Patterico's Pontifications

12/28/2017

Russian Hacker: I Can Prove Kremlin Ordered DNC Hack

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:30 am



We learned earlier in the month that Russian hacker Konstantin Kozlovsky had “confessed” that he had been ordered by Kremlin security forces to hack the DNC. Now he is saying he has proof:

A jailed Russian who says he hacked into the Democratic National Committee computers on the Kremlin’s orders to steal emails released during the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign now claims he left behind a data signature to prove his assertion.

. . . .

In written answers from jail made public Wednesday by RAIN TV, a Moscow-based independent TV station that has repeatedly run afoul of the Kremlin, Kozlovsky said he feared his minders might turn on him and planted a “poison pill” during the DNC hack. He placed a string of numbers that are his Russian passport number and the number of his visa to visit the Caribbean island of St. Martin in a hidden .dat file, which is a generic data file.

That allegation is difficult to prove, partly because of the limited universe of people who have seen the details of the hack. The DNC initially did not share information east inflatables reviews with the FBI, instead hiring a tech firm called CrowdStrike, run by a former FBI cyber leader. That company has said it discovered the Russian hand in the hacking, but had no immediate comment on the claim by Kozlovsky that he planted an identifier.

It’s an interesting story — but if you’re drooling for dirt on Donald Trump, this won’t help you much. For one thing, this story does zero to advance the ball as to anything on the U.S. end; it just solidifies the conclusion that most rational people had already drawn: that the Kremlin was indeed behind the hack. The evidence that the Kremlin was trying to help Trump, and make connections to Trump, has always been clear; what has been murkier is the extent to which the Kremlin’s overtures were accepted by the Trump campaign. Additionally, the information that Kozlovsky provided, if it pans out, doesn’t show FSB involvement; it just proves that Kozlovsky was the hacker. But if true, it would lend credibility to his “confession” and arguably implicate Putin in the hacking.

Or not! Some commentators have opined that the confession is actually helpful to Putin:

To some, it appears that Kozlovsky’s confession conveniently targets enemies of the Kremlin and provides Putin with an opportunity to claim that the hack was ordered by rogue elements.

“[The confession] puts the blame on a narrow group of people who are already in prison, and it moves the blame to an outsourced hack. This would allow Putin to pretend to be shocked that there are hackers in Russia doing this,” Mark Galeotti, a researcher on Russian crime at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, told Newsweek.

“The FSB is prone to employ outside hackers and gives them a choice of working with the FSB or go to prison,” he said.

Russian justice is odd, to say the least. On one hand, anyone Putin wants to be prosecuted will be — witness the fraud conviction of his most prominent political opponent. On the other hand, prisoners under this autocratic regime are sometimes surprisingly adept at distributing their message, even if that message is harmful to Putin — witness the numerous complaints by Sergei Magnitsky that made it into the hands of Bill Browder and journalists. It’s difficult to know what to make of Kozlovsky’s claims, but the story bears following.

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

132 Responses to “Russian Hacker: I Can Prove Kremlin Ordered DNC Hack”

  1. koslowsky did exfil a great deal of data, and then was nabbed two months after the supposed hack, he used a different code, to that found in the dnc record, Stephen McIntyre has noted this,

    narciso (d1f714)

  2. I have trouble believing Putin (or the Kremlin; is there still a Kremlin?) thought Trump had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected to the Presidency. I think it’s more likely he just wanted to muddy up the election process or get dirt on Clinton for when she became President.

    dlm (a4eb00)

  3. To some, it appears that Kozlovsky’s confession conveniently targets enemies of the Kremlin and provides Putin with an opportunity to claim that the hack was ordered by rogue elements.

    That’s basically Trump’s position.

    He said he asked Putin a few timws and he said he didn’t do it. That doesn’t mean there was no hack, or that Russia didn’t do it. What Trump wouild say is that rouge elements did it. That surely is Putin’s fallback defense.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  4. Why was a hack needed, when you have John Podesta using a password of “passw0rd”, with a zero for the “o”? They only had to go phishing to catch that bottomfeeder.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  5. 2. Remember, the decision to leak came only after the hack was discovered (and stopped) and ths was in jne, by which time Trump was the presumptive Republican nominee.

    The hack itself wasn’t done to help Trump.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  6. According to your link, Kozlovsky confessed in court, and all of that may be indeed what he claimed, and he also told RAIN TV (which may be independent but so incependent that they don’t get access to him in jail) that he placed a string of numbers – his passport number the number of his visa to visit the Carfbbean island of St, Martin, inside a *.dat file that was left on the DNC computer. That is either true or not true. And it’s either true or not true taht thse are the numbers. But even if that is true, significant details of the back story may not be.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  7. there are a whole host of irregularities

    https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/945770689344126976

    narciso (d1f714)

  8. I think I ran into Konstantin Kozlovsky and his girlfriend on the island of St Martin

    Neo (d1c681)

  9. ‘It’s an interesting story —’

    So was Dr. Zhivago.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  10. The evidence that the Kremlin was trying to help Trump, and make connections to Trump, has always been clear

    there’s been very little evidence so far that supports these assertions, and it’s generally accepted that similar attacks (whatever kind they may have been) were leveled at RNC servers but were unsuccessful

    Really all that suggests the Kremlin was trying to support the Trump campaign are some unsubstantiated assertions from the corrupt and sleazy CIA, and they have no integrity.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  11. Would Trump recognize subversion?

    Is he literate on matters outside Grifter Finance?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (fed2dc)

  12. 13 was rhetorical.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (fed2dc)

  13. the DNC handled this episode with the same furtive secrecy with which they’ve handled their seedy imbroglio with the Awan family

    and we know they were working with stinkypig clinton, the corrupt FBI, and the sleazy corrupt FISA courts to gin up a phony “Russia collusion” narrative very early on and leveraging this narrative to illegally spy on people associated with the Trump campaign

    however it is they lost their email, it was decidedly in their best interest to fold this into the over-arching narrative they were creating

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  14. I find the VIPS (Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity) report more believable. The Russians’ technical expertise is overrated. Let’s also not forget that the CIA has tools that will make a hack seem to originate from another country.

    https://www.thenation.com/article/a-new-report-raises-big-questions-about-last-years-dnc-hack/

    Lenny (5ea732)

  15. The evidence that the Kremlin was trying to help Trump, and make connections to Trump, has always been clear

    I don’t think that’s true at all. First, After the “I can help after the election” comment by Obummer there seemed some sort of quid pro quo between him and Putin. Second, I don’t believe they would want to help Trump when they could, and did, buy Hillary. Why pay the one biotch then help her opponent? Finally, why would we trust anything these jackalopes would print, say or own up to?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  16. Drooling for dirt on Trump reminded me of an Eddie Rabbit tune

    Little brother was never quite right
    He used to sit on the floor in the sunlight
    Play with the dust that danced on the beams in the window

    Rocky Mountain Music

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  17. Kozlovsky said he feared his minders might turn on him and planted a “poison pill” during the DNC hack. He placed a string of numbers that are his Russian passport number and the number of his visa to visit the Caribbean island of St. Martin in a hidden .dat file

    it’s not at all clear how putting this .dat file on the DNC server tying the hack back to himself would have helped Mr. Kozlovsky if his “minders” turned on him, and McClatchy propaganda slut Kevin Hall makes no attempt whatsoever to elucidate

    putting an identifier on the hacked machine actually makes no sense at all, and it’s a big red flag

    the only reason somebody would leave a dat file like that is if they were trying misdirect investigators, but even your average incompetent fbi agent would understand this file had been planted for a misleading purpose

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  18. Rev H.:
    The aim of the Russians was not to elect one or the other, but to increase political division, muddy the waters, and end with a politically weak POTUS who would be vehemently opposed from the very beginning. They didn’t want to buy Clinton or Trump, per se…and Trump’s business dealings with various Russians and Qataris leave him open to the charge he was bought even before he became a candidate.

    Trump sounded much more sympathetic to Russia, much less interventionist, than Hillary was during the campaign. It would be rational for Russia to prefer him, bought candidate or not.

    Finally, why would we trust anything these jackalopes would print, say or own up to?
    I fully agree with that. I see no reason to think this story was let into print without permission of the jailors.

    Kishnevi (7c7aed)

  19. Trump’s business dealings with various Russians and Qataris leave him open to the charge he was bought

    cowardpig war hero John McCain’s pee pee dossier actually explicitly says that Mr. Trump had spurned putative inducements conjoined to business opportunities

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  20. 13.Would Trump recognize subversion?

    Only if Nikki says they’d agree to have a Trump Doral Subversion built by 2025 w/a casino and 18-hole golf course.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  21. Right on, Col @ 4.
    I be snickering at the stupidity of
    Podesta and the media that refuses to connect.

    mg (8cbc69)

  22. I had one of those condo subversions

    Lost me arse..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (fed2dc)

  23. It was 2000 sq ft in Trump University.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (fed2dc)

  24. McCain’s involvement with the urination thing is troubling. His legacy is getting worse everyday. Actually pathetic.

    mg (8cbc69)

  25. so this version of swordfish is dubious, who is the don Cheadle character here.

    narciso (d1f714)

  26. remember what lying ex-military sleazebag James Clapper finally admitted

    The central text of the Russiagate gospel became the “Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA)” issued in January of this year, days before President Barack Obama left office. Presumably this ICA, quoted for months in the mainstream media as being the work of “all 17” American intelligence agencies, is the basis of the DNC’s continued claims of a Russian hack.

    James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, admitted in May that ‘hand-picked’ analysts from three agencies (not the 17 previously reported) drafted the ICA,” he writes, pointing out that not even the whole of the three agencies cited (the FBI, NSA, and CIA) were involved but only a few staffers “hand-picked” by Clapper.

    none of these people are trustworthy or credible

    the FBI, CIA, and the NSA are thoroughly corrupt organizations

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  27. “The FSB is prone to employ outside hackers and gives them a choice of working with the FSB or go to prison,” he said.

    this must be kinda like how the corrupt FBI is prone to employ outside intelligence analysts who have pee pee fantasies involving Michelle Obama

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  28. I love the experts saying Russia who ignore lack of attribution proof and go against the word of Wiki — an organization who has no proven history of lying.

    Unlike our IC, who lies all the time and lies to Congress and lies and lies and lies to support their $$$$$$$ train.

    Hello Kitty (c587a1)

  29. I also love experts pretending Putin wanted to help Trump with no proof either. In fact, if proof of anything exists, is Putin tried to screw both sides. Like pee Dossier an attempt to harm Trump and FB Ads looking to whip up both sides.

    But propagandists lie and repeat lies to make themselves feel better for being Wiley Coyote to Trump’s Road Runner.

    Hello Kitty (c587a1)

  30. #2 Obvious to all mentally healthy people with two brain cells to rub together.

    Putin fully expect HRC and would have been quite happy to selectively leak dirt (real or fake) on her for her 4/8 year term.

    Trump was a 2 sigma outlier they never planned for and only in July 2016 did Putin start fabricating lies about him too.

    Putin has found willing colluders in the NeverTrump Movement who spread around his lies much like the DNC and Media collude with Putin to weaken this Presidency.

    At least with Putin we know he’d do it with equal gusto against HRC so for that at least he “transparent.”

    The NeverTrumpers, Media and DNC fake patriotism while spreading lies that hurt the Nation.

    Hello Kitty (c587a1)

  31. I don’t know why there had to be an intent to help anyone, Trump or Hillary. Secret service types tend to collect data wherever they can, and their bosses use it wherever they can. It seems like there was an attempt to hack both the DNC and RNC systems. The former worked, the latter didn’t. The simplest explanation is that they hoped to get some secret dirt that would help them later, perhaps to influence a future administration.

    Russians are particularly notorious for trying to get dirt on their political opponents and then using it to their advantage.

    Bored Lawyer (998177)

  32. For one thing, this story does zero to advance the ball as to anything on the U.S. end; it just solidifies the conclusion that most rational people had already drawn: that the Kremlin was indeed behind the hack.

    Donald Trump has been trying for over a year to deny, obfuscate and cover-up this Russian intelligence operation on his behalf. In doing so, he has not only served as an asset for Putin’s FSB, he has also obstructed justice at least once, and likely several times.

    By parroting Putin’s disinformation and denials like a ventriloquist’s dummy, Trump is – in the most charitable interpretation – a willing accomplice after the fact to this Russian act of war on the United States.

    Which is to say: Donald Trump is guilty of treason.

    Dave (ce8574)

  33. Russians are particularly notorious for trying to get dirt on their political opponents and then using it to their advantage.

    to be clear, there’s still no proof that the Russians were in any way involved

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  34. Sooooo, Dave. If Trump says he’s not guilty it’s treason and if Trump says nothing it’s treason. Sounds like you know a lot more about this than the Russians, Mueller, the FBICIANSA and all the investigators combined. Thank you for sharing your brilliant and well thought out insight with us mere mortals. Good to know you approach a subject as important as treason with a level head and no partisan open mindedness. I hope you’re never selected for a jury.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  35. It is nonsensical to assert that Putin wanted DJT to win. Hillary Resetbutton Clinton would have been a dream president for him. She had no inclination to truly take him on. DJT was a wild card and he has a proven streak of obstinance when he gets his dander up. He further had a long track record of being a tough dealmaker (ask the trade unions) who knew how to leverage advantage.

    Generalized messing about in our election with hopes of gleaning useful intel? Duh. Making things potentially far tougher on himself with DJT? No way.

    Ed from SFV (3400a5)

  36. ConDave Level One… rated 1600 millikohns on the sallykohn scale of stupidity.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  37. Is Patterico- Dave?

    mg (8cbc69)

  38. Mg don’t do it, damn it, now I need to buy an alarm clock!!!

    urbanleftbehind (87ccb0)

  39. The story seems ripped from Alex drydens roman a clef, red to black, an mi 6 agent somewhat like steel is witness to the blackmail attempt of a Luxembourg official, it goes pearshaped and the officials kills himself, it also relates a plan, by which putin acquired his fortune with a scheme that goes back to the 80s.

    Now not only does koslowsky toolkit doesn’t match what was found in the dnc but there is no connectionto the diplomats expelled last December.

    narciso (d1f714)

  40. In May, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation fined Oklahoma banker Albert Kelly $125,000. According to a consent order, which The Intercept obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the FDIC had “reason to believe that [Kelly] violated a law or regulation, by entering into an agreement pertaining to a loan by the Bank without FDIC approval.”

    Two weeks later, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt appointed Kelly to lead an effort to streamline the Superfund program. In July, the FDIC went further, banning Kelly from banking for life. The “order of prohibition from further participation” explained that the FDIC had determined Kelly’s “unfitness to serve as a director, officer, person participating in the conduct of the affairs or as an institution-affiliated party of the Bank, any other insured depository institution.”

    https://theintercept.com/2017/12/28/scott-pruitt-failed-banker-running-epa-superfund-program/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (fed2dc)

  41. You don’t need intelligence for hiring men/women dumber than a bag full of sledgehammer mindlessly demolishing everything in sight.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (fed2dc)

  42. What does Scott Pruitt have to do with Russian hacking?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  43. What teh fook does your 37 have to do with anything hoagiestogie?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (fed2dc)

  44. Stop trolling Dave and Ben, hoagiestogie.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (fed2dc)

  45. Teenage mutant ninja squirrel! Hoagie.! Odd how Jon corzine want so proscribed when he lost a billion, also Steven rattler who paid 10 million in fines re quadrangle

    narciso (d1f714)

  46. Now this guy was sanctioned, reasons included:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/chiIIum/status/946219846462853122

    narciso (d1f714)

  47. Ok. Your feelings are hurt. If you must know I scored on the wrong thread. Ok?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (fed2dc)

  48. Your pies are burning, dearie…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  49. There must be some malfeasance here:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/lukerosiak/status/946064785845702658?p=v

    narciso (d1f714)

  50. 38. Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 12/28/2017 @ 2:26 pm

    38.It is nonsensical to assert that Putin wanted DJT to win. Hillary Resetbutton Clinton would have been a dream president for him.

    He broke from her in 2014 (not 2011 like she claims)

    They hired Fusion GPS to find out WHY Russia was supporting Trump, but they didn’t get honest answers.

    She had no inclination to truly take him on. DJT was a wild card and he has a proven streak of obstinance when he gets his dander up. He further had a long track record of being a tough dealmaker (ask the trade unions) who knew how to leverage advantage.

    The fact that Putin was sweet on Trump was clear. What you say here would be all the more reason to enlist former MI6 agent Christopher Steele. What’s the reason?

    Actually Trump wasn’t such abig dealmaker. Although Trump had not been able to strike any deal with Russia except to host the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  51. 31. Hello Kitty (c587a1) — 12/28/2017 @ 1:52 pm

    In fact, if proof of anything exists, is Putin tried to screw both sides. Like pee Dossier an attempt to harm Trump and FB Ads looking to whip up both sides.

    No, Putin thouyght Steel was working for the British.

    The Hillary Cinton campaigh was able to fool Russia about that point. But “James Bond” still did not get the truth.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  52. Under Obama’s aegis, putin was able to get rid of the entire polish cabinet, an interesting variation on brechts ‘dissolve the people’, they were able to get half of Ukraine, they lost out on their ally Libya, but Egypt became closer to russia

    narciso (d1f714)

  53. Russians are such kidders. Among the more clever pranks they’ve pulled was flying the same few airplanes over and over during Red Square May Day parades suckering western spooks counting them into believing they had more bombers than they actually had. And a personal favorite, cleverly not mentioning Gagarin ejected from Vostok 1, parachuting to Earth and not actually landing w/his spacecraft- a fact conveniently overlooked when the Russians filed a claim to the record w/t The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) the world’s air sports federation:

    ‘[The FAI was] founded in 1905 as a non-governmental and non-profit making international organization to further aeronautical and astronautical activities worldwide. Among its duties, the FAI certifies and registers records… If nationals from two different countries claim a record, it is the FAI’s job to examine the submitted documentation and make a ruling as to who has accomplished the feat first. When it was apparent that the U.S. and the USSR were planning to launch men into space, the FAI specified spaceflight guidelines. One of the stipulations that the FAI carried over from aviation was that spacecraft pilots, like aircraft pilots should land inside their craft in order for the record to be valid… When Gagarin orbited the Earth on April 12, 1961, the plan had never been for him to land inside his Vostok spacecraft. His spherical reentry capsule came through the Earth’s atmosphere on a ballistic trajectory. Soviet engineers had not yet perfected a braking system that would slow the craft sufficiently for a human to survive impact. They decided to eject the cosmonaut from his craft. Gagarin ejected at 20,000 feet and landed safely on Earth. Soviet engineers had not discussed this shortcoming with Soviet delegates to the FAI prior to his flight. They prepared their documents for the FAI omitting this fact. This led everyone to believe that Gagarin had landed inside his spacecraft. It was not until four months later, when German Titov became the second human to orbit the Earth and the first person to spend a full day in space, when the controversy began to brew. Titov owned up to ejecting himself. This led to a special meeting of the delegates to the FAI to reexamine Titov’s spaceflight records. The conclusion of the delegates was to rework the parameters of human spaceflight to recognize that the great technological accomplishment of spaceflight was the launch, orbiting and safe return of the human, not the manner in which he or she landed. Gagarin and Titov’s records remained on the FAI books. Even after Soviet-made models of the Vostok spacecraft made it clear that the craft had no braking capability, the FAI created the Gagarin Medal that it awards annually to greatest aviation or space achievement of that year… Yes, Gagarin did not follow the rules that the FAI established before his flight. However, as is true with any sports organization, the FAI reserved the right to reexamine and reinterpret its rules in light of new knowledge and circumstances. Gagarin remains indisputably the first person in space and the concept that the first cosmonauts had to land inside their spacecraft is a faded artifact of the transition from aviation to spaceflight.’ – source, Smithsonian/NASM

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  54. Its the same trick Fidel played on Herbert Matthews, at my peoples expense, than again the company case the late villa espin, the future significant other of the remaining Castro brothers,

    narciso (d1f714)

  55. I think this is just the Russians being Russians. Truman should have nuked them and sent in Patton to bayonet the survivors. The world would have been a far better place if he had. No Communism, no Korean or Vietnam Wars, no CIA.

    BTW, did somebody say we should trust Wiki? The Bradley Manning Wiki? The Edward Snowden Wiki? The Comintern remnant Wiki? That Wiki?

    nk (dbc370)

  56. Since the last thread has gotten moldy,
    http://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/16/opinion/andropov-reads-america-fluently.html?pagewanted=all

    This was the state of Kremlin watching, of course strobe talbott agreed as did Robert scheer that the problem was Reagan, as did Ted Kennedy, the nuclear freeze was a real version of maskirovna that the previous vice president, as well as John Kerry and Leon panetta believed.

    narciso (d1f714)

  57. Bared on what, back when they were controlling a dozen countries, directed guerilla operations in at least as many Latin American countries that want a reason

    narciso (d1f714)

  58. They also recruited the top officials in PLO as assets like arafat (gru) haddad and Abe maze (kgb) through east Germany they ran the baader, the brigatte rossi had bases in Czechoslovakia they supported the Ira (John Mcdonnell) is the dinosaur from that era.

    narciso (d1f714)

  59. The leader in south Africa was part of umkhonto do sizwe the soviet and Libyan supported Marxist group. The departed Mr. Mugabe was part of zanu a mostly Chinese inspired outfit.

    narciso (d1f714)

  60. Although the official sanctuary was probably in the states:
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5219307/Gerry-Adams-thought-IRA-campaign-fail.html

    narciso (d1f714)

  61. Never been to a place where the look of despair is worn by so many. N. Ireland is not a happy place.

    mg (8cbc69)

  62. 65.Never been to a place where the look of despair is worn by so many. N. Ireland is not a happy place.

    mg, you understand that was back in 1987. I wonder what they look like now.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  63. I was last in N. Ireland 2002 and that’s what I saw and felt, Rev. The Protestants were vandalizing all the Catholic churches and the Catholics homes. When meeting women and children on the streets of Portrush the mothers would put their kids up against a building to shield them from us as we were walking by. 40′ high razor wire around Police Headquarters. Shot 74 atRoyal Portrush that day.

    mg (8cbc69)

  64. Well mg, I was just going by the date of the photos. Still, 2002 was almost 16 years ago things could be worse or better now.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  65. This fellow was the gorka figure on the Reagan administration:

    https://pjmedia.com/michaelledeen/first-anti-american-president/

    narciso (29665c)

  66. The Trump-Russia collusion story may not be real but Rose Marie was.

    RIP

    harkin (8256c3)

  67. “I point at the moon; they look at my finger.”

    The left have done a very good job at distraction on the Russian interference claims, trying to make President Trump’s victory seem illegitimate, but whether the Russians were behind the hacks into John Podesta’s and the DNC’s emails is almost beside the point. The problem for the left isn’t who hacked them, but what the emails disclosed.

    Mr Podesta certainly didn’t want the email in which he noted that Hillary Clinton was drunk at three o’clock in the afternoon made public, but whether the Russians were responsible for that disclosure or not, wasn’t that information the voters should have had?

    Donna Brazile surely didn’t want it disclosed that she had provided Mrs Clinton with debate questions in advance, but wasn’t that valuable information for the voters, regardless of how it was disclosed?

    Jennifer Palmieri could not have wanted her anti-Catholic writings made public — Miss Palmieri laughably claims that she is Catholic, but she most certainly is not — wasn’t it a good thing to expose to the American people the anti-Catholic nature of Mrs Clinton’s campaign staff?

    Let me make this perfectly clear: if the Russians were the ones who successfully hacked those systems, and passed that information on to WikiLeaks, they did the United States a huge favor! Whether or not the disclosed information was instrumental in defeating Mrs Clinton or not — and there’s no way to know — by exposing the behind the scenes machinations of the Democrats, they helped the American people to learn what scumbags the Democrats were.

    Дана из России (0e4722)

  68. Paying us back for Radio Free Europe, eh?

    nk (dbc370)

  69. Same playbook different country

    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/21468

    narciso (29665c)

  70. No, I don’t want any damn Russkies sticking their noses in our elections “for our own good”. They are our worst enemy right now and our own good is the last thing they want.

    nk who has the surname Muscovite in his family tree (dbc370)

  71. Tovarich Dana, let us not overlook the probability that similar things reside in the files of the RNC, and our ignorance of them is due solely to the fact that the computer security folks at the RNC are better than those at the DNC.

    Kishnevi (98ea1b)

  72. Hillary is not now, nor ever will be the president of the United States. You’re welcome.

    The wonder is what kind of damage happened to the democrat half of the country where Hillary being president seemed like a good idea?

    papertiger (c8116c)

  73. Ed from SFV wrote:

    It is nonsensical to assert that Putin wanted DJT to win. Hillary Resetbutton Clinton would have been a dream president for him. She had no inclination to truly take him on.

    That’s the logical thing to say, but it misses one very important point: a lot of decisions are not taken logically, but based on emotion. Vladimir Vladimirovich despised both Barack Hussein Obama and Hillary Clinton, because, deep down, they did not respect him, and he knew it. Both of them expressed a thinly-concealed contempt for the Russian leader.

    The same is true of Julian Assange. By any logical reckoning, someone with his politics should be more favorably disposed to the Democrats, not Republicans, but it’s blatantly obvious that he truly, deeply hates Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton. I assume that part of it is that he blames the US for his rape indictment in Sweden, and thus his seeking sanctuary in the Ecuadorian embassy. Another part of it may be that he simply works against whomever is in power.

    The Dana who looks at the evidence (0e4722)

  74. Comrade Nevi wrote:

    Tovarich Dana, let us not overlook the probability that similar things reside in the files of the RNC, and our ignorance of them is due solely to the fact that the computer security folks at the RNC are better than those at the DNC.

    Oh, I suspect that’s true. Perhaps both parties will learn — though I don’t expect it — that some things should not be put on paper or into computer systems.

    The realistic Dana (0e4722)

  75. BTW, I am currently reading Anne Applebaum’s book on the Horodmor. The map allowed me to finally identify the village where my grandmother was born c.1890
    https://1ua.com.ua/toporysche/en

    Kishnevi (98ea1b)

  76. The Muscovite nk wrote:

    No, I don’t want any damn Russkies sticking their noses in our elections “for our own good”. They are our worst enemy right now and our own good is the last thing they want.

    Are you saying that it would have been better if the Russians had failed in their (alleged) efforts to hack the DNC and Clinton campaign, and that our voters did not have that information? Remember: the consequence of that path might have been President Hillary Clinton.

    The very realistic Dana (0e4722)

  77. And he probably thought of Obama like one of lumumba university students, about Hillary I dont think there is an analogue of over, not sstAirova or politskayava who he respected to a degree, even though we know the ultimate xonsequences.

    narciso (29665c)

  78. Say what you will but Wiki don’t lie.

    Agenda yes, but liars nope.

    They said not Russia.

    Clown Car (c587a1)

  79. It’s a powerful time on that portion of the oodlands, she even gives an interesting perspective on petlura, long regarded as a vicious warlord and the how he was disoatched

    narciso (29665c)

  80. So what would have been the net electoral effect of the Obama deep state successfully eliminating Assange just as HRC had wished?

    urbanleftbehind (87ccb0)

  81. Blooslands only Robert conquest really examined it with great alacrity, and he came from international research, so he couldn’t be trusted

    narciso (29665c)

  82. Mr Behind wrote:

    So what would have been the net electoral effect of the Obama deep state successfully eliminating Assange just as HRC had wished?

    Well, who can say? WikiLeaks would still have existed, and if the Russians were responsible for the hacks, they could have turned it over to an Assangeless WikiLeaks. Or they could have found some other way to get the information released. Still, it might have proved more problematic; no one else had WikiLeaks reputation.

    The Dana who doesn't know the future (0e4722)

  83. There would have probably been a dead man switch, it’s instructive when I saw fifth estate, I didn’t she was out of the foggy bottom loop at the time.

    Btw that film is largely based on domischeit (zic) who was played by bruhl who will star in carrs alienusts.

    narciso (29665c)

  84. 84
    Why am i not surprised you’ve already read it? 😁

    Kishnevi (98ea1b)

  85. I skimmed it, the fate of a fellow captive nation is sobering reading.

    narciso (29665c)

  86. Re Assange
    Do not forget that the Left thinks of Clinton and Obama as neocons who kowtow to SJWdom for political purposes. They think Obama was not soft enough with Iran.

    Kishnevi (98ea1b)

  87. BTW, I tried to read Winik’s 1944, but couldn’t get past his description of the death camps. He did too good a job. To read it, and know that was how some of my relatives probably died (the ones not killed by Einsatzgruppen) was simply too much.

    Kishnevi (98ea1b)

  88. Confiar en los rusos, how would our version of lenny Bruce put it, (redacted) but also judge Judy’s aphorism comes to mind

    narciso (29665c)

  89. I think i understand, it was sobering, a real life horror movie where you already know the ending.

    narciso (29665c)

  90. …most rational people had already drawn: that the Kremlin was indeed behind the hack. The evidence that the Kremlin was trying to help Trump, and make connections to Trump, has always been clear

    Thanks, Pat, for letting us know what opinions are decent enough for rational people to hold. But I have to part ways with you decent chaps. Mostly because I have some experience in the area.

    Putin has an M.O. He causes havoc. In Europe he’ll fund both antifa/black bloc types and skinheads/neo-nazis. All the evidence released to date shows he was acting entirely in character. The idea that Putin actually was pulling for one candidate over the other is at best childish.

    Not that he wouldn’t want you to think that, though. That simply adds to the atmosphere of suspicion and hate that was his intent to create all along.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  91. If you are still talking about who Putin was trying to help in November 2016 in December 2017, you are dancing to Putin’s tune.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  92. There is certainly that, but there is the actual question of attribution, crowdstrike didn’t actually do that:
    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/iran-protesters-decry-economic-mismanagement-but_us_5a457b28e4b06cd2bd03defa

    narciso (d1f714)

  93. 59 – “……..that the problem was Reagan, as did Ted Kennedy, the nuclear freeze was a real version of maskirovna that the previous vice president, as well as John Kerry and Leon panetta believed.”

    That must be why Teddy was so eager to commit treason:

    “Kennedy’s message was simple. He proposed an unabashed quid pro quo. Kennedy would lend Andropov a hand in dealing with President Reagan. In return, the Soviet leader would lend the Democratic Party a hand in challenging Reagan in the 1984 presidential election.”

    https://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy-soviet-union-ronald-reagan-opinions-columnists-peter-robinson.html

    harkin (8256c3)

  94. Mr 57 wrote:

    The idea that Putin actually was pulling for one candidate over the other is at best childish.

    Huh? Vladimir Vladimirovich is President of the Russian Federation, and, as such, has to think of what would be better, or worse, for his country’s, and his own, interests. Why would it be “at best childish” to think that he might see the election of one candidate over the other as more in line with what he perceives to be his interests?

    Countries do this all the time! Did not President Obama believe that the re-election of Prime Minister Netanyahu would be detrimental to American interests, and try to help his opponents to defeat him? Did not Angela Merkel believe it was in Germany’s interests to see Marine Le pen defeated in France, and work to help Emmanuel Macron? As far back as the sixties, the US was trying to direct the elections in Vietnam. We worked against the Sandinista in Nicaragua, and against Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

    We may not know exactly what President Putin thought about our 2016 election, but the statement that it would be childish to think that he favored one candidate over the other is silly.

    The Russophile Dana (0e4722)

  95. Vlad is flotsam; debris of a sunken superpower; a scavenging gull; a dirty bird. ‘However, since seagulls live in the wild, they can be eaten by predators such as weasels, foxes, cats or sharks. [reference.com]’… aka: capitalists.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  96. How do you say “lipstick on a pig” in Russian?

    nk (dbc370)

  97. @105: помада на свинье

    Seriously.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  98. Did not President Obama believe that the re-election of Prime Minister Netanyahu would be detrimental to American interests

    Obama rightly or wrongly believed that Netanyahu was opposed to the Obama/Iran/Corker strategy of doing nuclear genocide on Israel

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  99. I believe you. попутчик Dana is trying to put pomada on a svin’ya.

    nk (dbc370)

  100. but the statement that it would be childish to think that he favored one candidate over the other is silly

    Making unsubstantiated claims as if they were fact may not be childish, or silly, but is certainly lazy. It’s what the other side does.

    Doing so repeatedly (e.g., “Trump praises mass murder” in the other thread) brings it into silly/childish territory.

    random viking (6f9d28)

  101. Nunes continuing his 4 month long cry about the DOJ and FBI refusing to turn over documents is getting fu##ing old – 2 months ago!!!
    Another Gowdy. Have these moron republicans ever heard of a subpoena? They are all in on it. All b.s. from the republican cowards. . Man, these ingrates continue the decline.

    mg (8cbc69)

  102. And Sessions is hiding under the sheets with something.

    mg (8cbc69)

  103. Have these moron republicans ever heard of a subpoena?

    A subpoena was issued August 24. It’s been ignored.

    random viking (6f9d28)

  104. Republicans will stall these investigations and then drop them for the 2018 election.
    I doubt I would ever hire a republican lawyer after watching Gowdy wear knee pads for Clinton, and this begging by Nunes is embarrassing. Do your job, azzholes.

    mg (8cbc69)

  105. The citizens have been ignored because of greedy pathetic no Trump lawyers.

    mg (8cbc69)

  106. 103. The Russophile Dana (0e4722) — 12/29/2017 @ 8:52 am

    the statement that it would be childish to think that he favored one candidate over the other is silly.

    The idea is:

    1. He couldn’t affect thinga anyway, so why pick a choice? And also risk angering the winner?

    (and he supposedly could not have favored Trump because)

    2. He would have wanted to favor Hillary because she took money from Russian interests (people who say this don’t notice that they broke up, and not in 2011, like Hillary says is when he turned against her, but in 2014.)

    3. Trump could not have beee perceived as having any kind of a serious chance of winning before about March, 2016, and then was perceived as a loser, so Putin couldn’t have favored him. (but he did, even though he was a long shot.

    The reason why:

    Putin at fist, only wanted some public figure endorsing his positions on Syria, terrorism, NATO, and refugees from Syria, so kind words were a good thing

    Later, Putin was hoping to penetrate the Trump Administration, in the person of Mike Flynn and others, something he had no shot with any of the other candidates.

    The spying was originally just for purposes of spying. Only later, after it had been stopped at DNC – althouygh they still were reading Podesta’s GMail account – a new idea occured to him: Leak stuff in an attempt to hurt Hillary Clinton.

    Nobody should think Hillary got her bad reputation because of Wikileaks, by teh way, because it is not true.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  107. Nines is actually doing something, mg, whereas howdy had proven to be spit shining his shoes.

    narciso (d1f714)

  108. “Doing so repeatedly (e.g., “Trump praises mass murder” in the other thread) brings it into silly/childish territory.”

    True

    Related:

    23: The number of times over the past day that CNN has mentioned the white box truck that obscured view of Trump golfing.

    0: For comparison, the number of times CNN has mentioned that Politico report on Obama admin’s quashing of Hezbollah investigation.”

    https://mobile.twitter.com/ChuckRossDC/status/946448790785003520

    H/t Instapundit

    harkin (5772a2)

  109. Nunes has given them 4 months, and the DOJ and FBI will not comply. These republicans have to get it in gear and start jailing these criminals. How much info was destroyed in the last 4 months by these Un American crooked agencies?

    mg (8cbc69)

  110. I couldn’t find this online yesterday, and I thought I had seen this in NAtional Review.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/putins-game/546548/

    There is a story there about false information from Russia to Adam Schiff.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  111. Nunes has given them 4 months, and the DOJ and FBI will not comply

    Nunes was subject to a bogus ethics investigation, so was out of the picture for several months. He was completely cleared, of course, but the goal of delaying events was achieved.

    He has threatened contempt of Congress charges against Rosenstein and Wray unless the requested docs are produced by Jan. 3, so Nunes is doing his job.

    random viking (6f9d28)

  112. Someone suggested if it was stated hezbollah was driving the truck, then no more truck.

    narciso (d1f714)

  113. Kozlovsky isn’t mentioned in the January/february 2018 Atlantic magaxine article.

    There is this litlle disinformation twist:

    On April 10, 2017, an assistant to Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Donald Trump’s campaign for possible collusion with the Kremlin, patched in a long-planned call from Andriy Parubiy, the speaker of the Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. Parubiy said he had some potentially explosive information about Trump’s visit to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant in 2013.

    “I would just caution that our Russian friends may be listening to the conversation, so I wouldn’t share anything over the phone that you don’t want them to hear,” Schiff warned.

    But Parubiy persisted. “In November 2013, Mr. Trump visited Moscow, he visited competition Miss Universe, and there he met with Russian journalist and celebrity Ksenia Sobchak,” he said in his heavily accented, awkward English. He explained that in addition to having ties to Putin, Sobchak is “also known as a person who provides girls for escort for oligarchs. And she met with Trump and she brought him one Russian girl, celebrity Olga Buzova.” Schiff soberly asked for clarification, and Parubiy answered directly: Sobchak, he said, is a “special agent of Russian secret service.”

    Buzova “got compromising materials on Trump after their short relations,” Parubiy said. “There were pictures of naked Trump.”

    Schiff betrayed no emotion. “And so Putin was made aware of the availability of the compromising material?” he asked.

    “Yes, of course,” Parubiy said. Putin wanted it communicated to Trump that “all those compromising materials will never be released if Trump will cancel all Russian sanctions.” The biggest bombshell: He had obtained a recording of Buzova and Sobchak talking about the kompromat while the two were visiting Ukraine. He told Schiff, “We are ready to provide [those materials] to FBI.”

    Parubiy had more to say. He told Schiff about meetings that Trump’s former national-security adviser, Michael Flynn, had had with a Russian pop singer who served as an intermediary for the Kremlin. They’d met at a café in Brighton Beach, a Russian-immigrant enclave in Brooklyn, where, Parubiy said, “they used a special password before their meetings.” One would say, “Weather is good on Deribasovskaya.” The right response was “It rains again on Brighton Beach.”

    “All righty. Good, this is very helpful. I appreciate it,” Schiff said. He told Parubiy that the U.S. would welcome the chance to review the evidence he had described. “We will try to work with the FBI to figure out, along with your staff, how we can obtain copies.”

    Schiff was right to be concerned about “our Russian friends” listening in, though not in the way he imagined. It wasn’t Parubiy who’d called. It was Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, two Russian pranksters known as Vovan and Lexus. There was no kompromat, no meetings between Flynn and a Russian pop star in Brighton Beach. The call made the Americans look gullible, which suited the callers. Kuznetsov and Stolyarov immediately sent the recording to Kremlin-friendly media, which gleefully made hay of it: another dumb American, ready to believe the most-ludicrous stories about a Russia run by sneaky, evil spies. Any Russian listening to the tape would have instantly recognized how silly the conversation was. There were the B-list Russian celebrities, plus other cultural signals, like the code phrase Flynn allegedly used, which is actually the title of a classic Russian comedy.

    “We wanted to talk to someone who specifically works on intelligence and give him a completely insane version of events,” Kuznetsov told me of the prank.

    “We leaked him a bunch of disinformation,” Stolyarov said. “It was completely absurd.” (A spokesman for Schiff said, “Before agreeing to take the call, and immediately following it, the committee informed appropriate law-enforcement and security personnel of the conversation, and of our belief that it was probably bogus.”)

    He might want to check out that other version of the 2013 story, but the Brightin Beach codeword meeting shoud have caused him to interrupt.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  114. I hope I’m wrong, this would be a first if they were to jail these hacks. Not betting on Nunes to get it accomplished.

    mg (8cbc69)

  115. Actually it would be a bad sort of tell if Nunes got some G-man pelts…it would indicate he and his fellow “Portos” in the R CA delegation sold out on another issue of import to the Central Valley being discussed in the other thread.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  116. Until someone in the Fed Bureaucracy ends up in jail … they will continue implementing DNC mandates.

    Hello Kitty (c587a1)

  117. thats classic — no-shows and no-works?

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  118. Shhhh. Sessions is taking a 4 year nap.

    mg (8cbc69)

  119. Have these moron republicans ever heard of a subpoena?

    Our Captain says there are several ready to serve in the waters off North Korea. Such a brilliantly gold-plated strategist he; stellar putz on the golf course, too.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  120. you’re mean sometimes

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  121. This is how you extract overdue documents from agencies who are refusing the rule of law: Congress tells the rogue agency that they will reduce their federal budgets by $1,000,000 per day, for each and every day that goes by after the document deadline. Nunes doesn’t have the balls.

    mg (8cbc69)


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