Thread: Trump Wants Wikileaks Prosecuted for CIA Leaks

Trump Wants Wikileaks Prosecuted for CIA Leaks

March 11, 2017
I love WikiLeaks.” That’s how presidential candidate Donald Trump described his feelings for the anti-secrecy organization at a rally in October 2016. Trump was celebrating WikiLeaks for their release of documents leaked from the Democratic National Committee, specifically those from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta. Hillary Clinton’s email and the corporate collusion that was revealed by their release, were a popular topic for Donald Trump during his campaign. However, since WikiLeaks released new CIA documents on Tuesday, the Trump administration has called for prosecuting the organization and whistleblower.

WikiLeaks exposed the Central Intelligence Agency’s spying capabilities in an explosive new document dump dubbed “Vault 7.” The vault is a massive collection of 8,761 documents related to CIA surveillance activities, including everything from the CIA’s infiltration of smart phones, televisions, and cars, to the creation of a hacking station posing as a U.S. Consulate in Germany. WikiLeaks claims that the CIA recently lost control over a “majority of its hacking arsenal including malware, viruses, trojans, weaponized ‘zero day’ exploits, malware remote control systems and associated documentation”. The archive was apparently circulated among former U.S. government hackers and contractors before being shared with WikiLeaks.

The documents detail how the CIA’s hacking squad had blossomed to over 5000 registered users by the end of 2016 and produced more than a thousand hacking systems, trojans, viruses, and other “weaponized” malware. The hacking tools are built by EDG (Engineering Development Group), a software development group within the CCI. The EDG creates, tests, and offers support on all backdoors, exploits, trojans, viruses, and other malware used by the CIA in its surveillance operations. As part of a program code-named “Weeping Angel,” the CIA was able to target Samsung Smart TVs via a ‘Fake-Off’ mode which would deceive the owner into believing the TV is off. In this ‘Fake-Off’ mode the CIA could use the TV as a recording device for conversations in the room.

According to Reuters, two officials speaking on condition of anonymity said that the intelligence community has been aware of the breach since the end of 2016 and that they believe the documents are indeed authentic. One of the officials told Reuters that the companies who contract with the CIA are already in the process of checking the computer logs and emails of employees who had access to the information leaked by WikiLeaks.

In response to the leaks, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told the press that the leaks undermine national security. “This is the kind of disclosure that undermines our country, our security and our well-being,” Spicer said. He also differentiated between the leaking of Podesta’s emails and the CIA documents, stating that there is a “big difference” between “undermining of Hillary Clinton” and “the leaking of classified information. There is a massive, massive difference between those two things.”

In an interview on Fox News’s “Special Report,” Vice President Pence also signaled a different outlook on WikiLeaks. “Trafficking in national security information, as is alleged WikiLeaks has done here, is a very serious offense,” Pence said. “It represents a compromise of the security of the American people.”

Pence said Americans “should be deeply troubled” by the leaks, which he claims are “designed to damage the Intelligence Community’s ability to protect America against terrorists and other adversaries.” Pence also stated that the President and the administration will “use the full force of the law and resources of the United States to hold all of those to account that were involved.” So far President Trump has not given a statement himself, but the words of his press secretary and vice president seem to indicate a change in tone.

However, if the president does indeed reverse his position on WikiLeaks it would not be the first time. As USA Today reported, Trump called WikiLeaks disgraceful in December 2010 following WikiLeaks release of classified cables from U.S. Embassies. “Trump, years prior to announcing his presidential campaign, appeared on the Kilmeade & Friends, a radio show on Fox News,” wrote USA Today. “In a clip posted on YouTube to preview the interview, host Brian Kilmeade mentioned WikiLeaks, saying, “You didn’t have anything to do with it, did you?” Trump replied, “Nope, but I think it’s disgraceful. I think there should be a death penalty or something.”

Trump’s call for a death penalty (presumably for WikiLeaks editor and founder Julian Assange) is actually not a new position either. During an interview on CNN, Trump called NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden a “total traitor” and in an interview on “Fox and Friends” Trump said that there still exists a “thing called execution” for people like Snowden.

So, according to President Trump, leaking information which exposes the massive surveillance state that exists in the United States is worthy of execution. To those who believe Trump is an anti-establishment president fighting off the forces of the globalists, please think again. Trump is a tool for the establishment and you are being played. Just like the Democrats were in 2008, the Republican-leaning individuals are also being deceived. The sooner Trump supporters accept this, the sooner we can truly break free of the left-right paradigm and expose the corruption and tyranny from right and left.

Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter for ActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter. Derrick is the author of three books: The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 1 and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 2
Derrick is available for interviews. Please contact Derrick@activistpost.com

http://www.libertyheadlines.com/trum...ted-cia-leaks/

Reporter Goes Public with Obama’s Creepy Spying on Her

March 13, 2017 (WND.com) “It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.” – George Orwell, “1984”
WASHINGTON – The woman who is perhaps the nation’s top investigative journalist is fighting back against Big Brother.
Photo by TEDxUniversityofNevada (CC)

Sharyl Attkisson shared with WND a detailed and harrowing description of what it was like to experience a reality straight out of Orwell: The reporter claims she was spied on by the Obama administration while investigating its scandals.
What tipped her off?
Imagine what it must be like to watch your computer turn itself on and off.
“That’s one visible sign I noticed over many months,” Attkisson told WND in an email interview.
“At the time, I suspected it was some sort of phishing program seeking my passwords and contacts, and was confident my computer had sufficient protections. I never suspected it was connected to an intrusion of my systems until sources and forensics told me that it was.”



She also watched a different computer that she used delete files by itself.
After Attkisson released a video showing that as it was happening, Vox’s Max Fisher claimed it was more likely that she had a stuck backspace key.
WND asked, as an Emmy-award winning investigative journalist and now the anchor of her own Sunday morning national TV news program, “Full Measure,”did she find Fisher’s claim that she was confused by a keyboard plausible?
“It was just a silly attempt by a noted propagandist blog that had no firsthand information to deflect from the surveillance,” she replied dismissively.
“The ‘expert’ didn’t even know enough to understand there is no ‘backspace’ key on the computer shown, and — in any event — that holding down such a key cannot duplicate the super fast deletions demonstrated at the beginning of that particular video clip.”
The five-time Emmy Award winner and recipient of the Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting announced in January she is suing the Justice Department and seeking $35 million in damages for illegally hacking her computers and monitoring her work between 2011 and 2013.
Three separate computer forensic exams of her computers revealed what appears to be stunning evidence pointing straight to the Obama administration.
“The most important and irrefutable finding is: forensic evidence of a government-owned I.P. (internet protocol) address accessing my computer,” Attkisson told WND.
She said she was told that was “better evidence than the U.S. had when it accused China of various acts of hacking into our government, which the government accepts as proven.”
Her computers were examined by three independent forensics examiners including: a confidential source, an examiner hired by CBS News, and an examiner hired by her attorney.
What they found is just stunning.
Attkisson provided an itemized overview of some of their findings, and described what a confidential source and examiner hired by her attorney found:

• “A government-owned I.P. address was used to access my computer.”

• “We are able to see instances of exact date and time that the intruders entered my computers, and the methods they used to do so.”

• “They used commercial, non-attributable software proprietary to the CIA, FBI, NSA or DIA.”

• “The malware was constantly running on my computers. It included a feature that logged my keystrokes, accessed all my emails and collected my passwords.”

• “Skype was surreptitiously used to listen in on audio.”

• “My smartphone was also infected.”

• “Three classified documents had been put on my computer.”

• “Once sources notified me that I was likely being surveilled, and I discussed this in emails, the intruders took steps to erase evidence of their presence. However, the deletions themselves create a record of evidence.”

CBS and its analyst found:

• “Attkisson’s computer was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions in late 2012.”

• “Evidence suggests this party performed all access remotely using Attkisson’s accounts.”

• “An intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and exfiltration of data.”

• “This party also used sophisticated methods to remove all possible indications of unauthorized activity, and alter system times to cause further confusion.”

• “[Attkisson’s] systems were indeed subject to non-standard interactions between June 2012 and January 2013.”

• “Definitive evidence that shows commands were run from Sharyl’s user account that she did not personally authorize.”

• “This history has been deliberately removed from Sharyl’s hard drive.”

• The intruders conducted an inordinate number of internal computer clock “time stamp” changes, likely to try to confuse any forensics that might be conducted.

Why her?
WND asked the former CBS Washington bureau investigative correspondent, did she think the administration considered her a foe? And acted to stop her out of purely political concerns?
“I have no idea, the perpetrators would have to answer that question and they certainly aren’t stepping forward,” she replied.
“But,” she continued, “my computer intrusions occurred in context of the Obama administration’s crackdown on whistleblowers and a lot of my work deals with whistleblowers.”
“Additionally, we know the administration was aggressively trying to control the narrative on a number of stories it saw as damaging, especially as the re-election year of 2012 shaped up.”
Attkisson detailed her experience under surveillance in 2014 in her highly acclaimed New York Times bestseller, “Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington.”
Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, records previously obtained by the government watchdog group Judicial Watch indicate Attkisson was targeted by the Obama administration because of critical reporting.
In 2014, Judicial Watch said it “obtained an October 4, 2011, email to White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz, Attorney General Eric Holder’s top press aide, (in which) Tracy Schmaler, described Attkisson as ‘out of control.’
“Schmaler added ominously, ‘I’m also calling Sharryl’s [sic] editor and reaching out to Scheiffer’ (an apparent reference to CBS’ Chief Washington Correspondent and Face the Nation moderator Bob Scheiffer). Schultz responded, ‘Good. Her piece was really bad for the AG’ (attorney general.)”
Given that Obama’s Justice Department had labeled her as “out of control” and tried to get the reporter’s employer to rein her in, WND asked Attkisson: What did she make of an administration that seeks to control reporters?
“I expect it,” was the sober response. “But it’s our job to resist it and we aren’t doing a very good job of that as an industry.”
(Attkisson described problems endemic in the news media, including the genesis of fake news, in an interview with WND in December previewing her new book titled “The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote,” due to be published on May 22, 2017.)
Did she think her experience and that of the Associated Press and Fox News reporter James Rosen (both spied on by the Obama administration) were part of a pattern?
“Yes. I was informed about my case prior to us knowing about any of the other cases, just before the Snowden revelations, and prior to former DNI (Director of National Intelligence James) Clapper falsely telling Congress that the government was not collecting data of millions of Americans…but all of these events occurred in the same general time frame.”
So, was it the administration that was “out of control?”
“You decide!” she replied, echoing a famous news slogan.
Investigating the truth about her own story, the award-winning reporter has faced what she called a Catch-22 dilemma.
“To find out who accessed my computer, we need the government’s cooperation, but the government isn’t cooperating.”
“In my lawsuit, we seek to learn who had access to the I.P. address that was used to infiltrate my computer,” she continued. “To date, the Department of Justice has taken multiple steps to block us from finding this answer.”
However, her persistence has revealed some compelling results.
“Finally, at my request, the DOJ (Department of Justice) Inspector General’s office sent investigators to look at a separate computer, my personal home computer.”
Attkisson said that although the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office will not release their notes and records, “and have improperly failed to respond to my Freedom of Information Act request for the information,” their forensics investigators reported to her that they found the following on her personal computer:

• “Evidence of suspicious deletions of files that could not have been done by me.

• “Use of my computer in ‘advanced mode’ (which was not done by me).”

• “‘Someone’ installed software onto my desktop and executed it and overwrote some important logs effectively covering their tracks and erasing much evidence of their actions.”

• “As with my CBS computer, they found a lot of unusual time and date setting changes on my personal computer as well (15 times in four days).”

• “They executed data recovery, recovering previously deleted logs.”

Attkisson said the forensics examiners working for the Justice Department’s inspector general “told me they believed the intruder(s) were actually working in my house at the computer conducting these acts, rather than conducting them remotely, but, in fact, the acts were conducted remotely, as with the work computers referenced above.”
“Furthermore,” she continued, “the examiners indicated that prior to their supervisors signing off on their findings, ‘somebody’ narrowed their mission to only reporting on any ‘remote’ intrusions (i.e. not addressing the suspicious forensics they found by someone they believed was actually in my house working at the computer.)”
And that’s when the investigation hit a wall.
“At this point, as their report was sent to higher-ups for approval, they dialed back their communications with me and would not deliver the promised final report or the notes that went with it.”
Attkisson said she filed a FOIA to obtain them but it was ignored. Many months went by.
“When Congress pressed the issue, the DOJ IG issued only a summary and emphasized there was no evidence of ‘remote’ intrusion in that computer and left out the suspicious forensics they discovered,” explained the investigative super-sleuth. “To this day, the DOJ IG has failed to properly respond to my FOIA requests seeking the full information and report.”
As a result, “Many in the media misreported that this DOJ IG report was somehow conclusive evidence that my computers had not been infiltrated.”
“In fact,” she clarified, “the DOJ IG didn’t even examine the primary computers in question — referenced in the other exams above— because CBS would not allow them to look at the computers.”
Did she think the problem was specific to the previous administration, or was it due the growth of the surveillance community, its powers and lack of oversight?
“I think this is an outgrowth of technology that makes such surveillance possible, politicians and corporate interests who are willing to use it for improper purposes, and a weak and conflicted news media that has done little to stop it.”
Finally, WND said it would be remiss if it did not ask the ace reporter if her experience had given her any insight into President Trump’s accusations that his campaign had been spied on by the Obama administration.
However, Attkisson said she has not looked at, or reported, on those allegations.
Republished with permission from WND.com via iCopyright license.
http://www.libertyheadlines.com/repo...ying/?AID=7236

US prepares charges to seek arrest of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange