Category Archives: DOJ, DC and inside the Beltway

Turkey is Holding Pastor Brunson Because of a Bank

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Pastor Andrew Brunson faces life in prison in Turkey for fraudulent charges of supporting a terror organization and political espionage. Brunson has lived in Turkey for 23 years. He even filed an application to renew his visa application in October of 2016. More details here.

Meanwhile, as the Turkish currency tanked due to sanctions and trade issues, the lira value held for about a week until investors got in the game due to interest and enticements by the Turkish Finance Minister and President Erdogan.

So, what is the reason for detaining and the charges on the Pastor? Seems, Erdogan is using the Pastor as a tool for two reasons. One includes an anti-Erdogan activist that has lived in the United States 1999. He was/is a preacher himself and has an estimate 5 million followers. Erdogan included Gulen as one of the reasons for the attempted/alleged coup.

But the other reason is Iran. Seems Eli Lake an investigative journalist understands it better than all the rest. Why? During the Obama administration, nothing else mattered but to get an Iran nuclear deal. Those rogue governments, foreign leaders and financial institutions helping Iran evade sanctions were purposely ignored and overlooked by the Obama White House.

It was last week that the Erdogan government made an offer to the United States to release Pastor Brunson if the United States would drop charges and the investigation of the Halkbank.

President Trump gave Turkey an answer….NO.

The Trump administration rebuffed Turkey’s offer to release detained American pastor Andrew Brunson if the U.S. halts the investigation into Turkish bank Halkbank, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

The Turkish government agreed to drop terrorism charges against the pastor in exchange of the U.S. government dropping fines totaling billions of dollars against the bank. A senior White House official said the offer was rejected.

Image result for Mehmet Hakan Atilla

So, there is this bank and the gold. Happened earlier this year, stemming from a 2012-2013 case:

Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an executive at Turkey’s majority state-owned Halkbank (HALKB.IS), was convicted on five of six counts he faced, including bank fraud and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions law, in Manhattan federal court.

Image result for Mehmet Hakan Atilla photo

Atilla was also found not guilty on a money laundering charge.

Prosecutors had accused Atilla of conspiring with gold trader Reza Zarrab and others to help Iran escape sanctions using fraudulent gold and food transactions. Zarrab pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecutors.

In several days on the witness stand, Zarrab had described a sprawling scheme that he said included bribes to Turkish government officials and was carried out with the blessing of current President Tayyip Erdogan.

Halkbank had no immediate comment. Attempts to reach Erdogan’s spokesman for comment on the allegations at the trial have been unsuccessful. Erdogan has publicly dismissed the case as a politically motivated attack on his government.

U.S. prosecutors have criminally charged nine people, though only Zarrab, 34, and Atilla, 47, have been arrested by U.S. authorities.

BANKERS’ CHOICE

“Foreign banks and bankers have a choice: you can choose willfully to help Iran and other sanctioned nations evade U.S. law, or you can choose to be part of the international banking community transacting in U.S. dollars,” Joon Kim, the acting U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement after the verdict was read. “But you can’t do both.”

In December of 2017, the Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul demanded in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions that Korkmaz be returned to Turkey, calling him “a fugitive, a terror suspect facing serious allegations.”

The Turkish government has said that followers of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen were behind both the Turkish investigation and the U.S. case, as well as the 2016 failed coup in Turkey. Gulen has denied the accusations. More here.

 

 

Trump Admin Seeking Global Cyber Dominance

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Finally!

https://archive.org/services/img/2007NSAProceduresUsedToTargetNonUSPersons Archivo:Presidential-policy-directive 20.pdf - Wikipedia ...

President Trump signed an order that reverses the classified rules and cyber processes from the Obama administration, known as IVE PPD 20. It was signed in October 2012, and this directive supersedes National Security Presidential Directive NSPD-38. Integrating cyber tools with those of national security, the directive complements NSPD-54/Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-23.

Per WikiPedia:

After the U.S. Senate failed to pass the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 that August,[12] Presidential Policy Directive 20 (PPD-20) was signed in secret. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a Freedom of Information Request to see it, but the NSA would not comply.[13] Some details were reported in November 2012.[14] The Washington Post wrote that PPD-20, “is the most extensive White House effort to date to wrestle with what constitutes an ‘offensive’ and a ‘defensive’ action in the rapidly evolving world of cyberwar and cyberterrorism.”[14] The following January,[15] the Obama administration released a ten-point factsheet.[16]

On June 7, 2013, PPD-20 became public.[15] Released by Edward Snowden and posted by The Guardian,[15] it is part of the 2013 Mass Surveillance Disclosures. While the U.S. factsheet claims PPD-20 acts within the law and is, “consistent with the values that we promote domestically and internationally as we have previously articulated in the International Strategy for Cyberspace”,[16] it doesn’t reveal cyber operations in the directive.[15]

Snowden’s disclosure called attention to passages noting cyberwarfare policy and its possible consequences.[15][17] The directive calls both defensive and offensive measures as Defensive Cyber Effects Operations (DCEO) and Offensive Cyber Effects Operations (OCEO), respectively.

President Trump has taken this action to aid not only the military, but it would work to deter foreign actors, impede election influence and apply new penalties for violations. There have been high worries by officials due to electric utilities and the brute cyber attacks.

***

Some lawmakers have raised questions in recent months about whether U.S. Cyber Command, the chief agency responsible for conducting offensive cyber missions, has been limited in its ability to respond to alleged Russian efforts to interfere in U.S. elections due to layers of bureaucratic hurdles.

The policy applies to the Defense Department as well as other federal agencies, the administration official said, while declining to specify which specific agencies would be affected. John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, began an effort to remove the Obama directive when he arrived at the White House in April, the official said.

As designed, the Obama policy required U.S. agencies to gain approval for offensive operations from an array of stakeholders across the federal government, in part to avoid interfering with existing operations such as digital espionage.

Critics for years have seen Presidential Policy Directive 20 as a particular source of inertia, arguing that it handicaps or prevents important operations by involving too many federal agencies in potential attack plans. But some current and former U.S. officials have expressed concern that removing or replacing the order could sow further uncertainty about what offensive cyber operations are allowed.

One former senior U.S. official who worked on cybersecurity issues said there were also concerns that Mr. Trump’s decision will grant the military new authority “which may allow them to have a domestic mission.”

The Obama directive, which replaced an earlier framework adopted during the George W. Bush administration, was “designed to ensure that all the appropriate equities got considered when you thought about doing an offensive cyber operation,” said Michael Daniel, who served as the White House cybersecurity coordinator during the Obama administration. “The idea that this is a simple problem is a naive one.”  More here from the WSJ.

K2/Spice Overdoses, Sadly Very Common

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It is sold at convenience stores and costs $20-$50 per 3 grams. It is legal and is undetectable in drug tests.

It has a few names other than laced marijuana, such as K2, Spice, Genie, Mojo or Zohai. Head shops sell it as for the most part it is not regulated in the United States but is banned in most of Europe.

One K2 sample tests negative for Fentanyl as New Haven ...

Synthetic cannabinoid users report some effects similar to those produced by marijuana:

elevated mood
relaxation
altered perception—awareness of surrounding objects and conditions
symptoms of psychosis—delusional or disordered thinking detached from reality

Psychotic effects include:

extreme anxiety
confusion
paranoia—extreme and unreasonable distrust of others
hallucinations—sensations and images that seem real though they are not

People who have used synthetic cannabinoids and have been taken to emergency rooms have shown severe effects including:

rapid heart rate
vomiting
violent behavior
suicidal thoughts

More here

"Poison in candy wrap" "Veneno en envoltura de caramelo ...

***

Chinese manufacturers are shipping thousands of pounds synthetic chemicals into the U.S. to make dangerous recreational drugs – and it’s all legal.

The Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. lawmakers are struggling to keep up with the influx of new, completely untested, compounds that Chinese chemists offer up online.

Websites for Chinese manufacturers advertise of host of chemical substances that can be bought legally by American citizens and shipped to the U.S. 

The drugs go by street names like Spice, Bath Salts, Molly, Smiles and N-bomb. They are meant to mimic the effects of marijuana, cocaine, LSD and other banned substances. Many forms of these drugs were legal until only very recently. More here.

***

More than 70 people overdosed in or around a historic Connecticut park near the Yale University campus on Wednesday after receiving what authorities believe was synthetic marijuana laced with the powerful opioid fentanyl. Although there have been no deaths, at least two people suffered life-threatening symptoms, according to authorities.

Connecticut Public Radio‘s Diane Orson reports that at least one person has been arrested in connection with the case.

“After 8:00 [a.m. Wednesday], we ended up with 12 victims in a 40-minute period. That caused us to respond with a multi-casualty incident,” New Haven Fire Chief John Alston said. “It brought out Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven Police Department, Fire Department, [American Medical Response]. We also have representatives with the DEA here.”

Rick Fontana, the director of emergency operations for New Haven, told Connecticut Public Radio’s Tucker Ives that 72 people were transported to local hospitals while four patients refused treatment on scene, for a total of 76 cases.

“Only a few required admittance to the hospital, and most were discharged or left before any treatment,” Fontana told Ives.

Most of the overdoses occurred on the New Haven Green, a downtown park adjacent to Yale.

“We literally had people running around the Green providing treatment,” Fontana said Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.

“Do not come down to the Green and purchase this K2,” New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell told WVIT-TV. “It is taking people out very quickly, people having respiratory failure. Don’t put your life in harm.”

The AP reports, “Paramedics and police officers remained at the park all day as more people fell ill. Some became unconscious and others vomited, authorities said. Emergency responders rushed to one victim as officials were giving a news conference nearby late Wednesday morning.”

Connecticut Public Radio reports:

“[Fire Chief] Alston says the substance appears to be some type of synthetic cannabis, but authorities are not sure. Some of the victims were unconscious and in respiratory distress.

At first, the drug [naloxone] — used to treat narcotic overdoses — appeared not to work. ‘Narcan was not effective here at the scene,’ said Alston. ‘However higher concentrations of it in the emergency room proved effective.’

He says one of the victims still had some of the drug, which has been sent off to a lab for testing.”

The Hartford Courant said authorities had determined that patients had smoked the synthetic cannabinoid K-2 laced with fentanyl.

Officer David Hartman was quoted by the newspaper as saying the patients were being treated for overdose-related respiratory illnesses.

WVIT reports that the man arrested “is believed connected to at least some of the overdoses” and “had drugs on him at the time of his arrest, [but] has yet to be charged in any of the overdose cases.”

Gov. Dannel Malloy said Wednesday that the state Department of Public Health and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services were assisting New Haven with the rash of overdoses.

“Today’s emergency is deeply troubling and illustrative of the very real and serious threat that illicit street drugs pose to health of individuals,” Malloy said, according to the Hartford Courant. “The substance behind these overdoses is highly dangerous and must be avoided.”

The AP notes, “New Haven first responders were called to a similar overdose outbreak on the Green on July 4, when more than a dozen people were sick from synthetic marijuana. The city also saw more than a dozen synthetic marijuana overdoses in late January. No deaths were reported in either outbreak.”

The latest incident in Connecticut comes as new preliminary estimates on 2017 overdose deaths were released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said a record 72,000 Americans died last year because of drug overdose — about 10 percent higher than previous figures. It said major causes of the increase in deaths are the growing number of people using opioids and the increased potency of the drugs themselves.

Boy, 11, Hacks into Replica U.S. Vote Website in Minutes

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(Reuters) – An 11-year-old boy managed to hack into a replica of Florida’s election results website in 10 minutes and change names and tallies during a hackers convention, organizers said, stoking concerns about security ahead of nationwide votes.

** 11-Year Old Emmett Brewer Hacks Into Replica US Vote ... photo

The boy was the quickest of 35 children, ages 6 to 17, who all eventually hacked into copies of the websites of six swing states during the three-day Def Con security convention over the weekend, the event said on Twitter on Tuesday.

The event was meant to test the strength of U.S. election infrastructure and details of the vulnerabilities would be passed onto the states, it added.

The National Association of Secretaries of State – who are responsible for tallying votes – said it welcomed the convention’s efforts. But it said the actual systems used by states would have additional protections.

“It would be extremely difficult to replicate these systems since many states utilize unique networks and custom-built databases with new and updated security protocols,” the association said.

The hacking demonstration came as concerns swirl about election system vulnerabilities before mid-term state and federal elections.

U.S President Donald Trump’s national security team warned two weeks ago that Russia had launched “pervasive” efforts to interfere in the November polls.

Participants at the convention changed party names and added as many as 12 billion votes to candidates, the event said.

“Candidate names were changed to ‘Bob Da Builder’ and ‘Richard Nixon’s head’,” the convention tweeted.

The convention linked to what it said was the Twitter account of the winning boy – named there as Emmett Brewer from Austin, Texas.

A screenshot posted on the account showed he had managed to change the name of the winning candidate on the replica Florida website to his own and gave himself billions of votes.

The convention’s “Voting Village” also aimed to expose security issues in other systems such as digital poll books and memory-card readers.

***

Mark Earley, the elections supervisor in Leon County who is a cybersecurity liaison between state and local officials, questioned how outsiders could obtain the security protocols used by Florida if they weren’t already behind the system’s firewalls. He said that all this “hacking noise” and “misinformation plays into the hands of the folks who are trying to undermine democracy.”

Jeff Kosseff, a lawyer and assistant professor at the United States Naval Academy Cyber Studies Department, said states are struggling with election security threats. He said they should work with outsiders in order to see if there are flaws in their systems.

“All states should look at this as a wake-up call,” Kosseff said. “What were the shortcomings identified and how they can fix it. I don’t think it should be an adversarial.”

Senator Menendez Hires Qatar Lobbyist?

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Primer: It is Qatar that received the Taliban commanders previously in prison at Gitmo under Obama. It is Qatar that presently has a Taliban diplomatic post as the United States is in talks for some kind of peace in Afghanistan. It is al Thani whose son graduated from West Point. It is Qatar that many of the Gulf nations are at odds with due to Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood and jihad networks. It is Qatar that hosts a major U.S. military base, al Udeid.

The Trump administration hopes to restore a degree of normalcy to Qatar’s relationship with its neighbors after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt instigated a month’s long blockade and embargo against the Gulf sheikhdom in June. Both Qatar and the UAE have spent millions of dollars in recent years on rival lobbying campaigns, according to a review of lobbying records.

So, what about Senator Menendez? Well….

Senator Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) hired a longtime aide and lobbyist for the Qatari government to chair his reelection campaign, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Friday.

Michael Soliman has lobbied Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, and other lawmakers on behalf of the Qatari government since 2015.

While the arrangement is strictly legal, ethics experts told the Inquirer that it might constitute a conflict of interest.

“There is a blurring of lines between responsibility to the candidate and responsibility to their client,” said Meredith McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit watchdog in Washington. “Very little of that is a responsibility to the public.”

In a statement to the Inquirer, Soliman said his lobbying work had “always been fully transparent, above board and properly disclosed.” After receiving inquiries from other publications, Soliman said that “out of an overabundance of caution,” he would not “directly or indirectly lobby the senator or his staff on behalf of any client for the duration of the campaign.”

Menendez was indicted on corruption charges in 2015 in connection with his relationship to a wealthy Florida doctor who procured lavish gifts and vacations for the lawmaker in exchange for help navigating regulatory obstacles in his health-care business. Menendez was ultimately acquitted in January by a hung jury that found he did not perform any “official acts” for material benefit. But the Senate Ethics Committee reprimanded Menendez, writing that he “risked undermining the public’s confidence in the Senate,” in an April letter sent after the Department of Justice had dropped all charges.

Comments

Menendez has paid Soliman’s consulting firm $105,000 since 2015, but a spokesman for his campaign denied any allegations of impropriety.

Soliman has been a “trusted political advisor to the Senator for more than a decade, but neither he, nor any lobbyist, has influenced how the Senator speaks to representatives of any government in advocating for the foreign policy and national security interests of both the United States and our allies,” said Steve Sandberg, a spokesperson for the Menendez campaign.

 

 

Part of Michael’s resume includes:

Strategic advisor to Congressman-elect Josh Gottheimer’s successful campaign against a 14 year incumbent

Lead strategist for U.S. Senator Cory Booker’s successful 2014 Senate campaign

Served as Senator Robert Menendez’s State Director and New Jersey Chief of Staff since 2007

Managed Senator Menendez’s successful re-election campaign in 2012

District Director for U.S. Congressman Steve Rothman

Advised the campaigns of the late Senator Frank Lautenberg, former Governor Jon Corzine, and Congressman Bill Pascrell

Worked on campaigns of various Democratic officials, including Mayor Glenn Cunningham of Jersey City and State Senator Bob Gordon

Frequent guest lecturer at academic institutions including St. Peter’s University and the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics

Appeared on the PolitickerNJ Power List for the past 9 years

Selected as an influencer by Campaigns & Elections Magazine

St. Peter’s University, Political Science (BA)

Bloustein School at Rutgers University (MPP)

Mercury, a high-stakes public strategy firm, continues to expand nationwide and across the globe, most recently through the addition of offices in London and Mexico City. In addition to Soliman, Mercury’s New Jersey office is led by DuHaime, Chris Christie’s top political adviser. Mo Butler, who served as chief of staff in New Jersey to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, joined the firm.