Spies Are the New Journalists

And with the help of big names in media they’re turning journalism into an intelligence operation

There are two sets of laws in the United States today. One is inscribed in law books and applies to the majority of Americans. The other is a canon of privileges enjoyed by an establishment under the umbrella of an intelligence bureaucracy that has arrogated to itself the rights and protections of what was once a free press. The media is now openly entwined with the national security establishment in a manner that would have been unimaginable before the advent of the age of the dossier—the literary forgery the FBI used as evidence to spy on the Trump team. In coordinating to perpetrate the Russiagate hoax on the American public, the media and intelligence officials have forged a relationship in which the two partners look out for the other’s professional and political interests. Not least of all, they target shared adversaries and protect mutual friends.

Recently WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was indicted on 17 counts of violating the espionage act for obtaining military and diplomatic secrets from U.S. Army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning and publishing them in 2010. First Amendment lawyers and free speech activists worry that the indictments are likely to have a “chilling” effect on the practice of journalism. Others, however, argue that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to the WikiLeaks founder.

“Julian Assange is no journalist,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said in a press briefing last week. The Department of Justice’s position found support, of all places, in the media. “Julian Assange himself is not a journalist,” said CNN national security and legal analyst Asha Rangappa. “He was not engaged in bona fide newsgathering or publication and put national security at risk intentionally,” Rangappa told NPR.

Who’s Asha Rangappa, you ask, and how did she become an expert on journalism? According to a profile in Elle magazine, she worked three years in the FBI (Robert Mueller was director) as a counterintelligence official in the New York field office before returning to her alma mater, Yale Law School, as its admissions director. In that post she became famous for destroying admissions records to prevent students from legally accessing them. With the advent of the Russiagate hoax, Rangappa has become one of the best-known faces of a new, hybrid industry in which former national security bureaucrats are rebranded as “journalists.”

https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/285830/spies-are-the-new-journalists

Groups claim Clinton campaign broke campaign laws over Fusion GPS and Steele funding

Two watchdog groups filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission alleging the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee broke campaign laws by filing reports meant to conceal their hiring of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS and British ex-spy Christopher Steele. And one has now filed a lawsuit in federal court.

The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit, filed its complaint with the FEC in 2017, alleging that Clinton and the DNC “failed to accurately disclose the purpose and recipient of payments for the dossier of research alleging connections between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russia, effectively hiding these payments from public scrutiny, contrary to the requirements of federal law.” The Coolidge Reagan Foundation, a conservative nonprofit, filed its complaint with the FEC a year later against Clinton, the DNC, Steele, and the Perkins Coie law firm, which represented Clinton and the DNC in 2016 and was paid $12 million in 2016-2017. Perkins Coie hired Fusion GPS, which then hired Steele.

The foundation alleged the Clinton campaign “conspired” with foreign nationals by hiring Steele, who says he gathered information from sources close to the Kremlin. The FBI used Steele's unverified dossier in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications to surveil Trump campaign associate Carter Page. The foundation filed its lawsuit in D.C. District Court in May, hoping a judge will force the FEC to rule on its complaint.

Dan Backer, one of the group's founders and a "pro-Trump guy" who runs two pro-Trump political action committees, told the Washington Examiner that the goal of their lawsuit was to get the FEC to act, and, if not, to give the group the ability to investigate. The foundation accuses the Clinton campaign of paying Perkins Coie for legal services to hide its opposition research efforts from the public. “They should’ve reported a payment to Fusion GPS. They could’ve called it opposition research. They could’ve just called it research. But it definitely wasn’t just ‘legal services,’” Backer told the Washington Examiner.

Following remarks from Trump earlier in June that he'd be open to accepting foreign information, FEC Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub released a viral statement on Twitter, saying, “Anyone who solicits or accepts foreign assistance risks being on the wrong end of a federal investigation.” Brendan Fischer, an FEC expert for the center, told the Washington Examiner that the “payments by the DNC and Clinton campaign for opposition research were legal, but hiding those payments was not.” Fischer also said although it was doubtful that Steele's hiring broke the law, “whether Steele’s subsequent engagement with Russian sources might run afoul of the law would really depend on the facts.” The foundation, however, alleged that while Democratic officials have accused the Trump administration of collusion, “it was the Clinton-backed Democratic machine that conspired with foreigners in violation of both federal campaign finance law and basic decency to manipulate the election.”

Backer contended Steele attempted to influence the election by spreading his dossier to members of the media and the government. An FEC spokesman told the Washington Examiner the organization could not comment because FEC actions must be kept confidential until the case is resolved. When asked whether the association with Steele or with Russian sources might constitute foreign interference, an FEC spokesman pointed the Washington Examiner to the the FEC website's section on foreign nationals. Fischer, who said that center is still waiting for the FEC to make a ruling, said that while most campaign finance violations only involve a fine, “if the violation is committed knowingly and willfully there could be criminal penalties.”

Perkins Coie, Elias, the DNC, and the former Clinton campaign treasurer did not respond to requests seeking comment. A lawyer for Fusion GPS told the Washington Examiner that the firm has complied with the law. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is reviewing alleged FISA abuse, and Attorney General William Barr launched his “investigation of the investigators” earlier this year.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/groups-claim-hillary-clinton-campaign-broke-campaign-laws-over-fusion-gps-and-steele-funding

Coolidge Reagan Foundation v FEC

https://www.scribd.com/document/414636850/Coolidge-Reagan-Foundation-v-FEC#from_embed

'He lost the election': Jimmy Carter says Trump an illegitimate president

Jimmy Carter said he doesn’t believe President Trump won the 2016 election legitimately. Speaking at a Carter Center conference on human rights on Friday, the former president said a full investigation into Russian interference “would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016.” “He lost the election and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf,” Carter said.

When asked if that meant Trump was an illegitimate president, Carter said, “Based on what I said, which I can’t retract.” Earlier this week, Carter praised the president’s handling of escalating tensions with Iran. He has previously offered to help Trump with denuclearization talks with North Korea.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/jimmy-carter-suggests-trump-an-illegitimate-president

>>6866302

He always was he was owned with the Iran hostages and then with his foundations. He will be owned until they don't need him anymore.

>>6866323

You are not wrong about him being compromised, they had something on him with the Iran hostages, and continued with his foundations..

>>6866409

If you have done any reading on him at all, his children have stated that they were down and out and he needed to find away to make money..he wrote book of pure lies..he was stunned how many people bought into what he said.

>>6866133

Anons posted this earlier in the bread..This relates to PF post Umbrella SPY & Targeting, and while I realize the sauce is controversial there are truths here..give it a glace..please..I don't believe you will be sorry.

>>6866463 >>6866133

Who’s Asha Rangappa, you ask, and how did she become an expert on journalism? According to a profile in Elle magazine, she worked three years in the FBI (Robert Mueller was director) as a counterintelligence official in the New York field office before returning to her alma mater, Yale Law School, as its admissions director. In that post she became famous for destroying admissions records to prevent students from legally accessing them. With the advent of the Russiagate hoax, Rangappa has become one of the best-known faces of a new, hybrid industry in which former national security bureaucrats are rebranded as “journalists.”

Also see this: She has published op-eds in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post among others and has appeared on NPR, BBC, and several major television networks. She is an editor for Just Security and is a legal and national security analyst for CNN.

Asha serves on the board of directors for the Connecticut Society of Former FBI Agents, the South Asian Bar Association of Connecticut and the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame.

In 2018 she appeared in Indian version of Verve magazine and in May of the same year attended People of Color in Criminal Justice Conference at the Framingham State University.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha_Rangappa

>>6866621

I wouldn't put anything past him in that regard, looks like he passed down what he knew with his associate members as well…the upper levels of this department are in shambles.