McClatchy News reports that the FBI is investigating the timing of Russian cyber attacks timed to support Trump campaign when it was on the defensive.
“Federal investigators are examining whether far-right news sites played any role last year in a Russian cyber operation that dramatically widened the reach of news stories — some fictional — that favored Donald Trump’s presidential bid, two people familiar with the inquiry say.
“Operatives for Russia appear to have strategically timed the computer commands, known as “bots,” to blitz social media with links to the pro-Trump stories at times when the billionaire businessman was on the defensive in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton, these sources said.
“The bots’ end products were largely millions of Twitter and Facebook posts carrying links to stories on conservative internet sites such as Breitbart News and InfoWars, as well as on the Kremlin-backed RT News and Sputnik News, the sources said. Some of the stories were false or mixed fact and fiction, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the bot attacks are part of an FBI-led investigation into a multifaceted Russian operation to influence last year’s elections.
“Investigators examining the bot attacks are exploring whether the far-right news operations took any actions to assist Russia’s operatives. Their participation, however, wasn’t necessary for the bots to amplify their news through Twitter and Facebook.
“The investigation of the bot-engineered traffic, which appears to be in its early stages, is being driven by the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, whose inquiries rarely result in criminal charges and whose main task has been to reconstruct the nature of the Kremlin’s cyber attack and determine ways to prevent another.
“An FBI spokesman declined to comment on the inquiry into the use of bots.
“Russia-generated bots are one piece of a cyber puzzle that counterintelligence agents have sought to solve for nearly a year to determine the extent of the Moscow government’s electronic broadside.
“This may be one of the most highly impactful information operations in the history of intelligence,” said one former U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
“Bureau director James Comey confirmed Monday at a House Intelligence Committee hearing what long has been reported: that the FBI is investigating possible links between individuals in the Trump presidential campaign and the Russian campaign to influence the election and whether there was any coordination between the two.”
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article139695453.html#storylink=cpy
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The key word is “investigation”. Whatever happened to the phrase “we cannot comment on matters that are under investigation”? After all, that’s the whole defense about why we don’t have hard evidence for the alleged Russian hacking in the first place.
Please note the convenient leaking in the service of controlling public opinion. Who are these “two people familiar with the inquiry” and what business do they have talking to the press in this instance? Please, please take all press releases like this with a grain of salt. The Russians aren’t the only ones whose government controls their news.
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dienne77
You have just made me do something, I never thought I would ever do .
What crime was Hillary Clinton ever convicted of ? . What was in any of her speeches to Goldman.? Are the leaked emails real or frauds and how do we know?
You are losing credibility at this point . You should be calling for an independent investigation and a special prosecutor limited to all possible collusion with a hostile foreign power. That you are not doing.
By the way your DNA at the scene of a crime is circumstantial evidence. .It is proof that you were present not that you committed the crime . It is in inference ,circumstantial ,that you committed the crime. vs a witness or a signed confession.
When leaking was about Clinton or the Democrats you had no problem. There is no defending the Democrats actions of the last 20 years. But your defense of a narcissistic demagogue who is surrounded by so much smoke, that it is beginning to look like a pyroclastic blast. That defenseis beyond the pale.
Nobody in this country is innocent until proven guilty. Try telling that myth to the millions awaiting trail ,many of whom are innocent.
The guy who will not accept the innocence of the Central Park Five. Who he called out to execute. Whose convictions were overturned after years in jail . Overturned on DNA evidence and a Jail house confession. That man owes the American people the proof that he is not guilty . He must be assumed guilty, like every other person not yet convicted of a crime, who is convicted in the court of public opinion before trail. Like every person detained awaiting trail .Like every poor person who has to settle for a plea because he can not afford the legal defense to prove he is innocent,before being proved guilty.
Nothing should proceed in this country till this matter is resolved .He can establish credibility by calling for both an Independent prosecutor and independent commission. He can release 30 years of complete tax returns as the Clinton’s did. He will do none of the above because he is guilty as sin.
.
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I’ll ask you what I often ask when replying to a comment such as yours @ wapo or elsewhere:
How much is RT paying you for each post?
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Bill Clinton intervened in the 1996 Russian election that burdened Russia with the usually-drunk U.S. puppet Boris Yeltsin, who allowed greedy Russian oligarchs to loot the Russian economy to such an extent that the standard of living plunged, driving life expectancy rates, especially for Russian males, down.
Russians will NOT forget, nor forgive, that U.S. interference and resulting disaster.
See:
Dermokratiya, USA
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/03/russia-us-clinton-boris-yeltsin-elections-interference-trump/
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That’s one way to look at it . What were the other choices . My memory seems to tell me that old Boris was the guy who stood in front of the Russian Tanks . The Red Army did not fire. I do wonder what the American army would do.
But you are correct, all is fair in love and war . NATO should never have moved east . The shock therapy on the Russian economy was devastating. A failure in a system that was thoroughly corrupt long before Communism died. If it ever worked anywhere .
The real issue here is what is the connection between Putin and Trump . I assure you if there were an independent investigation Trump would be a candidate for the chair . Of course all of those Russian KGB agents who had anything to do with Christopher Steal have since had mysterious heart attacks in the back seat of their car.
The two Hookers are probably dead as well . If the “scumbag”(thank you Maxine) was innocent he and all around him would not be caught in lie after lie and his taxes would have been released . This is not smoke, its volcanic ash .
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I don’t subscribe to the Wall Street Journal but found this opinion piece very informative. It was announced in the Huffington Post.
WSJ EDITORIAL BOARD GOES AFTER TRUMP…HuffPost
A President’s Credibility
Trump’s falsehoods are eroding public trust, at home and abroad.
March 21, 2017 7:28 p.m. ET
If President Trump announces that North Korea launched a missile that landed within 100 miles of Hawaii, would most Americans believe him? Would the rest of the world? We’re not sure, which speaks to the damage that Mr. Trump is doing to his Presidency with his seemingly endless stream of exaggerations, evidence-free accusations, implausible denials and other falsehoods…
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Rupert could end this Presidency in a heart beat. If he so chose to do so .
MSNBC purged 5 hosts who would not tow the corporate line .Several had very high Nielsen ratings . Of course some refused to tone down their criticism of Obama from the left. Those who stayed may have been “liberal” but they rarely attacked Obama .
Keith Olbermann , Cenk Ugyar, Ed Schultz, Melissa Harris-Perry, and my understanding is Joy Reed is without a contract.
Wake me when Rupert gives Hannity and O’rielly walking papers .
Nice of the Journal to question Trump . Let me know when they call for impeachment.
Is there any doubt that had Clinton not been robbed of the election and was surrounded by this much controversy, the head line would have read congress must act to save the Republic.
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Charles Pierce | Paul Manafort Is Just the Latest Guy to Fall. There Will Be More.
By Charles Pierce, Esquire
22 March 17
The White House is filled with smoke.
…Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse. Manafort pitched the plans to Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009, according to one person familiar with the work.
“We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success,” Manafort wrote in the 2005 memo to Deripaska. The effort, Manafort wrote, “will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government.”…
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a54014/manafort-russia-ties/?src=social-email
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This could be . . . really, really deep doo doo.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/amp/schiff-more-circumstantial-evidence-trump-associates-colluded-russia-n737446
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Let’s hope it is really deep doo doo and that the Orange Swamp Monster and his loyal corrupt entourage all get caught. That would make America Great Again.
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This is the epitome of hypocrisy…expecting the government to spend millions so that Trump can go to his Florida retreat to golf every weekend and then wanting to pass cuts to poverty programs. I’m sure Trump would welcome a cut in financing of cyber hacking. [Think Russia interfering with US elections.]
………………
Secret Service Can’t Afford The Trump Family’s Lifestyle
The agency recently asked for $60 million more, but was told “no.”…Huffington Post
By Nick Wing
…The agency recently requested an additional $60 million in spending for fiscal year 2018, according to a Washington Post report on Tuesday. Nearly $27 million of that was to be earmarked for security at the president’s private residence at Trump Tower in New York, where first lady Melania Trump lives with their 11-year-old son. The Secret Service also said it needed another $33 million to cover travel costs incurred by “the president, vice president and other visiting heads of state.”
The Office of Management and Budget rejected the request, a source told the Post, which could potentially force the Secret Service to scale back on other operations, like investigations into cyber hacking, counterfeit currency, financial crimes or missing and exploited minors.
…Trump has made at least five trips to the “Southern White House” since his inauguration, each time costing taxpayers an estimated $3 million or more….
The idea of taxpayers footing higher bills to protect the wealthy Trumps may not sit well with critics of the harsh federal budget the president released last week. Trump’s plan proposes eliminating a number of antipoverty programs.
At a press conference this week, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said there was no hypocrisy here….
Read the entire article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/secret-service-funding-trump-family_us_58d2b5ede4b02d33b747ca5f
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Another great article.
…………………..
Trump the Destroyer
By Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
23 March 17
Trump has stuffed his Cabinet with tyrants, zealots and imbeciles – all bent on demolishing our government from within
…Nearly two years into our relationship with Donald Trump, politician, his core schtick is no longer really a secret. The new president swings wildly between buffoon and strongman acts, creating confusion and disorder. While his enemies scramble to make sense of the outrages of a week before or yesterday or 10 minutes ago, and spend valuable energy wondering whether the man is crazy or stupid or cunning (or perhaps all three things at once), Trump continually presses forward…
Yes, he’s always one step ahead of us, and more dangerous than any smart person, and we can never for a minute take our eyes off him.
But while we keep looking for his hidden agenda, it’s our growing addiction to the spectacle of his car-wreck presidency that is the real threat. He is already making idiots and accomplices of us all, bringing out the worst in each of us, making us dumber just by watching. Even if Trump never learns to govern, after four years of this we will forget what civilization ever looked like – and it will be programming, not policy, that will have changed the world.
Hey, I saw this on Rolling Stone and thought you’d be interested in it: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/taibbi-on-trump-the-destroyer-w473144?utm_source=email
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And tRump says Putin is someone to admire. Right. the Orange Buffoon would like to be as powerful.
……………………..
BRAZEN KILLING OF PUTIN CRITIC FOLLOWS SUSPICIOUS INJURIES OF RUSSIAN WHISTLEBLOWER’S LAWYER A prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin was gunned down in broad daylight in Kiev. And the lawyer of the family of a now-deceased whistleblower fell several stories on the day before he was expected to appear in court. [HuffPost]
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