2 Strange Things in DC on the Same Day, Russia Again?

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Politico reports: Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said late Friday that his committee would investigate possible contacts between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia, reversing himself one day after telling reporters that the issue would be outside of his panel’s ongoing probe into Moscow’s election-disruption efforts.
In a statement issued jointly with the committee’s top Democrat, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, Burr said the committee would use “subpoenas if necessary” to secure testimony from Obama administration officials as well as Trump’s team on Russia’s cyberattacks and on other efforts at election meddling.

While members of Congress received a briefing on Russian intrusions, what more do they know that is not being reported? Could the two items below be part of Russian interference?

C-SPAN Feed Mysteriously Broadcasts Russia Today

IBT: In a strange moment of startling symmetry with the current state of American politics, C-SPAN—the public affairs network that regularly broadcasts proceedings of the House of Representatives and Senate—was interrupted by a broadcast of Russia Today.

The state-funded Russian news network briefly took over the online feed of C-SPAN1, which had been broadcasting a discussion in Congress regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission Regulatory Accountability Act.

As Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., was speaking the feed suddenly cut from the House floor to a broadcast of RT. The feed cut in with a commercial break before returning to the RT news desk, where an anchor spoke of a suicide bombing.

C-Span confirmed the incident in a statement to IB Times: “This afternoon the online feed for C-SPAN was briefly interrupted by RT programming. We are currently investigating and troubleshooting this occurrence. As RT is one of the networks we regularly monitor, we are operating under the assumption that it was an internal routing issue. If that changes we will certainly let you know.”

Multiple C-SPAN watchers made mention of the sudden change on Twitter, including Deadspin editor Timothy Burke, who captured the moment the C-SPAN feed switched to RT.

The takeover reportedly lasted about 10 minutes before the C-SPAN feed returned. The interruption does not appear on the saved broadcast hosted on the network’s website.

Viewers who caught the original broadcast and the subsequent clip shared on Twitter assumed the interruption was the result of Russian hacking.

Despite the initial assertion from people on social media implicating Russia of hacking C-SPAN, the network viewed it as a likely technical problem.

IB Times also reached out to Russia Today but has not yet received a response.

The apparent takeover of the C-SPAN feed comes after reports of Russian hackers interfering with the U.S. presidential election. According to recent reports, Russian president Vladimir Putin was directly involved in the hacking efforts, which resulted in the theft and publication of private emails belonging to the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, the chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign.

U.S. intelligence chiefs are in apparent agreement that Russia attempted to influence the outcome of the election to benefit Donald Trump.

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CBS: CIA Director nominee Mike Pompeo is on Capitol Hill Thursday for his hearing in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee — but that hearing was put on hold when the lights unexpectedly went out.

Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) gave brief opening remarks and introduced Pompeo, saying that if confirmed he will lead “what I believe to be one of our nation’s most treasured assets.”

Next, Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Virginia) began speaking, saying he looked forward to hearing Pompeo’s thoughts on a number of the challenges facing the CIA in 2017.

“The agency you have been nominated to head is facing a number of challenges brought on by a changing world and which will require great leadership to drive organizational adaptation to meet,” Warner said.

As Warner began to address concerns over Russian election interference, at about 10:15 a.m., the lights went out — and C-SPAN’s cameras cut out completely.

Warner initially continued with his remarks, but ultimately took a recess because of the power issue. The hearing was moved to another room.

US troops on Russia’s doorstep in Poland deployment

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Thousands of US troops on Russia’s doorstep in Poland deployment

FNC: Thousands of U.S. troops crept up on Russia’s doorstep Thursday, rolling into Poland amid a slew of unanswered questions about their future in the region.

RUSSIA STEPS UP MILITARY PRESENCE IN SYRIA, DESPITE PUTIN PROMISE

It marked the first deployment of armored brigade combat teams and armor to Europe after a long drawdown from the continent. For decades, Poland had asked for help in keeping Moscow at bay, but at the same time, President-elect Donald Trump has signaled he could try to pursue a friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Still, the president-elect said Wednesday nothing was off the table. “I don’t know that I’m going to get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do. But there’s a good chance I won’t.”

TURKEY BOGGED DOWN IN SYRIA AS IT REALIGNS WITH RUSSIA

Russia clearly wasn’t happy with the deployment. “We perceive it as a threat,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “These actions threaten our interests, our security, especially as it concerns a third party building up its military presence near our borders.”

Moscow also announced it deployed anti-aircraft missile systems around the city. Russia had already been using the s-400 Triumph air defense system, capable of hitting moving targets including missiles and planes, in Syria, The Sun reported.

Soldiers in camouflage with tanks and other vehicles crossed into southwestern Poland on Thursday morning from Germany and headed for Zagan, their planned base. Poland’s prime minister and defense minister said they would attend official ceremonies Saturday celebrating the Americans’ arrival.

The deployment “symbolizes a turn in our efforts on this front, and is an important part of our continued effort to deter Russian aggression and maintain a free Europe,” U.S. European Command spokeswoman Meghan Henderson responded.

U.S. and other Western nations have carried out exercises on NATO’s eastern flank, but this deployment — which includes around 3,500 U.S. troops — marks the first-ever continuous deployment to the region by a NATO ally. It represents a commitment by President Barack Obama to protect a region that became deeply nervous when Russia stormed Ukraine and took over Crimea in 2014, and then began backing rebels in Ukraine’s east.

The deployment was “separate yet complementary to NATO’s deterrence and defense activities,” Henderson added.

Many people in Poland said they still felt betrayed by Obama’s own “reset” with Russia early on in his administration, which involved abandoning plans for a major U.S. missile defense system in Poland and replacing it with plans for a less ambitious system.

Many U.S. soldiers said they were optimistic. “Hopefully we can get right into training, get some range time in and have some fun,” Spc. Kyle Smith, an infantryman with the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, told Stars and Stripes.

**** a2ad Go to this map for more information.

FP: As the map shows, Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic coast sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, boasts one of Russia’s thickest A2/AD “bubbles.” Kaliningrad is a major thorn in the side of NATO as it bulks up the alliance’s military footprint on its eastern flank, said Thomas Karako, a missile defense expert with CSIS who created the interactive map. “When Air Force One flew [President Barack Obama] into Warsaw, it had to fly through Russia’s air defense bubble,” Karako told Foreign Policy, referring to Obama’s participation in the NATO summit in Poland in July 2016. “That illustrates just how deep Russia’s missiles can reach into NATO territory,” he said.

The map also conveys how vulnerable NATO sea and airports in the Baltic states are to Russia’s blanket of missile threats. Russia could cut the Baltic states off from the rest of NATO in a crisis scenario, U.S. Army Europe Commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges told FP in 2015. Those ports, a military lifeline for NATO reinforcements in the unlikely event of a Russian attack, aren’t very well defended, said Karako. “It’s a real concern.”

DHS Suddenly Terminates Cuban Wet Foot Dry Foot Program

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A call into Senator Rubio’s office was met with voicemail and no return phone call as of yet.

Mr. Obama also ended a program to entice Cuban doctors working in other countries to flee to the U.S. Members of Congress said they weren’t consulted on the changes. Administration officials said they had to keep the negotiations quiet so they didn’t spark a surge of migrants trying to beat the announcement. Some 40,000 Cubans were granted parole under wet-foot, dry-foot in 2015, and 54,000 were admitted in 2016. “Cuba is North Korea with beaches, and Obama has worked overtime to try to make Cuba be just like every other country in the hemisphere,” he said. More here.

 

CBS/WASHINGTON — Citing the sharp uptick in the number of Cuban migrants to U.S. shores since the 2014 reopening of relations, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced a repeal of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy effectively immediately and that Havana has agreed to amend domestic laws to accept those deported, CBS News’ Margaret Brennan reported.

The policy change will not result in the immediate deportations of Cubans already in the U.S. The policy applies going forward to those who arrive in the U.S. illegally by land or sea. Cubans will be treated like any other migrants and will still be able to apply for asylum based on their individual cases. The Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program will continue. The Coast Guard will continue to interdict migrants at sea.

Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, acknowledged that the White House had previously denied it would adopt the policy, but said today that this was in part due to the fact that the U.S. did not want to encourage more Cubans to flee. He said that the majority of those fleeing Cuba in recent years are doing so for “economic opportunity” and not due to political persecution. Asylum is still available for those who have legitimate claims of persecution.

The policy change is something Cuba has wanted for decades and is part of Mr. Obama’s normalization of relations.

Despite the change, however, the framework for “wet foot, dry foot” – the Cuban Adjustment act – remains in place. The White House is calling on Congress to repeal it.

The new agreement does not change the existing 1994/1995 accord with Cuba stipulating that the U.S. will accept 20,000 Cubans per year. Those are people who would come to the U.S. through authorized procedures.

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), an advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. that works to advance human rights in the Americas, said it supports the change in policy.

“The Obama Administration has taken a positive step toward a more sensible Cuban immigration policy, one that ends preferential treatment for Cubans compared with others who arrive without visas,” WOLA Program Director Geoff Thale said in a statement on Thursday.

Thale said, “WOLA and many colleagues have recommended to the Administration that it should both end preferential treatment for Cubans and increase the number of visas available to Cubans who pursue regular immigration routes.”

The U.S. and Cuba released a joint statement late Thursday confirming the change in policy.

The “wet foot, dry foot” policy was put in place in 1995 by President Bill Clinton as a revision of a more liberal immigration policy. Until then, Cubans caught at sea trying to make their way to the United States were allowed into the country and were able to become legal residents after a year. The U.S. was reluctant to send people back to the communist island then run by Fidel Castro, and the Cuban government also generally refused to accept repatriated citizens.

The Cuban government has in the past complained bitterly about the special immigration privileges, saying they encourage Cubans to risk dangerous escape trips and drain the country of professionals. But it has also served as a release valve for the single-party state, allowing the most dissatisfied Cubans to seek better lives outside and become sources of financial support for relatives on the island.

The changes would be the latest step by Obama to normalize relations with Cuba.

Relations between the United States and Cuba were stuck in a Cold War freeze for decades, but Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro established full diplomatic ties and opened embassies in their capitals in 2015. Obama visited Havana last March.

U.S. and Cuban officials were meeting Thursday in Washington to coordinate efforts to fight human trafficking. A decades-old U.S. economic embargo, though, remains in place as does the Cuban Adjustment Act which lets Cubans become permanent residents a year after legally arriving in the U.S.

The official said that in recent years, most people fleeing the island have done so for economic reasons or to take advantage of the benefits they know they can receive if they make it to the U.S.

The official also cited an uptick in Cuban migration, particularly across the U.S.-Mexico border – an increase the official said reflected an expectation among Cubans that the Obama administration would soon move to end their special immigration status.

Since October 2012, more than 118,000 Cubans have presented themselves at ports of entry along the border, according to statistics published by the Homeland Security Department. During the 2016 budget year, which ended in September, a five-year high of more than 41,500 people came through the southern border. An additional 7,000 people arrived between October and November.

The influx has created burdens on other countries in the region that must contend with Cubans who have yet to reach the U.S. border, the official said.

The Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, which was started by President George W. Bush in 2006, is also being rescinded. The measure allowed Cuban doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to seek parole in the U.S. while on assignments abroad.

People already in the pipeline under both “wet foot, dry foot” and the medical parole program will be able to continue the process toward getting legal status.

The preferential treatment for Cubans reflected the political power of Cuban-Americans, especially in Florida, a critical state in presidential elections. That has been shifting in recent years. Older Cubans, particularly those who fled Castro’s regime, tend to reject Obama’s diplomatic overtures to Cuba. Younger Cuban-American voters have proven less likely than their parents and grandparents to define their politics by U.S.-Cuba relations. Exit polls show President Barack Obama managed roughly a split in the Florida Cuban vote in 2012, and Trump in November won the same group by a much narrower margin than many previous Republican nominees.

Orbis, From the FIFA Scandal to the Trump Intel Dossier

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It was not John McCain. It was not the FBI.

Christopher Steele, a former Moscow based MI6 spy has an investigative outside company called Orbis Business Intelligence of which still collaborates with Western leaders and political operatives. Orbis was hired by FusionGPS which in turned is hired by U.S. based political operatives for intelligence which is often packaged into opposition research, an extremely common tactic in DC. Orbis Business Intelligence does have a good history as it broke the corruption scandal on FIFA which was later turned over to the Department of Justice where Loretta Lynch in fact did prosecute those involved.

Gathering intelligence on people, playbooks, legislation is then often repackaged for causes and media is always included. The Trump dossier was crafted last summer and traveled many circles for several months. The dossier was appended to the intelligence briefing(s) given to both Obama and Donald Trump on the matter of Russian penetration into the election cycle.

It could be suggested that the White House had/has media operatives that released the dossier to late comers in media that included other CNN contacts and BuzzFeed.

Christopher Steele dispatched an emissary carrying the report to John McCain. McCain could not validate or substantiate the material contained in the report and turned it over to the FBI for further action. The FBI already had the report.

We cant know all the dates and details leading up to the Trump dossier release, yet there are other suggestions that should be injected including the fact that media had possession of the dossier for many months and some chose not to release it as others did.

Enter two other possible political operatives, Van Jones and David Brock. There is a Trump war room and it is fully functional already.

Hillary Clinton’s allies aren’t done campaigning against Donald Trump. 

Liberal PAC American Bridge, launched by Clinton ally David Brock, on Wednesday announced the leadership team for a new anti-Trump project called the “Trump War Room.” The group tapped Shripal Shah, a former Clinton campaign staffer and alumnus of the Democratic National Committee, to run the outfit. 

“The Trump War Room is set to be the research and communications powerhouse that will fight Trump at every turn,” American Bridge said in a statement. 

“The Trump War Room will continue to put a spotlight on all the different ways that Trump’s decisions are driven not by the national interests of the American people, but by Trump’s own personal self-interests that could put our national security in jeopardy.” More here from FNC.

Last summer too, Van Jones launched yet another political operation called ‘Megaphone Strategies’. He is not bashful by any measure mobilizing anti Trump soldiers for search and destroy objectives of the new Trump administration.

AdWeek’s Fishbowl DC blog reports, quoting Jones:

Everywhere we look, we discover courageous people finding ways to break down barriers and solve tough problems. We need to hear their voices, and we need to elevate their work,” said Van Jones of the reason behind the firm’s creation, which will offer strategy, publicity, media training and event/social justice campaign planning services.

Megaphone’s clients include Vote.org, the ACORN-affiliated Working Families Party, and Demand Progress.

Van Jones was behind much of the mission to challenge the electoral college process. He remains connected to the Obama team even though he resigned as the green czar. One must keep a close eye on progressive/Marxist officials as the Obama administration looks for post presidency jobs.

Obama delivered his farewell speech in Chicago on Tuesday night. He clearly stated he would remain involved in his coded message to his followers. Obama is continuing his climate change agenda, social justice and refugee operations. (selected parts are below)

If I had told you eight years ago that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history — (applause) — if I had told you that we would open up a new chapter with the Cuban people, shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program without firing a shot, take out the mastermind of 9/11 — (applause) — if I had told you that we would win marriage equality, and secure the right to health insurance for another 20 million of our fellow citizens –- (applause) — if I had told you all that, you might have said our sights were set a little too high. But that’s what we did. (Applause.) That’s what you did.

You were the change. You answered people’s hopes, and because of you, by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started.

But for all the real progress that we’ve made, we know it’s not enough. But we’re not where we need to be. And all of us have more work to do. (Applause.) If every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and an undeserving minority, then workers of all shades are going to be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves. (Applause.) If we’re unwilling to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don’t look like us, we will diminish the prospects of our own children — because those brown kids will represent a larger and larger share of America’s workforce. (Applause.) And we have shown that our economy doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Last year, incomes rose for all races, all age groups, for men and for women.

This is going to be a wild ride for the next 4 years. Ensure you can remain securely fastened in your seat belt.

 

 

Additional Details: Hillary Emails, V. FBI, V State and Sidney

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New Clinton email files detail FBI-State tussle over Benghazi message

Politico: Newly-released records about the Hillary Clinton email investigation shed new light on an early dispute between the FBI and the State Department over the classification of an email discussing the aftermath of the 2012 Benghazi attacks.

The 299 pages of internal FBI records, apparently released over the weekend on the FBI’s Freedom of Information Act page, describe the bureau’s reaction to State’s protest of an FBI decision to classify a November 2012 State email discussing arrests in the Benghazi attacks.

The email was the first from Clinton’s private account and server to be publicly identified as “SECRET,” fueling arguments that Clinton and State had been careless in handling sensitive information.

Notations applied to the message when it was reviewed in 2015 show it was classified because of the potential impact on U.S. relations overseas. However, the newly-disclosed FBI communications messages show one official there argued that the message should actually be classified based on its potential to disclose intelligence “sources and methods”—a designation that could have raised red flags with the press and on Capitol Hill.

“The redaction lists ‘interference with foreign relations as the rationale.’ The crux of States [sic] argument is they know better what will impact foreign relations and there is no longer a government in place” in Libya, the unidentified FBI official wrote to Michelle Jupina, the FBI Assistant Director for Records Management. “The more appropriate rationale is sources and methods. While the email does not name the particular official, this might be deduced and, given the threat of violence in the region, any surmise could be fatal for whoever cooperated with us. State will say no one will know if it is redacted, but that is not how classification works.”

The message shows Deputy Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy intervened with the FBI to dispute the classification at least three times: in a May 14, 2015, call to International Operations Division chief Brian McCauley, at an in-person meeting at the State Department five days later and in a phone conversation with the head of FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, Michael Steinbach.

The unnamed FBI author of the message to Jupina said Kennedy summoned various officials to State to discuss the review of 55,000 of Clinton emails requested under FOIA. At that meeting, Kennedy asked the FBI representative and a Justice Department FOIA official to “stay behind to discuss the FBI determination” on classification in the first batch of Clinton emails, the FBI email says.

An email from Steinbach said he turned down Kennedy’s request that the information be withheld solely under a FOIA provision for protection of law enforcement sources, rather than by classifying it.

“I explained to Mr. Kennedy that to only exempt for (b)(7)(D) was not appropriate as the information in the two portions in question was classified at the Secret/NOFORN level,” Steinbach wrote.

Even after that decision, the FBI got another high-level contact on the issue from State that same day, with Secretary of State John Kerry’s chief of staff Jon Finer calling Jim Rybicki, then-deputy chief of staff to FBI Director James Comey.

“Finer…stated that he was not attempting to change [Steinbach’s] classification decision, and said that he just wanted to make sure that FBI leadership was aware of the decision and the procedural process and media attention it would likely trigger,” Rybicki wrote in an email to several colleagues. “I relayed back to the State Department that leadership is aware of the review process and decision.”

Rybicki said Finer asked if the FBI could classify the information rather than State doing so at FBI’s request. When the email was released, State officials said they were withholding it at FBI’s request.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that the new records demonstrate the department’s longstanding contention that it did not feel the specific document needed to be upgraded and that there were discussions among agencies about the issue.

“Classification is an art, not a science, and individuals with classification authority sometimes have different views. We have an obligation to ensure determinations as they relate to classification are made appropriately,” Kirby said in a statement.

He added, “With respect to Mr. Finer, the material recently released by the FBI makes clear that he did not contact them to change the classification of the email. On the contrary, this was routine contact to ensure appropriate leadership in both agencies were prepared to respond to questions. As is well known and was discussed publicly at the time, the State Department did upgrade the document at the request of the FBI when we released it back in May 2015.”

Some indications of the FBI-State dispute appeared in records released in October, leading then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to argue on the campaign trail that Kennedy had proposed a trade-off where State would increase FBI staffing levels overseas if State withdrew its claim that the Benghazi-related email was classified.

The notion of such a quid pro quo apparently originated with a records official at the FBI, but Kennedy flatly denied it. In addition, McCauley said he did not believe Kennedy was proposing such a trade-off, although the pair did discuss both issues in a single phone call.

While the classification dispute over the Benghazi-related message appears to have been heavily litigated, it would wind up being just the tip of the iceberg. In a statement in July, Comey said 110 emails in Clinton’s account were classified at the time they were sent, with eight email chains considered “Top Secret” at the time they were sent and 36 chains containing “Secret”-level information. None of those messages was properly marked as classified, he said.

The newly-released FBI emails and memos also contain some other details about the Clinton email probe that have not been previously reported or received little notice:

–The Secret Service rebuffed the FBI’s initial request for assistance in the investigation, according to a memo which suggests some tensions between the two law enforcement agencies.

At a July 28, 2015, meeting, a Secret Service official “advised that his management told him that any FBI request for information or assistance related to this matter would need to come via written request from the Department of Justice to the Department of Homeland Security, which would then forward the request to the USSS,” an FBI memo said. After consulting with Secret Service managers about the requested assistance, the official “refused to identify [to the FBI] the specific USSS manager(s) to whom he spoke.”

The FBI eventually obtained information on the Secret Service’s assistance to former President Bill Clinton with security issues related to his computer server, which eventually became the one hosting Hillary Clinton’s much-discussed private account.

–The FBI apparently took a week to notify the Justice Department after receiving a formal referral from the Intelligence Community Inspector General about the Clinton email matter in July 2015. A memo from Deputy FBI Director Mark Giuliano says the FBI got the referral on July 6, formally opened its full investigation on July 10, and first advised Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates on July 13.

–The investigation itself was treated as classified at its outset, but was declassified in August 2015. Internal FBI memos say it was determined that an initial batch of emails from Clinton’s account released by State under FOIA contained “Top Secret” information. The memo declassifying the investigation says that information was deemed not to be so sensitive that it could not be discussed more widely. “No previously unknown sources or informants were revealed in the identified material…. No sensitive sources or methods were disclosed.”

–The email investigation was also designated as “sensitive” and its records were closely-held at the FBI because of Clinton’s status as a political candidate.

–The FBI obtained a special “one-time” approval to show Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal a copy of one of his own emails to Clinton about the political situation in Kyrgyzstan. A January 5, 2016, FBI memo says the email has “since been deemed to contain classified FBI information.” The “SECRET” portion of the April 2010 message relates to what Blumenthal called an “ongoing criminal investigation.”

–An internal FBI profile of longtime Bill Clinton aide Justin Cooper derived information from a publication of the conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch. The group had tracked Cooper’s links to Teneo Holdings, a consulting firm founded by individuals with close ties to the Clintons.