The previous post may be incorrect. Apparently more FBI testimony revealed that the identification of a separate referral was an FBI mistake. The referral was still from Sussmann's inputs

https://twitter.com/UndeadFoia.../1528832556929536004

Testifying today:

Bill Priestap
Trisha Anderson
Ryan Gaynor
Allison Sands

Priestap (FBI) was Srtzok's boss

reads from his notes: “Sussmann - Not doing this for any client”

Asks about March 6 2017 meeting. Priestap doesnt remember.

Gov asks how FBI collects info outside gov. What sources? Priestap clueless.

Gov asks, if info was brought on behalf of Clinton, is that relevant? Important?

Priestap says he struggles with the word important

Gov asks, what is CHS? Asks is it important if Sussmann brought info on behalf of CHS.

Priestap sidestaps. Said its “relevant”

Defense asking about Crossfire Hurricane.

Asks about Alfa allegations. Priestap says he doesnt remember much. FBI needs memory school

Notes dont jog your memory? It does not, Priestap says.

Priestap not remembering conversations.

messages read: “People on 7th floor fired up about Alfa server” 7th floor - top FBI offices

Defense gets Priestap to say it is something they will investigate and must investigate to discern true/false.

quote:

Apparently more FBI testimony revealed that the identification of a separate referral was an FBI mistake.

A mistake or another FBI misdirection ?

https://www.washingtonexaminer...t-came-from-sussmann

The FBI opened a full-fledged counterintelligence investigation into since-debunked Trump-Russia collusion claims just four days after Michael Sussmann pushed the allegations to the bureau.

The electronic communication marking the opening of the investigation cited a “referral” from the Justice Department rather than saying the Alfa-Bank allegations came from a lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The opening communication, titled “Alfa Bank,” was authored by FBI agents Curtis Heide and Allison Sands

The case identification was “Alfa Bank, Russia — Contacts / Agents, Sensitive Investigative Matter,” and the opening document said it “documents the opening of a Full Field Investigation into the network communications between a U.S.-based server and the Russian ALFA BANK organization.” Enclosed was a “White Paper.”

“On or about September 19, 2016, FBI received a referral of information from the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, detailing an unusually configured email server in Pennsylvania belonging to the TRUMP ORGANIZATION,” the FBI wrote in September 2016. “In that referral, the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE provided the FBI with a white paper that was produced by an anonymous third party. According to the white paper, a U.S.-based server that is owned by the TRUMP ORGANIZATION has been communicating with the Russian-based ALFA BANK organization in Moscow, Russia.”

Andy McCarthy, a former chief assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and now a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, told the Washington Examiner: “The investigation opening document is totally outrageous. It not only claims that the information came from the Justice Department. It suggests that the Justice Department commissioned and may even vouch for the white paper.”

The former federal prosecutor added, “To identify Sussmann as ‘the Department of Justice’ is especially outrageous under circumstances where (a) he is a lawyer for the Clinton Campaign, and (b) the representation that got him in the door to meet Baker was that he wasn’t representing anyone (which would include the Justice Department, if he had any such technical tie).”

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Hans Mahncke:

"Through corruption and/or incompetence the FBI made it look as if the tip came from two separate streams."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sdy,

it is getting hard to keep up. Sounds like even more FBI screwing the Trump campaign

notes mainly from John Haughey

DoJ deputy assistant attorney general Tricia Anderson takes the stand. she didn't "recall" much. Massive case of amnesia afflicting the FBI / DoJ actors

Now FBI agent Curtis Heide is testifying. This may get interesting. Heide was lead agent in FBI Chicago field office in 2016. I think Heide was the agent who grilled Papadopoulos pretty hard in Chicago.

Heide offers one explanation for who, what ordered the "full" DOJ probe despite initial reviews revealing no fire with this smoke : The Chicago FBI office "may have been conflating the US Department of Justice and our own office of general counsel."

This goes back to the FBI claiming there were 2 reports of Alfa Bank communications w Trump. One from DoJ and one from Sussmann. Turns out there was only one - from Sussmann.

Heide and Allison Sands, who testified Monday, were co-case agents in investigating the allegations. He is under DOJ inquiry for “not identifying exculpatory information” in #CrossfireHurricane probe. Exculpatory information is a fact that negates an allegation

When the FBI Chicago closed the probe in October 2016 because it lacked substance, it was called a "preliminary investigation" requested by the DOJ. Prosecutor Jonathon Algor asked if that was accurate. "Not it is not," Heide said

The effort was a "full field investigation" and it was not requested by the DOJ but from within the FBI. Heide earlier said that may have been a mistake within the office of "conflating" the DOJ with the FBI's office of general counsel

or did someone make it look like Alfa Bank hoax deserved a "full investigation"

Lead defense attorney Sean Berkowitz is cross-examining Heide, who is a subject of a DOJ probe for allegedly withholding exculpatory information in a FISA court proceeding related to #CrossfireHurricane

The FBI totally fucked Donald Trump with BS charges

Berkowitz: “That is a serious allegation … that you intentionally withheld information that could help prove an individual’s innocence … a serious allegation. You have denied it. Heide: The case is still pending.

Investigation's origin after FBI cyber experts dismissed allegations within a day remains opaque with FBI counterintelligence agent Curtis Heide saying it was mislabeled a DOJ probe because of a "typo" perhaps attributable to "conflating" DOJ and FBI's office of general counsel

Heide said first time he was aware "there may have been a typo in the paperwork" mislabeling it as a DOJ investigation was in October 2018 while being interviewed in Office of Inspector General probe into CrossFire Hurricane

IG Horowitz concluded there was no FBI bias. what a joke

“It is your testimony sitting here today that both the opening of the case and closing of the case had a typo?" Berkowitz asked, noting that it indicates "not a lot of attention to detail.” Heide: “There were some mistakes, yes.”

Judge Christoper Cooper has denied prosecution’s request to introduce emails between Georgia Tech cyber expert David Dagon and others after Berkowitz asked Heide if he followed-up on agent Tom Grosso’s offer to provide Dagon as a “private sector subject expert.”

the obama judge whose wife represented Lisa Page

Prosecution maintained Berkowitz’s questioning of Heide “opened the door” to “materiality” for those emails to be introduced. Cooper disagreed. “Mr. Berkowitz confined his questions” to demonstrate “the FBI could have interviewed Mr. Dagon” but chose not to.

Cooper said email relates more to Rodney Joffe’s views, motivations, and said when Heide returns to stan for redirect, the prosecution can ask “what he would have asked in an interview of Mr. Dagon. We are not going to get into” Dagon’s views, motivations

When asked what he would have asked Dagon had FBI investigators chosen to ask Dagon questions even after the alleged white paper author was offered as a "private sector subject expert," if they'd ask about his motivations, Heide said, well yes, he would have

Durham is getting jammed by a judge who doesn't want the truth to come out

Now on the stand is Jared Novick, CEO of BitVoyant, a cyber threat analysis company, which he says does "proactive assessments of private sector companies to assess their vulnerabilities."

Joffe said on the board and tasked BitVoyant to look into Trump Organization DNS data in the summer of 2016.

That is, Joffe SAT on the board. In August 2016, Joffe "tasks me and I received a PDR document and in that document there was a handful--five, seven--names of individuals, their spouses, their personal emails, addresses ... it was very personal ..."

The PDF included "names of Russian companies, Russian affiliations, some names that seemed foreign to me and some names I recognized in the news so immediately I knew it to be a political request," Novick said. First name: Carter Page

It was “extremely uncommon ... this was a group, a group of individuals, the whole thing felt to me like opposition research,” Novick said. “It made me feel very uncomfortable.”

6 years they kept this all quiet

Novick “immediately” contacted Victor Oppleman, a friend also on the BitVoyant board and engaged with Joffe in other companies, including Littoral Ventures, which provided the PDF. “He was also uncomfortable” but they “reluctantly moved forward with tasking.”

Novick assigned three analysts to follow through with the tasking. They named the project CRIMSON RHINO because the "last thing I wanted was Donald Trump’s name" on the company tasking board for all to see.

Joffe asked to “cast a large net.” The PDF had 90 days of DNS data “so the first thing is they look at is past 90-day history. (To) go deep, as deeply as possible, go wide, not look through a soda straw but look at everywhere for things related” to Alfa

During cross-examine, Berkowitz said Novick has told investigators that he did not get along with Joffe, who was pressuring him to better his performance in leading BitVoyant. On Sept. 12, 2021, he told investigators there was a "bit of friction" between them

Novick said he didn’t recall saying that. “You are asking me about a word and I cannot tell you if I used that word. I had a difficult relationship with Rodney,"

On redirect, prosecutor Jonathon Algor asked Novick what he was told would happen to the information they compiled. He said: “It was to go to an attorney.”

Cooper has called it a day. Prosecution closes case Wednesday with Durham paralegal Kori Arsenault serving as summary witness. Algor said testimony will be “a demonstration” of “100 exhibits, one-after-another.” That was greeted by gasps, a Berkowitz objection

Upon hearing of the prosecution's plan to parade 100 exhibits through his courtroom, Cooper said he was “somewhat frustrated” they “didn’t address this” earlier. Both set of attorneys agreed to work tonight on trimming them back.

When the defense makes its case beginning Thursday morning the latest, Berkowitz said he will call former New York Times writer Eric Licthblau, FBI agent Tom Grasso, Tasha Gauhar, and "some character witnesses."

If all goes well, that leaves Friday for both sides to make 1-to-1 1/2 hour closing arguments so that Cooper can leave by 2 pm for a prior commitment (otherwise known as the three-day Memorial Day weekend).


side note:

on 23 FEB 2022, Rodney Joffe's lawyer wrote AG Merrick Garland. He asked Garland to remove John Durham and members of his staff for misconduct and intentional violation of my client's Constitutional rights.

testimony re Sussmann case from today. FBI looks worse, again

Source: Undead FOIA twitter

Sussmann paid for the flash drives that contained the Alfa data delivered to James Baker
(as in Clinton paid for the flash drives)

Sussmann bought the flash drives at Staples and billed the Clinton campaign.

Receipt dated 9/13/16 - staples in DC. $30

Prosecution rests

Defense calls former FBI agent Grasso

Grasso says Joffe is a friend of his, met in 2005

Grasso nominated Joffe for Award he received in 2013.

Rodney Joffe received the 2013 FBI Director’s Award for Outstanding Cyber Investigation,

The awards are the highest honor FBI employees may receive and recognize outstanding contributions and exceptional service to the FBI and its mission.

This is the first time members of the private sector have been given a Director’s Award for Outstanding Cyber Investigation

Grasso sends email to Chicago FBI. Says info was from "an anonymous reporter"



But Grasso now says: Grasso says he got them from Joffe verbally, over phone.

anonymous reporter = Rodney Joffe

Grasso says Joffe provided narrative around/between Trump and Joffe
Alfa server.

Joffe told Grasso there was an open FBI investigation. Joffe told Grasso

Grasso said he knew Joffe was a CHS (Confidential Human Source)

Gov asks if Grasso is aware of a concept called “circular reporting” exactly what the FBI did

Gov digging into the idea of multiple info streams to create corroboration. exactly what the FBI did

Joffe worked on major cyber threat issues for FBI, to include Russia related cyber matters - Grasso says.

Joffe asked Grasso NOT to disclose his identity

Did Joffe disclose he was working with political campaign? Fusion GPS? No, Grasso says.

Joffe was considered in high regard - Grasso says. Says they did not discuss politics.

Joffe did not bring info to his FBI handler at all apparently. ??? just to his FBI friend

supplemental info from John Haughey:

Grasso was subpoenaed to testify by Sussmann's team

Grasso said in late September 2016, he was aware of Trump-Russia concerns but not of the Alfa allegations. The first time he heard of it was whenJoffe called him and "advised me there was an open FBI investigation in the matter."

Grasso learned there was, indeed, an Alfa probe and sent "an email to the Chicago folks with the IP addresses" but, at Joffe's request, did not disclose his identity, which frustrated investigating agents.

Grasso said he knew Joffe was an FBI 'confidential human source' (CHS). He knew who Joffe's "handler" was, but never contacted him nor did he know if Joffe had conveyed the information to his 'handler.'

Grasso: “He would come directly” to him and “did not use an intermediary”even though he had a handler. “It was always a direct contact from Mr. Joffe …” Grasso could not recall if he reached out to Joffe’s “handler,” agent Paul Scheff

Grasso did not recall if Joffe said where he got, and who developed, the data. Joffe specifically asked him not to disclose his identity. "I can't say for certain why" but assumed it was because allegations involved Russia and he feared for his family's safety

Grasso told prosecutor Andrew DeFillipis it was odd. “It was unusual in that it concerned a matter I normally didn’t work with Mr. Joffe on.” (cybercrime). “This was Russia, foreign influence, counterintelligence, which is why I quickly passed it off."

Grasso said if he knew Joffe's relationship with the Clinton campaign and that the data may have been generated by the campaign, "I would have passed that information onto the people investigating. I would want them to know this is tied to a political matter …”

Discussion before Cooper regarding a sealed motion filed by the defense regarding what Sussmann could be asked if he choses to testify. The defense wants "pre-trial negotiations" precluded from questioning.

I'm sure this "lacks context", amirite?

Most of the recent reporting is very factual. Straight from courtroom testimony

This post is speculative

Techno Fog is a lawyer. Over the past several years he has been one of a small group of outstanding online sleuths about the "Russia collusion fabricated hoax".

The incredibly organized and coordinated attack against Donald Trump by the Clinton campaign with an army of foot soldiers.

Techno Fog now wonders about Joffe and the DNC server hack.

We know that Joffe and Sussmann were working together. and Sussmann was working w Christopher Steele to develop false multiple info streams to create the appearance of corroboration.

Joffe was positioning himself for the top cyber position in a Clinton administration

To address the DNC server hacking, Sussmann brought in Crowdstrike. In one day Crowdstrike said it was the Russians doing the hacking.

The FBI never got to see the DNC servers

"According to the Senate Intelligence Committee, CrowdStrike delivered a draft report to the FBI on Aug. 31, 2016 that an unidentified FBI official described as “heavily redacted.” James Trainor, then-assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, told the committee that he was “frustrated” with the CrowdStrike report and “doubted its completeness” because “outside counsel” – i.e. Sussmann – “had reviewed it.” According to Trainor, the DNC's cooperation was “moderate” overall and “slow and laborious in many respects.” Trainor singled out the fact that Perkins Coie – and specifically, Sussmann – “scrubbed” the CrowdStrike information before it was delivered to the FBI, resulting in a “stripped-down version” that was “not optimal.”

"The DOJ and FBI essentially allowed Sussmann “to decide what it could and could not see in CrowdStrike's reports on Russian hacking.” Did Joffe have a role in that?

Consider something else. What if Crowdstrike was a patsy, there to unknowingly reach false conclusions of a “Russian hack” based on information provided to them, in part, by Rodney Joffe?"

https://technofog.substack.com...-involved-in-the?s=r

Just like the Joffe team doctored data to make it look like Alfa Bank was communicating w Donald Trump, did Joffe pull some tricks to make the DNC hack look like the Russians?

just speculating

Techno_Fog, KingmakerFT, and Fool_Nelson are the 3 I like to follow on this.

Edited to fix their handles.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Shaql,

quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:
TechnoFog, Kingmaker, and FoolNelson are the 3 I like to follow on this.

sdy is the one I like to follow on this.

I'm hopeful but I'm also preparing for the worse.

There's the possibility of jury nullification from a pro-Hillary DC jury.

One slant that the defense is supposedly showing is that the FBI never was "duped" as they tried to minimize Sussman as the source in their FISA warrant applications.

It makes sense that it was a "wink, wink, Oh, you're telling us about a possible connection between Trump and some Russian bank? We'll get right on it!" as a pretext to get the ball rolling on spying on Trump.

defense rests Sussmann will not testify

Closing arguments have been set for Friday morning.

This post is just a report about some coincidences. not sure if there is any special significance

Rodney Joffe has created more than two dozen startups in more than 20 U.S. cities, as well as London, since the 1970s, some of which have no employees, revenue or even offices. They include:

Global Resource Systems LLC (Plantation, Fla.)

https://www.realclearinvestiga..._joffe_817150.html#!

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https://www.washingtonpost.com...col-addresses-trump/

story from Wash Post dated 10 Sep 2021

A secretive Pentagon program that started on Trump’s last day in office just ended.

Control of a remarkable 6 percent of the Internet was handed over to a Florida company as part of a cybersecurity pilot project. Now the Pentagon has taken all 175 million IP address spaces back.

A Pentagon program that delegated management of a huge swath of the Internet to a Florida company in January — just minutes before President Trump left office — has ended as mysteriously as it began, with the Defense Department this week retaking control of 175 million IP addresses.

The program had drawn scrutiny because of its unusual timing, starting amid a politically charged changeover of federal power, and because of its enormous scale. At its peak, the company, Global Resource Systems , controlled almost 6 percent of a section of the Internet called IPv4. The IP addresses had been under Pentagon control for decades but left unused, despite being potentially worth billions of dollars on the open market.

Adding to the mystery, company registration records showed Global Resource Systems at the time was only a few months old, having been established in September 2020, and had no publicly reported federal contracts, no obvious public-facing website and no sign on the shared office space it listed as its physical address in Plantation, Fla. The company also did not respond to requests for comment, and the Pentagon did not announce the program or publicly acknowledge its existence until The Washington Post reported on it in April.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon made a technical announcement — visible mainly to network administrators around the world — saying it was resuming control of the 175 million IP addresses and directing the traffic to its own servers.

On Friday the Pentagon told The Post that the pilot program, which it previously had characterized as a cybersecurity measure designed to detect unspecified “vulnerabilities” and “prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space,” was over. Parts of the Internet once managed by Global Resource Systems, the Pentagon said, now were being overseen by the Department of Defense Information Network, known by the acronym DODIN and part of U.S. Cyber Command, based at Fort Meade.

the Pentagon statement shed little new light on exactly what the pilot program was doing or why it now has ended. It’s clear, though, that its mission has been extended even as it comes more formally under Pentagon control.

On the unusual timing of the start of the pilot program — which began the transfer of control of IP addresses at 11:57 a.m. on Inauguration Day, three minutes before President Biden took office — Goemaere added, “The decision to launch and the scheduling of the DDS pilot effort was agnostic of administration change. The effort was planned and initiated in the Fall of 2020. It was launched in mid-January 2021 when the required infrastructure was in place. Given the opportunity, maintaining low visibility was also desirable in order to observe traffic in its current state, allowing us to identify potential vulnerabilities and assess and mitigate potential cyber threats."

Global Resource Systems did not return a request for comment Friday.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So the program ended about 10 Sep 2021.

Hans Mahncke notes that Sussmann was indicted on 16 Sep 2021. Connections ? Anything Joffe was involved in is now suspicious.

Rodney Joffe certainly stayed in the background.


I don't think the people in the FBI, CIA, DoJ, Perkins Coie, Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele, FISC Court, etc ever thought their actions would become publicly associated with them by name .

They were pulling strings behind the curtain. Operating in a world of Top Secret "invisibility", attorney / client privilege, and a MSM cheer leader squad.

A good article about the Sussmann trial by Andrew McCarthy | Fox News:

“In a predictable but nevertheless damaging blow to the prosecution, the judge in the Michael Sussmann trial ruled Thursday that the government may not argue that Sussmann’s text message to the FBI’s then-general counsel constitutes the false statement charged against him. Rather, prosecutors must rely on their evidence that Sussmann made the false statement the following day, when he met with the general counsel, James Baker, at the latter’s FBI office…”

The article ends on a somewhat more optimistic note:

“Importantly, this does not mean the text is out of the case completely. To the contrary, prosecutors will still be permitted by Judge Christopher Cooper to argue that the text is strong evidence that Baker is correct that, at the September 19 meeting, Cooper Sussmann insisted that he was not representing a client. Prosecutors will point to the text right before the meeting, as well as Baker’s telling other FBI officials right after the meeting that Sussmann had said he was not representing a client. Based on that, Durham’s team will argue that the proof of Sussmann’s false statement is convincing.

Nevertheless, prosecutors will not be permitted to argue that Sussmann is guilty of making a false statement solely based on the text. To convict him, the jury must be convinced that Sussmann made the false statement at the meeting with Baker.”

https://www.foxnews.com/opinio...durham-fbi-trial.amp

So is this new case law that texts to the FBI can't be used as evidence? Wow.

#1 My understanding : Durham didn't find out about the text message until after he filed charges thru the grand jury. Baker turned over material late in the process. Remember James Baker is not a good guy here. So the obama judge ruled that the prosecutor could not claim that just on the text message by itself, Sussmann was guilty.

The jury has to decide on Baker testimony that Sussmann said he wasn't representing a client.

Once again, this situation is ridiculous. It is obvious now that Sussmann lied. multiple times.

#2 The issue w Joffe was confusing until more testimony came out. Their favorite trick : "independent" reporting of a lie to make the fabrication appear to be true

Sussmann goes to James Baker w the lie about alfa bank. W data from Rodney Joffe. Sussmann doesn't tell Baker about Joffe

Joffe goes to his FBI buddy (not his FBI handler) and feeds a similar story. Joffe asks to not be identified as the source. His FBI buddy reports the Alfa Bank story to the Chicago office as coming from an anonymous reporter

The FBI acts like a bunch of teenagers gossiping. They started a full investigation into a Presidential candidate based on complete BS without ever finding out who the sources were. They concluded the Alfa story was BS and still continued. They let the press go wild w the false story.

Stolen Elections: A Tale of Two D.C. Courtrooms

Regardless of the verdicts for Sussmann and Hale, it’s increasingly clear Americans continue to live in two separate and unequal systems of government.

https://amgreatness.com/2022/0...-two-d-c-courtrooms/

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
A good article about the Sussmann trial by Andrew McCarthy | Fox News:

“In a predictable but nevertheless damaging blow to the prosecution, the judge in the Michael Sussmann trial ruled Thursday that the government may not argue that Sussmann’s text message to the FBI’s then-general counsel constitutes the false statement charged against him. Rather, prosecutors must rely on their evidence that Sussmann made the false statement the following day, when he met with the general counsel, James Baker, at the latter’s FBI office…”

The article ends on a somewhat more optimistic note:

“Importantly, this does not mean the text is out of the case completely. To the contrary, prosecutors will still be permitted by Judge Christopher Cooper to argue that the text is strong evidence that Baker is correct that, at the September 19 meeting, Cooper Sussmann insisted that he was not representing a client. Prosecutors will point to the text right before the meeting, as well as Baker’s telling other FBI officials right after the meeting that Sussmann had said he was not representing a client. Based on that, Durham’s team will argue that the proof of Sussmann’s false statement is convincing.

Nevertheless, prosecutors will not be permitted to argue that Sussmann is guilty of making a false statement solely based on the text. To convict him, the jury must be convinced that Sussmann made the false statement at the meeting with Baker.”

https://www.foxnews.com/opinio...durham-fbi-trial.amp

And didn't Baker have to admit / say that Sussman said he wasn't meeting him on behalf of anybody but himself? I can see how Baker had to say this otherwise he would be the one on the hook for passing known partisan propaganda.

Since when is new evidence, not evidence?

Can't Durham just say, He lied to Baker directly, and then admitted it in a text later.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:

The FBI acts like a bunch of teenagers gossiping. They started a full investigation into a Presidential candidate based on complete BS without ever finding out who the sources were. They concluded the Alfa story was BS and still continued. They let the press go wild w the false story.

They "act" like it but it's more like they were part of the operation acting in coordination with the other parties.

I really appreciate the wonk contributors to this thread as you guys get into the nitty gritty details and pan out fluff and keep the nuggets of information.