any in decades. Trump seems unlikely to take Nixon’s course of resigning before the House votes on impeachment. He’ll fight all the way — a combative president trying to save his mandate from what he has described as a “witch hunt.” This appeal would resonate with a populist base that already feels disenfranchised by jurists and journalists.
This rings true and it is a scary thought. As the article concludes, “if recent history teaches anything, it’s unfortunately this harsh fact: In the battle for America’s soul, Trump could win.” Especially with some help from abroad.
Recapping a stunningly bad two weeks for the Trump White House
It really has been quite a ride
What Donald Trump Needs to Know About Bob Mueller and Jim Comey
It is as if, after having an unrelated disagreement over movie trivia in a bar, Trump has challenged Usain Bolt to a 100-yard dash or John Cena to a cage match to the death.
Russia’s US Social Media Hacking: Inside the Information War
Important stuff in here. Note that what Russia is accused of doing sounds very similar to what Cambridge Analytica does, and what many advertisers do. To quote at length:
Russia plays in every social media space. The intelligence officials have found that Moscow’s agents bought ads on Facebook to target specific populations with propaganda. “They buy the ads, where it says sponsored by–they do that just as much as anybody else does,” says the senior intelligence official. (A Facebook official says the company has no evidence of that occurring.) The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner of Virginia, has said he is looking into why, for example, four of the top five Google search results the day the U.S. released a report on the 2016 operation were links to Russia’s TV propaganda arm, RT. (Google says it saw no meddling in this case.) Researchers at the University of Southern California, meanwhile, found that nearly 20% of political tweets in 2016 between Sept. 16 and Oct. 21 were generated by bots of unknown origin; investigators are trying to figure out how many were Russian.
As they dig into the viralizing of such stories, congressional investigations are probing not just Russia’s role but whether Moscow had help from the Trump campaign. Sources familiar with the investigations say they are probing two Trump-linked organizations: Cambridge Analytica, a data-analytics company hired by the campaign that is partly owned by deep-pocketed Trump backer Robert Mercer; and Breitbart News, the right-wing website formerly run by Trump’s top political adviser Stephen Bannon.
Robert Mueller, Former F.B.I. Director, Is Named Special Counsel for Russia Investigation
Good news! Rosenstein has a conscience!
Congress shows growing concern over Trump controversies
Seems impossible to keep up with the scandal firehose that is the White House these days. But a promising sign is that Congressional Republicans are now calling for some sort of independent investigation.
The Data That Turned the World Upside Down
This is an article from January about Cambridge Analytica using psychometrics for the Trump in 2016 – the same company that worked for the Brexit campaign, and is tied to both Bannon and Robert Mercer.
Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador
WTF
We overanalyze Trump. He is what he appears to be
In short, what if Trump is exactly as he appears: a hopeless narcissist with the attention span of a fruit fly, unable to maintain consistent beliefs or commitments from moment to moment, acting on base instinct, entirely situationally, to bolster his terrifyingly fragile ego.
The one little number that — so far — is all the protection Donald Trump needs
That number is 84 percent, Trump’s job approval rating among Republicans in the most recent weekly average from Gallup.
This will keep Hill Republicans behind him until those numbers start to sag.
From yesterday – really chilling testimony that slipped under the radar what with all the other crazy news. (Thanks, y)
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