CONSPIRACY
There are stirrings on social media and among people who have CLOSELY followed the Trump Russia affair, people who have spent the day perusing the indictment.
Ari Melber had a couple lawyers on his show today who walked through what this means (in their opinion of course). It is not good for Donald Trump.
Their consensus is that Mueller added dates and facts to the indictment that were not necessary to these charges. It has to do with the timeline of the releases of the hacked material and how it correlates to statements by Trump.
Yeah, they don't like Trump but I have been impressed by the number of well informed analysts who say that what hapoened today is very bad for Donald Trump.
Interestingly, there is something of a rush in Congress by the Trump Supporters there to set up an impeachment charges against Rod Rosenstein. Hmmmm.
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THE RUSSIAN HACK
July 13, 2018 / 63 Comments / in 2016 Presidential Election , Mueller Probe / by emptywheelAs I laid out last week, I provided information to the FBI on issues related to the Mueller investigation, so I’m going to include disclosure statements on Mueller investigation posts from here on out. I will include the disclosure whether or not the stuff I shared with the FBI pertains to the subject of the post.
Mueller’s team just announced (and announced the transfer, as I predicted) of the Russian hack indictment , naming 12 GRU officers for the hack of the Hillary campaign, the DNC, and the DCCC. This will be a working thread.
Rod Rosenstein, as he did with the Internet Research Agency, made clear there are no Americans named in this indictment (and that those who interacted with Guccifer 2.0 and DC Leaks did not know they were interacting with Russians). That said, here are some of the interesting nods in it.
OTHER KNOWN CONSPIRATORS
The indictment names 12 officers — and (as conspiracy cases often do) — persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury.
HILLARY’S CAMPAIGN TARGETED MORE AGGRESSIVELY THAN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED
This is a detail I’ve known for quite some time: Hillary’s campaign actually faced far more persistent hacking threats than previously known. Of absolutely critical importance, the indictment makes it clear that GRU hackers spear-phished Hillary’s personal office on July 27, after Donald Trump asked Russia to find her emails.
I know a key witness in that part of the hack has been waiting to share his story (he’s quite happy this is finally out), so expect far more details on the targeting of the Hillary campaign itself, rather than just the DNC and DCCC, in coming days.
WIKILEAKS
The indictment doesn’t name Wikileaks, but alleges that Guccifer 2.0 released additional stolen documents through a website maintained by “Organization 1.” There’s an entire section on communications between Guccifer 2.0 and Wikileaks (starting on page 17). Among other things it quotes Wikileaks as saying on July 6,
This makes it clear that WikiLeaks was not only working directly with Guccifer 2.0, but doing so in ways that would antagonize Bernie-supporting progressives.
CRYPTOCURRENCY
The computer infrastructure (including computers in the US) here was paid for by cryptocurrency, not via payments laundered through the embassy (one of several claims about funding made in the Steele dossier).
MAY THROUGH JUNE 2016
The indictment names Ivan Sergeyovich Yermakov as the person who hacked into the DNC email server and stole the emails released via WikiLeaks. This hack date is critical to the timing of the narrative. The emails exfiltrated and provided to Wikileaks were stolen from May 25 through June 1.
Note, too, the indictment says hackers remained in the DNC computers through June.
SERVERS
The hackers used a server in AZ but then ran that through a server “overseas.” The hackers leased a DCCC computer in Illinois. The use of infrastructure within the US suggests much of the hot air around transfer times — one of the key attempts to debunk the hack — is just that, hot air.
TARGETED INFORMATION
The indictment gives the search terms for some of the targeted information. For example, on April 15, 2016, the conspirators searched for Hillary, Cruz, and Trump, as well as “Benghazi investigations.”
It describes a search on a server in Moscow for some of the terms used in the original Guccifer 2.0 post, including “some hundred sheets,” “illuminati,” “think twice about” “company’s competence” (referring to CrowdStrike).
CROWDSTRIKE
The indictment describes Crowdstrike’s efforts to oust the hackers, but notes that a Linux based version of X-Agent remained on DNC’s network until October 2016.
ANALYTICS
I have been saying forever that the easiest way to steal the election would be to steal Hillary’s analytics. The indictment revals that,
The indictment is silent about what happened to this stolen analytics data.
REPUBLICANS
The indictment notes that DCLeaks also released emails of Republicans that were hacked in 2015 (though I think it actually included some that were more recent than that).
ALICE DONOVAN
Alice Donovan pitched news articles to various outlets. It was also the name used for DC Leaks’ Facebook account. This name (and a few others in the indictment) connects the hack and leak with the wider disinformation campaign.
REQUESTED STOLEN INFORMATION
The indictment describes how a candidate for Congress asked for information. I think I know who this is, but need to check.
It describes Guccifer 2.0 providing documents to Aaron Nevins, which I have covered repeatedly.
And it describes a journalist who obtained Black Lives Matters documents. As his DMs make clear , this was then Breitbart and current Sputnik journalist Lee Stranahan.
Stranahan is the journalist who helped Roger Stone write the column claiming that Guccifer 2.0 was an American.
It describes Guccifer 2.0’s interactions with Roger Stone (see paragraph 44).
STATE AND VENDOR SERVERS
The language describing the efforts to hack state sites, starting on page 25, is very specific, down to the named GRU officer. It describes Kovalev stealing the information of 500,000 voters (this is probably from Illinois).
Note, the indictment describes Kovalev deleting information in response to an FBI alert on the hacks of the state server. It doesn’t say whether he did so in response to public reporting on it.
TIMELINE
February 1, 2016: gfade147 0.026043 bitcoin transaction
March 2016: Conspirators hack email accounts of volunteers and employees of Hillary campaign, including John Podesta
March 2016: Yermakov spearphishes two accounts that would be leaked to DC Leaks
March 14, 2016 through April 28, 2016: Conspirators use same pool of bitcoin to purchase VPN and lease server in Malaysia
March 15, 2016: Yermakov runs technical query for DNC IP configurations and searches for open source info on DNC network, Dem Party, and Hillary
March 19, 2016: Lukashev spearphish Podesta personal email using john356gh
March 21, 2016: Lukashev steals contents of Podesta’s email account, over 50,000 emails (he is named Victim 3 later in indictment)
March 25, 2016: Lukashev spearphishes Victims 1 (personal email) and 2 using john356gh; their emails later released on DCLeaks
March 28, 2016: Yermakov researched Victims 1 and 2 on social media
April 2016: Kozachek customizes X-Agent
April 2016: Conspirators hack into DCCC and DNC networks, plant X-Agent malware
April 2016: Conspirators plan release of materials stolen from Clinton Campaign, DCCC, and DNC
April 6, 2016: Conspirators create email for fake Clinton Campaign team member to spearphish Clinton campaign; DCCC Employee 1 clicks spearphish link
April 7, 2016: Yermakov runs technical query for DCCC’s internet protocol configurations
April 12, 2016: Conspirators use stolen credentials of DCCC employee to access network; Victim 4 DCCC email victimized
April 14, 2016: Conspirators use X-Agent keylog and screenshot functions to surveil DCCC Employee 1
April 15, 2016: Conspirators search hacked DCCC computer for “hillary,” “cruz,” “trump” and copied “Benghazi investigations” folder
April 15, 2016: Victim 5 DCCC email victimized
April 18, 2016: Conspirators hack into DNC through DCCC using credentials of DCCC employee with access to DNC server; Victim 6 DCCC email victimized
April 19, 2016: Kozachek, Yershov, and co-conspirators remotely configure middle server
April 19, 2016: Conspirators register dcleaks using operational emaildirbinsaabol@mail.com
April 20, 2016: Conspirators direct X-Agent malware on DCCC computers to connect to middle server
April 22, 2016: Conspirators use X-Agent keylog and screenshot function to surveil DCCC Employee 2
April 22, 2016: Conspirators compress oppo research for exfil to server in Illinois
April 26, 2016: George Papadopolous learns Russians are offering election assistance in the form of leaked emails
April 28, 2016: Conspirators use bitcoin associated with Guccifer 2.0 VPN to lease Malaysian server hosting dcleaks.com
April 28, 2016: Conspirators test IL server
May 2016: Yermakov hacks DNC server
May 10, 2016: Victim 7 DNC email victimized
May 13, 2016: Conspirators delete logs from DNC computer
May 25 through June 1, 2016: Conspirators hack DNC Microsoft Exchange Server; Yermakov researches PowerShell commands related to accessing it
May 30, 2016: Malyshev upgrades the AMS (AZ) server, which receives updates from 13 DCCC and DNC computers
May 31, 2016: Yermakov researches Crowdstrike and X-Agent and X-Tunnel malware
June 2016: Conspirators staged and released tens of thousands of stolen emails and documents
June 1, 2016: Conspirators attempt to delete presence on DCCC using CCleaner
June 2, 2016: Victim 2 personal victimized
June 8, 2016: Conspirators launch dcleaks.com, dcleaks Facebook account using Alive Donovan, Jason Scott, and Richard Gingrey IDs, and @dcleaks_ Twitter account, using same computer used for other
June 9, 2016: Don Jr, Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner have meeting expecting dirt from Russians, including Aras Agalarov employee Ike Kaveladze
June 10, 2016: Ike Kaveladze has calls with Russia and NY while still in NYC
June 14, 2016: Conspirators register actblues and redirect DCCC website to actblues
June 14, 2016: WaPo ( before noon ET ) and Crowdstrike announces DNC hack
June 15, 2016, between 4:19PM and 4:56 PM Moscow Standard Time (9:19 and 9:56 AM ET): Conspirators log into Moscow-based sever and search for words that would end up in first Guccifer 2.0 post, including “some hundred sheets,” “illuminati,” “think twice about company’s competence,” “worldwide known”
June 15, 2016, 7:02PM MST (2:02PM ET): Guccifer 2.0 posts first post
June 15 adn 16, 2016: Ike Kaveladze places roaming calls from Russia, the only ones he places during the extended trip
June 20, 2016: Conspirators delete logs from AMS panel, including login history, attempt to reaccess DCCC using stolen credentials
June 22, 2016: Wikileaks sends a private message to Guccifer 2.0 to “send any new material here for us to review and it will have a much higher impact than what you are doing.”
June 27, 2016: Conspirators contact US reporter, send report password to access nonpublic portion of dcleaks
Late June, 2016: Failed attempts to transfer data to Wikileaks
July, 2016: Kovalev hacks into IL State Board of Elections and steals information on 500,000 voters
July 6, 2016: Conspirators use VPN to log into Guccifer 2.0 account
July 6, 2016: Wikileaks writes Guccifer 2.0 adding, “if you have anything hillary related we want it in the next tweo [sic] days prefabl [sic] because the DNC [Democratic National Convention] is approaching and she will solidify bernie supporters behind her after”
July 6, 2016: Victim 8 personal email victimized
July 14, 2016: Conspirators send WikiLeaks an email with attachment titled wk dnc link1.txt.gpg providing instructions on how to access online archive of stolen DNC documents
July 18, 2016: WikiLeaks confirms it has “the 1Gb or so archive” and would make a release of stolen documents “this week”
July 22, 2016: WikiLeaks releases first dump of 20,000 emails
July 27, 2016: Trump asks Russia for Hillary emails
July 27, 2016: After hours, conspirators attempt to spearphish email accounts at a domain hosted by third party provider and used by Hillary’s personal office, as well as 76 email addresses at Clinton Campaign
August 2016: Kovalev hacks into VR systems
August 15, 2016: Conspirators receive request for stolen documents from candidate for US congress
August 15, 2016: First Guccifer 2.0 exchange with Roger Stone noted
August 22, 2016: Conspirators transfer 2.5 GB of stolen DCCC data to registered FL state lobbyist Aaron Nevins
August 22, 2016: Conspirators send Lee Stranahan Black Lives Matter document
September 2016: Conspirators access DNC computers hosted on cloud service, creating backups of analytics applications
October 2016: Linux version of X-Agent remains on DNC network
October 7, 2016: WikiLeaks releases first set of Podesta emails
October 28, 2016: Kovalev visits counties in GA, IA, and FL to identify vulnerabilities
November 2016: Kovalev uses VR Systems email address to phish FL officials
January 12, 2017: Conspirators falsely claim the intrusions and release of stolen documents have “totally no relation to the Russian government”
NEW: House conservatives preparing a new push to oust ROSENSTEIN. w/ @ rachaelmbade :
A timeline of the entire Russia election hacking affair would be several yards long, so how about if we just do a short, focused one? Here you go:
FACT:
This is insane.
Trump, in his July speech, was clearly referencing the 33,000 emails that Clinton destroyed and wiped from her server before they could be turned over.
Continuing ongoing hacks of active Clinton emails accounts would not yield DELETED emails from a destroyed server. The only way someone could access those emails would have been to hack the Clinton server before it was destroyed in 2015. That the server was destroyed was public knowledge when Trump spoke.
Does anyone on the left put any effort into this?
So do you believe that's the only place the emails existed? The FBI was able to recover them from other servers and other email accounts that they had been sent to, the same email accounts of Clinton associates that were then attempted to be hacked by the Russians later the same day Trump made the request. You can chalk it up to coincidence if you like, but trying to claim they couldn't have done what Trump asked thus Trump has no culpability is just silly.
Your argument is about the same as claiming Charles Manson shouldn't have been held liable for the murders committed by his underlings because he told them to "shoot those pigs" but his cohorts stabbed Sharon Tate.
Plausible the deleted emails were already in Russia's posession...just sayin'
Interestingly, the private server emails may have been the most secure as they've never been released by anyone. The FBI and justice department are apparently the only ones who got to look at them. Hillary's private email server where just 110 emails were found to have been classified out of the 66,000 was apparently more secure than the State Department servers where all of the other thousands of classified emails she would have handled during her term were kept as they were successfully hacked by the Russians.
"Overlooked in the controversy over Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server , is the fact that suspected Russian hackers have bedeviled State Department's email system for much of the past year and continue to pose problems for technicians trying to eradicate the intrusion. Federal law enforcement, intelligence and congressional officials briefed on the investigation say the hack of the State email system is the "worst ever" cyberattack intrusion against a federal agency . The attackers who breached State are also believed to be behind hacks on the White House's email system, and against several other federal agencies, the officials say."
It doesn't matter specifically what Clinton emails Trump was referring to, if any. If any emails were hacked because Trump gave a signal, and they knew it, it is collusion.
What Trump was actually saying is "keep em coming".
Trump knew that the Russians had something. His son Donald told him so after the June 8 meeting. Now it turns out that the day after Trump asked them to find something they tried to hack Hilary. They did hack Podesta.
They are going to put it all together and prove some form of collusion. We have to wait and see how devastating it will be.
Trump's campaign people were all criminals. Now it is coming to light.
John if you write a post saying the media will reward anyone who steals trumps tax returns and his returns are subsequently stolen by someone who has been trying to steal for those returns for years, are you guilty of colluding with the thief?
Rather obvious, isn't it?
I believe they are going to PROVE some level of collusion. Will it be enough to force Trump to resign in disgrace? Probably not. He has to be forced out by public opinion and by the impeachment proceedings that will begin IF the Democrats retake the House in November.
Right wingers know damn well Trump colluded with Russia, even they're not that stupid. They don't care one iota that Russia helped their side win, in fact, they're happy about it.
I'm not even gonna TOUCH that one, Normie!
LMAO, more like a turd in a punch bowl...
I hope someone in the room had the good sense to tell him to un-ass that chair before he gave it a raging case of the cooties.
I wonder if Normie does stand up!
Nope! Possibly 'flips' the spirit of Churchill though. Now then, Russia hacked us - you and me - and I'm not okay with that. Why are you so Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) about this?
How do you feel that republicans want to impeach a lawman as of today?
Sitting in Churchill's chair is as close as Trump will come to Churchill's stature.
Trump has a lot of work to do in order to reach Anthony Weiner's stature.
The worst part about it is that it's true!
Mueller has covered the advertising buy and the hacks. Both indictments clearly state no American knew they were working with Russians.
There is still zero evidence of collusion. What's left? Hacking out. Ads out. Running out of conspiracies....
Even if your wet dream comes true, where in our laws is collusion a crime?
So you're okay with collusion with foreign enemies ? Remind me again who are the patriots in this country.
Apparently the supporters of the candidate that wins fixed elections, by the logic being displayed.
But the Russians aren't the enemy and haven't been since the 80s .Obama said so.
Yeah, 'cause Obama was such close pals with Putie. /s
Context is everything, Dawglin'.
Where did I say I was OK with it. Are you mad because Hillary actually DID collude with the Russians?
More than likely neither CNN or MSDNC did not tell you of this, so it's OK to feign ignorance.
CONSPIRACY
Well, that pretty much sums up all of your seeds.
Yep, the all say the same foolish things, over and over and over.
Seriously John, I have no idea why you let members post overtly off topic crap on your seeds.
That being said, I saw the Ari Melber conversation and it was very informative.
All Norman can do is post silly memes and nonsense right wing conspiracy nonsense. He probably still believes Mueller is going after Obama and Loretta Lynch. If he keeps up with the off topic garbage I will flag it.
IMHO John, ALL overtly off topic crap should be flagged if you want your seeds to be respected and to be taken seriously. Allowing crap to stay up merely encourages more crap.
That's funny...
Collusion or preference for a foreign power is definitely not a crime?????????????????
Yowzers!!!!!!!!!! Do we owe an apology to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg?
Very interesting but not too surprising that at least one Breitbart " journalist " is now working for a Russian propaganda agency. It seems that the far right wing has a lot in common no matter which country they're in. No doubt that's why the GOP is so pro-Putin and pro-Russia today, and why Republicans agreed with Trump's plan to make the GOP platform more friendly to Russia despite their attacks on Ukraine and their annexation of Crimea.
Damn John!
Ima have to start calling you Alex Jones. We got our very own Info Wars right here on NT!!!!!
I bet you think 9-11 was an inside job too!
You've officially Jumped the Shark now John. Don't ever ridicule anyone on this site ever again about conspiracy theories. Your credibility in common sense and sanity has just nosedived.
Could you please assure members of NT that you are alive and well and haven't been banned, offed or disappeared from NT ? Most of us know this but some have "greatly exaggerated your demise".
LOL. I would to increase increase my input by 1000 to keep up with right wing whack jobs here and elsewhere.
Bruce, Donald Trump has been whining for a year and a half that the Russia investigation was a witch hunt. Now we see that it is not a witch hunt. So Trump has been lying to you. Why are you comfortable with that?
Trump isnt qualified to be president of the United States. This is never going to go away. He should resign tomorrow and spare the country the upheaval that is inevitable if he tries to hang on.
John, Trump has been saying that Russian COLLUSION is a witch hunt. Not Russian involvement. There's a huge difference.
It will be clear soon enough that President Donald Trump is not executing his constitutional duty to protect this nation from international cyber threats. Now Fox' viewers what you gon' say then? Where is a true patriot standing up for the citizenry when you need 'em? Russia is "having its way" with your sons and daughters, "America."
I thought that was Obama’s job at the time and he was well aware of the attacks. Was he executing his constitutional duty or not?
If conservatives can do it (without frivolity): Charge Obama. Now then, looking into the here and now, charges are being written up and placed against foreign conspirators: Surely Dean, as a patriot, you want to get to truth, yes?
It seems President Trump is not taking his duty to act to protect our cyber and voter infrastructure systems for the upcoming 2018 fall election cycle. That President Trump is not doing so is sad; that a republican majority is not asking him to "do his constitutional duty" is sadder; that so-called, "patriots" support, obfuscate, and defend the president who is leaving this citizenry open to cyber espionage and attack from foreign nationals is saddest.
We don’t what what Trump is doing when it comes to cyber warfare because it is top secret. Chances are he is continuing with the same policies as Obama. Don’t be surprised if the US had spies doing the exact same thing as these Russians are accused of doing.
You keep denigrating the USA as you defend Russia. Wow.
Betcha Trump is not doing his job in the cyber community, because our cyber experts/specialists - Trump appointees gave/give sworn public testimony at congressional hearings, this President is not. Stop stalling. Or, get informed. I mean it, and in the kindest of ways, Dean.
President Trump's disposition toward Russia and its President is "We'll see," "Maybe," and "Let's see if I can coax President Putin into a business arrangement" — Where is the outrage?! We, you and me, as regular citizens are being HACKED! This is not simply a tic-for-tac, aw shucks you got me with that one between governments. The fact it is democrats, and you bett'a believe your good-looks avatar-republicans files are cached, means all voters can anticipate to be affected. Time to speak up.
This cease to be funny for patriots, if it ever was so, the moment those indictments against Russia landed on Friday. Patriot! It is time to choose the country or 'something else' waiting at the fork! Donald Trump is going to take more out of this country, than he can possibly give. Worse, he has been 'telling' us this all along the way by kicking democracies and 'massaging' tyrants—Donald Trump wants to be president for life.
The new indictments is a signal to all who are dirty that now is the time to come clean. Mueller CLEARLY has a mountain of communications to draw from. Those who decide to try and ride this out will be sorry they didn’t come forward and admit to the involvement that Mueller is already certain of, when they had the opportunity to lessen their guilt. Bill Kristol elucidated this last night, and he is right. Mueller’s level of detail in these indictments is a sign of what is coming.
If they knew this level of detail about the hacking, they know a lot more. People have forgotten that America has the best intelligence capabilities in the world, and they have been applied to this case.
And if the truth of the USA’s cyber hacking ever comes out the world will realize they are more guilty of these crimes than the people they are accusing. That’s why they want to lock Snowden up so the truth is hushed.
Snowden? Nobody has heard from him in a long time, safely tucked away in Russia. I have a feeling Snowden is much more complicit in everything that we don’t know about cyber intel than what we have been instructed to believe. Based on his role in the cyber intel saga, he should be providing play by play insights the whole time if he were genuine. Tail wags dog.
It sounds to me like you are defending what Russia did to us. Interesting.
Yes I believe we have no moral high ground when it comes to cyber hacking and covert operations. One thing we have learned is that Obama was using the intelligence community to spy on Trump at the same time he was out actively campaigning with Trumps opponent. We can’t point fingers at others when our own hands have just as much dirt if not more.
I guess I will simply have to choose a sides in this game then, Dean. Because, Russia nor any other confederation has my permission to screw around with my vote! I want my government to defend my cybersecurity rights and privileges against all enemies foreign and domestic. How about you, Dean?
I would trust John McAfee to do a better job at protecting me from cyberattacks than the government particularly after Snowden exposed how the government will overstep its boundaries and invade our privacy under the disguise of protecting us. I believe Obama was using his intelligence agencies to spy on the opposition party candidate during the 2016 election. I have little confidence in the government.
Dean, you can believe anything you want about President Obama, and plainly you do. The good news - former President Obama never has to deal with you and yours again in this life. He is a private citizen.
The Questions of the Day:
So be dodgy all you want. It won't matter to me. In the real world: facts are facts. High probability, likewise. Compromise your conscience for short-term gain and lose this country's image and standing in the world as a result. Sending the bouncy ball -n- your court.
13 Russian nationals indicted, now 12 intel officials … that makes 25 indictments of individuals that will most likely never see the inside of a US courtroom... Rosenstein has bent over backwards to assure that NO Americans were knowingly assisting / involved with the Russians - how is this a 'sign' of things to come?
I think that everyone is aware of Russian attempts made in the 2016 elections - and that these indictments look good on paper (or computer / TV screen) but what significance part do they play in the prevention of Russia's future plans? Are these indictments fulfilling a need to attempt to prove that the orders for the social media manipulation, and the hacking was directly ordered by Putin (which is a lost cause) as the US needs Putin, still does business with Russia - Vlad Putin is not even being sanctioned .. need those sanctions against Russia, but they do not impact the leader of the country - I will always find that interesting...
If the United States wants to pretend to be innocent of meddling in other nations elections and other hacking .. so be it … but to pretend like foreign countries trying to meddle in US elections is something new .. is a bit naïve - for Pete's sake, North Korea hacked Sony and held a movie hostage (NK demands were caved to) China hacks and steals intellectual property .. and gets a love tap and told not to do it again … former President Obama told Putin to knock it off .. so shocking that Putin did not immediately cease and desist any criminal behavior.
The United States intel did not see any of this coming, and could only react … has anything been done to change that narrative? I have not seen or read anything about it, but I could have easily missed something...
It's interesting that I took a different takeaway from RR. I found it telling his comments that Justice is determined by the DOJ and not on the media (something to that effect) and that people are innocent until proven otherwise... and he cautioned against people makin assumptions.
i found that to be a condemnation of the media pushing a narrative that people will be impeached, go to jail, etc when they are operating on no information, incomplete information, or outright false information.