WSJ Links Michael Flynn to GOP Operatives Working with Russia

[Phelia]

No wonder the flavor of the week has been "actually collusion is fine."

America is great again..

The GOP is officially just the party of cheats, liars, and oligarchs now. We see you, fuckers.

Cue the chorus of "fake news" and "but Hillary!" Pathetic.

 

[FakeNews]

In conversations with members of his circle and with others he tried to recruit to help him, the GOP operative, Peter W. Smith, implied he was working with retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, at the time a senior adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump.

Emails written by Mr. Smith and one of his associates show that his small group considered Mr. Flynn and his consulting company, Flynn Intel Group, to be allies in their quest.

What role, if any, Mr. Flynn may have played in Mr. Smith’s project is unclear. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Smith said he knew Mr. Flynn, but he never stated that Mr. Flynn was involved.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics...d-a-bombshell-story-about-the-russia-scandal/

 

[Saint Peter]

the Fifth

 

[adrina]

They'll go out on any limb to persecute and hang Hillary and Obama and to any length to rationalize, excuse and in general equivocate any and all of the slimy behavior that has been and continues to be associated with this administration. In all of its various forms.

The hypocrisy is blatant.

 

[adrina]

You know I'm right.

 

[adrina]

https://www.drkimsagewellsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/lubrisine-eye-drops.jpg

 

[renard_ruse]

Russia is not our enemy.

The gays and the Davos NWO elites don't like it, but that doesn't make it America's "enemy."

 

[renard_ruse]

They'll go out on any limb to persecute and hang Hillary and Obama and to any length to rationalize, excuse and in general equivocate any and all of the slimy behavior that has been and continues to be associated with this administration. In all of its various forms.

The hypocrisy is blatant.

No its not Rory. Aren't you supposed to be hibernating or something?

 

[renard_ruse]

Hopefully we can get the sanctions lifted at least by the 2020 election. I bought 400 shares of a Russian ETF after the election. I'm tired of waiting to cash in, damn it.

 

[adrina]

Seems this is my night for alt accusations. Ya'll are a paranoid bunch. Rory? Not familiar with that one. At least it's a new one. I think...?

So instead of arguing my point, you accuse me of being an alt.

Cool. Point to me.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

Every single media report on this HOT new story makes the point that Smith used an alleged relationship with Flynn to RECRUIT a corps of researchers to assist in obtaining hacked emails.

That fact alone demands a reasonable answer to the following question: If that relationship did exist in fact, AND if Michael Flynn was COLLUDING with the Russians with respect to hacked emails, WHY WOULD FLYNN NEED SOMEONE LIKE SMITH AND A LARGER GROUP OF MINIONS TO BE SCROUNGING AROUND THE INTERNET FOR HACKED EMAILS??

The story, as being reported in context, is actually evidence for a LACK of collusion.

 

[pointless]

i honestly care more about the cunts attempts to dig up everyone's voting records at this point. i mean, i get it. this shit is sexy, but it's clearly going to take them forever and at this point it seems clear that it's being used as a distraction to pull your gaze away from far shadier shit.

 

[Phelia]

Every single media report on this HOT new story makes the point that Smith used an alleged relationship with Flynn to RECRUIT a corps of researchers to assist in obtaining hacked emails.

That fact alone demands a reasonable answer to the following question: If that relationship did exist in fact, AND if Michael Flynn was COLLUDING with the Russians with respect to hacked emails, WHY WOULD FLYNN NEED SOMEONE LIKE SMITH AND A LARGER GROUP OF MINIONS TO BE SCROUNGING AROUND THE INTERNET FOR HACKED EMAILS??

The story, as being reported in context, is actually evidence for a LACK of collusion.

Dude. What? "Recruiting a corps of researchers"? It was a team of lawyers, tech-nerds, and a Russian-speaking investigator with the express purpose of obtaining and weaponizing stolen Clinton emails by coordinating with Russian hackers. You're seeing what you want to see again. Usually when this happens, I just have to wait a few days. (Remember "If Trump didn't fire Comey because of the Clinton emails, why would AN UPSTANDING MAN OF THE LAW LIKE ROSENSTEIN WRITE THE MEMO" etc.?)

i honestly care more about the cunts attempts to dig up everyone's voting records at this point. i mean, i get it. this shit is sexy, but it's clearly going to take them forever and at this point it seems clear that it's being used as a distraction to pull your gaze away from far shadier shit.

And I care more about the orchestrated attacks on the free press but I'm also an adult capable of paying attention to more than one storyline at a time. I also think this one has the best chance for impeachment, which would be unlikely to result from moves towards authoritarianism like suppressing votes and the press. Not saying those relative priorities are correct, but they are what they are.

Most troubling to me, and spanning across all of it, is a full-on assault on the truth. Yes, the Russia thing is overhyped and full of misinformation on both sides but I think this piece of reporting is significant because a) it has on the record reporting b) it's from the WSJ c) GOP talking heads have shifted to a bizarre "collusion is not illegal" line of defense. Bullshit. We need to pay attention, gets the facts right, and call these fuckers out on their constantly moving goalposts.

 

[Que]

...and he happens to be conveniently dead. Do you suppose it was the same guy that killed the actual email leaker?

 

[Colonel Hogan]

Dude. What? "Recruiting a corps of researchers"? It was a team of lawyers, tech-nerds, and a Russian-speaking investigator with the express purpose of obtaining and weaponizing stolen Clinton emails by coordinating with Russian hackers. You're seeing what you want to see again. Usually when this happens, I just have to wait a few days. (Remember "If Trump didn't fire Comey because of the Clinton emails, why would AN UPSTANDING MAN OF THE LAW LIKE ROSENSTEIN WRITE THE MEMO" etc.?)

From the Newsweek article on the subject:

Smith told those he tried to recruit that he was looking for roughly 33,000 emails deleted from a private server Clinton used for government business while she was Secretary of State. A number of the emails on the server run out of Clinton’s home were found to have contained classified information.

Smith, the sources said, believed those emails had been obtained by hackers. American law enforcement officials have said there is no evidence Clinton’s private emails were hacked.

In January, America’s intelligence agencies issued a report concluding that Russia hacked both political parties, state election infrastructure, and conducted a misinformation campaign to tilt the election toward Trump.

There is no known connection between Clinton’s private email server and the subsequent hacks of the DNC or her campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails.

In an interview with WSJ , Smith said he didn’t know if emails that hackers eventually sent to him claiming they were from Clinton’s server were authentic. Smith said he told the hackers the emails should be sent on to Wikileaks. The radical transparency group was later responsible for releasing the emails hacked from the DNC and Podesta.

To recap:

1. There is no hard evidence, other than Smith's alleged "hints" that he was associated with Flynn, that he was acting at Flynn's direction or with his knowledge.

2. There is no evidence whatsoever that Smith was connected directly with the Trump campaign.

3. Smith's efforts were directed at the missing 33,000 emails from Clinton's private email server and had nothing to do with the later DNC emails that the Russians REALLY DID hack.

4. Smith's BELIEF that the emails in question had been hacked is directly contradicted by American law enforcement officials, and, in any event, his efforts to obtain them on various internet hacking forums hardly constitutes active collaboration with the Russian government. One might reasonably assume the association, as did Smith, but at best you are talking about "coordinating" with an unknown group which had already committed the act of its own volition.

5. In short, some guy named Smith, alleging an unproven connection with Michael Flynn, attempted to obtain hacked emails from Secretary of State Clinton's private email server, which law enforcement says was never hacked and which even Smith admits uncertainty as to the authenticity of those emails subsequently provided. None of those emails were the subject of the controversial DNC hacked emails that created a stir during the campaign.

Reduced to its simplest terms: A person unconnected with the Trump campaign and acting independently, solicited anonymous internet sources for, in all likelihood, falsified Clinton emails, and in so doing accomplished absolutely nothing and had no affect whatsoever on the 2016 presidential election.

Tell me again why you think this is a legitimate story and what the hell it has to do with Bob Mueller's current investigation.

 

[Pookie]

Every single media report on this HOT new story makes the point that Smith used an alleged relationship with Flynn to RECRUIT a corps of researchers to assist in obtaining hacked emails.

That fact alone demands a reasonable answer to the following question: If that relationship did exist in fact, AND if Michael Flynn was COLLUDING with the Russians with respect to hacked emails, WHY WOULD FLYNN NEED SOMEONE LIKE SMITH AND A LARGER GROUP OF MINIONS TO BE SCROUNGING AROUND THE INTERNET FOR HACKED EMAILS??

The story, as being reported in context, is actually evidence for a LACK of collusion.

Saying Flynn wouldn't use Smith and minions because of an existing collusion with the Russians wouldn't be evidence for a lack of collusion with the Russians (or anyone else), but rather an appeal to incredulity.

https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder976/500x/61790976/why-not-both-mexican-girl-why-not-both.jpg


Desperate times call for desperate measures, or so I've heard.

 

[TalkRadio]

Saying Flynn wouldn't use Smith and minions because of an existing collusion with the Russians wouldn't be evidence for a lack of collusion with the Russians (or anyone else), but rather an appeal to incredulity.

https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder976/500x/61790976/why-not-both-mexican-girl-why-not-both.jpg


Desperate times call for desperate measures, or so I've heard.

Yes, desperate times.

So nice of you to admit that you and Phelia are chasing ghosts.

 

[needit700]

This is sad, MF is dead.

So you're F A K E N E W S !

 

[Lancecastor]

Does this mean no more Benghazi threads?

If so, count me in.

Ivanka's tight white top yesterday was yummy.

 

[Wrong Element]

So you guys are actually going to claim that the reporter made this up because his source has died in the interim (at the suspiciously young age of eighty-something)?

Keep on spinnin' for the crook.

 

[dicknjane]

SO they were trying to recover Hillary's illegally deleted emails? The ones she was trying to hide from investigators?

Damn what a bunch of traitors....

According to liberal icon Julian Assange the emails didn't come from the Russians

If the Russians had them why wouldn't they release them? Maybe it makes them look bad too i.e. Putin colluding with Obama and Hillary to enrich them while disarming the US and turning a blind eye to Russia's transgressions in Chechnya, Crimea, Ukraine etc. and securing a large source of US uranium Russia can sell to NK, Iran, Pakistan, India, China, etc

Billary and Obama were selling and Vlad was buying....

 

[Colonel Hogan]

So you guys are actually going to claim that the reporter made this up because his source has died in the interim (at the suspiciously young age of eighty-something)?

Keep on spinnin' for the crook.

I don't know anyone who is claiming the reporter "made this up." And the source for the story wasn't Peter Smith. He died. Pay attention. The "sources" are one or more of the people Smith allegedly recruited. And I don't know anyone who is accusing THEY lied.

They just don't seem to be particularly great sources. It's all hearsay.

 

[irksomesauce]

Phelinazi needs to eat more corn for its fiber so one of these days one of her endless turds at least has a chance to stick to a wall - somewhere.

 

[Ms_Ann]

Phelinazi needs to eat more corn for its fiber so one of these days one of her endless turds at least has a chance to stick to a wall - somewhere.

It's sad to watch hate consume a person.

 

[Phelia]

From the Newsweek article on the subject:

To recap:

1. There is no hard evidence, other than Smith's alleged "hints" that he was associated with Flynn, that he was acting at Flynn's direction or with his knowledge.

2. There is no evidence whatsoever that Smith was connected directly with the Trump campaign.

3. Smith's efforts were directed at the missing 33,000 emails from Clinton's private email server and had nothing to do with the later DNC emails that the Russians REALLY DID hack.

4. Smith's BELIEF that the emails in question had been hacked is directly contradicted by American law enforcement officials, and, in any event, his efforts to obtain them on various internet hacking forums hardly constitutes active collaboration with the Russian government. One might reasonably assume the association, as did Smith, but at best you are talking about "coordinating" with an unknown group which had already committed the act of its own volition.

5. In short, some guy named Smith, alleging an unproven connection with Michael Flynn, attempted to obtain hacked emails from Secretary of State Clinton's private email server, which law enforcement says was never hacked and which even Smith admits uncertainty as to the authenticity of those emails subsequently provided. None of those emails were the subject of the controversial DNC hacked emails that created a stir during the campaign.

Reduced to its simplest terms: A person unconnected with the Trump campaign and acting independently, solicited anonymous internet sources for, in all likelihood, falsified Clinton emails, and in so doing accomplished absolutely nothing and had no affect whatsoever on the 2016 presidential election.

Tell me again why you think this is a legitimate story and what the hell it has to do with Bob Mueller's current investigation.

The WSJ published a follow-up with details about a doc that named Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon as well. One of the cybersecurity experts Smith recruited published a piece in Lawfare that illuminates more of the story from his perspective. I highly recommend you give it a read. It is not concrete proof of anything, but it sure doesn't look good for Flynn.

I'm not trying to claim this is anything more than what it is on its face. But amidst pattern of prevaricating denials and dismissals like "waaaahhhh anonymous sources," it's intellectually dishonest to pretend that an on-the-record report from a conservative publication that's typically avoided negative coverage of 45 doesn't change the math a bit. Like I said, even the talking heads switched to "there's no statute that criminalizes collusion."

I don't know anyone who is claiming the reporter "made this up." And the source for the story wasn't Peter Smith. He died. Pay attention. The "sources" are one or more of the people Smith allegedly recruited. And I don't know anyone who is accusing THEY lied.

They just don't seem to be particularly great sources. It's all hearsay.

It's implied in literally the second post in this thread. And you are incorrect. Peter Smith was indeed the on-the-record source for the WSJ story. He died ten days after speaking with them. Trust me - we are paying attention.