U.S Secretly Negotiated With Russians to Buy Stolen NSA Documents - And the Russians Offered Trump-R

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: Intercept

THE UNITED STATES intelligence community has been conducting a top-secret operation to recover stolen classified U.S. government documents from Russian operatives, according to sources familiar with the matter. The operation has also inadvertently yielded a cache of documents purporting to relate to Donald Trump and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Over the past year, American intelligence officials have opened a secret communications channel with the Russian operatives, who have been seeking to sell both Trump-related materials and documents stolen from the National Security Agency and obtained by Russian intelligence, according to people involved with the matter and other documentary evidence. The channel started developing in early 2017, when American and Russian intermediaries began meeting in Germany. Eventually, a Russian intermediary, apparently representing some elements of the Russian intelligence community, agreed to a deal to sell stolen NSA documents back to the U.S. while also seeking to include Trump-related materials in the package.

The CIA declined to comment on the operation. The NSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The secret U.S. intelligence channel with the Russians is separate from efforts by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to obtain information about Trump and his ties with Russia. Steele worked with Fusion GPS, an American private investigations firm that was first hired by Republican and later Democratic opponents of Trump to dig up information on him during the 2016 campaign.

Read more: https://theintercept.com/2018/02/09/donald-trump-russia-election-nsa/

[Zoonart]

1. Holy Shit.

[lagomorph777]

45. I hope Mueller has access to all of the material.

This should be very helpful.

[Botany]

2. "seeking to sell both Trump-related materials"

[dhill926]

3. I mean...what the fuck?

[yurbud]

4. I can't believe this hasn't gotten more hits yet.

[Pale Blue Dot]

7. Two things

First, this was published an hour ago. Second, I’m not completely sure how The Intercept is viewed in the media.

If this can be corroborated, it’s huge.

[japple]

15. James Risen, the publisher of the Intercept has stellar credentials.

From wikipedia:

"Risen won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his stories about President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program. He was a member of The New York Times reporting team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting for coverage of the September 11th attacks and terrorism. He was also a member of The New York Times reporting team that was a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, for coverage of the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa."

[PatSeg]

21. Yes

I recognized his name immediately. Otherwise I would have had my doubts about the story. He used to work for the Los Angeles Times and the New York times and has appeared on TV frequently.

This could be very big. Another Friday night in the Trump era.

[yurbud]

5. If Russia gives up Trump, can we please cancel the new Cold War?

[zentrum]

18. ++1000 but

Last edited Wed Feb 14, 2018, 04:02 PM - Edit history (1)

….it's far too useful to the military-industrial powers who don't want to give up their $$$$$$ for arms.

[yurbud]

49. and apparently the oil & gas industry is trying to cut off Russia's supply to Europe

so they can charge Europe more for other sources that "our" companies profit from.

I'm not sure why Europe is going along with this at all. The best they can get out of it is more expensive fuel.

The worst is another World War on their turf.

[SergeStorms]

19. And have an election do-over?

Having a Russian agent as President of the United States isn't the best of circumstances.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

33. and undo as much as possible

Rewind as much as possible, all the damage done by the illegimate office-holders.

Jail the crooks and usurpers.

[yurbud]

48. Having Trump as an agent is almost it's own punishment...

all it would take is a shiny object or some Eastern European (who are a'peein) hookers to get him to change sides.

or he could go off task altogether and go golfing or get in a twitter battle with some celebrity.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Must be bogus

Why would we do this? We don't know what our documents contained in the first place? We think that by buying them back the sellers haven't made copies? This is just too stupid to have any credibility. I don't believe a word of it.

[Chakaconcarne]

9. Perhaps we are buying them back, because we don't know what they know?

[bucolic_frolic]

12. Which means we don't know what's missing?

Is our control of classified data that lax? This gets more alarming or more unbelievable, take your pick, as the possibilities emerge.

[erronis]

23. Yes. We only find out that something is "missing" when it is reported outside of the agency

Just like banks, credit rating agencies. corporations, and politicians. If you don't know about their transgressions they are perfectly trustworthy - in fact 100% guaranteed.

Having worked in some bowels of the us gov't I can say that controls aren't lax, they are missing - especially for data/reports moving out the door. Yes, we've spent many billion$ to pretend that we can track every datum. But when ex-gen Flynn and many others can carry whole reams of classified documents out of the SCIF/etc., it's all just for show.

[zentrum]

20. Agreed. And

….who's to say that what we buy will even be real? Why wouldn't they sell us bogus documents with a critical word changed here and there to completely misdirect us?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

34. let's not assume

If these are not trumpsters, let's not assume incompetence.

Career professionals in IC would be suspicious of everything.

[ewagner]

39. A good dose of skepticism is in order here...

Need more sources to confirm this...

[xor]

53. Yeah, I'm a bit confused by that too. I don't understand how this would make sense.

[getagrip_already]

8. it's not secret anymore....

and you can bet trump has been briefed and passed it along....

sudden russian spy death syndrome is about to surge.......

[OilemFirchen]

10. Libertarianski Omidyar sez what?

[CanonRay]

11. I'll chip in to get the Trump stuff!

[xor]

54. Even if that part of this is true, I wouldn't trust any of the information.

Their goal is to cause as much mayhem as they can, and anything they give or do should be considered as some sort of tactic for furthering that goal.

[Corgigal]

13. America ain't broke..

Yet. They are a country with a gas station. We can buy back our shit.

Trump, go talk to Mueller team now. They might have a question on some paperwork they found.

[dlk]

16. Seriously, Wouldn't the Russians Just Keep Copies?

[erronis]

24. Oh no - trust us! We love the donald.

If we kept copies it would just be in case he filed a divorce from us.

[Raven123]

17. Negotiating with Russian operatives?

Without more information about the source it is hard to imagine the documents being legit.

[elleng]

22. American Spies Paid $100,000 to Russian Who Wanted to Sell Material on Trump.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/politics/us-cyberweapons-russia-trump.html?

[Amaryllis]

25. I posted something last week from Intercept and got all kinds of criticism that it was not a

reliable source. What's the deal here?

[Tarheel_Dem]

28. Nothing's changed. The Intercept is still unreliable agenda driven crap. n/t

[FreeStateDemocrat]

41. Story has now been published in the New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/politics/us-cyberweapons-russia-trump.html

[JonLP24]

42. They break stories

Like Reality Winner or #3 person stepping down from DOJ.

[blueinredohio]

26. If true I sure hope Mueller gets this info. It would be YUGE

[Tarheel_Dem]

27. Oh puhleeze! Don't believe anything from that fucking Greenwald-ian rag... The Intercept.

[paleotn]

30. That's enlightening. Thanks!

[paleotn]

29. If accurate....

could it be the Russians are going to blow him up in order to cause more disorder in the US? I mean, they're not Rethugs or Dems. And all they really want are the sanctions lifted so they can steal once again with impunity. How this accomplishes that I'm not sure, but they're sure are keen on mucking with the US political system, so there must be some means towards that end.

[jmowreader]

31. This tale requires suspension of disbelief to accept

A person has to be able to accept that...

a) no one in Russian intelligence knows what "xcopy *.* f: c:" does...
b) no one in American intelligence thinks anyone in Russian intelligence knows that...
c) the guy who uploaded to the Internet every classified document the NSA generated for the five years before Booz Allen fucked up and hired Edward Snowden had a sudden epiphany and now cares about anything but his own bank account...

to accept that the US intelligence community has become stupid enough to pay the Russians to give us classified documents that you KNOW they've copied a million times already.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

35. there are more things...

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

a) that's quaint, at best (hint, at least learn dd)
b) assumption without facts
c) is significant in determining the amount of disbelief and therefore the amount of verification needed

I see nothing in the article about buying documents with some sort of guarantee that they were the only copies of such documents. A back channel may turn up information that you didn't know they had and therefore may lead to a leak you didn't know you had.

[lagomorph777]

46. I think the idea is to learn exactly what Russia knows and what their involvement was.

It's not an attempt to make the information go away. That would be silly.

[blue-wave]

32. OH MY GOSH!!

Does this mean Trumpees' Uncle Vlad is turning on him? Putin would not willingly give up this info. if he didn't want to. Makes me kinda

[tiptonic]

36. Something smells

Think about it, sell secret documents back to us? Doesn't that mean, they r no longer secret?

[mr_lebowski]

40. Perhaps it's more about determining exactly what it is that they stole/know ...

And any ramifications thereof ...

I mean obviously we're not doing so because we believe they'll suddenly 'no longer know' the facts if we can just 'buy back' some pieces of paper or computer files. US spymasters aren't f***ing idiots.

[lagomorph777]

47. +1

[YessirAtsaFact]

37. Please let the flood of dirt on OrangeTurd flow like a river

All over the media.

[Qutzupalotl]

38. Are they coming in a binder with a hidden microphone?

[Blue_Tires]

43. The intercept again??

What have I been telling you folks?

At least link to the *REAL* story:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/politics/us-cyberweapons-russia-trump.html

[yurbud]

50. James Risen isn't a reliable source to you? Or is it that he had to go off the reservation to get

this published?

[Blue_Tires]

58. Evidently he isn't that reliable

since the NSA categorically denied the whole thing, which they typically hardly ever do...

[yurbud]

59. and our intelligence agencies never lie to us...

[Blue_Tires]

60. They have a better track record than the FSB

and since those are the people pulling Glennbo's strings, he's highly suspect

[rockfordfile]

44. If true, how embarrassing

The Russians got Trump in the White House.

[stonecutter357]

51. #fakenews.

[xor]

52. Why buy back stolen documents?

What kind of documents are these that makes it so only these copies of the information on the documents exist? I mean, why else would they be valuable still if the information was already obtained? I suppose determining exactly what information was compromised, but that seems like something they'd already know. What am I missing here, because this sounds like a plot hole you use suspension of disbelief to overlook while watching a spy movie.

[Calista241]

57. From the Russian perspective

Nothing would be better than for Trump to run into huge legal difficulty. They got Clinton out, and now they're hamstringing Trump and his administration.

I understand why the Intelligence agencies are taking this with a grain of salt. Doesn't mean i wouldn't like it to be true, but it seems awfully convenient for the Russians.