Former CIA officer gets 20 years in prison for selling secrets to China

Former CIA officer Kevin Mallory was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday. Mallory, 62, was convicted last year of providing his Chinese handlers with classified information in exchange for $25,000.

The Virginia man, a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker, spent two decades working in U.S. intelligence, first as a covert case officer for the CIA and later as an intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency. He then worked as a CIA contractor until 2012, but lost his top secret security clearance after he improperly disclosed classified information, according to court records. Since 2012, he ran his own consulting firm, and was struggling financially when he was contacted on business networking service LinkedIn in 2017 by a Chinese intelligence officer who claimed to be a think tank representative. Mallory responded to the LinkedIn message and traveled twice to China, where his handlers gave him a Samsung phone that doubled as a covert communications device. According to prosecutors, Mallory gave the Chinese documents of a classified spying operation and a CIA analysis of a foreign country’s intelligence capabilities. He also reached out to his former colleagues at the CIA in an effort to obtain more secret information, but his former colleagues has suspicions, and the CIA and FBI began investigating Mallory.

Upon returning from his second trip to China, he was stopped by customs officers at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Officers discovered the Samsung phone and thousands of dollars in cash. Agents were able to recover texts from the phone between Mallory and his handlers. “Your object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid for,” Mallory told Chinese intelligence. "I will destroy all electronic records after you confirm receipt. I already destroyed the paper records. I cannot keep these around, too dangerous,” another text said. In a search of his home, investigators also discovered eight secret and top-secret documents. “Mallory not only put our country at great risk, but he endangered the lives of specific human assets who put their own safety at risk for our national defense,” U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger said in a statement.

Assistant Attorney General John Demers called the case “an alarming trend” of former U.S. intelligence officers passing along government secrets to China. Former intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency Ron Hansen, 58, pleaded guilty in March to attempted espionage. Former CIA case officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, pleaded guilty this month to spying for China.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/former-cia-officer-gets-20-years-in-prison-for-selling-secrets-to-china

University rejects Michael Avenatti claim that Nike bribed players

The University of Oregon has rejected a claim from embattled anti-Trump lawyer Michael Avenatti that it has been investigating allegations Nike bribed players to attend colleges the company was linked to. "I can now confirm that the University of Oregon is also investigating the allegations that Nike paid illegal bribes to players to attend colleges affiliated with Nike, including Oregon," the former lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels said via Twitter on Thursday. "I will fully cooperate with them and all other in an effort aimed at disclosing the truth."

Molly Blancett, spokeswoman for the University of Oregon, said Avenatti was wrong: "There is no investigation at the University of Oregon [UO] because we have seen no evidence that would indicate one is required." "The UO’s general counsel has reached out to Mr. Avenatti as part of an effort to do due diligence to see if Mr. Avenatti has evidence of wrongdoing as he has alleged. We have not met with Mr. Avenatti. He has not produced any evidence directly to the UO for us to review."

Avenatti, 48, is being charged by federal prosecutors for allegedly attempting to extort millions from Nike during a meeting with their lawyers. Prosecutors said he threatened "to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial and reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met." He has denied the charges. The lawyer, who briefly flirted with running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, was also charged by federal prosecutors in California for financial fraud and stealing from his own clients. He denies the charges.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/university-rejects-michael-avenatti-claim-that-nike-bribed-players

Halt: In first, Trump’s ambassador to Germany requests $0 more in budget, cuts spending

Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany and an ardent supporter of President Trump’s agenda, has broken the long practice of embassies seeking — and getting — more funding every year. In what was described as a first, he asked for zero extra in his budget request. What’s more, in a demonstration of his pledge to be frugal with tax dollars, he ended his last budget year with a $7.7 million surplus. In becoming the first American ambassador to seek no future year budget increase and to cut costs, he has won praise in Washington, especially from famed penny-pincher Sen. Rand Paul. “It is a big step in the right direction,” said the Kentucky Republican. “I would give compliments were compliments were due. Anybody that is working in government that says they can hold the line on their budget deserves to be complimented,” he added.

In a call from Berlin, Grenell explained that he believes his mission can do its job without any more money or staff. As a result, he sought nothing in his future year requests. He said that such a move is unheard of in diplomatic circles. “First of all I have to give credit by saying President Trump and Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo expect us to be frugal and efficient with the American taxpayer dollars,” he said. “We have to be smart because we also have a job to do and we want to make sure that the job gets done with the responsibilities that we’ve been given. So we’re not going to be reckless,” added the ambassador who oversees a budget of $132 million.

Grenell is one of the administration’s favorites and is the most prominent gay appointed by Trump. He is also very active on social media, recently defending Vice President Mike Pence against surprise attacks by Democratic presidential candidate, South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Paul said that he hopes other embassies look at and follow Grenell’s move. “I think it could be a model for all the embassies around the world. Everybody’s always saying, ‘Oh, we don’t have enough money for this or that.’ But it really is like everything else in government, everybody wants more, more, more every year. And really people ought to have to justify why you have more…particularly when we are about a $1 trillion short in our budget,” said Paul.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/halt-in-first-trumps-ambassador-to-germany-requests-0-more-in-budget-cuts-spending

Accused Navy SEAL's attorney to file ethics complaint against prosecutor over email tracking allegations

The defense attorney for a Navy SEAL accused of murdering an ISIS prisoner plans to file an ethics complaint against the Navy prosecutor for allegedly sending emails containing tracking software. Timothy Parlatore, who represents Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, told the Washington Examiner he suspects Cmdr. Chris Czaplak embedded tracking software in emails to defense lawyers and a reporter in an effort to root out leaks to the media.

Marketing companies use similar tracking techniques to learn things such as which customers read promotional emails and how they respond. Every device has a unique Internet Protocol address, and Parlatore said the prosecutor used an image embedded in a signature line to track IP addresses so he could monitor the flow of information shared in the discovery process. He said the tracking device follows the next IP should an email be forwarded. If he forwarded an email from the Navy prosecutor embedded with the tracker to a journalist, for example, the software would show that it went from the Navy's IP to Parlatore's and then the journalist's. "They are able to now track what the defense is doing with their stuff," Parlatore said.

The alleged tracking emails were sent as the Naval Criminal Investigative Service looks into leaks to the media regarding the high-profile murder case. The judge overseeing the case has placed strict limitations on court documents and information. NCIS spokesman Jeff Houston told the Military Times Thursday that "during the course of the leak investigation, NCIS used an audit capability that ensures the integrity of protected documents. It is not malware, not a virus, and does not reside on computer systems. There is no risk that systems are corrupted or compromised." Czaplak did not respond to the Examiner's requests for comment.

The New York Times reported in April that Gallagher has been accused of a litany of war crimes throughout his career, citing a confidential Navy report. Parlatore said it would not make sense for his office to leak such damning information to the press. "I have a vested interest in not leaking anything harmful to my client," he said.

Gallagher, 39, has pleaded not guilty to the stabbing murder of an injured teenage ISIS fighter while deployed to Iraq in 2017. He also denies shooting two civilians and opening fire on crowds. His court-martial begins May 28 in San Diego. Gallagher's platoon commander, Lt. Jacob Portier, was charged with conduct unbecoming of an officer after he allegedly conducted Gallagher's reenlistment ceremony next to the fighter's corpse. The case snowballed into a national news story that caught the eye of President Trump, who ordered the transfer of Gallagher from a Navy brig to a hospital complex. "In honor of his past service to our Country, Navy Seal #EddieGallagher will soon be moved to less restrictive confinement while he awaits his day in court," Trump tweeted in March. While Gallagher's trial will be held in California, Parlatore told the Washington Examiner he plans to file an ethics complaint with the grievance committee for the state supreme court of New York, where he says Czaplak is barred.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/accused-navy-seals-attorney-to-file-ethics-complaint-against-prosecutor-over-email-tracking-allegations

Rapid DNA testing at border outs migrant who claimed six-month-old baby was his child

A 90-minute rapid DNA test is responsible for determining a male migrant and baby who arrived together at the Texas border as a family unit earlier this month were not related, according to an official with first-hand knowledge of events surrounding the incident. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched a pilot program with the system for a handful of days at two locations on the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this month to see if the technology could help agents conclusively confirm or deny whether migrants who claim to be related are in fact family.

On May 7, Border Patrol agents based in Hidalgo, Texas, watched 51-year-old Amilcar Guiza-Reyes wade through the Rio Grande with an infant. After the pair arrived on U.S. soil, they were taken into custody and brought back to U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Central Processing Center in McAllen, Texas. Agents learned Guiza-Reyes had been deported in 2013. He was turned over to ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations agents, who believed he may not have been the father of the child. ICE ordered a DNA test of the pair and the man consented to a cheek swab for the two. The swab was run through a machine, which concluded the two were not related.

The Honduran man admitted the baby's birth certificate was illegitimate. He was charged in federal court in the Southern District of Texas on May 10 with alien smuggling. The infant was turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement because the baby is technically an unaccompanied minor. The DNA tests were conducted for less than one week on suspicious migrant families taken into custody near McAllen and El Paso, Texas. The Washington Examiner reported in March the Department of Homeland Security and ICE were looking at adopting the rapid testing system. On May 1, Homeland Security announced it would launch a pilot of the program in instances where agents could not verify a family unit’s relationships. The debut marked the first time DNA testing of any sort has been used at the border. Currently, authorities must use verbal statements and written documents to verify family connections.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/rapid-dna-testing-at-border-outs-migrant-who-claimed-six-month-old-baby-was-his-child

Exclusive — 2016 Arizona Police Report: Cocaine Pipe Found in Car Rented by Joe Biden’s Son Hunter Biden, Authorities Declined to Prosecute

Breitbart News has exclusively obtained a heretofore unreported-on police report from days before the 2016 presidential election that describes how a cocaine pipe that authorities determined was used to smoke cocaine was found in a rental car returned to an Arizona Hertz location in the middle of the night. Also found in the vehicle were several personal effects of Hunter Biden, then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son, like two of his DC driver’s licenses, multiple credit cards, and personally identifying information like a Delaware Attorney General badge and a U.S. Secret Service business card that police said bore his name. Hunter Biden, according to the police report, had rented the vehicle from a location in California with the intent to return it to the Prescott, Arizona, location, where it was discovered the morning after it was dropped off with the drug paraphernalia and Hunter Biden’s personal effects inside. Instead of returning the car keys to the drop box where after-hours returns are supposed to go, the car was returned—according to the police report—with the keys left in the gas tank compartment of the vehicle. Also found inside the vehicle, per the police report, were two drivers’ licenses both bearing Hunter Biden’s legal name Robert Biden, as well as “some credit cards with the same name,” “a secret service business card,” and an “Attorney General’s badge” all contained inside a wallet that Hertz rental employees discovered—along with a pipe that Hertz employees thought and police later confirmed was used to smoke illicit drugs, as well as “a white powdery substance in the arm rest of the vehicle.”

The next morning, according to the police report, a man who identified himself as “Joseph McGee” called the Hertz rental car counter to inform them of how the keys to the car were left in the vehicle’s gas cap rather than in the normal spot. “McGee” informed the rental car company employee, according to police, that “his friend was feeling sick so they didn’t know what to do” when the car was returned. Police, according to a supplemental report filed by a Prescott Police Department detective, sought and obtained a subpoena to discover the source of the “Joseph McGee” phone call—and traced it to a phone number owned and operated by a renowned “Colon Hydrotherapist” in the region. Police attempted to find and interview “Joseph McGee,” but were unable to–and they also, per the documents, attempted to call Hunter Biden himself from the phone numbers he provided to the rental car company. Prescott Police Department officials were unable to reach Hunter Biden during the investigation for an interview on the matter, though, according to the documents, they did attempt to call him. One of the Prescott Police Department officers who responded to the initial scene wrote that according to his Sergeant, described in the report as “Sgt Small,” the Secret Service had informed the local police that “Robert Biden had been located by the Secret Service and was well.” Laboratory analysis by the Arizona Department of Public Safety later determined that the pipe discovered in the vehicle was used to smoke cocaine, not meth, but fingerprints were not found on the device.

The 23 pages of law enforcement and police documents repeatedly refer to the suspect under investigation as Robert Hunter Biden and the report type as a “Narcotics Offense.” Breitbart News is publishing the documents here, with redactions made to remove personally-identifying contact information like addresses and phone numbers as well as the last names of key witnesses.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/05/17/exclusive-2016-arizona-police-report-cocaine-pipe-found-in-car-rented-by-joe-bidens-son-hunter-biden-authorities-declined-to-prosecute/

Hunter Biden Docs Final Redacted

https://www.scribd.com/document/410496005/Hunter-Biden-Docs-Final-Redacted#from_embed