Larry C. Johnson sees real meat on the bone for Barr’s upcoming investigation of spying by law enforcement and intelligence on the Trump campaign. And Trump has tweeted about it.
On Wednesday Donald Trump tweeted:
“Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson accuses United Kingdom Intelligence of helping Obama Administration Spy on the 2016 Trump Presidential Campaign.” @OANN WOW! It is now just a question of time before the truth comes out, and when it does, it will be a beauty!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2019
A spokesperson for the GCHQ, Britain’s electronic spying agency, reacted in a statement: “As we have previously stated, the allegations that GCHQ was asked to conduct ‘wire tapping’ against the then-president elect are nonsense. They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored.”
Johnson developed his theory on his blog, republished here.
By Larry C Johnson
Sic Semper Tyrannis
While President Donald Trump is correct to celebrate the Mueller report’s conclusion that no one on Trump’s side of the ledger attempted to or succeeded in collaborating or colluding with the Russian government or Russian spies, there remains a dark cloud behind the silver lining. And I am not referring to the claims of alleged obstruction of justice.
George Papodopoulus
A careful reading of the report reveals that Mueller has issued findings that are both disingenuous and dishonest. The report is a failed hatchet job. Part of the failure can be attributed to the amount of material that Attorney General William Barr allowed to be released. It appears that Bill Barr’s light editing may have been intended to expose the bias and sloppiness of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team.
Let us start with the case of trying to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. If you were to believe that the Steele Dossier accurately reported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attitude towards Trump, then a Trump real estate deal in Moscow was a slam dunk. According to one of Christopher Steele’s breathless reports:
“The Kremlin’s cultivation operation on TRUMP also had comprised offering him various lucrative real estate development business deals in Russia, especially in relation to the ongoing 2018 World Cup soccer tournament. How ever, so far, for reasons unknown, TRUMP had not taken up any of these.”
Then there is reality. The impetus, the encouragement for the Moscow project came from one man — Felix Sater. Here from page 69 of the Mueller Report:
In the late summer of 2015, the Trump Organization received a new inquiry about pursuing a Trump Tower project in Moscow. In approximately September 2015, Felix Sater . . . contacted Cohen on behalf of I.C. Expert Investment Company (I.C. Expert), a Russian real-estate development corporation controlled by Andrei Vladimirovich Rozov.J07 Sater had known Rozov since approximately 2007 and, in 2014, had served as an agent on behalf of Rozov during Rozov’s purchase of a building in New York City.30S Sater later contacted Rozov and proposed that I.C. Expert pursue a Trump Tower Moscow project in which I.C. Expert would license the name and brand from the Trump Organization but construct the building on its own. Sater worked on the deal with Rozov and another employee of I.C. Expert.
Michael Cohen (Wikimedia Commons)
To reiterate — if the Steele Dossier were based on truthful intelligence then the Trump Organization only had to sit back, stretch out its hands and seize the moment. Instead, little Felix Sater keeps coming back to the well. In January 2016, according to the Mueller report:
Sater then sent a draft invitation for Cohen to visit Moscow to discuss the Trump Moscow project, along with a note to “[t]ell me if the letter is good as amended by me or make whatever changes you want and send it back to me.”
After a further round of edits, on January 25, 2016, Sater sent Cohen an invitation- signed by Andrey Ryabinskiy of the company MHJ-to travel to”Moscow for a working visit” about the “prospects of development and the construction business in Russia,” “the various land plots available suited for construction of this enormous Tower,” and “the opportunity to co-ordinate a follow up visit to Moscow by Mr. Donald Trump.
This produced nothing. No deal, no trip. But Sater persisted, targeting Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer and an executive in the Trump Organization:
Beginning in late 2015, Sater repeatedly tried to arrange for Cohen and candidate Trump, as representatives of the Trump Organization, to travel to Russia to meet with Russian government officials and possible financing partners. . . .
Into the spring of 2016, Sater and Cohen continued to discuss a trip to Moscow in connection with the Trump Moscow project. On April 20, 2016, Sater wrote Cohen, ” [t)he People wanted to know when you are coming?
On May 4, 2016, Sater followed up:
“I had a chat with Moscow. ASSUMING the trip does happen the question is before or after the convention. I said I believe, but don’t know for sure, that’s it’s probably after the convention. Obviously the pre-meeting trip (you only) can happen anytime you want but he 2 big guys where [sic) the question. I said I would confirm and revert.”
On May 5, 2016, Sater wrote to Cohen:
“Peskov would like to invite you as his guest to the St. Petersburg Forum which is Russia’s Davos it’s June 16-19. He wants to meet there with you and possibly introduce you to either Putin or Medvedev, as they are not sure if 1 or both will be there. This is perfect. The entire business class of Russia will be there as well.”
On June 14, 2016, Cohen met Sater in the lobby of the Trump Tower in New York and informed him that he would not be traveling at that time.
Why was Felix Sater the one repeatedly identified pushing to arrange deals with the Russians and yet did not face any subsequent charges by the Mueller team? Sater had been working as part of the Trump team since 2003. Why is it that the proposed deals and travel to Moscow came predominantly from Felix Sater? As I noted in my previous piece — The FBI Tried and Failed to Entrap Trump — Sater was an active FBI undercover informant. He had been working with the FBI since 1998. When he agreed to start working as an undercover informant aka cooperator in December 1998 guess who signed off on the deal? Andrew Weissman, a member of Mueller’s special counsel team.You can see the deal here. It was signed Dec. 10, 1998.
Sater: FBI informant (Caricature by DonkeyHotey)
An honest prosecutor would have and should have disclosed this fact. He, Sater, was the one encouraging the Trump team to cozy up to Russia. Mueller does not disclose one single instance of Trump or Cohen or any of the Trump kids calling Sater on the carpet and chewing his ass for not bringing them deals and not opening doors in Russia. Omitting this key fact goes beyond simple disingenuity. It is a conscious lie.
The circumstantial evidence indicates that Sater was doing this at the behest of FBI handlers. We do not yet know who they are.
But Sater’s behavior and status as an FBI Informant was not an isolated incident. We also have the case of Michael Caputo and Roger Stone being approached by a Russian gangster named Henry Greenberg. According to democratdossier.com:
Greenberg’s birth name is Gennady Vasilievich Vostretsov, the son of Yekatrina Vostretsova and Vasliy Vostretsov. He later adopted new names twice as a result of two different marriages and became Gennady V. Arzhanik and later Henry Oknyansky. Henry Greenberg is not a legal alias, but he uses it quite commonly in recent years.
But you would not know this from reading the Mueller report. Mr. Disingenuous strikes again:
In the spring of 2016, Trump campaign advisor Michael Caputo learned through a Florida-based Russian business partner that another Florida-based Russian, Henry Oknyansky (who also went by the name Henry Greenberg), claimed to have information pertaining to Hillary Clinton . Caputo notified Roger Stone and brokered communication between Stone and Oknyansky.
Oknyansky and Stone set up a May 2016 in-person meeting.260 Oknyansky was accompanied to the meeting by Alexei Rasin, a Ukrainian associate involved in Florida real estate. At the meeting, Rasin offered to sell Stone derogatory information on Clinton that Rasin claimed to have obtained while working for Clinton. Rasin claimed to possess financial statements demonstrating Clinton’s involvement in money laundering with Rasin’s companies. According to Oknyansky, Stone asked if the amounts in question totaled millions of dollars but was told it was closer to hundreds of thousands. Stone refused the offer, stating that Trump would not pay for opposition research.
How does a guy like Vorkretsov/Greenberg, with an extensive criminal record and circumstantial ties to the Russian mob gain entrance into the United States? Very simple answer. He too was an FBI informant, according to the democrat dossier:
In an affidavit, Vostretsov explained to an immigration judge he worked for the FBI for 17 years throughout the world, including in the US, Iran and North Korea. He explained in the same paperwork the FBI granted him several temporary visas to visit the US in exchange for information about criminal activities.
Please take time to read the full dossier at democrat dossier.
This is more than an odd coincidence. This is a pattern. The FBI was targeting the Trump campaign and personnel in a deliberate effort to implicate them in wanting to work with Russians.
Joseph Mifsud (Flickr)
And there is more. George Papodopoulus, a member of the Trump campaign, was entrapped by individuals linked to British MI-6 and the CIA with offers to provide meetings with Russians and Putin. The Mueller account is a lie. Here is another section of it:
In late April 2016, Papadopoulos was told by London-based professor Joseph Mifsud, immediately after Mifsud ‘s return from a trip to Moscow, that the Russian government had obtained “dirt” on candidate Clinton in the form of thousands of emails. One week later, on May 6, 2016, Papadopoulos suggested to a representative of a foreign government that the Trump Campaign had received indications from the Russian government that it could assist the Campaign through the anonymous release of information that would be damaging to candidate Clinton.
Papadopoulos shared information about Russian “dirt ” with people outside of the Campaign, and the Office investigated whether he also provided it to a Campaign official. Papadopoulos and the Campaign officials with whom he interacted told the Office that they did · not recall that Papadopoulos passed them the information. Throughout the relevant period of time and for several months thereafter, Papadopoulos worked with Mifsud and two Russian nationals to arrange a meeting between the Campaign and the Russian government. That meeting never came to pass.
Once again, the Mueller team treats the provocateur — i.e., Joseph Mifsud — as some simple guy with ties to Russia’s political elites. Another egregious lie. Mifsud was not working on behalf of Russia. He was deployed by MI-6. Disobedient Media has been on the forefront of exposing Mifsud’s ties to Western intelligence in general and the Brits in particular. Quoting now from Disobedient Media:
Mifsud’s alleged links to Russian intelligence are summarily debunked by his close working relationship with Claire Smith, a major figure in the upper echelons of British intelligence. A number of Twitter users recently observed that Joseph Mifsud had been photographed standing next to Claire Smith of the U.K. Joint Intelligence Committee at Mifsud’s LINK campus in Rome. Newsman and Buzzed later reported that the professor’s name and biography had been removed from the campus website, writing that the mysterious removal took place after Mifsud had served the institution for “years.”
WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange likewise noted the connection between Mifsud and Smith in a Twitter thread, additionally pointing out his connections with Saudi intelligence: “[Mifsud] and Claire Smith of the UK Joint Intelligence Committee and eight-year member of the UK Security Vetting panel both trained Italian security services at the Link University in Rome and appear to both be present in this [photo].”
The photograph in question originated on Geodiplomatics.com, where it specified that Joseph Mifsud is indeed standing next to Claire Smith, who was attending a: “…Training program on International Security which was organised by Link Campus University and London Academy of Diplomacy.” The event is listed as taking place in October 2012.
This is not a mere matter of Mueller and his team “failing” to disclose some important facts. If they were operating honestly, they should have investigated Mifsud, Greenberg and Sater. But they did not. Two of the three alleged Russian stooges — Sater and Greenberg — have ties to the FBI. And Mifsud has been living and working in the belly of the intelligence community.
When you put these facts together it is clear that there is real meat on the bone for Barr’s upcoming investigation of the “spying” that was being done on the Trump campaign by law enforcement and intelligence. These facts must become a part of the public consciousness. The foreign country that worked feverishly to meddle in the 2016 presidential election and the subsequent rule of Donald Trump is the United Kingdom. Russia is the patsy.
Larry C. Johnson is a former CIA analyst and counterterrorism official at the State Department. This article first appeared on Sic Semper Tyrannis.
Trumpy…so innocent he just had lie hundreds of times in the course of quite obviously obstructing justice… “no contact>no collusion> no obstruction>collusion isn’t illegal> obstructuion is just frustration>it’s not illegal if the president does it.
cripes, Trumpkin is probably funding this formerly great website
And you, Will, are an FBI informant/asset for H. Clinton.
The fact is that Trump lies without any collusion, obstruction et al. That’s what he does.
Two things can be true. Trump can be an execrable president, a liar, a racist. But he wasn’t collaborating with Russia.
Many Thanks to CN Editors for this leak of their own hypocrisy and/or misreading of facts-in-evidence
– that’ve accumulated from and out of Trump’s own mouth, clearly revealing that he is a scurrilous scoundrel and mordent Liar.
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/01/16/triumph-of-conventional-wisdom-ap-expunges-iran-contra-pardons-from-barrs-record/
When the dam starts to break those involved will form a circular firing squad……….
Who will crack first?
The two figures I see as most clearly involved are Brennan and Andrew McCabe.
So it turns out many of those pushing financial deals with Russia to Trump were actually FBI or other Western intelligence assets. Geeze, go figure, this is very disturbing. I’m worried that the next thing you’re going to tell me is that “magic bullets” don’t really exist, and that steel and concrete buildings can’t simply disintegrate into thin air and molten metal because our government psychopaths (errr – rather our “leaders”) said so!
They just cannot abide that Putin saved Russia from vulturous designs that they plan and do resort to, yes, “disturbing” tactics in efforts to push Russia’s back up against a wall—not a good idea from any realistic perspective that weighs the risks (and certainly not from the perspective of ethics or morality). Other nations that stand in the way of said vulturous designs such as Syria have suffered infliction of heinous crimes upon civilian populations via bombings and dirty wars of sanctions and vile terrorism. They cannot abide resources in Venezuela even to be thought to belong to the people of Venezuela.
I like your drift on the bullets and other unmentionables.
WTF??? I can see that “Russiagate” has been overblown, that the Trump Circus was too incompetent to conspire with a foreign power. But, Consortium News is really undermining your own credibility with articles like this!!! And I think the reporting yo do on U.S> FOREIGN POLICY is CRITICAL. So, Move Along. You are HELPING KING DONALD as he establishes a KLEPTOCARACY & REVERSES decades of civil rights. I intensely DISLIKE Hillary (& Bill) CLinton. Did NOT vote for them (or trump)–but, come on! You really are making yourself seem like part of the trump Cult–just SOUND smarter than m9ost members & PR Flacks.
Lydia-
You don’t get it at all. This is not about the Donald. In case you haven’t noticed, no president has been in charge of foreign policy since JFK tried it. Until we out these Deep State lackeys, it really doesn’t matter who is president. The Forever War will continue unabated, innocent people will continue to die at the hands of our MIC, and the rule of law will be totally ignored. There is NO PATH FORWARD until we regain control of our government from the “Deep State”. This is how we MOVE ALONG.
What matters is prosecuting the perpetrators who brought us RussiaGate and made detente impossible with the only other major Nuclear Power on the planet.
Skip says it don’t matter who’s prez… I’d say that if your synagogue or mosque or women’s health clinic gets shot up or a Neo Nazi crushes you under his car…it does in fact matter. We have a problem that goes a bit beyond foreign policy. No doubt the ideological purists here figure its just the “chickens coming home to roost” but as the poet once said “what if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?” Lots of folks running even though they (should clearly) know…
A little history. LBJ was very blackmailable when he assumed the presidency, and knew who had the dossiers. Nixon was friends with Allen Dulles in the post-war years and as VP oversaw various CIA programs like the Bay of Pigs and the Crusade For Freedom, which, like Operation Paperclip, imported Nazis and fascists into the US. Gerald Ford, on the Warren Commission, actually moved a back wound to the neck so that it would conform to the Warren Report’s narrative. Reagan was the spokesman for the Crusade For Freedom in the fifties and actually used the same phrases he used to describe the Nazis and fascists imported in his television public service announcements for CFF for the fascist contras while president. It also helps to explain him going to Bitburg. He was just a little ahead of the curve.
Robert Swan Mueller III is the grand nephew of Richard Bissell, who was fired by JFK for his role in the Bay of Pigs. Three years after the assassination he married his childhood sweetheart, Ann Cabell Standish. Her grandfather, Charles Cabell, was second in command of the CIA and also fired by JFK for lying to him (along with the third CIA official, Allen Dulles). Charles Cabell’s brother, Earle, was mayor of Dallas when it hosted the assassination. Mueller’s career as a federal prosecutor was to handle cases involving CIA criminality without ever acknowledging the CIA’s fingerprints. As FBI Director Mueller shut down multiple avenues of the 9/11 investigation, most importantly Operation Green Quest, which was examining who financed 9/11. He investigated the anthrax letters without noticing that Battelle Memorial, the company involved with the government’s work on military grade anthrax had a building within a mile of where the anthrax letters had been mailed.
William Barr worked for the CIA in the 70s while going to law school. His first round as Attorney General was mostly spent protecting our former CIA Director George Bush during Iran-contra. Most of the legal cases were, of course, handled by Mueller. Our fearless Senator Kerry, who was “fighting” but not succeeding in getting to the bottom of Iran-contra, was a lacrosse teammate of Mueller’s in prep school and later was a member of the Skull and Bones Society.
It’s a small world, Will, and you’re not in it.
This is not about “helping King Donald.” For heaven’s sake. You are suffering from the inverse of Trump Derangement Syndrome, namely: If something is bad for Trump, it is good. Conversely, f something happens to be good for Trump, it is bad.
This ad hominem version of JUSTICE is the “thinking” of an intellectual midget.
An intellectual midget who has just one issue: “Is it bad for Trump?”
Compare: “Is it good for the Jews?”
Even a suspected murderer is guaranteed JUSTICE and a trial and judgment by his/her peers in our legal system.
Even a suspected murderer gets legal representation and a chance to defend himself and face his accusers in court.
Consortium News is not about playing partisan games or choosing sides and ignoring everything else.
It is about investigative journalism, and searching for the truth, wherever it leads.
This is also relevant to the case of Assange. TheUSA hates him only because he exposed US crimes.
The US security state would have been happy with Assange if he had just exposed the Russians! Or anyone else except Americans.
Learning the truth about the conspiracy against Trump does not in any way whitewash Trump or his disastrous policies.
But, not pursuing the truth here would tarnish America worse than anything Trump can do to this country.
This is so obvious that it should not require explaining to Lydia Howell as though she were a seven-year-old.
Consequently I think Lydia Howell must be a troll of some kind.
.
I agree with you Litchfield.
I can say I have faced the same kind of logic used by folks who do not like Trump. They view any news that casts him in a bad light or accuses him of wrongdoing to be beneficial since it might somehow magically right some wrong such as Trump’s election.
In fact, that is what the entire democratic party signed up for when they overwhelmingly supported the intelligence agencies conclusion that Russia interfered in the election and Trump was somehow placed at the center of the conspiracy by a bunch of mental midgets who couldn’t see beyond the immediacy of needing some explanation as to how Trump won.
It was obvious to them that somehow Trump was behind the Russian interference and had colluded with Russia to rig the election.
This argument is as equally absurd as the Trump administration’s argument that Trump would have won the popular vote if not for the millions of illegal aliens who voted for Hillary Clinton.
Each side is engaged in fantasies and delusions that have real consequences and those consequences are very serious indeed. On one side the democrats are considering bringing impeachment proceedings against a president based on unproven speculation. On the republican side they are aligning to declare that the voting process is fatally flawed by fictitious voters which might lead to a constitutional crisis if Trump is defeated in the next election.
If Trump loses, republicans will attempt to blame illegal voters for the election outcome forcing a showdown against the electoral process and the republicans who control the Senate, the presidency and the Supreme Court.
If Trump wins, the democrats will amplify their claims that foreign interference is at the heart of the results.
The truth is that both sides have become detached from the facts and are making up stories to justify their claim to the throne.
We should all be very concerned at this turn of events where reality is a made up story with those possessing the most influence likely to win control of our democracy and quite possibly end it with dual speculations and accusations that the election process in this country cannot be trusted coming from both democrat and republican camps.
How is it that we have been led down this path by our elected leaders? What are they thinking? More appropriately what are they not thinking about that does not cause them to stay their hands and abandon wild conspiracy theories?
There are plenty of real reasons that elections are rigged in this country and nobody seems to be leading a crusade to right those injustices. The fact that since 2010 the campaign finance laws enacted over the last century which were designed to keep the influence of the wealthy from dominating the course of elections is all but ignored. The practice of Gerrymandering is playing second fiddle to fantasies about foreign influence while that very possibility of foreign interference has reached a point of extreme risk just because of the elimination of campaign finance regulations and transparency laws which used to require donors to identify themselves.
Surely if we wanted to really prevent the undue influence of shadow groups to be able to influence elections we would start with restoring the transparency laws that have been struck down in Citizens United vs FEC, McCutcheon vs FEC and other decisions.
As it stands, 24 million dollars was spent on the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch. As such it appears that the highest court in the land is up for sale.
From The Center for Responsive Politics and MapLight.
New ‘dark money’ group led by Trump judicial adviser tied to network promoting his court picks
By Anna Massoglia and Andrew Perez
February 27, 2019
Newly obtained tax records shed additional light on the web of “dark money” organizations tied to President Donald Trump’s top judicial adviser that were used to funnel millions to organizations that boosted the Supreme Court nominations of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
The Freedom and Opportunity Fund is helmed by Leonard Leo, a Trump confidante and longtime executive vice president at the Federalist Society, a national conservative and libertarian lawyers network based in Washington, D.C.
Between its inception in 2016 and 2017, the fund donated $4 million to the Independent Women’s Voice (IWV), a D.C.-based dark money organization, according to tax filings obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics and MapLight. IWV was vociferous in its defense of Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford, a Stanford professor who knew the justice while he was in prep school. IWV’s president, Tammy Bruce, said on Fox News last year that Kavanaugh was “effectively being used as a stand-in for all perpetrators.”
The fund is part of a broader coalition of dark money organizations in Leo’s orbit that have helped guide the selection and ensure the confirmation of Trump’s conservative court picks. Leo is closely tied to the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), the primary public advocate for both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. He’s also the president of a nonprofit, America Engaged, that quietly donated $2.7 million to the National Rifle Association and Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit affiliated with billionaire libertarian Charles Koch, around the same time the two groups advocated for Gorsuch. Leo was also thrust into the spotlight for his ties to a mysterious $1 million donation to Trump’s inaugural committee by the BH Group, a Northern Virginia limited-liability corporation.
Although the Freedom and Opportunity Fund isn’t required to disclose its donors, records show it received $400,000 in 2017 from the BH Fund, a Leo-affiliated nonprofit that donated $2.3 million to America Engaged in 2017. The Freedom and Opportunity Fund listed both the BH Fund and America Engaged as related organizations in its 2017 tax filings. All three list Leo as their president.
The BH Fund itself was funded by an anonymous $24 million donation. The organization first made an appearance as being responsible for enforcing a donation agreement between a secret $20 million donor and the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, whose president came under scrutiny for allegedly allowing donors to dictate academic and hiring conditions in return for financial gifts.
A central player in Leo’s network is a consulting and public relations firm called Creative Response Concepts (CRC), which gained notoriety for helping create Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that attacked 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s Vietnam war record.
CRC has received payments from many of the organizations in Leo’s web. The firm was paid $400,000 by BH Fund and $100,000 by America Engaged in 2017. JCN has regularly paid CRC, as has the Wellspring Committee, which has been JCN’s primary funder for many years. CRC has also worked with the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a dark money-funded nonprofit that was previously run by Trump’s former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker.
The majority of the Freedom and Opportunity Fund’s money came from a $2 million anonymous donor. During its second year of operation, the Freedom and Opportunity Fund’s revenue dropped to $3.2 million, roughly half of its 2016 intake of almost $6.3 million. Nevertheless, the organization spent $4.2 million, which left it more than $1 million in the hole at the end of 2017.
Notable among its grants was a $500,000 donation to Making America Great, a pro-Trump 501(c)(4) nonprofit spearheaded by conservative funder Rebekah Mercer after a falling-out with America First Policies.
The Freedom and Opportunity Fund also sent money to groups from the Koch orbit. The Center for Individual Freedom received $325,500, while FreedomWorks got $100,000 and 60 Plus Association got another $60,000. The fund also sent $107,500 to American Commitment, another offshoot of the Koch network that has campaigned against net neutrality rules.
The fund gave another $500,000 to the Conservative Action Network, a nonprofit formed in 2016 to support Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Surely these events should give us cause for concern and to wonder what other government bodies are also up for sale to the highest bidder. These things are the real things that are the true root causes for the corruption in government. It is the concerted efforts of the wealthiest citizens and corporations in America that are behind the vote rigging or the law rigging that is currently ending our democracy and replacing it with an oligarchy of wealthy special interests who cause the government to act in their interest and not the public interest which is what they are mandated to do under our democracy.
Our major media is also in on the con job since they are ultimately the recipients of all that cash as the special interests need to convince us all through expensive advertisements to vote for their candidates. There is no way to reach the voters except through commercial media and they charge handsomely for the access just because they can.
So to all the mental midgets caught up in the giant smokescreen erected by our government and the media to hide all of the corruption and to lay the blame, like some tinpot dictatorship at the feet of a foreign devil I say to them; you are feeding into the lies that will end our democracy.
If we do not get at the true root causes for our corrupt elections they will continue to be controlled not by the citizens of America but by the wealthy and the powerful hiding behind recent laws that have allowed them to do it in secret protected by free speech as though the US Constitution was written to protect the King of England’s right to maintain control over the colonies by buying elections. I am fairly sure that freedom of speech was designed to give the little guy a chance to be heard and not a a right of the immensely wealthy to purchase their pet politicians in secret.
Forget about RussiaGate and the huge effort to blow smoke to conceal what is actually going on. If people still think Putin and Trump are the devils and somehow we need to convict Trump as a Putin puppet then there are no words I have to dissuade them. As far as I am concerned they are no better than the republicans engaging us all in a fantasy that democratic elections are no longer possible in America because of the millions of illegal criminal immigrants that all vote for democrats when they take an election break and temporarily pause their plans to kill us all until they return from the ballot box and begin their murderous strategy to destroy America with renewed vigor knowing that the democrats will let them carry out their sinister plans.
You can’t fix stupid.
Very well said and right on the err money. Thank you for pointing out reality.
Lydia…I’ve come to the conclusion half the people posting here and the money to run the site are ‘straight outta Russia…’
This is the place where Devin Nunes is a hero along with that fat toad Barr (Barr of Iran Contra fame, some of you non Russians may recall).
Will, see above. Now imagine that all of these public figures in Iran-contra and now Russiagate are merely a troupe of Shakespearean actors. What you are witnessing now is another blockbuster.
Brilliant comic relief to this whole conversation here…
https://off-guardian.org/2019/04/26/obstructiongate/
Great stuff Bob! Thanks for the laughs.
Bob – C.J. is like a little weekly dose of sanity amidst the “normal” madness of our times.
I have a problem with Patrick Lang (Sic Semper Tyrannis). Look at his ‘about’. At least he puts it out there.
I also don’t get how progressives are (again and again and again) so completely okay with deep State actors hanging with them and telling them what’s going on. I know, I know; That’s the point – information that not all will know or easily come by, presumably by someone who has quit evil and embraced the good side. But no one is concerned? “Well, if Consortium (or this or that org) doesn’t mind…” Is that it?
Life history of Mueller–a fixer for organized crime (among other nefarious cover-ups) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HULj6Vrdor4
Very helpful link Ed Kendrick. Thank you.
A fixer for organized crime, which these days in a subdivision of the CIA. When Mueller prosecuted Gotti for cocaine distribution he assiduously avoided where the cocaine was coming from. Hint: Mena. And lest you think I am unfairly picking on Bill Clinton, Asa Hutchinson, Dubya’s first “drug czar”, was federal prosecutor in that corner of Arkansas at the time.
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when once we practice to deceive ! – When is the last time we ever heard anything from someone that WASN”T a spy, agent, puppet, or a manipulated operative with secret access to knowledge, etc. etc. – Inside information, ulterior motives, deceitful trickery………………. Give yourself an unfair advantage ?
To live a decent honourable life, you must DISENGAGE, not engage or compete on this level.
When you enter the sphere of the intelligence agencies you enter a wilderness of mirrors where even well meaning people searching for truth can get lost. Good luck trying to find your way out of that mess. Project ECHELON, Project MERRIMAC, Project MINARET, Project RESISTANCE, Project SHAMROCK, Project MEGIDDO, Operation MOCKINGBIRD, Operation HEMISPHERE, TIA are but to name a few CIA/NSA operations launched since WWII designed to ferret out dissidents who might challenge the orthodoxy of domestic and foreign policies. Counterintelligence programs designed to confuse us are rampant.
Has there been one corporate magnate caught up in these dragnets? Well only if you discount Elon Musk and his persecution at the hands of the SEC or the “Short-sellers Enrichment Commission” there have been none. I also discount the liberal female democrat Suzy Homemaker convicted of insider trading.
Face it. The deck of cards is stacked against the little guy who is routinely spied upon with independent thoughts in their heads. Even if those thoughts are correct like Robert Parry who uncovered many stories that the main stream press suppressed. It is a David vs. Goliath story with the ability of this website to strike a blow to the orthodoxy by exposing the truth that is it’s hallmark.
Well deserved awards such as the 2015 Nieman I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence shows how much well respected organizations that support independent journalism acknowledge the journalistic independence which is the hallmark of this website.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel as long as independent journalists risk their careers and reputations in pursuit of the truth and bravely publish the stories that the main stream media, controlled by government censors and handlers that direct their coverage of “the news”, will not shine a light on.
The legacy of Robert Parry will not be lost on myself or the many others who have flocked here to engage in reasoned debate about important stories.
Political affiliations are checked at the door as are preconceptions or beliefs that what the orthodoxy is telling us all, is in fact, the truth. There are no sacred cows, no forbidden topics and often the debate ranges into the realms of that which has been under reported and hence is hard to believe.
By the evidence and arguments presented we have a jurors duty to assess the presented views balanced against our own views and try to make sense of what is often deliberately concealed from us. It is a hard job for sure.
That is the heart of independent journalism. Presenting real facts to support often much maligned or distorted or ignored points of view guided by those facts and reaching different conclusions based on those facts than those presented by the orthodoxy.
Just as it was for Galileo who supported Copernicus’ theory that the Earth and the Planets revolved around the Sun resulted in his prosecution as a Heretic causing him to recant his support or face the death penalty, progress and understanding of the truth has often come at a high price for those individuals that challenge orthodoxy.
It doesn’t have to be that way. We cannot afford to wait hundreds of years for the orthodoxy to realize the error of their ways or can we? Are we in fact moving backward toward orthodoxy and the power of might to make right? It is a scary thought but probably true.
Now, for the first time in the history of this nation including the present day, we face a real possibility that the conjunction of technology and specifically the ways of communication we have developed are trending to lead us backwards down a path away from truth and into a realm where conspiracy theories and fake news are attracting the population toward extremist views. Those false prophets (profits) who create fictions based on narratives to advance their personal agendas (making money) are increasing in number and in their influence over all of us.
You have a big role to fill CN. We are relying on you to keep us informed in these times where universal deceit is upon us based on profiting from lies. Speaking the truth has become a radical act subject to ridicule, hatred and a lot of worse stuff. Keep on keeping on.
BTW I forgot to mention the Israelis but their actions actually speak for themselves don’t they!
VINY’s (Village Idiot New York) ties to Israel are obvious. His infatuation with Israel is obvious. I’ll remind everyone that VINY also adores the Saudi Prince MbS.
I didn’t see much about that relationship in the comments here. Almost nothing about the Saudis.
The CIA and the Deep State have themselves in quite a jam with the Saudis if the facts ever come out about the game CIA, the Deep State and the Saudis have been running on the American tax payer. We sell billions and billions worth of weapons to the Saudis through not so visible but hardly invisible companies, the Carlyle Group being one of great distinction in D.C.. Making enormous profits.
American taxpayers are coerced into paying high taxes to fund military spending for R & D. Then the generals , prime actors art the state department and other exceptional Amerikans join companies like the Carlyle group to act as weapons experts, high dollar earning intermediaries who sell the weapons to the Saudis for even more profits.
The Saudis who in order to stay in virtually unchallenged power, pay the bills, send money to the madrasas to keep the peace, which in turn produce fanatical radical Islamist who are dispersed all over the world to create havoc.
This legitimises both CIA, DHS and Israels fear of terrorism. The Saudi ruling family stays in power, the right wing extremists in the U.S. and Israel do DOG’S work and the american sheepeople go to happy hour.
But they all have been caught now by the ICIJ which is itself a world wide organization and is not going away any time soon. n Many countries sick to death of the American governments bullshit and the American people’s exceptional bull shit had had enough. So it’s about to become pay back time!
Follow the money and think bigger. The CIA may have to try and take over the U.S. government to stay alive.
Bad things kids, very bad things.
Y’all have a good night!
It would seem that the deep state is indeed trying to take control. If past history is any guide, they will at least partially succeed. Our democracy is toast and the only question is when and how they will sweep away the last remnants of the old republic and institute the imperium.
The establishment (your deep State) is in control. It has been ever since smart businessmen got together with traitorous politicians (like FDR) in order to allow business to actually run things, with elected governments acting as fronts for powerful special (capitalist) interests.
Howard Zinn, page 99 of “A People’s History Of The United States, 1492-2001” :
“The Constitution… illustrates the complexity of the American system: that it serves the interests of a wealthy elite, but also does enough for small property owners, for middle-income mechanics and farmers, to build a broad base of support. The slightly prosperous people who make up this base of support are buffers against the blacks, the Indians, the very poor whites. They enable the elite to keep control with a minimum of coercion, a maximum of law – all made palatable by the fanfare of patriotism and unity.
“The Constitution became even more acceptable to the public at large after the first Congress, responding to criticism, passed a series of amendments known as the Bill of Rights… What was not made clear – it was a time when the language of freedom was new and its reality untested – was the shakiness of anyone’s liberty when entrusted to a government of the rich and powerful.” – page 99
From “A Loud Whoompfing Sound” (A Yappy Trade Barrier)
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The reform approach of the Benefactors in power is an approach that is seen all through the history of the United States, which is why Zinn comes back to it again and again in his epic “A People’s History.” The reforms are always presented as democratic and for our benefit. (So it is with the current reforms and proposed reforms of the internet, the difference being that with New Deal Reforms, for example, there was actually reform, not well-intentioned and not sufficient, but it was reform. With politicians’ reforms and proposed reforms of the internet, post 2016, there’s zero that’s positive about those reforms.) With the fading of Open Doors, you also had the fading of gunboat diplomacy (that seems to have returned, at least where Iran, China, Russia [in relation to the Syrian conflict] and Korea are concerned) and what Gabriel Kolko calls political capitalism “where the businessmen took firmer control of the political system because the private economy was not efficient enough to forestall protest from below. The businessmen were not opposed to the new reforms; they initiated them, pushed them, to stabilize the capitalist system in a time of uncertainty and trouble.” -pg 350 of “A People’s History”
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I had noticed that Mueller’s investigation turned up what seemed like a lot of “Russians” offering Trump staffers “dirt on Clinton” or “Clinton’s emails”. Interesting that not a one of them seems to have mentioned what (according to Mueller) the Russians actually had, which was emails from John Podesta and the DNC. Here is an article that mentions another Russian (Dimitri Simes) with strong links to the US national security state who also offered Trump staffers dirt on Clinton:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-25/the-unexpected-costs-of-cooperating-with-the-mueller-investigation
Whether you believe him or not, whether you think he is a ruffian or a sympathetic character, here is Papadopoulos’ version on the Sputnik Radio program Loud and Clear a couple of days ago.
https://sputniknews.com/radio_loud_and_clear/201904241074398466-i-was-targeted-by-us-uk-intelligence-agencies/
A recent interview shows President Putin responding when asked about the “meetings” with Trump, saying he had never met him in the alleged cases, did not take much notice of his presence a a business man-there are plenty in Russia and he does not interfere in such matters. The official position on a Moscow Trump Tower was negative. The arrogance of pretending that Pres. Putin, with his job ruling 149 million people and plenty of interference from outside, would personally descend to the disgusting and ludicrous depths recounted in the “indictments” is to ignore 18 years of evidence of his rational, legal, considered actions.
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I watched the 5:48 minute video of Trump, campaigning it was said, with wonder. With disbelief. It’s date was not clear to me, before the 2016 campaign or more recently in preparation for 2020. The message appeared to be an invitation to abandon our current form of government and place ourselves in the hands of a man who appears to be opposed to any form of democracy.
I read much more than the MSM, finding nothing anything like what you are proposing – in fact, what are you proposing exactly.
Who’s taking over the reputation of Robert Parry?
L&B&L
Good question.
The answer is ending the two-tier Justice system, either there is evidence that laws were broken or isn’t.
“Look forward as opposed to looking backwards” and “Too big to fail” are open invitations to criminal misconduct. The Democrats had every opportunity to go after the criminality of Bush, Cheney and the banks in 2008 under Obama, but refused to. If one is really concerned about collusion, I can find no better place to start.
The criminality is on both sides. The 2016 election was merely a choice between two criminals. I would be equally excited about a criminal investigation of Republicans, but at the moment, they aren’t the ones caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
As for Sater, she is not just a CIA asset, he is White Russian mafia And he is the key sto undstanding how Trump laundered Russian oligarch money.
Sater is also the running dog with Michael Cohen, for the mob. They grew up together as kids.
Sater was used as a spy for the FBI and CIA, in exchange for a reduced sentence on felony larceny
https://www.ctpost.com/news/crime/article/Lawsuit-Sater-looked-to-launder-cash-through-13717818.php
Mueller is about as honest as the Warren Report. He is covering for Bayrock, Ltd.
A superb team of investigative reporters from Holland did a great special on this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bEdMuKq30I
Also, he stopped, along with Comey , any investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood, fasist Arabs, after 911.
http://www.wbdaily.com/espionage/18528/
Good work Larry. I started reading the Mueller report and noticed that the DNC “hack” scenario(debunked on this site by Ray McGovern and Bill McKinney) hinged on the indictment of the GRU folks. Now first of all an indictment is not evidence, just an accusation. Secondly this indictment will never see a court room as the Russians won’t be over here for a trial. So what Mueller is doing is creating his own “evidence”, the indictment, and citing it as proof. How screwy.What alarmed me was Elizabeth Warren-who said she read Mueller into the wee hours- going histrionic at the CNN Town Hall about an attack by a hostile country. She’s a lawyer and should know better. She just trashed all her credibility and provided a red herring distraction from Trump’s real crimes and misdemeanors. Welcome to Alice and Wonderland.
No doubt about it, the MI6 played a key role. But so did the CIA. Trump and Co were never their target, in fact they have actively aided and abetted this massive psyop repeatedly – Russia is, was, and always will be their target. How do we know this? Because the evidence shows that the Shaltai-Boltai group that was the source of “information” on the so called Russian “troll farm”, aka the Internet Research Agency, was a CIA/MI6/US State Department contract operation created to fabricate and plant “evidence” to smear Russia begun in 2013, with the probable funding trail evident in 2012 – well BEFORE the election, in fact before Trump even decided to run!
Which means that both the “hacking” and “collusion” elements which eventually came to dominate the “Russiagate” narrative were improvisations tacked on to a psyop that was well underway by the time the election began:
“Everything we know now about the so-called “Kremlin trolls from the Internet Research Agency paid by Putin’s favorite chef,” came from one source, a group of CIA spies that used the mascot of Shaltay-Boltay, or Humpty-Dumpty, for their collective online persona.
…“We are trying to change reality. Reality has indeed begun to change as a result of the appearance of our information in public,” wrote the representative, whose email account is named Shaltai Boltai, which is the Russian for tragic nursery rhyme hero Humpty Dumpty.”
Buzzfeed also said back in 2014, that “The leak from the Internet Research Agency is the first time specific comments under news articles can be directly traced to a Russian campaign.
Just think about this working scheme: Shaltay-Boltay with a group of anti-government “activists” created the “Internet Research Agency,” they and some “activists” created 470 FaceBook accounts used to post comments that looked unmistakably “trollish.”
After that other, CIA affiliated entities, like the entire Western Media, claimed the “Russian interference in the US election.” Finally, the ODNI published a report lacking any evidence in it.
People from the Shaltay-Boltay group weren’t hackers in the proper terms because they worked with and for the CIA. Middle-of the-road and run-of-the-mill intelligence agencies would collect and analyze information for their governments. The CIA invents information, then goes on to manufacture and forge documents in support of their invented information; they then recruit people inside other countries and other governments to claim that they “obtained” this explosive evidence. Being the dirty cops that they are, the CIA doesn’t obtain and secure evidence, but instead they plant fake evidence on their victims.
…fake business entities known as “the Internet Research Agency,” and “the Internet Research” in the government electronic business registry were treated as real companies by the system. Because of their inactivity on all of their bank accounts and because no one ever filed required forms, they were automatically liquidated by the electronic system.
The United Business Registry database in Russia works according to the Federal laws, so after twelve months of inactivity a business is simply liquidated. The Internet Research Agency was liquidated in December 2016 by the government system after it been inactive for twelve month. It’s inactivity implied that the company had no employees, no office, and no bank transactions for at least twelve months! The Internet Research company was liquidated on September 2, 2015 by merging with TEKA company. According to the federal business Registry TEKA was a construction retailer. I wasn’t able to find any indication, like an office, phone number, names of the managers or employees, anything at all that would indicate that this company existed. Just like the Internet Research Agency and the Internet Research, TEKA existed only in the federal registry and nowhere else.” https://thesaker.is/a-brief-history-of-the-kremlin-trolls/Manage
And here is the trail of evidence of the funding for that CIA/MI6 contract operation known as “Shaltay-Boltay”:
Much of the media spotlight is now on Cambridge Analytica and their shadowy antics in elections worldwide, including that of Donald Trump.
However, Cambridge Analytica is a mere offshoot of Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL Group) – an organisation with its roots deeply embedded within the British political, military and royal establishment.
Indeed, as the Observer article which broke the scandal said “For all intents and purposes, SCL/Cambridge Analytica are one and the same.”
Like Cambridge Analytica, SCL group is behavioral research and strategic communication company.
In 2005, SCL went public with a glitzy exhibit at the DSEI conference, the UK’s largest showcase for military technology.
It’s ‘hard sell’ was a demonstration of how the UK government could use a sophisticated media campaign of mass deception to fool the British people into the thinking an accident at a chemical plant had occurred and threatened central London. Genuinely.
Board members include an array of Lords, Tory donors, ex-British army officers and defense contractors. This is scandal that cuts to the heart of the British establishment.
SCL Group says on its website that it provides “data, analytics and strategy to governments and military organizations worldwide.”
The organisation boasts that it has conducted “behavioral change programs” in over 60 countries and its clients have included the British Ministry of Defence, the US State Department and NATO.
A freedom of information request from August 2016, shows that the MOD has twice bought services from Strategic Communication Laboratories in recent years.
In 2010/11, the MOD paid £40,000 to SCL for the “provision of external training”. Meanwhile, in 2014/2015, it paid SCL £150,000 for the “procurement of target audience analysis”.
In addition, SCL also carries a secret clearance as a ‘list X’ contractor for the MOD. A List X site is a commercial site on British soil that is approved to hold UK government information marked as ‘confidential’ and above. Essentially, SCL got the green light to hold British government secrets on its premises.
Meanwhile, the US State Department has a contract for $500,000 with SLC. According to an official, this was to provide “research and analytical support in connection with our mission to counter terrorist propaganda and disinformation overseas.” This was not the only work that SCL has been contracted for with the US government, the source added.
In May 2015, SCL Defense, another subsidiary of the umbrella organisation, received $1 million (CAD) to support NATO operations in Eastern Europe targeting Russia.” https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/…/scl-a-very-british-coup/
“Russia is, was, and always will be their target.”
Bingo.
Wow. Thanks for this. Very interesting stuff. It ties in with Karl Rove’s comment about creating realities. BTW, the Saker link gives me a 404. Is there an archive of that article elsewhere?
So, tell me why I should trust the word of anyone who was a former member of the supposed Deep State? When another Chelsea Manning or Edward Snowden exposes agency communications controlling the claimed ‘witch hunt’, I’ll sit up and take notice. Too many commenters with too many axes to grind for my liking.
Read my post. Trust no one
Chelsea Manning was in the military, and Edward Snowden was a Intelligence Agency contractor. Are they not connected to the “Deep State” as well? Many former Deep State employees have turned whistleblower, and many of them publish here. I suggest you look for facts and evidence, no matter the source.
Please explain who is grinding what axes. If you don’t take the time to make a rational argument, you will be dismissed as a troll by the more thoughtful commenters.
To expect the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from anything close to Washington DC is a waste of time.
JFK and 9/11 being two tragic examples.
Let me guess. JFK was a white knight fighting the forces of darkness. :-(
Arby,
Let me guess. Arby knows more than anyone on Earth about the “big picture”, and is still alive and able to sh@t post on the internet – because he hasn’t gotten his head blown off in broad daylight by malevolent forces other than Lee Harvey Oswald.
Or, Arby, perhaps President John F. Kennedy in the ultimate egocentric act arranged his own murder, all so as to create in history books the illusion he was a “white knight fighting the forces of darkness.”
Good rant, Jerry. I’ve given up on Arby regarding JFK’s legacy. I was seven when he was assassinated, and I can’t help but think of the possibilities for our society if those dark forces hadn’t succeeded with their evil. Imagine if we had JFK, RFK, and MLK live out their full lives speaking truth to power. Peace.
JFK was assassinated by the CIA. You don’t have to get overwrought about it. If you haven’t figured that out by now you can continue to imagine your epic battle.
My understanding is that Trump has been spending the past 2 years cleaning out corrupt members of the DOJ and FBI, so that the wheels of Justice can turn. He does not have to prosecute the criminals himself, as there are mechanisms in place to handle corruption, however hampered they have been by past administrations. If he would have initiated a response as soon as he entered office, it would have been immideiatly shut down by the apparatchicks.
Trump’s great advantage is that he is consistently underestimated.
So you’re buying into the 4D chess narrative? He doesn’t seem very smart to me, and his past surely doesn’t make him appear all that principled either. Time will tell.
I find Trump neither brilliant nor stupid, but I doubt he is naive.
As President, he has access to the best legal defense counsel in the country and I am sure they instructed him on exactly how he should play this. Do, I think he is dumb enough to ignore legal counsel when he knows he is being prosecuted by the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world – no, but that is actually not a very high bar.
He may have never been on the side of law and order in his entire life for all I know, which is perhaps why his first instinct was to defang the Justice department by putting in a lax politician, Sessions at DOJ. But, by appointing Barr, he appears to have learned that he needs a real justice system for his own survival. I am also not suggesting Barr is exceptionally principled, but he certainly appears to be competent and likely ethical enough to be a functioning attorney.
I think Trump was naive enough to say “wouldn’t it be great to get along with Russia” during his campaign and not realize that there would be serious consequences. I don’t blame him for seeking counsel, but I think he was a bit slow out of the gate, and threw Flynn to the wolves. He could be much better at using the “bully pulpit”, and the current situation with Assange is a prime example. So far I see nothing but the same evil from Trump as I have from nearly every other president in my lifetime.
There is a special kind of evil that lurks in Washington in which even the street savvy hustler is caught flat-footed.
Somehow decisions are consistently made by Presidents with very different personalities and agendas, that we need to destroy countries, escalate tension to the point of nuclear war – potentially leading to Armageddon, wipe out indigenous populations that aren’t willing to be enslaved and destroy our planet for even more money than we already have. I am not sure what Trump has to do the creating the monster, but he no doubt has to serve it.
Meanwhile, Trump has appointed Barr to clean up the FBI, DOJ and the Horowitz reports will be out soon, so we should have our answer.
I’m so pleased but not surprised to see that CN is right on time as the false investigation closes and the tide turns to the actual culprits in all of the Russiagate manufactured diversion. Thank you Larry Johnson.
Let us hope that a real investigation now brings to light the actual culprits in this act of Treason. Further, that the use of Government Law enforcement may finally be reorganized into an institution that works for the people rather than against them.
We will know the tide has actually turned if the MSM begins to report on these developments. I suspect that Schumer’s “six ways from Sunday” will come into full play shortly, and no counter investigation will come to pass. I hope Larry Johnson and others talking about this have a good plan that includes personal protection.
The only hope for our country to begin to act according to the rule of law is for these lackeys of the Deep State to be prosecuted in open court, and to have them forced to turn on their paymasters. The MSM needs to be cleansed of Deep State shills as well. Unfortunately, I believe that the corruption is so systemically entrenched that nothing short of a real threat of armed revolution will ever bring about meaningful change. I hope I’m wrong.
U.K. interference in US elections. Don’t forget little Simon Bradley-Lane the English volunteer for Bernie Sanders who later emerged as a paid operative of U.K., third sector, spook outfit Integrity Initiative.
Do you not think that the whole Skripal /novichok/perfume bottle story and the expulsion of diplomats, begging for support against Russia from PM May’s “friends” with absolutely no investigation of what really happened and now has been cast aside, had some effect on the Russiagate frenzy, especially with Luke Harding from the “Guardian” writing a book “Collusion” and smearing Julian Assange?
Yes.
Definitely.
Either the Skripals are both dead, or they are in hiding somewhere or have been given false identities, or they are being held in some kind of detention. But the latter possibility seems far=fetched, since if they ever surfaced they would have a tale to tell. And this tale will never be told by the Skripals. hence, they must be dead or living under new identities. But, how do you give two Russians new identities that don’t immediately scream “Russian”?
Hence, they must be dead.
The Mueller Report is a complete joke, a ludicrous Easter egg hunt for a crime, where none existed? In a warped inversion of justice,Trump was not presumed innocent until proven guilty, he was presumed guilty until Mueller could find a crime to pin on Trump? Something or anything to link Trump with Russian collusion or a obstruction of justice charge? Mueller tried to set up Trump?This is called ENTRAPMENT, to purposely set up a innocent person & frame him or her for a crime they never committed & Mueller went beyond the pale to try & set Trump up but he couldn’t find any EVIDENCE to fit the crimes to the man, because none existed! The writer is absolutely correct that Mueller was totally dishonest & disingenuous & I’d add criminally negligent with his flawed report & in a display of petty nastiness, his report concluded, that although he found no evidence of Russian collusion or obstruction with the Trump Campaign, the report didn’t exonerate Trump or clear him, which was a bizarre, illogical thing to say after finding no crimes! The Salem Witch trial accused got more justice than Trump? But Mueller’s report was never to get to the Truth, it was primarily designed to slander & hobble Trumps Presidency for two & a half years & to try & get him impeached via a phoney crime & removed from office in a attempt to conceal the crimes of the Intelligence Agencies spying activity on Trump & to provide a excuse for the horrendous HRC & her humiliation in the 2016 Election loss? They couldn’t blame themselves for this catastrophic failure so who better to blame than Russian interference via a Manchurian candidate called Trump? How convenient? In the process, the lunacy of Russophobia has destroyed any diplomatic relations with Russia & made the World a more dangerous place? Mueller’s report & the phoney Russiagate Hoax, which is now totally debunked, has achieved its primary goals as I mentioned? All except getting Trump impeached & removed in a failed Coup d’état operation! Well done Democratic Party of America, your demonisation of Trump & Russia has brought us to the brink of WW3 thanks to your fabricated Russiagate hoax!
There does seem to be a deliberate effort to conflate issues. The purpose of the Mueller investigation was to determine if there was any evidence of Russia interference with the 2016 election. There wasn’t. However, it seems that in the process of the investigation, one huge can of worms was opened, revealing a tangle mass of other issues/crimes that, to date, don’t appear to directly tie to Trump. All of this gets tangled into the zealous efforts to remove Trump at any cost.
It is a web of crime and deceit. No conflation, all of it ties together
“The purpose of the Mueller investigation was to determine if there was any evidence of Russia interference with the 2016 election. ”
No. The purpose of the Mueller investigation was not the above. It was to discover whether there was any kind of COLLUSION between Trump and the Russian Federation or with Putin; its basis was the presumption that Trump was a traitor who was being “handled” by Putin.
There seem to be many poorly concealed hints that the Clinton campaign, the Obama administration and the major intel agencies colluded to both spy upon and potentially sabotage the Trump campaign, all of which seems mighty illegal and extra-constitutional to a simple citizen and voter such as myself. By all means, if any of this is true, the guilty parties need to be outed, prosecuted and punished. The vast anti-democratic (small “d”) conspiracy emanating from within the Deep State needs to be extirpated and fair, impartial and open governance needs to be restored–or perhaps created, if it was only a false illusion ensuring that power really remained exclusively in the hands of a small coterie of privileged insiders all along. This would be the biggest gift the Trump administration could leave to posterity, if he and his handlers have the cajones to go for it.
If Trump does take up this challenge, I’d advise him to drop all the foreign wars he has in development–such as the coup in Venezuela and the threatened invasion of Iran–not just because they are morally wrong, but because he would have to face their equivalent within the borders of the United States in a vicious, pull-no-punches civil war against the Democratic (capital “d”) Party, the intel agencies, probably the Pentagon, all other vestiges of the Deep State and most certainly against the entire “Mainstream Media” propagandists. All will enjoin litigation at multiple levels against him, including of course articles of impeachment, and will employ the full spectrum of mass communication to demonize him as thoroughly as they have Vladimir Putin, the Ayatollahs, any foreign government not a supplicating vassal of Washington and Satan himself. The conflict will quickly escalate when both sides refuse to recognise the legitimacy of the actions and legal motions of the other. Such a constitutional crisis has been long anticipated but never yet realised.
Welcome to “interesting times.” When do the color revolutionaries in DC try to pull an American “Maidan” and force America’s second un-elected president upon us? And what generals will constitute the junta? Of course, “we the people” will have no say. I fully expect to be nothing more than a powerless observer when the making of history begins. And, I can only hope that those who emerge with the keys to the kingdom just leave me, and others who have made commentary on the madhouse that has been American politics over recent decades, such as on this website, the hell enough alone. But I fear we may be in store for somebody’s idea of a grand new experiment in global governance in the 21st century.
I am really conflicted about what actions should be taken as this country goes forward from this critical juncture. One side of my brain says let the power struggle commence, and hopefully justice may prevail. But when’s the last time that happy outcome has happened? The other side says perhaps it would be judicious for both parties to bury the hatchet: the Dems do not impeach, impede or demonize–at least until the upcoming scorched earth 2020 presidential election–and the AG does not try to hold the guilty parties accountable for their truly egregious actions. (Yes, I know, shades of Obama’s major malfeasance when he let war criminals and rapacious Wall Street predators skate after having savaged the constitution, the Middle East and the American economy for at least eight years running–more like 16 or 20 if the continuity with previous administrations is admitted.) Realistically, Trump’s justice department may well have an opening to actually drain the swamp, or at least bag a few of the most ferocious of its creatures, but the cost may well be Trump’s own freedom when the opposition opens the gates of hell in the House of Representatives, at WaPo, the NYT, and every conduit of broadcast and digital media owned lock, stock and barrel by the entrenched aristocracy. I doubt he wants that, or is up to the fight. He mainly understands buying off and placating his opposition, competitors and anybody that looks like potential trouble (as he did with Stormy Daniels, before she got a better deal from the media to squeal). It’s the modus operandi he reflexively uses after 50 years of swimming with the sharks at the top of the American economic foodchain.
I’d like to see those who have hijacked our government brought to account, but am apprehensive about the collateral damage we little people will have to endure in its wake. At the same time, I recognise that Trump always talks a good game–full of piss and vinegar in all his tweets and wisecracks, but when it’s down to cases he usually takes the safest line of least resistance. If bombing Syria will placate the media and the warmongering neocons, that’s his ticket. I suspect that if the Dems back off, all of Hillary’s and Obama’s filthy transgressions against the constitution will remain lost in the shuffle. Brennan, Comey, Mueller and Clapper will also probably be allowed to live out their lives in posh gated communities on their six-figure government pensions. Even popes seem not to have such assurances that their deep dark pasts will not suddenly surface.
“If Trump does take up this challenge, I’d advise him to drop all the foreign wars he has in development–such as the coup in Venezuela and the threatened invasion of Iran”
I completely agree, but not precisely for the reasons given.
There is only so much one person can handle. Overseeing this investigation from the WH and staying alive, managing the media, etc. will be pretty much a full-time occupation.
That was meant to be my implication. Although, I’d rather he not pursue those wars even if he had all the time in the world.
Wow! Great work! All of these facts seem to fit… The FBI owes America the truth, and Mueller did not try to tell the truth, he tried to see if their was any truth in a rumor. Certainly the FBI can do better. Is the leadership there so inept? I was doing some reading in a CNN article from the early 200s and it turns out that Mueller was involved in the Phoenix memo–the memo which was lost in the upper chain of command to which Mueller belonged, which had been written by an Arizona FBI agent warning that Saudis were trying to learn how to fly jets in flying schools, but had no desires to learn how to take off or land. Politicians said after Mueller’s testimony that he did not provide satisfactory answers. How did a guy like that get promoted to an investigation like this? Our government at work–he should have been demoted, instead he was promoted.
Thanks for this, Larry. I have to add that Lyndon Larouche has promoted this UK involvement over the US for ages. It’s good to see some of the Mueller’ deceit singled out and the potential that the AG has in front of him. Some head rolls and pin falls await if he does his work correctly.
Also adding, the mandate of the “Hoover Factory” was initially domestic, of course. Now they run around the world stirring the political storm and causing needless issues. The CIA was the intelligence gathering arm of the presidency. Pompass laughs and says (paraphrasing) “we lie, we cheat, we steal, ha ha. Pompass left out “we murder anytime, anywhere, anyone”. Pompass left CIA (really?) and continues his crap at State.
At the conclusion of a speaking engagement at Texas A & M, Pompeo was asked “how do you balance condemnation with concessions in diplomacy with a controversial government—such as Saudi Arabia?”
Pompeo says “it’s a tough world out there. We don’t appreciate how glorious it is to be here in the United States of America on a consistent enough basis and with enough fervor…There are many many tough places out there. Having said that, not all tough places are the same.”
After “establishing” his simplistic false and dichotomous view of the world with the requisite amount of condescension, Pompeo gets cute with his “aside”: “I was the CIA Director—we lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire training courses! It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment. And so, when you deal with these countries, you just have to recognize that they’re not all the same.”
So gee Mike, it’s all glorious here in the States with all our goodness—but we deal with the bad bad world “out there” in an underhanded fashion because “those places” are so “tough”. (But remember, Saudi Arabia is “not the same” as other tough places). Pompeo must have had a training course in contrived contortion speak.
Yes, he did leave out subterfuge, assassination, coup plotting, drug running, money laundering, and broad infiltration (take your pick—the State Dept., Congress, and corporate media are some of my favorites).
And did you hear the one about the CIA Director (Haspel) who showed the President false photos of sick children and dead ducks (the Skripal hoax) in order to prod him into Russian diplomat expulsions. I suppose they think the President works for them rather than the other way around.
“Why was Felix Sater the one repeatedly identified pushing to arrange deals with the Russians and yet did not face any subsequent charges by the Mueller team?”
What would the charge be?
The capital crime of “meddling”?
Failing to disclose that he was acting as an unregistered foreign agent?
Sater was arrested and convicted for one, assualt and battery. Two, pumping and dumping stock for the Russian mob. Alsod convicted but the CIA reduced his sentence in exchange for spying.
Why did not this author mention this?
Entrapment.
Larry C. Johnson’s purported “comprehensive presentation of facts” concerning the “Papadopolous saga” conspicuously neglects to mention Israel:
https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2019/04/muellers-lies-about-george-papadopolous-by-larry-c-johnson.html
Johnson’s account of Papadopoulos’ account is “earnest but naïve” indeed.
“While President Donald Trump is correct to celebrate the Mueller report’s conclusion that no one on Trump’s side of the ledger attempted to or succeeded in collaborating or colluding with the Russian government or Russian spies,…”
Wrong – potus is not correct to celebrate, ; potus is delusional.
All that follows the opening para. ma or may not be factual; The author presents the executive branch spin wishing to normalize the insanity and ignorance therein.
Thanks to CN for keeping me alert to reactionary nonsense.
George Papadopoulos’ activities in relation to Israel and the pro-Israel Lobby:
https://medium.com/@Brian_Whit/george-papadopoulos-the-israel-connection-af1f10c6446a
The article was last in a series Brian Whitaker, the Guardian’s former Middle East editor.
In a separate article, Whitaker insisted that “How and why Papadopoulos came to Trump’s attention is a mystery.”
Of course. It all remains an utter mystery to “journalists” like Whitaker.
Whitaker and his chum, fellow fake “journalist” Eliot Higgins of the Bellingcat disinformation site, have a long history of willful misrepresentation of the US-Saudi-Israeli dirty war in Syria
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/natos-war-on-syria-just-got-dirtier.html
It is clear that Trump wanted to do business with Russia while the Democrats wanted to paint Putin as the barbarian who attacked Ukraine without provocation even though Russia was on the receiving end of a US backed coup to turn Ukraine over to the Western power that have repeated the same play of regime change masked as freedom but aligning the US with the underworld in order to accomplish their ends justifying that with Machiavellian aplomb.
The intelligence agencies that issued the first salvo claiming that all 17 intelligence agencies of the US reached a unanimous conclusion that Russia stole the election with the distinct possibility that Trump was in on the fix were in fact just a few hand picked russiaphobes aligned with the neoliberals (the democratic national elected leaders who signed on to the hoax)
To use the term “hoax” is powerful words but that is just what it was. The very rich and very influential media corporations (the folks who bring us “the news”) and their very gullible democrat toadies needed to launch a false narrative to explain the result of the upset election. They had engaged in a massive scheme of blackmail for cash propping up Trump while the media played the role of Town Crier supplying the equivalent of 2 to 3 billion dollars in free advertising for Trump who only spent an estimated 10 million dollars of his own money to win the presidency. With their pockets full of Gold from the extortion of the republican super PACs they had succeeded in putting their straw candidate ahead of every other republican candidate in the run up to the primary with free advertising showing Trump in the lead.
Why did they do this? The answer is money. By putting Trump in the pole position at every news cycle they managed to extract the maximum amount of cash from Republican Super PACs that were vainly trying to outspend each other to defeat the fake republican invader who had spent much time soul searching if he really wanted to declare his allegiance to the republicans. There was a lot of soul searching by the republicans as well after the election as to whether or not they would support the new president who had absolutely no government indoctrination or as they say “experience”.
Here was a guy who won the election and was spouting off about making friends with Russia and was making calls to zero out hangar queen DOD projects like the Joint Strike Fighter.
How would the media manage to turn public opinion away from their own hand in getting Trump elected for money? How could the DOD manage to thwart a wildcard president from de-funding pet projects worth hundreds of billions of dollars?
The answer was to invoke the boogeyman of Russia formerly the USSR as our age old nemesis and blame the election on our old foe.
In much the same way the intelligence agencies set about to blame Russia for all wrong doing while failing to report their own hand in the election and more importantly the Supreme Courts ruling which wiped campaign donation limits off the table.
The same thing happened with the Tea Party as it was turned around by the big donor class into a narrative which ultimately benefited them in the form of tax breaks.
In order for democrats to succeed they will need to keep up the farce they all signed onto. They will need to keep being the supporters of the intelligence agencies that are in fact not really their friends. They will need to accept the testimony of these intelligence reports as well as continue to support sanctions against Russia while painting Trump as a Manchurian candidate who was programmed by Russia.
It all seems like a recipe for disaster for the democrats and for their possible future role in leading our democracy as these clueless democrats walk int a trap of their own making.
George Papadopoulos is directly connected to the pro-Israel Lobby, right wing Israeli political interests, and Israeli government efforts to control regional energy resources.
Papadopoulos’ LinkedIn page lists his association with the right wing Hudson Institute. The Washington, D.C.-based think tank part of pro-Israel Lobby web of militaristic security policy institutes that promote Israel-centric U.S. foreign policy.
The Hudson Institute confirmed that Papadopoulos was an intern who left the neoconservative think tank in 2014.
In 2014, Papadopoulos authored several op-ed pieces in Israeli publications.
In an op-ed published in Arutz Sheva, media organ of the right wing Religionist Zionist movement embraced by the Israeli “settler” movement, Papadopoulos argued that the U.S. should focus on its “stalwart allies” Israel, Greece, and Cyprus to “contain the newly emergent Russian fleet”.
In another op-ed published in Ha’aretz, Papadopoulos contended that Israel should exploit its natural gas resources in partnership with Cyprus and Greece rather than Turkey.
In November 2015, Papadapalous participated in a conference in Tel Aviv, discussing the export of natural gas from Israel with a panel of current and past Israeli government officials including Ron Adam, a representative of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Eran Lerman, a former Israeli Deputy National Security Adviser.
Given the extensive pro-Israel Lobby management of both the Trump campaign and the current administration, it’s no wonder Trump opined that Papadopoulos was such “an excellent guy.”
Yet Papadopoulos’ Israeli connections remain uninvestigated. Studiously incurious “journalists” and “former officials” prefer tales of “Deep State” to disclosing the facts about pro-Israel Lobby operations.
Papadopoulos met with Shai Arbel, co-founder of Israeli cyber-intelligence company Terrogence, at the Crowne Plaza Tel Aviv City Center Hotel on June 8 2017, the same day he received $10,000 in cash from Israeli businessman George Tawil.
Israeli attacks on Syria and threatened military assault on Lebanon have a lot to do with natural gas resources, both offshore from Gaza and on land in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights region. Among its numerous violations of United Nations Resolution 242, Israel annexed the Syrian Golan Heights in 1981.
The “Russia-gate” fiction has always been meant to distract from the reality of “Israel-gate” while the pro-Israel Lobby pushes hard for next Middle East war.
Yes Abe T is not a Russian puppet but is most obviously a zionist puppet.
Papadopoulos talked some about his Israeli energy activities on the Larry King show on RT, just over a week ago I estimate.
Isn’t that the same Larry King that had former U.S. Department of Energy Secretary and Genie Energy adviser Bill Richardson on his RT show – but somehow managed to NOT discuss the all-over-the-internet bombshell story about Genie Energy and the Golan Heights?
It seems Larry King’s investigative journalism skills have deteriorated across the years – that is, assuming he ever even flexed those skills in the 1st place….
a) This is not about Larry King,
b) I’m not forcing you to watch, am I, and
c) I’m not forcing you to comment on Papadopoulos, am I.
This entire charade is just disgusting. And it continues to get more and more absurd. As abhorrent as Trump is, I fervently hope this witch hunt–and that’s what it is–is finally exposed. I can’t take it anymore.