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Alarm Clock

Mueller's team may have broken the law, violated Manafort's constitutional rights

Rachel Stockman
Law Newz
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 17:03 UTC
manafort
© Matt Rourke/Associated Press/FileFormer Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is sure to be indicted as a result of the Mueller investigation, sources say.
Ex-campaign adviser Paul Manafort turned himself in Monday after being indicted for money laundering, and a slew of other financial crimes. The feds alleged he illegally funneled millions of dollars of payments into offshore bank accounts in order to avoid detection by U.S. authorities as it related to his work on behalf of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. While the indictment containing Manfort's alleged criminal activities is very detailed, and well-documented, there is one area that could hurt Mueller's investigation. Mueller's team may have obtained evidence in the raid of Paul Manafort's home that was not covered by the search warrant. That could be problematic.

In a surprise raid on July 26th, FBI agents busted into Manafort's home in Alexandria, Virginia to collect documents and other materials related to the FBI probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. At the time, Manafort's attorney raised concerns about how the raid was conducted. In order for the feds to obtain a warrant, a federal judge would have to determine that probable cause existed that a crime was committed. As part of the warrant, investigators attached an affidavit which contained a list of items that FBI agents hoped to collect. That's where the trouble appears to be in Manafort's case.

As a legal website, we were immediately drawn to the revelation that evidence was collected that may not have been covered by the warrant. That's a serious development, and one that Manafort's attorneys will no doubt seize upon. But, is it necessarily illegal? Did the agents do anything wrong? It's not clear. It certainly could raise some serious constitutional issues that could taint the investigation.

Comment: According to Yahoo News:
The "no-knock" raid by agents who picked the lock on Manafort's front door turned up records showing the longtime political operative had been directly involved in a secret lobbying campaign on behalf of a Ukrainian political party closely aligned with Vladimir Putin's Russian government, according to the court papers. ...

The cache of lobbying records appears to be crucial to some of the charges against Manafort and Gates. The two men had previously sought to conceal information about their role in the Ukrainian lobbying campaign - which took place before they joined the Trump campaign - developing a "false and misleading cover story" to distance themselves from it and providing "false talking points" to one of the lobbying firms it hired, the indictment charges.
See also:

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Passport

Assange won't apply for asylum in Russia due to political situation


Sputnik
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 05:51 UTC
Assange Wouldn't Apply for Asylum in Russia Due to Political Situation
© REUTERS/ Neil Hall

Assange explained that even though he shared similar political views with former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who received a residence permit in Russia after leaking classified documents pertaining to mass surveillance practices by US authorities, he decided that it was wiser to stay in a country that is not a political opponent to the West, such as Ecuador.


Comment: US reporter interviews Snowden in Moscow: Russia is surprising - Putin's government never harasses me


The WikiLeaks founder also refuted his alleged ties to the Russian government, as well as alleged attempts to hinder Hillary Clinton's election campaign on behalf of the Kremlin with his publications. Assange explained that by making such statements Clinton had been seeking to escape her responsibility for incompetence and unpopularity, which resulted into her defeat to Donald Trump during the presidential race last year.


Comment: Media networks ignore bombshell Russia/Uranium/Clinton revelations - until Trump tweets


According to Assange, the former US secretary of state was also intending to disrupt his support in his own country, Australia, through such allegations. He stressed that WikiLeaks had never received any information from any government.

Comment: Also see:

Snowden is happy with life in Russia

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Info

Google says there's no evidence of RT manipulating YouTube during U.S. election


RT
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:56 UTC
YouTube logo
© Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Google says it found no evidence that RT manipulated video hosting platform YouTube or violated its policies during the 2016 US election campaign. It comes amid a frenzy in the US over alleged Russian meddling in the election and RT's coverage in particular.

On Monday, Richard Salgado, Google's director for law enforcement and information security, shared the results of the company's investigation into how Google products may have been misused to affect the election. The two-page report falls far short of revealing the smoking gun that some commentators were hoping for.

Google identified two accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian-based NGO accused by some US media reports of being a Russian government "troll bot factory." The accounts spent a total of $4,700 on Google platforms during the 2016 election cycle on search and display ads, the report said. The ads were not targeted at specific groups based on geography or political preferences.

On YouTube, Google found 18 channels "likely associated" with the campaign that published videos in English and "with content that appeared to be political," but not exclusively so. The channels uploaded 1,108 such videos representing 43 hours of content and totaling 309,000 US views from June 2015 to November 2016, the report said, noting that a single user may generate multiple views on a single video. Only 3 percent of the videos generated more than 5,000 views, Google said. Neither channel was targeted at the US or any particular part of the US public. The company has suspended the channels in question.

Comment: The only ones manipulating YouTube were Google themselves:

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Bad Guys

Murder of Gaddafi was the West's first step in unleashing their terror campaign on the world

Dan Glazebrook
RT
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 13:25 UTC
libya before after
Exactly six years ago, on October 20th, 2011, Muammar Gaddafi was murdered, joining a long list of African revolutionaries martyred by the West for daring to dream of continental independence.

Earlier that day, Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte had been occupied by Western-backed militias, following a month-long battle during which NATO and its 'rebel' allies pounded the city's hospitals and homes with artillery, cut off its water and electricity, and publicly proclaimed their desire to 'starve [the city] into submission'. The last defenders of the city, including Gaddafi, fled Sirte that morning, but their convoy was tracked and strafed by NATO jets, killing 95 people. Gaddafi escaped the wreckage but was captured shortly afterward. I will spare you the gruesome details, which the Western media gloatingly broadcast across the world as a triumphant snuff movie, suffice to say that he was tortured and eventually shot dead.

We now know, if testimony from NATO's key Libyan ally Mahmoud Jibril is to be believed, it was a foreign agent, likely French, who delivered the fatal bullet. His death was the culmination of not only seven months of NATO aggression, but of a campaign against Gaddafi and his movement, the West had been waging for over three decades.
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Flashlight

George Papadopoulos: How did a little-known energy consultant end up on the Trump campaign?

Chuck Ross
The Daily Caller
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 16:36 UTC
george papadopoulos
George Papadopoulos
The revelation on Monday that former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos has plead guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian operatives thrust the little-known energy consultant into the national spotlight.

Few details have been reported about the 30-year-old Papadopoulos, including how he ended up on the Trump campaign.

The Chicago native's foray into politics began with an unpaid advisory position on the Ben Carson campaign, a gig which lasted for several months, from November 2015 to February 2016.

An official on that campaign told The Daily Caller on Monday that Papadopoulos was recommended to the Carson team by someone with the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank where Papadopoulos interned several years ago. The Carson team member did not know the name of the person at Hudson who made the recommendation.

Comment: More on Papadopoulos: The Papadopoulos indictment: Another fake news 'bombshell' that's just a damp squib

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Arrow Down

Twitter and Facebook reveal the minuscule scale of "Russian election-post campaign": 0.74% and 0.004% of content


RT
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:35 UTC
twitter facebook
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Social media giants Facebook and Twitter have prepared their testimonies on the alleged 'Russia-linked' election-related posts to US lawmakers. Both appear to say the numbers are under one percent of all election-related posts.

Facebook's written testimony, seen by Reuters and Bloomberg, claims some 80,000 posts related to the US election were published by "Russia-based operatives" over two years.


Comment: In other words, by people Facebook assumes were operating out of Russia. Whether they were or not is open to question, as is whether or not these "operatives" were just basement-dwellers.


In the massive flow of Facebook's content, that amounts to one in 23,000 posts, or some 0.004 percent. Regardless, Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch called such posts a "new threat" to the social network's "mission of building community and everything we stand for." He said the posts were created by "fake accounts" and are thus "unacceptable."

Falling neatly in line with US lawmakers' relentless hunt for alleged "Russian interference" in the 2016 US election, Stretch will testify that the posts "opened a new battleground for our company, our industry and our society." Some 126 million Americans may have seen the offending posts over the two-year period, Stretch claims.


Comment: And how many have seen CIA-sponsored propaganda? That's the only kind of propaganda Facebook is willing to publish without question, apparently.


Comment: "Russia-linked" = "anything we don't like".

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Jet2

Global Thunder: US kicks off major military exercise days after Russian ICBM drills


RT
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 11:34 UTC
B-52s
© Global Look Press
The US Strategic Command has commenced its 'Global Thunder' war games. This major military exercise involves all of STRATCOM's major missions and come just days after the Russian military tested its nuclear triad in large-scale drills across the country.

This year's exercise integrates "all the capabilities of US Strategic Command [US STRATCOM] across the globe wherever and whenever needed," US Air Force General John Hyten, commander of USSTRATCOM, said in a statement.

"We need to integrate our strategic capabilities in order to deliver multi-domain effects against any adversary, anywhere in the world, at any time," the general added.

The exercises will apparently involve STRATCOM's headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base as well as its many subordinate units around the world.

Comment: See also: US preps to put nuclear bombers back on 24-hour alert status

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Stop

National Archives tells WhoWhatWhy exactly how many JFK documents were withheld from release


Sott.net
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:23 UTC
national archives jfk
WhoWhatWhy received the following information from the National Archives regarding the number of documents withheld from the JFK assassination records:
Withheld in Full - there remain approximately 2,745 documents withheld in full; of these 547 were withheld in full for tax or grand jury information that is not currently subject to release.

Withheld in Part - after the July 24 and October 26 releases, there remain approximately 28,609 documents withheld in part; of these about 1,295 contain tax or grand jury information not currently subject to release

So the total number of documents not released in full in the Collection are approximately 31,354; subtracting out the Tax and Grand Jury, there are approximately 29,512.
Barring further delays, these 29,512 documents should be released by April, 2018 - hopefully with only minor redactions (e.g., the names of individuals still living).
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Attention

US issues travel warning for Niger amid calls for drone strikes in the country, citing kidnappings by terrorist groups


RT
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 11:34 UTC
Dept of State
© Joshua Roberts / Reuters
The US State Department issued a travel warning for the West African country of Niger and surrounding areas, citing kidnappings by a pack of terrorist groups. The Trump administration, meanwhile, is calling for drone strikes in the country.

The warning issued on Monday urged US citizens not to travel to Niger because of the dangers posed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), Boko Haram, and affiliates in the Sahara, Libya, and West African region.

"There is a high threat of kidnapping by various terrorist groups, who have kidnapped Westerners, including a US citizen, and threatened US citizens in Niger," the State Department said.

It added that due to safety concerns, some organizations, "including foreign companies, NGOs, and private aid organizations have suspended operations in Niger or withdrawn family members and/or staff."

Comment: See also:

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Info

"Clear your desks": Catalan government officials given hours to leave as Madrid assumes control of institutions

Creed Newton
Al Jazeera
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 15:37 UTC
catalan police
© Yves Herman/ReutersCatalan police officers were ordered to escort ex-counsellors while they collect their belongings
The Spanish government has given dismissed ministers and officials of the regional Catalan government "a few hours" to take their possessions from their former offices.

Madrid is assuming control over Catalan institutions on Monday after dismissing the regional government on Friday, hours after the Catalan parliament voted for secession. However, the Catalan government intends to go to work.

"We want to recover normality with the utmost discretion and with the principle of minimum intervention," Juan Ignacio Zoido, Spain's interior minister and a member of the right-wing People's Party (PP), said on Monday.

Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalan police force, informed ministry workers that they were ordered to escort ex-counsellors who intended to collect their things.

If the ex-counsellors do not leave their posts, the Mossos are to issue a statement to the authorities which would, presumably, lead to charges of "usurpation of functions".

Comment: Puigdemont and other leaders were already in Brussels by this time. According to them, they left the country in order to avoid any violence on the chance that they were arrested:

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