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Hugo Stiglitz

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23,718

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So back to the server conspiracy that got a lot of play here. 

Alfa bank apparently has a lawsuit playing out against Christopher Steele. As part of that lawsuit...

Kirkland & Ellis LLP, on behalf of Alfa-Bank JSC (Alfa-Bank), engaged Ankura Consulting Group to investigate and independently review newly identified evidence regarding the historical DNS records of servers alleged to have operated as a "secret server" back channel for Russian interest access to the Trump Organization, during the run-up to the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.

It's available here...[url=https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2020-04/Ankura_AlfaBank_ResearchAnalysis_Apr2020dh.pdf.pdf.pdf]LINK[/url]

If my recollection of the prior exchanges on this topic are accurate, there findings are well aligned with what F250 was saying when the information was discussed here.

For this investigation Ankura’s CTAPT relied on recently identified SecurityTrails DNS records, DomainTools passive DNS databases, and PassiveTotal archives for inquiry into Cendyn, Internap, Listra, and Trump related entities. CTAPT concluded that the available DNS records do not provide any support whatsoever for the allegation of a "secret server" or covert "cyber links" between Alfa-Bank and the Trump Organization. The three sources of DNS records reflect that servers attributed to the Trump Organization were actually owned and operated by a hotel marketing related company named "Central Dynamics" (Cendyn). DNS records also show Cendyn was engaged in legitimate marketing activity for numerous global hotel chains, including Trump Hotels.

CTAPT’s investigation discovered the Cendyn company and its servers have a long history of providing marketing solutions for hotel chains. Relevant here, the relationship between Cendyn and Trump Hotels goes back to at least 2009. We come to this understanding after considering multiple passive DNS sources, reviewing previous reporting, and assessing the original allegations as reported via multiple news outlets and blogs.

Cendyn’s Trump Organization related marketing activity, including the activity alleged in 2016 to be associated with covert communications, was in fact hardly confidential. Available DNS records clearly attribute Cendyn activities to publicly resolvable domain names and IP address registrations to Trump related entities, with no effort to conceal the connection. Alfa-Bank's publicly attributable domains and IPs were also clearly in the DNS and IP registration records, which is the opposite of secret or covert. Additionally, CTAPT’s research and analysis demonstrate it is possible -- indeed likely -- that threat actors may have conducted some inauthentic DNS activity to force a "connection" between Alfa-Bank and the Trump Organization, only to then later "discover" the connection.

 

 

 

The conclusion is that the was nothing nefarious in the connections, which is the conclusions the FBI also apparently reached.  Further, it is suggested it is possible if not likely that "threat actors" may have forced the creation of the entries. 

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23,718

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Also as part of that lawsuit Christopher Steele is giving testimony under oath. In testimony last month, Steele indicated that the source of the alfa bank server allegation was DNC lawyers at Perkins Coie. They fed him the story. Simpson pushed him to write it up in his dossier. 

We also know from Baker's testimony, that PC lawyers were feeding the same information into the FBI trying to stir up investigation.

Contemporaneously, they were seeding the story among reporters driving media coverage of the now debunked conspiracy theory. This results in the Slate and New Yorker pieces. Which Steele used as circular corroboration when he pitched the conspiracy to his contacts at State, who fed the information over the FBI via another channel. 

Pretty interesting web they wove around this server nonsense. The debunked server conspiracy appears to be a fabrication planted on multiple prongs by DNC lawyers.

 

https://theschpiel.com/politics/dossier-author-had-previously-undisclosed-meetings-with-lawyers-for-dnc-clinton-campaign/

 

A lawyer representing the DNC and Clinton campaign provided Christopher Steele with information in 2016 regarding an alleged secret communications channel between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank, the former spy told a British court last month.

That now-debunked tip, from Perkins Coie lawyer Michael Sussmann, set off a chain of events that led to Steele publishing a Sept. 14, 2016 memo accusing the founders of the bank, Alfa Bank, of having “illicit” ties to Vladimir Putin, according to a court transcript obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

A week after Steele wrote that memo, he had another meeting with Sussmann’s colleague, Marc Elias, according to the transcript.

Steele disclosed the previously unreported meetings with Sussmann and Elias during testimony in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by the Alfa Bank founders, the transcript shows.

...

Steele testified under oath in London on March 17 and 18.

He revealed that Sussmann, a former Justice Department official, told him during a meeting on July 29, 2016 about suspicious network traffic between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, according to the transcript.

He also said that the theory about the computer server traffic was the catalyst for the dossier memo he would write six weeks later about Alfa Bank, the transcript shows.

“I’m very clear is that the first person that ever mentioned the Trump server issue, Alfa server issue, was Mr. Sussman [sic],” the transcript shows Steele told Hugh Tomlinson, a lawyer for the Alfa Bank owners, on March 17.

Steele went on to say that Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson instructed him at some point after the Sussmann meeting to write a report about Alfa Bank, according to the transcript.

“I was given the instruction sometime after that meeting by Mr. Simpson,” said Steele, adding that the instruction from Simpson “was absolutely, definitely linked to the server issue,” according to the transcript.

...

Sussmann shopped the allegations about the Alfa Bank computer servers around to others besides Steele, including to journalists and the FBI’s top lawyer.

He shared the information with reporters from the New York Times and Slate, which ran a story on Oct. 31, 2016.

According to that story, Alfa Bank’s servers were communicating in a peculiar fashion with those of the Trump Organization. A team of computer experts who studied the traffic determined that the Alfa-Trump channel was being used for some sort of communication between the two sides, the story said.

...

It is now known that Steele was involved in one way or the other in all three of the stories. He met with both reporters from Mother Jones and Yahoo, and had investigated the allegations central to the Slate story.

To further spread the Alfa Bank story, Sussmann contacted James Baker, his former DOJ colleague who then served as general counsel for the FBI. Baker told House investigators on Oct. 18, 2018 that Sussmann contacted him to share the information and that they met on Sept. 19, 2016.

 

 

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23,718

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2 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

I don't think he can explain what he's upset about at this point. I think he thinks those warrants wouldn't have been issued without the information provided by Christopher Steele. That's a stretch.

No a stretch at all, the role that the material played in meeting the PC threshold has been hashed over multiple times in this thread.  You have read those exchanges previously, so I won't rehash. And anyhow, the updates re: Steele's testimony in the alfa matter is really an event distinct from the other issues previously discussed. 

 

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23,718

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Posted (edited)
51 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

LMAO . . . full disclosure, I haven't read your post . . . it's just so Don Quixote of you that every time I see this thread bump I think "Anastasis" before looking to see who bumped it, and it was . . . Anastasis.

You were one of the posters involved in discussion of the server transmissions.  I figured you maybe might be interested on how that all played out.  I guess maybe not.  

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 47,358

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35 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

You were one of the posters involved in discussion of the server transmissions.  I figured you maybe might be interested on how that all played out.  I guess maybe not.  

I'd love for you to highlight how you came to that conclusion based on what I posted.

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wildcat09

wildcat09 29,601

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Anastasis is really mad that we know that Trump’s campaign was coordinating with Russian intelligence, even though he got away with it because he was able to successfully obstruct the investigation. That’s really all his probably 250 posts in this thread boil down to.

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23,718

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5 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

Anastasis is really mad that we know that Trump’s campaign was coordinating with Russian intelligence, even though he got away with it because he was able to successfully obstruct the investigation. That’s really all his probably 250 posts in this thread boil down to.

Very weak.  I have clearly articulated my various areas of concern. You guys can keep trying to straw man me through.

Many posters here chased wild ass conspiracy theories, the server conspiracy being just one of a long list of them. 

That there now appears to be a direct line on the origin of that conspiracy to DNC lawyers at PC is I think worthy of a mention. 

Sorry that that makes you uncomfortable and you feel the need to deflect with baseless rhetoric.  

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23,718

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14 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'd love for you to highlight how you came to that conclusion based on what I posted.

The conclusion that "I figured that you would be interested in how that all played out?"

You really need me to explain that "conclusion"?

You were involved in discussions around the server transmissions.  IIRC you asked for somebody to explain to you the problems with the conspiracy in simple terms.  One poster did that.  Their explanation IIRC was pretty closely aligned with the conclusions Ankura just published.  You later dismissed that explanation as little more than one poster just using big tech words. 

Hey look if you don't care, that's fine.

 

We had multiple rounds of discussions of the server conspiracy nonsense. Each time somebody tried to push that conspiracy with new pieces of information, a number of posters went round and round about it.  Some quite committed to the conspiracy.  I thought that maybe some of those same posters would be interested in new insights on the origin of that particular conspiracy. 

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wildcat09

wildcat09 29,601

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Like I give half a shit about the Alfa server. I know what happened. You know what happened. Everyone with a functioning brain knows what happened. What makes me uncomfortable is that he got away with it and there will be no justice, and the fact that he was able to abuse his power to get away with it puts the lie to the concept that there is any such thing as justice for all in America.

You’re pissed off that FBI agents acted like FBI agents while investigating a traitor who was running for president. If the worry is “if they can do it to him they can do it to anyone,” I’ve got some bad news for you about the entire history of the FBI. If the worry is “if they can do it to him, he can use them to do it to his enemies,” I’ve got some bad news for you about the entire history of law enforcement cooperation with fascists all over the world.

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Captainant

Captainant 28,613

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19 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

That there now appears to be a direct line on the origin of that conspiracy to DNC lawyers at PC is I think worthy of a mention. 

And your evidence for this conclusion is a non-conclusive report from a consulting firm that was funded by alfabank. The report actually has some new (to me) data in it and their technical analysis is sound, but their conclusions and opinions on attribution are all unsupported by their own admission, or attributed to an unknown "threat actor".

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23,718

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7 minutes ago, Captainant said:

And your evidence for this conclusion is a non-conclusive report from a consulting firm that was funded by alfabank. The report actually has some new (to me) data in it and their technical analysis is sound, but their conclusions and opinions on attribution are all unsupported by their own admission, or attributed to an unknown "threat actor".

No. Moreso the characterization of the testimony of Christopher Steele regarding where he sourced the claim from.  And the further context of what we know from prior testimony (e.g., Baker) about who was pushing the conspiracy story both into the FBI and the public media space. 

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David Dennison

David Dennison 19,572

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41 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Very weak.  I have clearly articulated my various areas of concern. You guys can keep trying to straw man me through.

Many posters here chased wild ass conspiracy theories, the server conspiracy being just one of a long list of them. 

That there now appears to be a direct line on the origin of that conspiracy to DNC lawyers at PC is I think worthy of a mention. 

Sorry that that makes you uncomfortable and you feel the need to deflect with baseless rhetoric.  

Who hired Fusion GPS?

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David Dennison

David Dennison 19,572

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15 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

No. Moreso the characterization of the testimony of Christopher Steele regarding where he sourced the claim from.  And the further context of what we know from prior testimony (e.g., Baker) about who was pushing the conspiracy story both into the FBI and the public media space. 

You act as if that was all that was in the original warrant application.

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23,718

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14 minutes ago, Poolflood said:

Are you always this grotesquely stupid?  Some law firm that was hired by HRC campaign.

He's just trying to set up a deflection since at a point prior to anything involving Steele's deep dive into Russia disinformation, and the propagation of things like the alfa bank conspiracy theory which appears to have originated at the DNC or within 1 degree of separation, Simpson was doing broad oppo work for Rubio backers associated with Washington Free Beacon. The Russian centric drill down only came into focus after the DNC and HRC campaign took over funding.  He knows all of this of course.  

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David Dennison

David Dennison 19,572

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1 hour ago, JimmyJames said:

So this thread sat dormant for some reason for two weeks, probably because nobody gives a shit anymore but what do I know, and then somebody bumped it. 

One guess who that was. 

Anastasis thinks Russia didn't have anything to do with Donald Trump getting elected president.

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JimmyJames

JimmyJames 12,271

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12 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Anastasis thinks Russia didn't have anything to do with Donald Trump getting elected president.

Manafort and the russians got trump elected. Since manafort is in prison nowadays that’s gonna be a little tougher to pull off. 

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notre dame joe

notre dame joe 205

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10 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

Like I give half a shit about the Alfa server. I know what happened. You know what happened. Everyone with a functioning brain knows what happened. What makes me uncomfortable is that he got away with it and there will be no justice, and the fact that he was able to abuse his power to get away with it puts the lie to the concept that there is any such thing as justice for all in America.

 

Assuming he=Comey and everyone means anyone who can think objectively, we'd be in agreement. It shows the same pattern of behavior as the new revelations about Flynn.  The FBI wanted Trump.  Having nothing to accuse him of they sought to entrap Flynn into a crime.  Thus they would 'go easy' in exchange for Flynn's help against the Trump administration.  Machiavelli eat your heart out. 

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Paul Wesley

Paul Wesley 3,313

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1 hour ago, Eskimohorn said:

People dying on the hill for Flynn and Carter Page.

Shocking, isn’t it?

The guy hired to direct American security interests was secretly taking $$$$$ from foreign nations, and lying to our intelligence services.  
 

That such a man will be cheered back into the Republican Party tells you everything you need to know.  

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23,718

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Nobody is dying on a hill for Carter Page.  He is just the case study that draws some serious abuses at the FBI into focus.

If you want to talk about an entity inappropriately influencing American politics in a substantive way, we need to start with the FBI, and more specifically the actions that trace right back to James Comey.  His actions, in combination with the actions of others at the FBI, had a greater influence on both the outcome and the aftermath of the 2016 election than Russian troll farms.  If you must lay the blame on Russia, the FBI was a conduit for Russian disinformation. Amplifying and bringing action to it. 

In one case, influencing Comey's handling of the Midyear Exam investigation, it was apparently known quite early to be Russian disinformation.  Yet Comey used it as a justification for going off the reservation with his presser. Which set up a situation where he had to issue a letter in the run up right to the election, indicating that he was re-opening the investigation. That series of events is likely the single most influential factor, other than decisions made by the HRC campaign to not engage certain states in the final push, that led to the her defeat. 

In the other example, not vetting political opposition research and failure to recognize that it contained elements of disinformation immediately was an error. Using that information, after previously being denied approval, to meet the probable cause standard for surveillance in a political context was an error. They figured it out eventually, that the information was unreliable, but of course it was spread both covertly and publicly to effect political ends even after if was assessed to be rubbish.

  

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David Dennison

David Dennison 19,572

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2 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Nobody is dying on a hill for Carter Page.  He is just the case study that draws some serious abuses at the FBI into focus.

If you want to talk about an entity inappropriately influencing American politics in a substantive way, we need to start with the FBI, and more specifically the actions that trace right back to James Comey.  His actions, in combination with the actions of others at the FBI, had a greater influence on both the outcome and the aftermath of the 2016 election than Russian troll farms.  If you must lay the blame on Russia, the FBI was a conduit for Russian disinformation. Amplifying and bringing action to it. 

In one case, influencing Comey's handling of the Midyear Exam investigation, it was apparently known quite early to be Russian disinformation.  Yet Comey used it as a justification for going off the reservation with his presser. Which set up a situation where he had to issue a letter in the run up right to the election, indicating that he was re-opening the investigation. That series of events is likely the single most influential factor, other than decisions made by the HRC campaign to not engage certain states in the final push, that led to the her defeat. 

In the other example, not vetting political opposition research and failure to recognize that it contained elements of disinformation immediately was an error. Using that information, after previously being denied approval, to meet the probable cause standard for surveillance in a political context was an error. They figured it out eventually, that the information was unreliable, but of course it was spread both covertly and publicly to effect political ends even after if was assessed to be rubbish.

  

Everyone already knows that. It doesn't mean Russia didn't meddle in the election in an effort to get Donald Trump elected. You can read all about it in the Senate Intelligence Report.

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wildcat09

wildcat09 29,601

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16 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Everyone already knows that. It doesn't mean Russia didn't meddle in the election in an effort to get Donald Trump elected. You can read all about it in the Senate Intelligence Report.

It also doesn't mean that Donald Trump and his campaign didn't knowingly cooperate with Russia's efforts. Which makes him a traitor, which I care about a little more than the fact that James Comey, who can eat many barrels of shit, was a dumbass.

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elfenix

elfenix 34,799

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14 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

It also doesn't mean that Donald Trump and his campaign didn't knowingly cooperate with Russia's efforts. Which makes him a traitor, which I care about a little more than the fact that James Comey, who can eat many barrels of shit, was a dumbass.

interesting read for those who haven't:

Quote

However, Congress purposely sought to prevent such narrow interpretations: in 2002, it passed a statute directing that campaign finance regulations “shall not require agreement or formal collaboration to establish coordination.” The Federal Election Commission established the regulations for the implementation of the statute:  “Coordinated means made in cooperation, consultation or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate,” with no need to show any kind of agreement. 

Outside spending for coordinated communications is an in-kind contribution, and foreign contributions are completely prohibited. And Congress made the criminal penalties unmistakably clear: “Any person who knowingly and willfully commits a violation of any provision of this Act” commits a crime. The Supreme Court upheld these limits in McConnell v. FEC with crucial observations about the functional role of suggestions, rather than agreements: “[E]xpenditures made after a wink or nod often will be as useful to the candidate as cash.” This timeline is full of suggestions far more explicit than winks and nods. 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/robert-mueller-missed-the-crime-trumps-campaign-coordinated-with-russia

 

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elfenix

elfenix 34,799

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14 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

It also doesn't mean that Donald Trump and his campaign didn't knowingly cooperate with Russia's efforts. Which makes him a traitor, which I care about a little more than the fact that James Comey, who can eat many barrels of shit, was a dumbass.

interesting read for those who haven't:

Quote

However, Congress purposely sought to prevent such narrow interpretations: in 2002, it passed a statute directing that campaign finance regulations “shall not require agreement or formal collaboration to establish coordination.” The Federal Election Commission established the regulations for the implementation of the statute:  “Coordinated means made in cooperation, consultation or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate,” with no need to show any kind of agreement. 

Outside spending for coordinated communications is an in-kind contribution, and foreign contributions are completely prohibited. And Congress made the criminal penalties unmistakably clear: “Any person who knowingly and willfully commits a violation of any provision of this Act” commits a crime. The Supreme Court upheld these limits in McConnell v. FEC with crucial observations about the functional role of suggestions, rather than agreements: “[E]xpenditures made after a wink or nod often will be as useful to the candidate as cash.” This timeline is full of suggestions far more explicit than winks and nods. 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/robert-mueller-missed-the-crime-trumps-campaign-coordinated-with-russia

 

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hayden_horn

hayden_horn 11,403

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1 hour ago, Paul Wesley said:

Shocking, isn’t it?

The guy hired to direct American security interests was secretly taking $$$$$ from foreign nations, and lying to our intelligence services.  
 

That such a man will be cheered back into the Republican Party tells you everything you need to know.  

i mean, in hindsight, we should have all seen this coming when oliver fucking north was cheered back into the republican party.

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