The Robert Mueller Investigation

[Biff Tannen 45,675]

2 hours ago, Mdhorn said:

As it is, the Republicans are being partisan and it's showing.

Because that has mattered so much in this reality.  They've been doing it since Merrick Garland at best and no one gives a shit.  They play by different rules.  Rather, Dems play by rules, Rs do not, and that's how you fucking lose in this stupid world.

[David Dennison 18,854]

3 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Because that has mattered so much in this reality.  They've been doing it since Merrick Garland at best and no one gives a shit.  They play by different rules.  Rather, Dems play by rules, Rs do not, and that's how you fucking lose in this stupid world.

It's like 2018 never happened.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

 

[HenryJames 66,041]

 

[TexEx15 17,510]

39 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

 

Finally there are tapes we can hear (or read a transcript).

[Anastasis 23,469]

1 minute ago, TexEx15 said:

Finally there are tapes we can hear (or read a transcript).

Particularly interested if we can get the Kislyak transcript.  There was some amount of ambiguity around the interpretations of what Flynn said wrt sanctions.  A transcript would be enlightening. 

[Mdhorn 5,948]

3 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

 

 

3 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

 

Goal posts are about to move yet again.

[Mdhorn 5,948]

2 hours ago, HenryJames said:

 

it's almost like, what's the word, oh yeah, obstruction.  Donald Trump had a farm, e-i-e-i-o.  And on his farm he did some crimes, e-i-e-i-o. He laundered here, colluded there, here a crime, there a crime, obstructed everywhere there was a crime, crime.... (skip to the end) and Senate Republicans tried to cover for his crimes.  

Edited May 17, 2019 by Mdhorn

[Mdhorn 5,948]

1 hour ago, TexEx15 said:

Finally there are tapes we can hear (or read a transcript).

Expect more Trump lawsuits.  By the way, who is footing the bills for all of Trumps law suits to obstruct?

[triplehorn 2,664]

7 hours ago, F250 said:

The 3 things that cause the conspiracy theory to fail.

1. The DNS activity wasn't unique to Alfa Bank and Spectrum. One of the first things you need to identify in a digital forensics case is to identify anomalous activity. DNS queries are fairly ubiquitous activities on the internet so if the DNS logs showed only activity between the Trump mail server and Spectrum and Alfa Bank that would be a little suspicious. However, this wasn't the case. 

2. The Trump organization did not own or have control of the Trump mail server. Cendyn confirmed this fact. The DNS changes that took place matched the behavior of Cendyn's business model where ethereal mail services are quickly established and then removed for temporary marketing campaigns. They operate similar to SPAM servers so most corporate mail systems will validate their origin via a DNS query before letting the email through their mail gateway. This would explain all of the DNS queries of the Trump host name by other organizations including Spectrum and Alfa Bank. Remember this was not unique to to those organizations.

3. The source of logs is unknown and the accuracy is very questionable. Going back to point #1. An investigation needs to identify anomalous behavior which requires a baseline of normal activity. In order to establish a baseline of normal activity one needs the entire set of data. In this case, it would be the full set of logs from an authoritative source like Dyn which is something no one that supports the conspiracy theory has been able to show.

Re:  "1. The DNS activity wasn't unique to Alfa Bank and Spectrum. One of the first things you need to identify in a digital forensics case is to identify anomalous activity. DNS queries are fairly ubiquitous activities on the internet so if the DNS logs showed only activity between the Trump mail server and Spectrum and Alfa Bank that would be a little suspicious. However, this wasn't the case."

I think your logic is backwards.  An example of anomalous behavior would not be that comms were "only" with an Alfa bank server, but that there was ANY communication with an Alfa bank server.  Corrupt acts by the Trump Admin are part and parcel of normal appearing functions happening in plain view.  Everyone should understand that by now.

 

Re 2.: Trump Org not owning the server or having control of it does not mean it wasn't being used by affiliates working on their behalf.  Need more information.

Re 3.:  yes, we need more information

And at this point, the repeated use of "conspiracy theory" strikes me as an antiquated jab given that Trump's campaign manager, former personal attorney and fixer, and former NSA are set to serve prison time, Trump's long time friend and campaign affiliate Stone is teed up for felonies related to his Russia collusion, and that Mueller's report defines massive collusion with a hostile foreign power in Volume 1, and a rolling avalanche of obstruction of justice committed by Trump in Vol. 2.  Take those jabs while you can, I guess.  

 

[Hornius Emeritus 12,457]

10 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The time for waiting is over. 

 

You could chose not to wait for it. What would that look like?

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

Oh you really got me so good 

[WhatTheBuck 28,776]

8 hours ago, Mdhorn said:

Expect more Trump lawsuits.  By the way, who is footing the bills for all of Trumps law suits to obstruct?

Hard to say since his charity was forced to shut down. I'm going with his reelection campaign. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

Oh...

[Zavala 1,384]

18 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The time for waiting is over. 

Doesn't the movie have Captain Marvel come blow though all the bad guys at the end?

 

[Foosters 17,850]

Did you just post an Avengers spoiler on the Robert Mueller thread?

[henrygandorf 29,189]

something something why does the right suck at comedy something.

[WhatTheBuck 28,776]

10 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

something something why does the right suck at comedy something.

Because they just don't get it. 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13,581]

NOW COMES TIME ON SPROCKETS WE ENJOY THE HUMOR!

[Doc Sam Beckett 5,792]

18 hours ago, Chuckie Finster said:

Yeah, I'm starting to come around to the "Fuck Mueller" team for his refusal to indict the piece of shit.

What I love most about this statement is the piece of shit could be any one of a handful of different people in this administration 

[retread 2,951]

Barr knew Mueller wouldn't indict based on the DOJ memo. He's also been around long enough to know that the Ds in the House will probably go away if you repeatedly tell them to go pound sand.

[F250 28,767]

10 hours ago, triplehorn said:

I think your logic is backwards.  An example of anomalous behavior would not be that comms were "only" with an Alfa bank server, but that there was ANY communication with an Alfa bank server.  Corrupt acts by the Trump Admin are part and parcel of normal appearing functions happening in plain view.  Everyone should understand that by now. 

No, my logic is not backwards. In digital forensics, particularly network forensics, a baseline is established using network data. This is how you understand what normal network traffic looks like and then search for any network activity that deviates from the baseline. Regardless of the organizations involved, you NEVER begin an investigation by drawing conclusions before you understand what normal network behavior and anomalous behavior looks like.

What you are suggesting is that you draw a conclusion and then seek out theories that prove your conclusion. This is how unfounded conspiracy theories get started.

10 hours ago, triplehorn said:

Trump Org not owning the server or having control of it does not mean it wasn't being used by affiliates working on their behalf.  Need more information. 

Now you are down the rabbit hole of trying to prove a conclusion drawn without evidence. All of the available evidence supports the fact that the mail server in question was owned and  managed by Cendyn/Listrak for the purpose of an email marketing campaign.

 

11 hours ago, triplehorn said:

And at this point, the repeated use of "conspiracy theory" strikes me as an antiquated jab given that Trump's campaign manager, former personal attorney and fixer, and former NSA are set to serve prison time, Trump's long time friend and campaign affiliate Stone is teed up for felonies related to his Russia collusion, and that Mueller's report defines massive collusion with a hostile foreign power in Volume 1, and a rolling avalanche of obstruction of justice committed by Trump in Vol. 2.  Take those jabs while you can, I guess.   

I use the term conspiracy theory because the theories that have been floated are not evidence based but driven by the assumption of a conspiracy between the Trump organization, Spectrum and Alfa Bank.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

 

[TtomTerrific 200]

Hugo speaking in absolutes about what "is" and "isn't all that matters" could not be a better metaphor for exactly the circle jerk of deniability, doubling down libtard tactics that have gained some purchase on the national stage, but are the complete tard buy in on this forum.

Last week "All we need is Mueller to testify"

This thing is a fucking sham and it has been exposed as such, no matter which  Rachel Maddow on here screeches to the opposite. 

[GRHorn 105]

3 hours ago, F250 said:

No, my logic is not backwards. In digital forensics, particularly network forensics, a baseline is established using network data. This is how you understand what normal network traffic looks like and then search for any network activity that deviates from the baseline. Regardless of the organizations involved, you NEVER begin an investigation by drawing conclusions before you understand what normal network behavior and anomalous behavior looks like.

What you are suggesting is that you draw a conclusion and then seek out theories that prove your conclusion. This is how unfounded conspiracy theories get started.

Now you are down the rabbit hole of trying to prove a conclusion drawn without evidence. All of the available evidence supports the fact that the mail server in question was owned and  managed by Cendyn/Listrak for the purpose of an email marketing campaign.

 

I use the term conspiracy theory because the theories that have been floated are not evidence based but driven by the assumption of a conspiracy between the Trump organization, Spectrum and Alfa Bank.

F250, smasher of tin foil hats. 

[GRHorn 105]

2 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

 

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

 

[Bozo_Casanova 26,444]

 

Don’t know about that but it looks like Trey Gowdy relied on Ray Charles for a haircut

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

Flynn needs to hang.  

[Anastasis 23,469]

Maybe let's see the Kislyak transcripts before we set up the gallows. 

[Anastasis 23,469]

1 hour ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Don’t know about that but it looks like Trey Gowdy relied on Ray Charles for a haircut

I cant even see the pic, but I agree.  That dude looks half deliverance. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

5 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Maybe let's see the Kislyak transcripts before we set up the gallows. 

The shit Flynn pulled with Russia and the UN during the transition period was insane enough.  That story is outlined in great detail in the Mueller Report but gets very little attention.  

He was actively working with Russia to undermine the Obama Administration at the UN. 

[retread 2,951]

We're gonna need a thread tracking the political downfall and ultimate imprisonment of Bill Barr. I hope.

Edited May 18, 2019 by retread

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13,581]

11 hours ago, retread said:

We're gonna need a thread tracking the political downfall and ultimate imprisonment of Bill Barr. I hope.

Pretty concise, cut and dry summation of the latest Flynn revelation and the compounding contradictions of Barr's various arguments that beg the question why was this redacted in the first place.

 

"This may be the most significant revelation since we learned of the president’s efforts to fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Even Attorney General William P. Barr conceded in his infamous memo to the Justice Department, “Obviously, the President and any other official can commit obstruction in this classic sense of sabotaging a proceeding’s truth-finding function. Thus, for example, if a President knowingly destroys or alters evidence, suborns perjury, or induces a witness to change testimony, or commits any act deliberately impairing the integrity or availability of evidence, then he, like anyone else, commits the crime of obstruction.” Barr also told Senate Judiciary Committee members during his confirmation hearing that it would be illegal for a president to coach a witness or persuade a witness to change testimony.

The disclosure, of course, raises serious questions as to why Barr redacted material in the report relating to Flynn, and why evidence that Trump did precisely what Barr said was illegal did not convince him that the president had obstructed justice."

 

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/17/why-flynn-revelations-are-so-important/?outputType=amp

[triplehorn 2,664]

19 hours ago, F250 said:

No, my logic is not backwards. In digital forensics, particularly network forensics, a baseline is established using network data. This is how you understand what normal network traffic looks like and then search for any network activity that deviates from the baseline. Regardless of the organizations involved, you NEVER begin an investigation by drawing conclusions before you understand what normal network behavior and anomalous behavior looks like.

What you are suggesting is that you draw a conclusion and then seek out theories that prove your conclusion. This is how unfounded conspiracy theories get started.

Now you are down the rabbit hole of trying to prove a conclusion drawn without evidence. All of the available evidence supports the fact that the mail server in question was owned and  managed by Cendyn/Listrak for the purpose of an email marketing campaign.

 

I use the term conspiracy theory because the theories that have been floated are not evidence based but driven by the assumption of a conspiracy between the Trump organization, Spectrum and Alfa Bank.

Yes, your logic is backwards. 

The fact Alfa Bank server was looking up the Trump Tower server establishes the connection.  It doesn't have to appear be anomalous to be nefarious.  An analogous example is Trump campaign officials talking with Russians.  One can draw a conclusion that because a person functions in a capacity associated with government affairs that can involve international relations, any contact by Trump campaign officials with Russians must be innocent.  We know now that it wasn't innocent.

Furthering that analogy, how many different Americans and at which times did Russians make contact ?  Was it the same pattern and frequency in 2014, '15, and '16 ?  Same question for the Alfa bank/Trump lookups.  

Again, I think Tea Pain makes a reasonable observation and raises important questions about the server contacts, fully noting that it's not about seeing something anomalous, it's about understanding what's actually happening when something looks normal: The Link

Quote

So Tea pulled up the original logs (available here) and went back to square one.  That’s when he saw it!  It wasn’t duplicates like he first thought. It was pairs! Right there in the logs lay the answer.

Above is a snippet of the raw logs.  Now look at it with just a little bit of help.

Early database replication was fairly straight forward.  A process on one computer would “wake up” and see if there was any new data that needed to be sent to his digital step-brother.  The process would establish two connections with another computer, one outgoin’ and one incomin’ to broadcast data changes back and forth to the other database until both databases looked exactly alike.  Then it would go back to sleep, usually for an hour, then wake up and check again.

That was cool until databases got really big and the demand to replicate larger amounts of data increased.  Smart folks figured out they could create multiple sets of connections, known also as “threads” to replicate more data in less time.  Most databases spawn these threads in pairs of 2, 4, 6, 8 and so on.

So there it was, starin’ Tea Pain in the face the whole time.  He was clearly witnessin’ “Multi-threaded Database Replication” followin’ it’s predictable and programmed algorithm to a “T”.  Check out this snippet of activity and it’ll get even clearer.

Here’s a few sessions from July 28, durin’ the Stealth Data Machine’s busiest transmission period.  These reflect each time Alfa Bank contacted the Trump Tower server durin’ the wee mornin’ hours.  Notice each time a session starts, multiple threads are spawned in pairs of 2.  The real key thing to notice is the interval.  Just a little over an hour apart!

Typically, Alfa would contact Trump Tower, and exchange data for 4-5 minutes, plenty of time to exchange gigabytes of data on high-speed 1 gigabit commercial lines.  Then Alfa Bank sets a timer for an hour and goes to sleep.  Day in, day out, this stealth data machine labored away, sendin’ its treasonous cargo round the world disguised as everyday business data.

There are 3 tell-tale signs of hourly database replication

1. Never more than 24 sessions a day
2. Never less than an hour apart ( typically an hour and a few minutes apart)
3. Connections made in multi-threaded pairs of 2

There you have it folks.  We can’t see the money the crooks stole, but we can plainly see what kind of getaway car they was drivin’!  

 

Notice above that the change in frequency of server contacts was variable and suddenly spiked and peaked June and July 2016.  Really ?  Whatever could be the explanation for that ?  Realize also we found out last week that Steele had reported that Manafort was using the Alfa bank server to communicate with the Kremlin.  We also know Manafort was sharing MI/OH/PA state polling data with Russians.  It appears those associations could shed light on the type of information that was being passed in the two-way server exchanges - voter data.  Did Manafort have voter data to give to the Russians ?  Yes, we already know he did.  Did the Russians have voter data to share with the Trump digital campaign ?  Yes, they stole it.

 

[TexEx15 17,510]

Unfortunately if anyone takes the fall it will be the lawyer just the same way Cohen took the hit for the campaign violations.  And Trumpkins will continue to act like dear leader is as clean as can be.

[retread 2,951]

Quote

House Democrats are backing away from plans to hold a blockbuster hearing this month with Robert Mueller after talks stalled out with the special counsel and his representatives.

Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and a senior Democratic committee aide told POLITICO on Friday that there’s no Mueller hearing planned for next week, though that could also change at a moment’s notice if the special counsel said he’s ready to testify.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Doc Sam Beckett 5,792]

How are talks stalling? What the fuck is going on 

[triplehorn 2,664]

17 minutes ago, retread said:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Couple things: one, he's still...still an active Special Counsel.  Also, in light of total Admin stonewalling on every single subpoena, it allows more time for the House to collect information.  On the active SC front, look at what has come to light in court filings related to ongoing investigations since the report, especially just in the last 5 days.  No harm that I can tell in giving it a few more weeks.  It actually could help quite a bit. 

[David Dennison 18,854]

16 minutes ago, Doc Sam Beckett said:

How are talks stalling? What the fuck is going on 

He still works for the Justice Department.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

14 minutes ago, triplehorn said:

Couple things: one, he's still...still an active Special Counsel.  Also, in light of total Admin stonewalling on every single subpoena, it allows more time for the House to collect information.  On the active SC front, look at what has come to light in court filings related to ongoing investigations since the report, especially just in the last 5 days.  No harm that I can tell in giving it a few more weeks.  It actually could help quite a bit. 

Come on brah, it’s clear the democrats want this to go away as much a Republicans.  They just want it to look like they care. 

There are 100+ things they could be doing right now that are more responsible and in the public interest than what they’re doing. 

For starters, try to recreate the Mueller Investigation from scratch by bringing in people to publicly testify.   Why aren’t they at least doing that?   

Because they have no courage and are afraid of losing.

[David Dennison 18,854]

1 minute ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Come on brah, it’s clear the democrats want this to go away as much a Republicans.  They just want it to look like they care. 

There are 100+ things they could be doing right now that are more responsible and in the public interest than what they’re doing. 

For starters, try to recreate the Mueller Investigation from scratch by bringing in people to publicly testify.   Why aren’t they at least doing that?   

Because they have no courage and are afraid of losing.

Those people are refusing to come in.

[retread 2,951]

Barr is the ringer that Trump needed.

[David Dennison 18,854]

2 minutes ago, retread said:

Barr is the ringer that Trump needed.

This will not be known until November 4, 2020.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

1 minute ago, David Dennison said:

Those people are refusing to come in.

They can call in members of Mueller’s team that have left DOJ.  They can call in Flynn.  They can call Rosenstein and Comey...together.  

The Republicans are going after the investigators, let the investigators speak for themselves.  Every time a true professional comes to testify, the Republicans end up looking like clowns. 

[David Dennison 18,854]

2 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

They can call in members of Mueller’s team that have left DOJ.  They can call in Flynn.  They can call Rosenstein and Comey...together.  

The Republicans are going after the investigators, let the investigators speak for themselves.  Every time a true professional comes to testify, the Republicans end up looking like clowns. 

How many phone calls have you made to the Speakers office?

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

I send text messages and DMs

[David Dennison 18,854]

2 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

I send text messages and DMs

Send more.

It works.

Unless, of course, they disagree with your take on the politics. In which case they will ignore you and do what they think is in their best interest.

[Dbeasy 15,047]

House Democrats are backing away from plans to hold a blockbuster hearing this month with Robert Mueller after talks stalled out with the special counsel and his representatives.
Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and a senior Democratic committee aide told POLITICO on Friday that there’s no Mueller hearing planned for next week, though that could also change at a moment’s notice if the special counsel said he’s ready to testify.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don’t understand this. The whole narrative by some Democrats is that Trump should have been impeached due to obstruction, that Mueller didn’t come out and say that in his report because it was Congress’ responsibility not his, that people in his office are angry at what Barr has done, and yet now they can’t get him to testify? Something doesn’t make sense here.