Thread: Indictment reveals Russians also organized anti-Trump rallies after election

Indictment reveals Russians also organized anti-Trump rallies after election

By Alex Pappas | Fox News
7 hours ago

The Russians indicted for meddling in the 2016 presidential contest were also behind anti-Trump rallies after the election, prosecutors said Friday, revealing another aspect of Russia’s alleged interference as it worked to sow discord in the United States.

“After the election, the defendants allegedly staged rallies to support the president-elect while simultaneously staging rallies to protest his election,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a Friday press conference.

“For example, the defendants organized one rally to support the president-elect and another rally to oppose him, both in New York on the same day,” he said.

Friday’s indictment filing – signed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller – says the defendants organized a Nov. 12 “Trump is NOT my President” rally in New York.

Photos from that day show protesters in Manhattan holding signs that say “stop Trump” and “not my president.”

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announces indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for U.S. election meddling.

On that same day, according to indictment, they also organized a “show your support for President-elect Donald Trump" rally in New York.

The indictment also revealed that the Russians organized a “Charlotte Against Trump” rally in North Carolina on Nov. 19.

The November rallies are the only anti-Trump events that the indictment links to these Russian actors. It does not draw any connections to the widespread anti-Trump protests that were organized after his inauguration.

Thirteen Russian nationals were charged Friday. During the election, according to the filing, the Russians supported Trump and worked to spread derogatory information on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Their “strategic goal” was to “sow discord in the U.S. political system,” the indictment said.

Robert Ray, former federal prosecutor and independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation, says the White House can breathe sigh of relief as there is no evidence yet of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Video
Former federal prosecutor: Indictment is good news for Trump

The indictment – the first filed against Russian nationals as part of Mueller’s probe – effectively returns focus to the meddling activities out of Russia in the run-up to the 2016 election, following a string of charges relating to the actions of Trump associates.

The indictment says that starting around June 2016, the Russians began organizing and coordinating political rallies in the United States.

It says that in order to conceal that they were based in Russia, the Russians would pretend to be American grassroots activists who were located in the U.S. but unable to meet in person.

It says that in order to build attendance for rallies, these Russians would promote the gatherings through public posts on fake social media accounts designed to look like they were made by Americans.

In a statement released by the White House, Trump said Friday: “We cannot allow those seeking to sow confusion, discord, and rancor to be successful."

Former Department of Justice official Robert Driscoll comments on the indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for attempting to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

He also seized on Rosenstein's comment that the election results were not impacted by the Russians' activity.

"Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President," Trump tweeted. "The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!"

Democrats on Capitol Hill, though, are still suggesting that people associated with Trump or his campaign could have been involved in Russia's meddling.

“The American people deserve to know the full extent of Russia’s interference in our election and the involvement of Trump officials,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said.

The three Russian entities charged in the indictment are Internet Research Agency LLC, Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord Catering.

The 13 Russians charged are: Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin; Mikhail Ivanovich Bystrov; Mikhail Leonidovich Burchik; Aleksandra Yuryevna Krylova; Anna Vladislavovna Bogacheva; Sergey Pavlovich Polozov; Maria Anatolyrvna Bovda; Robert Sergetevich Bovda; Dzheykhun Nasimi Ogly; Vadim Vladimirovich Podkopaev; Gleb Igorevich Vasilchenko; Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina and Vladimir Venkov.

Fox News' Judson Berger contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...-election.html

So what do we have here.

Free speech on the internet.

Free speech protesting or supporting whatever.

Is that illegal now in the United States?!!! Do foreign nationals not have free speech rights in the US? Do they not have the right to set up social media accounts or buy ads on social media accounts? Do they not have the right to set up their own servers to communicate? Do foreign nationals not have the right to troll social media?

The indictment alludes to bank fraud, identity theft and possible travel visa fraud, i. e. entering US under false pretenses. Are illegal aliens here in violation of US immigration law in the US with bank accounts, fake IDs, stolen SS numbers, signing false I-9 forms to steal jobs, mortgages, leases, businesses, who post on social media, buy ads on social media, donate to campaigns, protest in our streets, go to rallies, openly support or oppose various candidates, breed citizens, exploit our schools, hospitals and other public benefits and launder money through churches and other 501 C 3 entities etc., etc. also guilty of "conspiracy to defraud the United States"?

Are members of Congress, the DNC, Corrupt Media and various government entities at local, state and federal levels who aid and abet these illegal alien conspirators defrauding our country to facilitate their objectives, co-conspirators to defraud the United States?

Until the Paul Manafort indictment, I'd never even heard of this charge, "conspiracy to defraud the United States". With regards to the Russians, I'm trying to figure out what they defrauded US out of?? They didn't breed citizens while they were here and stick US with any medical bills or other expenses, they didn't steal any money, they brought money, they didn't steal any jobs, they created some jobs, they didn't steal any seats in college, they didn't commit any fraud that harmed any business or agency, they paid our businesses, they didn't vote in any election, they didn't commit any violence, and they left on time before their visas expired.

They came, they spent, they spoke, they left.

If they actually opened bank accounts in violation of US banking laws, the indictment didn't actually say that. It said they used false personas or fictitious names to open Paypal accounts to pay for their goods and services and there is no law against that. Businesses in the US use fictitious names all the time to conduct business. The 3 businesses involved have English names as if they are US LLC businesses who use fictitious name registrations to name their companies. If these are US formed LLCs, there would be no requirement for foreign agent registration, they are US entities as a matter of law, subject to the laws of the state in which they were incorporated and usually represented by a registered agent which is usually a law firm or accountant of some type if they have no permanent public address they want to use to make sure they get their mail and legal notices.

It came out today that our "intel" agencies had "infiltrated" this troll house in Russia. I think this is a counter-intelligence operation that flopped, and the Russian troll farm in Russia is a counter-intelligence operation run by the CIA and the FBI, if it even exists, because the whole thing is too stupid and too tacky to be Russian. Just my opinion.

Stay tuned.

Read this article about the ejection of the Russian Diplomats, 35 in December 2016, by the Obama Administration.

Obama expels 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation for US election hacking

Trump wants to ‘move on’ but says he will meet intelligence officials
FBI and Homeland Security detail Russian hacking in new report

Fri 30 Dec 2016 02.47 EST
First published on Thu 29 Dec 2016 14.37 EST

The Obama administration on Thursday announced its retaliation for Russian efforts to interfere with the US presidential election, ordering sweeping new sanctions that included the expulsion of 35 Russians.

US intelligence services believe Russia ordered cyber-attacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Hillary Clinton’s campaign and other political organizations, in an attempt to influence the election in favor of the Republican candidate, Donald Trump.

In a statement issued two weeks after the president said he would respond to cyber-attacks by Moscow “at a time and place of our choosing”, Obama said Americans should “be alarmed by Russia’s actions” and pledged further action.

“I have issued an executive order that provides additional authority for responding to certain cyber activity that seeks to interfere with or undermine our election processes and institutions, or those of our allies or partners,” Obama said in the statement, released while he was vacationing with his family in Hawaii.

“Using this new authority, I have sanctioned nine entities and individuals: the GRU and the FSB, two Russian intelligence services; four individual officers of the GRU; and three companies that provided material support to the GRU’s cyber operations.

“In addition, the secretary of the treasury is designating two Russian individuals for using cyber-enabled means to cause misappropriation of funds and personal identifying information.” He also announced the closure of two Russian compounds in the US.

Obama added that more actions would be taken, “some of which will not be publicized”.

On Thursday, Trump, who has previously dismissed reports of Russian interference in the election, said in a statement: “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.”

He added, however, that “in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation.”

In a conference call with reporters, senior White House officials said the president-elect’s transition team was informed of the sanctions before they were announced on Thursday. Trump and Obama spoke on Wednesday, they said.

The officials added that the actions were a necessary response to “very disturbing Russian threats to US national security”.

“There has to be a cost and a consequence for what Russia has done,” a senior administration official said. “It is in a extraordinary step for them to interfere in the democratic process here in the United States of America. There needs to be a price for that.”

In Moscow, a Putin spokesman said Russia regretted the new sanctions and would consider retaliatory measures.

Diplomatic expulsions are normally met with exactly reciprocal action. In this case, however, Moscow may pause for thought. With Trump, who has spoken positively about Russia and Vladimir Putin, just three weeks away from the White House, Russia may feel it is inadvisable to kick out 35 US diplomats.

However, Russian authorities on Thursday ordered the Anglo-American School of Moscow closed, according to CNN, citing a US official briefed on the matter. The school serves children of US, British and Canadian embassy personnel, and would effectively make a Russian posting difficult for US diplomats with families.

Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the international affairs committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying the US move represented “the death throes of political corpses”.

The Twitter feed of the Russian embassy in London, meanwhile, called the Obama administration “hapless” and attached a picture of a duck with the word “LAME” emblazoned across it.

On the White House call, officials were asked about the prospect of Trump overturning the sanctions. They acknowledged that a future president could reverse course but warned against such an “inadvisable” step.

“We have no reason to believe that Russia’s activities will cease,” a senior official said. “One reason why I think it is necessary to sustain these actions is because there’s every reason to believe Russia will interfere with future US elections.”

On Capitol Hill, Democrats applauded the president’s action, called for further measures and emphasized bipartisan support for a thorough investigation into Russian hacking.

“I hope the incoming Trump administration, which has been far too close to Russia throughout the campaign and transition, won’t think for one second about weakening these new sanctions or our existing regime,” incoming Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

“Both parties ought to be united in standing up to Russian interference in our elections, to their cyber attacks, their illegal annexation of Crimea and other extra-legal interventions.”

Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, called for further sanctions from the new Congress when it convenes in January.

GOP leaders were quick to frame the new sanctions as too little, too late.

“While today’s action by the administration is overdue,” House speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement, “it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia. And it serves as a prime example of this administration’s ineffective foreign policy that has left America weaker in the eyes of the world.”

Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, two of Russia’s fiercest critics, echoed Ryan but also called for tough Congressional sanctions.

“Ultimately, [the sanctions] are a small price for Russia to pay for its brazen attack on American democracy,” the two men said in a joint statement. “We intend to lead the effort in the new Congress to impose stronger sanctions on Russia.”

The 35 Russian diplomats being expelled are “intelligence operatives”, Obama said. The state department has declared them “persona non grata” and they will be given 72 hours to leave the country.

Starting on Friday at noon, the White House said, Russia will be denied access to compounds in Maryland and New York that have been used for intelligence-related purposes.

A statement from the state department said the diplomatic expulsions were a response not only to hacking but to “a pattern of harassment of our diplomats overseas, that has increased over the last four years, including a significant increase in the last 12 months”.

The statement said the harassment has included “arbitrary police stops, physical assault, and the broadcast on state TV of personal details about our personnel that put them at risk”.

For some time, US diplomats in Russia have anecdotally reported being followed and harassed by police.

In June, a US diplomat was wrestled to the ground by a policeman as he scrambled to get inside the embassy. Russian authorities said the man was a CIA agent operating under diplomatic cover.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-election-hack

“Using this new authority, I have sanctioned nine entities and individuals: the GRU and the FSB, two Russian intelligence services; four individual officers of the GRU; and three companies that provided material support to the GRU’s cyber operations.

“In addition, the secretary of the treasury is designating two Russian individuals for using cyber-enabled means to cause misappropriation of funds and personal identifying information.” He also announced the closure of two Russian compounds in the US.

Obama added that more actions would be taken, “some of which will not be publicized”.

This indictment today of the 13 Russians and 3 companies, sounds very similar to the accusations that led to the ejection of the 35 diplomats here in the United States. If they were here on diplomatic visas, they have diplomatic immunity. What tipped me off on this was that story about the woman who emailed a family member and said they were busted by the FBI "today" and she was busy covering their tracks with her colleagues. That wasn't in Russia, that was here in the US. The FBI has no authority to "bust" anyone in Russia. That happened here. The diplomats being ejected had 72 hours to leave the country, so she's just cleaning up whatever they needed to do before they left the country and the US closed down the two facilities or "compounds" in the DC area.

This "information war" indictment has been constructed to look like it was something separate or different from this diplomatic ejection brouhaha. But it's the same thing or sure looks like it. 3 companies is 3 companies and 9 "entities and individuals" and 4 "GRU officials" interestingly adds up to 13 people. The indictment today is about 13 individuals and 3 companies. This investigation by Mueller has taken over that diplomatic action by Obama and the US State Department.

This is the same investigation and has nothing to do with Trump or the Trump Campaign. The FBI had somehow infiltrated these operations which is how they "busted" them, so it would appear that FBI agents were part of this tacky absurdity through a counter-intelligence operation, which could explain how the FBI knew the DNC was hacked before the DNC knew it was hacked. They were hacked into it. They tried to get into RNC but that system was better than the DNC's and they failed.

I sure hope they find out who murdered Seth Rich.