Trump conducts his own sting operation to ensnare intelligence briefers – caught leaking

[Be Well]

Full title:

Trump conducts his own sting operation to ensnare intelligence briefers – and says he caught them leaking


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ntelligence-briefers-says-caught-leaking.html

• President-elect Donald Trump described a sting operation he says he conducted after growing frustrated at a series of leaks about his own classified briefings
• He says he decided to tell no one about a particular briefing, shielding even his longtime scheduling aide, Rhoda, to rule out the possibility leaks were coming from his staff
• When word got out anyway, Trump concluded it was the intelligence community who was putting out information
• He described the operation he conducted after suggesting intelligence officials leaked a fake dirty dossier of information about him

By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY U.S POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN NEW YORK
PUBLISHED: 14:14 EST, 11 January 2017 | UPDATED: 14:21 EST, 11 January 2017

President-elect Donald Trump, after growing suspicious that intelligence officials were leaking news about their classified briefings with him, says he conducted a sting operation to try to prove top spies were behind the leaks.

Trump revealed the extraordinary scheme to try to entrap the senior spies in a furious press conference where he suggested the intelligence community had been behind salacious and totally unproven allegations against him.

‘I think it’s pretty sad when intelligence reports get leaked out to the press. First of all, it’s illegal. These are classified and certified meetings and reports,’ Trump said during a press conference at Trump Tower – his first since getting elected.

Then he revealed the details of the stealthy sting he says he conducted on the nation’s senior spooks.

‘I’ll tell you what does happen. I have many meetings with intelligence. And every time I meet, people are reading about it,' Trump said, possibly referencing reports on his classified briefings, which he has chosen not to receive daily.

'Somebody’s leaking them out,’ Trump said, after inveighing against leaks generally.

‘So I said, "Maybe it’s my office. Maybe my office." Because I’ve got a lot of people … Maybe it’s them?’

‘What I did, is I said I won’t tell anyone. I’m going to have a meeting, and I won’t tell anybody about my meeting with intelligence,’ Trump continued.

He even shielded one of his closest aides from word of the meeting.

‘Nobody knew – not even Rhoda, my executive assistant for years. She didn’t know – I didn’t tell her. Nobody knew,’ Trump continued.

Having set the trap, Trump says the word leaked anyway

‘The meeting was held. They left, and immediately the word got out that I had a meeting. So, I don’t want that. It’s very unfair to the country. It’s very unfair to our country what’s happening,’ he said.

As president-elect, Trump is entitled to a daily briefing of the 'crown jewels' of the intelligence community. The briefings typically are conducted by high level intelligence officers.

On Friday, he got a briefing that included James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence and other top intelligence officials.

At his Wednesday press conference, he went after the intelligence community as being behind the leak of a dirty dossier of material alleging the Russians had compromising information on him, saying it would be a 'blot' on the record if true.

He blasted those who published it, but in a twist, complimented outlets which stayed away from the claims.

'They looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies,' Trump said, referencing a dirt dossier against him.

'Who knows, it may be the intelligence agencies – which would be a tremendous blot of their record if they did that,' Trump said, in just his latest shot at the intelligence community.

'A thing like that should have never been written … and it certainly should never have been released,' Trump continued.

 

[ShadowMan]

The only way to keep a secret between three people is if two of them are dead.

Our government is so porous with information it's a wonder everyone in the world doesn't know our business....but then, maybe they do?

 

[OldArcher]

The only way to keep a secret between three people is if two of them are dead.

Our government is so porous with information it's a wonder everyone in the world doesn't know our business....but then, maybe they do?

Count on it, ShadowMan, count on it... I'll bet there are so many leaks, they have to give intel away, as folks from A-Z know before it hits the news...

GBY&Y's

Maranatha

OldARcher

 

[Satanta]

Well. Obama did promise Transparency.

 

[brokenwings]

Isn't that like treason or something to leak classified info??

 

[Wise Owl]

Isn't that like treason or something to leak classified info??

Yes..........

 

[Weps]

Isn't that like treason or something to leak classified info??

Not if you're Hillary Clinton.

Now, F=for the rest of us peons, it violations of various acts, laws, guidelines, policies, ect... such as the 1917 Espionage Act.

 

[naturallysweet]

9 days till he has the power to start cleaning house.

 

[Tristan]

The only way to keep a secret between three people is if two of them are dead.

Our government is so porous with information it's a wonder everyone in the world doesn't know our business....but then, maybe they do?

Maybe?

Going for the understatement of the week award?

 

[Lone_Hawk]

For many generations there have been many of us that have, and will, take those secrets to the grave. This administration has destroyed so much. I pray to God that Trump will fix the upper levels who are political and care about nothing else. Don't paint the IC with too broad a brush please...

 

[Dozdoats]

There are (or were) plenty of people in your employ as taxpayers who not only could but did keep secrets of all sorts for decades. There were loyal Americans once upon a time, just as once upon a time corruption was unheard of at minor levels in government. But we have "progressed" so much as a country, little can be taken for granted any more in terms of honesty and loyalty by Americans.

 

[Bad Hand]

McCain said he released it to the FBI even though it was a lie.

 

[Millwright]

The alfabits are getting ready to have a rude awakening.

After Trump reaches through their ears and snatches their balls out, they might wake up.

 

[lisa]

Connected to the threat we saw posted last week ...I can't remember by who...a Democrat...about be careful about how you treat the intelligence agencies because they have many ways to get back at you.

 

[Millwright]

Connected to the threat we saw posted last week ...I can't remember by who...a Democrat...about be careful about how you treat the intelligence agencies because they have many ways to get back at you.

True

Does The Donald have the skills needed to clean house and negate that threat?

The chocolate jezus sure skated by.

 

[Be Well]

McCain said he released it to the FBI even though it was a lie.

A lot of people destroyed themselves with this incredible charade.

 

[Plain Jane]

For many generations there have been many of us that have, and will, take those secrets to the grave. This administration has destroyed so much. I pray to God that Trump will fix the upper levels who are political and care about nothing else. Don't paint the IC with too broad a brush please...

That's the part that is so disheartening. It's one thing to face risks in service to the nation. It's another to advance an outside agenda that is not in the best interest of the nation. It's not just the upper echelon of these agencies that need to be looked at but the politicos outside and the private interests that funded those politicos that need to be uncovered, charged, tried. The think tanks are a good place to clean house as well.

 

[ShadowMan]

Isn't that like treason or something to leak classified info??

ABSOLUTELY.....however, until the leakers face the gallows...in public executions, these leaks will continue to happen. Hang a couple of these treasonous bastards and things will radically quiet down and the leaks will suddenly disappear. Just like magic! Hang a couple of senators, high officials and contributing staff members that are responsible for these leaks and you can be sure this crap will stop.

While it might sound a bit radical (to enforce the law - to it's fullest extent), if there is no real punishment, no accountability then what do leakers have to fear? That's why we're having so many problems on this subject. If the law does not stand for everyone then it does not stand for anyone. So there might as well not be any laws at all. Think about it.

 

[Be Well]

ABSOLUTELY.....however, until the leakers face the gallows...in public executions, these leaks will continue to happen. Hang a couple of these treasonous bastards and things will radically quiet down and the leaks will suddenly disappear. Just like magic! Hang a couple of senators, high officials and contributing staff members that are responsible for these leaks and you can be sure this crap will stop.

While it might sound a bit radical (to enforce the law - to it's fullest extent), if there is no real punishment, no accountability then what do leakers have to fear? That's why we're having so many problems on this subject. If the law does not stand for everyone then it does not stand for anyone. So there might as well not be any laws at all. Think about it.

“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.”


― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

 

[Josie]

Connected to the threat we saw posted last week ...I can't remember by who...a Democrat...about be careful about how you treat the intelligence agencies because they have many ways to get back at you.

One theory is that it was the CIA that orchestrated Watergate and took Nixon down. He demanded ALL the info on the Kennedy assassination from them and they refused. He threatened and they responded with Watergate. Nixon was then persona non grata from then to his death and beyond.

 

[homepark]

The senior staff at these intell agencies are appointees. Career civil service would not do these type of things, as they know what would happen to them, and the vast majority honor their secrecy agreements. However, when we see how the head of the FBI builds a case, point by point, of Hillary's violations, and then chooses not to prosecute, what are we to think?

 

[Meadowlark]

I suspect this false scandal was never supposed to be made public. It was supposed to be the hook to control Donald. Most politicos would be scared shitless at the release of such allegations and do anything to play ball and be compliant, but not Donald. He fought back and acted with indignation like a true Washington outsider. The shadow government and their idiot minions failed to contain him, again. What amazes me more is the incompetence of the shadow government. These are clearly people who could never make it in the real world.

 

[Seeker]

All the more reason to mightily pray, "without ceasing", for the guidance and protection of Trump and his family.

 

[Meadowlark]

I am convinced that is how Washington operates. Everyone has dirt on everyone else, everyone is compromised and forced to play the game. Think of how many mavericks came to Washington full of promises only to become players in the system or become one term wonders.

 

[rhughe13]

ABSOLUTELY.....however, until the leakers face the gallows...in public executions, these leaks will continue to happen. Hang a couple of these treasonous bastards and things will radically quiet down and the leaks will suddenly disappear. Just like magic! Hang a couple of senators, high officials and contributing staff members that are responsible for these leaks and you can be sure this crap will stop.

While it might sound a bit radical (to enforce the law - to it's fullest extent), if there is no real punishment, no accountability then what do leakers have to fear? That's why we're having so many problems on this subject. If the law does not stand for everyone then it does not stand for anyone. So there might as well not be any laws at all. Think about it.

Amen to that! At least cut out their tounges.

 

[Doomer Doug]

MCcAIN IS ALL OVER THIS!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...usted-aide-Atlantic-dirty-dossier-ex-spy.html

Revealed: 'Ordinary 'citizen' John McCain dispatched a trusted aide across the Atlantic to get dirty dossier from ex-spy after former British diplomat told him about blackmail tapes
The Guardian charted the path the dirty dossier made from a British intelligence professional to Sen. John McCain and then the FBI
McCain, 80, put out a statement Wednesday saying that he was the bureau's source of the controversial dossier
The Arizona Republican found out about the dossier's existence while at a meeting in Canada and dispatched an emissary to hunt it down
He met an ex-British diplomat in Canada - now identified as Sir Andrew Wood -who in one version of events told him about the file
Wood is a former associate of Tony Blair the ex-British prime minister, and admitted talking to McCain
He issued a nuanced statement saying he did not give McCain the dossier and had 'done nothing wrong' - but he did not deny telling McCain the file existed
By Nikki Schwab, U.s. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 16:33 EST, 12 January 2017 | UPDATED: 20:19 EST, 12 January 2017



The Guardian charted the path of how the dossier came to be and how it was that McCain got his hands on the controversial documents.

The story of the dossier began with an investigative firm in Washington, D.C., being tapped by one of Trump's primary allies to dig up some opposition research on the Republican hopeful.



Statement: Ex-ambassador Sir Andrew Wood issued a nuanced explanation of his dealings with McCain: 'I would like to stress that I did not pass on any dossier to Senator McCain or anyone else and I did not see a dossier at the time.' He did not deny alerting McCain to its existence

Shortly after the election,John McCain (right) was attending a conference in Canada and spoke with a 'former senior western diplomat' who knew of the dossier's existence. That man was Sir Andrew Wood. He issued a nuanced explanation of his dealings with McCain: 'I would like to stress that I did not pass on any dossier to Senator McCain or anyone else and I did not see a dossier at the time.' He did not deny alerting McCain to its existence

Aide: Sir ANdrew Wood was Tony Blair's ambassador to Moscow until 2000

Aide: Sir ANdrew Wood was Tony Blair's ambassador to Moscow until 2000

In turn, that firm outsourced the research to a 'retired western European former counter-intelligence official, with a long history of dealing with the shadow world of Moscow’s spooks and siloviki (securocrats),' explained the Guardian.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal identified the ex-spy as Christopher Steele.

By the time the contractor had started digging, Trump's primary opponent had dropped out. But the firm found a Democrat who wanted dirt on the now Republican nominee instead.

The Guardian pointed out that just because a Democrat was willing to pay for the information that didn't mean that said Democrat was Hillary Clinton's campaign or the Democratic National Committee.

Sometimes donors seek out this information in order to ensure they've made a sound investment.

The contractor, who the Guardian didn't name, but the Wall Street Journal identified as Steele, reportedly found the information that he dug up to be concerning. He and another ex-British diplomat, Christopher Burrows, run their own company, Orbis Business Intelligence.

'If the allegations were real, their implications were overwhelming,' the Guardian wrote.


So over the summer he delivered the intelligence he had gathered from his Russian sources, living within the country and also in the west, to former colleagues in the FBI.

The Guardian suggested he also delivered the documents to his country's own intelligence service.

As fall approached, and he heard nothing about any FBI investigation into the documents, he was persuaded to tell journalist David Corn, of Mother Jones, of their existence.

The veteran reporter wrote about the dossier on October 31.

The intelligence agent, the Guardian reported, was worried about an FBI cover-up, as the bureau seemed to be spending most of its time and energy on an investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.

It wasn't until mid-November, and after the presidential election, that the chips fell in place for the dossier to make its more public way to Washington.


Christopher Steele runs the company along with Christopher Burrows (pictured)

Report: Christopher Steele (left) and Christopher Burrows (right) jointly run Orbis Business Intelligence which produced the report



London headquarters: This is the prestigious London headquarters of the intelligence firm run by an ex-spy who authored the discredited dirty dossier on Trump

Ultimate recipient: The FBI Director James Comey was handed the document by McCain after its extraordinary transatlantic journey
+7
Ultimate recipient: The FBI Director James Comey was handed the document by McCain after its extraordinary transatlantic journey

Kellyanne responds to Seth Meyers on new Russia allegations


On November 18, at the Halifax International Security Forum, McCain was introduced to a 'former senior western diplomat' who had set eyes on the documents and knew who put them together, telling the Arizona Republican that the individual was 'highly reliable.'

That man can now be named as Sir Andrew Wood, British ambassador to Moscow from 1995 to 2000.

Wood told the Independent that he had met McCain, spoken to him about Trump, and about the potential for him to be compromised.

In a carefully nuanced statement he said: 'Yes I did meet Senator McCain and his aides at the conference.

'We spoke about the kind of activities the Russians can be engaged in.

'We also spoke about how Mr Trump may find himself in a position where there could be an attempt to blackmail him with Kompromat [a Russian term for compromising material] and claims that there were audio and video tapes in existence.'

He added: 'I would like to stress that I did not pass on any dossier to Senator McCain or anyone else and I did not see a dossier at the time. I do know Christopher Steele and in my view he is very professional and thorough in what he does.'

He did not however address whether he told McCain there was a dossier - and how to get it.

Clearly, somebody did.

From there, McCain dispatched a 'trusted emissary' who flew across the Atlantic to meet the source of the documents at an airport that the Guardian did not name.

The aide was instructed to look for a man with a copy of the Financial Times and that's how the individuals met, with the source taking McCain's emissary back to his house and giving the American a copy of the documents.

Within 24 hours, the dossier was in Washington, though the contents of the file couldn't be verified without an investigation.

McCain, the Guardian said, was worried that his actions might be interpreted as revenge for some of the controversial comments Trump made about him – such as knocking the fact that the longtime senator had been a prisoner of war.

However, McCain decided to hand over the documents to FBI Director James Comey on December 9.

'Upon examination of the contents, and unable to make a judgment about their accuracy, I delivered the information to the Director of the FBI,' McCain said Wednesday in a statement about that matter.

'That has been the extent of my contact with the FBI or any other government agency regarding this issue,' McCain said.


Dossier of unverifiable sleaze
Lurid sex claims

The report states that in 2013 Trump hired prostitutes to urinate on the bed of the Presidential Suite at the Moscow Ritz Carlton, where he knew Barack and Michelle Obama had previously stayed.

It says: 'Trump's unorthodox behavior in Russia over the years had provided the authorities there with enough embarrassing material on the now Republican presidential candidate to be able to blackmail him if they so wished.'

Trump ridiculed the idea, pointing out that Russian hotel rooms are known to be rigged with cameras and describing himself as a 'germophobe'.

Property 'sweeteners'

The document states that Trump had declined 'sweetener' real estate deals in Russia that the Kremlin lined up in order to cultivate him.

The business proposals were said to be 'in relation to the ongoing 2018 World Cup soccer tournament'.

Russia 'cultivated' Trump for five years

The dossier claimed that the Russian regime had been 'cultivating, supporting and assisting Trump for at least five years'.

According to the document, one source even claimed that 'the Trump operation was both supported and directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin' with the aim being to 'sow discord'.

A dossier on Hillary Clinton

At one point the memo suggests Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov 'controlled' another dossier containing compromising material on Hillary Clinton compiled over 'many years'.

Elsewhere in the document, it is claimed that Putin was 'motivated by fear and hatred of Hillary Clinton.'

Peskov poured scorn on the claims today and said they were 'pulp fiction'.

Clandestine meetings

At one point the memo says there were reports of 'clandestine meetings' between Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen and Kremlin representatives in August last year in Prague.

However, Trump's counsel Michael Cohen today spoke out against allegations that he secretly met with Kremlin officials - saying that he had never been to Prague.

It has now emerged that the dossier was referring to a different person of the same name.

 

[Be Well]

I keep seeing articles that totally leave out 4Chan. I wonder why. Tomorrow I'll post some stuff I found, no time now.

 

[Tristan]

The alfabits are getting ready to have a rude awakening.

After Trump reaches through their ears and snatches their balls out, they might wake up.

Could likely pay down a part of the national debt if they put that on Pay-Per-View.