***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[IATT]

Thread:

 

[dwalk31]

This deep fake stuff is quite interesting

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/01/business/pentagons-race-against-deepfakes/

 

[IATT]

This deep fake stuff is quite interesting

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/01/business/pentagons-race-against-deepfakes/

 

[dwalk31]

You have to know your audience. The echo chamber loves CNN. Imagine the response if I posted a Fox News link in here.

 

[IATT]

You have to know your audience. The echo chamber loves CNN. Imagine the response if I posted a Fox News link in here.

 

[dwalk31]

Seems there is name-calling on both sides

 

[IATT]

 

[AEA18]

The stupid tree bears stupid fruit. No surprise there.

 

[chao7]

Uhhhh...?

 

[Kimchi Papi]

The hamberder & global warming moments are really starting to roll out... Moron deplorables...

 

[IATT]

both sides

You gotta get more than 3 plays.. well I guess 2 since I don't think you got 'allegedly' anymore

 

[boris]

You have to know your audience. The echo chamber loves CNN. Imagine the response if I posted a Fox News link in here.

Allegedly?

 

[IATT]

Allegedly?

See dwalk31 this might have been yours

But this ours now.. you may have invented it, but we perfected it

 

[infamouserror]

See dwalk31 this might have been yours

But this ours now.. you may have invented it, but we perfected it

He made it a hot line, we made it a hot song

 

[dacomeup]

Birds of a feather.

 

[dwalk31]

Birds of a feather.

"*Accused"

Due process is important

 

[blastercombo]

Birds of a feather.

And this will turn into another “they waited til now?” Argument

 

[noskey]

Seems there is name-calling on both sides

Are you disagreeing with the notion that Fox News is a propaganda machine allegedly? Yikes.

 

[dwalk31]

Are you disagreeing with the notion that Fox News is a propaganda machine allegedly? Yikes.

Not quite sure how you reached that conclusion from my post. I think that Fox and CNN both push clear agendas. Some hosts, at both stations, are more mild than others.

 

[dwalk31]

And this will turn into another “they waited til now?” Argument

It was accused then. And it is still accused now. Due process matters.

 

[noskey]

Not quite sure how you reached that conclusion from my post. I think that Fox and CNN both push clear agendas. Some hosts, at both stations, are more mild than others.

Amen coalrade both sides are still the same

 

[RustyShackleford]

Birds of a feather.

 

[Belgium]

Based on the details of the case, the reporter the leaks went to works for Buzzfeed News.
I remember some of their reporting that clearly showed they had a source inside the Treasury FinCEN department with access to highly confidential records. You also can't prosecute a leaking case if the leaks aren't real so this also confirms that Buzzfeed reporting.
I'll add the relevant Buzzfeed article(s) further below. I believe it is important reading material as it concerns potential espionage inside the Treasury on behalf of Russia.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...nt-adviser-says-she-s-not-guilty-in-leak-case
Treasury Department Adviser Pleads Not Guilty in Leak Case
A Trump Administration crackdown on unauthorized leaks of confidential government information may just be getting started.

During the arraignment of a senior Treasury Department adviser Wednesday on charges that she gave a journalist confidential bank records about suspicious transactions, including some involving former Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, federal prosecutors indicated more charges may be filed within two to three months -- either against the adviser or other people.

“That is possible,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Jane Ravener said in response to a question from U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods. “The investigation is continuing.”

Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, 40, of Quinton, Virginia, pleaded not guilty to making unauthorized disclosures of suspicious activity reports and conspiracy. Edwards had been in talks with prosecutors and waived her right to have her case presented to a grand jury, which often indicates that a defendant is about to plead guilty. But one of her attorneys, Jacob Kaplan, said outside the courtroom that there are no active discussions.

Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, 40, of Quinton, Virginia, pleaded not guilty to making unauthorized disclosures of suspicious activity reports and conspiracy. Edwards had been in talks with prosecutors and waived her right to have her case presented to a grand jury, which often indicates that a defendant is about to plead guilty. But one of her attorneys, Jacob Kaplan, said outside the courtroom that there are no active discussions.

"Today’s not guilty plea is another step in Mrs. Edwards’s principled commitment to defend these charges," Kaplan and Marc Agnifilo, another of Edwards’s lawyers, said in a statement. "She is not the first person to be prosecuted for doing the right thing, and she is steadfast in seeing this matter to the end."

Edwards’s arrest in October signaled an escalation in a crackdown on unauthorized leaks to the news media. President Donald Trump has blasted leakers in his postings on Twitter, and a senior Treasury Department official said at the time of Edwards’s arrest that the charges indicated the government will prosecute violations of the Bank Secrecy Act involving disclosure of confidential information.

Edwards, a former adviser at the department’s Financial Crimes Information Network, or FinCEN, is accused of leaking Suspicious Activity Reports to a journalist from October 2017 until her arrest. Prosecutors didn’t identify the journalist or news organization, but articles cited in court papers were written by reporters at BuzzFeed.

Under the Bank Secrecy Act, financial institutions are required to report suspicious transactions, such as payments of more than $10,000 or those made to entities blacklisted by the department.

FinCEN Files
Prosecutors said Edwards began talking to the reporter in July 2017 and saved thousands of FinCEN files, leaking information about payments involving Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, as well as transactions linked to Gates, the campaign’s one-time deputy manager. The leaks also included information about Russia’s Prevezon Holdings Ltd., which was tied to money laundering, and Maria Butina, a Russian gun enthusiast who admitted to acting as an undisclosed agent.

Edwards, who remains free on $100,000 bail, comes from a family of public servants and believes she was doing her "civic duty" when she leaked the documents, Agnifilo said after a court appearance in New York in November.

Prosecutors said she had a flash drive containing SARs, and a phone that contained encrypted communications with the reporter, when she was arrested and confessed to leaking the documents. She denied she knew the material would be published and claimed to have been a whistle-blower who provided the reports for record-keeping purposes.

The first person prosecuted by the administration for leaking, former government contractor Reality Winner, was accused of giving a top-secret report on Russian hacking to The Intercept. She pleaded guilty to unlawful retention and transmission of national defense information and was sentenced in August to more than five years in prison. Court filings have hinted that others may face charges, as prosecutors said that Edwards’s boss also communicated with the reporter.

Kaplan said that while the facts are not in dispute, the case is not "not as simple as the government makes it seem." He said an attractive plea offer may not even be enough to convince his client to avoid a trial.

“I’m not even sure that would do it,” Kaplan said. “We look forward to defending the case.”

The case is U.S. v Edwards, 18-mj-8861, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

The Buzzfeed reporting using those leaked documents was authored by Anthony Cormier and Jason Leopold, the two reporters who first broke the details of the Trump Tower Moscow months in advance of Cohen's guilty plea. They were also the ones responsible for the report about Cohen allegedly being directed to lie by Trump, which resulted in a rare rebuke from the Special Counsel.

Here's at least one of those reports, if I recall correctly there was at least one other report.
It is a very extensive report, one that I would highly recommend reading by the way, so I have outlined some excerpts I found particularly interesting.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/articl...sought-us-treasury-records-on-clinton-backers
Russian Agents Sought Secret US Treasury Records On Clinton Backers During 2016 Campaign
Whistleblowers said the Americans were exchanging messages with unsecure Gmail accounts set up by their Russian counterparts as the US election heated up.
US Treasury Department officials used a Gmail back channel with the Russian government as the Kremlin sought sensitive financial information on its enemies in America and across the globe, according to documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News.

The extraordinary unofficial line of communication arose in the final year of the Obama administration — in the midst of what multiple US intelligence agencies have said was a secret campaign by the Kremlin to interfere in the US election. Russian agents ostensibly trying to track ISIS instead pressed their American counterparts for private financial documents on at least two dozen dissidents, academics, private investigators, and American citizens.

Most startlingly, Russia requested sensitive documents on Dirk, Edward, and Daniel Ziff, billionaire investors who had run afoul of the Kremlin. That request was made weeks before a Russian lawyer showed up at Trump Tower offering top campaign aides “dirt” on Hillary Clinton — including her supposed connection to the Ziff brothers.


Excerpts: (annotations mine)

FinCEN analysts warned supervisors that the Russians were "manipulating the system" to conduct "fishing expeditions."
They raised concerns that the unsecure email traffic could compromise Treasury systems. The backchannel communications with the Russians continued however.

Officials at FinCEN said they reported the use of the back channel to Treasury’s counterterrorism unit and security office, and requested an investigation.
They reported the incidents in July and August 2016, though the FinCEN officials claim there was no substantive investigation of the matter.
At least 10 FinCEN officials formally applied for whistleblower protection in light of all the suspicious behavior and potential espionage activities being conducted.

Note that Natalie Mayflower Edwards is the alleged leaker mentioned in the Bloomberg article above. She is being prosecuted and accused of leaking confidential financial records to a reporter.
She told staffers of one of the Senate committees investigating Russia interference that FinCEN was withholding documents revealing suspicious financial transactions that the committee requested.

 

[infamouserror]

It was accused then. And it is still accused now. Due process matters.

Member this?

We member.

 

[dwalk31]

Member this?

We member.

I have long said that Trump can/should do better with the things he says.

Do you think that due process should be second?