How FBI HQ hamstrung the Alfa Bank investigation

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How FBI HQ hamstrung the Alfa Bank investigation

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https://technofog.substack.com/p/how-fb ... a-bank?s=w

How FBI HQ hamstrung the Alfa Bank investigation
The latest from the Michael Sussmann Trial

Techno Fog
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Today in the Michael Sussmann trial, we received additional information regarding the FBI leadership’s involvement in the opening - and execution - of the Alfa Bank/Trump investigation. This included FBI Headquarters not approving an FBI agent’s repeated requests to interview the sources of the Alfa Bank “materials.”

But first we’ll start with the examination of Trisha Anderson.

Anderson is currently the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel. Back in 2016, she was an FBI deputy general counsel and reported directly to then-FBI general counsel James Baker.

The purpose of her testimony was to prove-up her notes from a September 19, 2016 meeting she had with Baker, where Baker discussed his meeting with Michael Sussmann. (The notebook was necessary because Anderson didn’t recall the meeting itself.)
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The FBI’s Cyber Division also discounted the Sussmann white paper:

Heide: The cyber division “were also unable to substantiate any of the allegations in the white paper, and they deemed that the information provided was not in accordance with how the Russians would conduct cyber activities.”

In fact, Agent Pientka (whom we have long-criticized) relayed the Cyber Division’s conclusions to Heide, stating:
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Relatively early on in the investigation - on September 26, 2016 - Agent Heide sent a message to Pientka, requesting an interview of the source of the Alfa Bank white papers. By that time, Heide knew the white paper was bunk. He received no response from Pientka. He repeated this request on October 3, 2016. Agent Heide’s requests were rebuffed by his liaison at FBI headquarters:
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When asked about the details of his involvement in the FISA applications, Heide said he “didn’t author any of the affidavits or any of the materials related to the applications in question.”

Then there’s the testimony regarding another FBI confidential human source. According to today’s transcripts, another person provided information to the FBI regarding the Alfa Bank allegations:
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Is the CHS David Corn? A discussion:

Corn has an agenda and was close to those who spread the Alfa Bank hoax.

Corn was interviewed by the Washington Post on November 2, 2016. Today’s transcript, however, references an October 5, 2016 “Status update on Alfa-Bank case” where the CHS had potentially already been interviewed by the Washington Post. I say “potentially” because the FBI discussion isn’t entirely clear on the topic.

Corn spoke with Hope Hicks about the Alfa Bank issue: “In an email to Mother Jones, Hope Hicks, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, maintains, ‘The Trump Organization is not sending or receiving any communications from this email server. The Trump Organization has no communication or relationship with this entity or any Russian entity.’)” Reporting from the CHS mentions a call with Hicks - but does not rule out e-mails.

Update with the afternoon transcript below:

The testimony of Jared Novick, former CEO of BitVoyant.

Novick was a former business partner of Rodney Joffe at BitVoyent, a company that focused on private sector cybersecurity. He reported directly to a board on which Rodney Joffe was a member. In August of 2016, Joffe gave Novick a task to dig up data “related to Donald Trump and Russia”
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Who did Joffe target? According to Novick:

Rodney tasked me, and I received a PDF document. And in that PDF document, there were, you know, a handful -- five, seven names -- of individuals, their home addresses, if they had a spouse, their spouse name and companies related to their spouse, their personal email addresses. So everything about the document was -- it was very personal.

This list included Carter Page, Sergei Millian, and Richard Burt. The name of this project? They called it “Crimson Rhino.” Novick stated he complied with Joffe’s request and “cast a large net” on these individuals using “a 90-day history of data.”

On cross-examination, counsel for Sussmann attempted to play-up Joffe’s qualifications and reputation. Novick had this response:

Q: Are you aware of the respect that Mr. Joffe had in the government communities in 2016?

Novick: It’s an interesting question because I do know some government agencies were suspect of Rodney.
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