Team Bezos, Without Evidence, Claims Saudis Hacked Jeff Bezos’ Phone

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An investigative team representing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos continues to push forward with evidence-free, debunked claims that Saudi Arabia is responsible for hacking into the Washington Post owner’s phone and disseminating information to the National Enquirer, which exposed the extramarital affairs of Mr. Bezos.

In an article for the Daily Beast over the weekend, Gavin de Becker, a security consultant hired by Bezos, claimed he has definitive proof that Saudi Arabia hacked into Bezos’ phone.

“Our investigators and several experts concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos’ phone, and gained private information,” de Becker writes, adding that he turned over the information to “federal officials.”

Strangely, no evidence is provided for the bombshell accusation. That hasn’t stopped virtually every legacy media outlet in the United States from covering it.

Additionally, the sourcing for the allegations is extremely vague. Mr. de Becker cites “Middle East experts” and “cybersecurity experts” but only one person by name: Iyad el-Baghdadi, who is an anti-Saudi Arabia activist with no known expertise in cybersecurity. This weekend, el-Baghdadi appeared on the Al Jazeera media network, which is controlled by Saudi Arabia’s rival Qatar, to disseminate what he described as the “Bezos Blackmail Scandal.”

Saudi Arabia is nowhere close to a top-tier cyber warfare country, so Mr. Becker’s accusation that Riyadh somehow managed to infiltrate the personal information of the leader of a major cybersecurity firm (Amazon Web Services) should generate some immense scrutiny.

Following the publication of the de Becker piece, AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, which published the bombshell story on Bezos’ extramarital affair, confirmed that Michael Sanchez, the brother of Bezos’ mistress, was the publication’s lone source.

“The fact of the matter is, it was Michael Sanchez who tipped the National Enquirer off to the affair on Sept. 10, 2018, and over the course of four months provided all of the materials for our investigation,” a spokesperson for the company said. The publication also directly refuted “the false and unsubstantiated claims of Mr. de Becker.” It had been reported earlier that Mr. Sanchez was paid $200,000 in exchange for the information on Bezos.

Mr. Bezos initially advanced the idea of unwelcome Saudi involvement in his personal affairs in a February 7 post on the Medium website. As proof for his suspicions, he cited the Washington Post’s “unrelenting” coverage of the death of Jamal Khashoggi, an Islamist activist and Washington Post contributor who was killed inside a Saudi diplomatic compound in October 2018. Mr. Bezos somehow concluded, without evidence, that this is what motivated the Saudi government to attempt to extort him. Bezos also floated the idea that President Trump, given his personal relationship with the National Enquirer’s David Pecker, may have had something to do with the text scandal.

In two separate pieces for Conservative Review, published in February and March, I studied the latest allegations coming from Team Bezos surrounding Saudi hacking and found that they were entirely unsubstantiated. Yet Team Bezos continues to trot out explosive, but evidence-free, accusations involving Trump-Saudi-AMI collusion. And much of the media continues to report on the unfolding saga, blindly trusting the Bezos narrative without raising any questions about how his security team came to its conclusions. (For more from the author of “Team Bezos, Without Evidence, Claims Saudis Hacked Jeff Bezos’ Phone” please click HERE)

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Trump Advisor FBI First Targeted for ‘Collusion’ Gives New Details About Feds’ ‘Preposterous’ Claims

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Carter Page, the man who federal investigators first targeted for surveillance on the unfounded premise that he was a potential agent for Russia, part of the feds’ now debunked “collusion” claim against the Trump campaign, wasn’t charged — or even so much as mentioned — in Mueller’s various indictments, none of which were related to the original focus of the investigation. Having been finally vindicated with Mueller’s report submitted to the attorney general and no further indictments issued, Page is now getting his chance to tell his story without the cloud of the years-long investigation hanging over his head.

In an interview with former CBS investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson published by Full Measure Sunday, Page describes the FBI’s “outrageous, preposterous” claims against him. Full Measure offers a description of Page, details of which most reports citing him over the last two years have somehow failed to emphasize: He was “a Naval officer in Europe and the Mideast with a brief stint in Navy intelligence,” holds two Masters and a PhD, was “a successful investment adviser and worked in Russia from 2004-2007,” and — the part that really didn’t get much play by the mainstream outlets — has a long history of helping the FBI and CIA in counter-Russia investigations.

“It’s been reported that you assisted the FBI years ago in the case of corporate espionage by a Russian spy case. Is that true?” asked Attkisson.

“I had alluded to the fact that I’d helped out CIA and FBI going back decades,” Carter responded, citing relationships he developed in his time in the military as aiding him in those endeavors.

“So the theory was, at the time, that a guy who had helped the FBI and CIA in the past, including with potential spy cases, himself became a spy while being watched by the FBI?” asked Attkisson. (Read more from “Trump Advisor FBI First Targeted for ‘Collusion’ Gives New Details About Feds’ ‘Preposterous’ Claims” HERE)

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Shocking Photos Show Border Emergency as U.S. Deals With Surge of Illegal Aliens

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By Daily Wire. Shocking photos emerged last week, taken by a journalist with HBO’s Vice TV, showing illegal immigrants being housed under an overpass near El Paso, Texas, after the local border patrol facilities ran out of room to house the thousands of migrants crossing the United States border.

This weekend, Customs and Border Protection officials moved the migrants, but acknowledged that it’s having trouble handling the influx of migrants across the Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico borders, and facilities are busting at the seams.

The photos, which made the rounds on social media last week, show recently arrived illegal immigrants in the process of being vetted by both border patrol and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement living together inside fencing under an El Paso overpass.

When Vice re-contacted CBP over the weekend, the makeshift encampment had been dismantled and the illegal immigrants were being held pending assessment on their claims of asylum.

Border patrol officials have not denied that conditions along the border are deteriorating, and that the situation is beyond their ability to manage. “Similar scenes are unfolding at border stations across the 1,900-mile frontier, where Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said last week that facilities had reached a ‘breaking point,'” according to MSN. (Read more from “Shocking Photos Show Border Emergency as U.S. Deals With Surge of Illegal Aliens” HERE)

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White House Doubles Down on Closing Border

By The Week. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Sunday announced on ABC News’ This Week it would take “something dramatic” to get President Trump to change his mind about shutting down the U.S.-Mexico border.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway agreed, saying on Fox News Sunday this “certainly isn’t a bluff.” On Friday, Trump complained about the stream of migrants crossing the southern border, and threatened to shut it down. (Read more from “White House Doubles Down on Closing Border” HERE)

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2 Pilots Killed in Marine Helicopter Crash

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By AP. U.S. Marine Corps officials are investigating after two pilots died in a helicopter crash during a training mission in southwestern Arizona.

A statement from the Marine Corps Air Station says the crash of the AH-1Z Viper occurred at about 8:45 p.m. Saturday.

A spokesman for the station says the crash occurred on the vast Marine Corps Air Station Yuma training grounds. (Read more from “2 Pilots Killed in Marine Helicopter Crash” HERE)

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Marine Pilots Killed in Arizona Helicopter Crash

By USA Today. Capt. Gabriel Adibe, a Marine Corps spokesman, said the helicopter crashed on the vast Marine Corps Air Station Yuma training grounds but no additional information was immediately available.

The names of the pilots who died have not been released pending notification of their families.

The station is located about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from Yuma and the 1,300-square-mile (3,367-square-kilometer) training ground is one of the world’s largest military installations.

There have been several fatal crashes involving Marine Corps aircraft near Yuma over the years.

In 1996, a Marine electronic-warfare plane went down during a training mission on a gunnery range near the Gila Mountains, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of the Yuma station, killing all four people aboard. The crew was from the Marine base at Cherry Point, North Carolina, and was training at Yuma. (Read more from “Marine Pilots Killed in Arizona Helicopter Crash” HERE)

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Bernie Freakout: Trump Health Care Could Kill Thousands!

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By Breitbart. Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) predicted “thousands of people” would “literally die” if President Donald Trump uses the courts to strike down the Affordable Care Act.

Sanders said, “Trump has an idea on health care. His idea is to throw 32 million off of the health insurance they have. Doing away with insurance for kids who are 26 years of age or younger who are on their parents’ plans, doing away with the protections that the ACA has for preexisting conditions. Margaret, that means if your cancer, your heart disease, you have diabetes, if Trump gets his way, the cost of health insurance for you will be so high that many people literally will not be able to afford it. Thousands of people will literally die. That’s Trump’s health insurance plan.” (Read more from “Bernie Freakout: Trump Health Care Could Kill Thousands!” HERE)

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Bernie Defends Biden

By The Hill. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday that he’s “not sure that one incident alone” disqualifies Joe Biden from running for president after former Nevada state assemblywoman Lucy Flores (D) accused the former vice president of inappropriately touching and kissing her without her consent in 2014.

“That’s a decision for the vice president to make,” Sanders, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” when asked if the allegation disqualifies Biden. “I’m not sure that one incident alone disqualifies anybody.”

Sanders added that he has “no reason not to believe” Flores, who said in an essay published Friday in New York Magazine’s The Cut that Biden touched her shoulders and kissed the back of her head before a Nevada campaign rally.

“I have no reason not to believe Lucy,” the Vermont senator said on Sunday. “And I think what this speaks to is the need to fundamentally change the culture of this country and to create environments feel comfortable and feel safe.” (Read more from “Bernie Defends Biden” HERE)

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The Anti-Religious Crusade Continues: Chick-Fil-A Banned From ANOTHER Airport

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Yesterday it was announced that Chick-fil-A would be coming to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, located in Cheektowaga, N.Y. Chick-fil-A has only recently started opening locations in Western New York, where I live, and the prospect of them coming to BNIA, an airport I have flown out of many times, was a brilliant move. Many restaurants in the food court have been obviously underwhelming travelers. Chick-fil-A, with their popularity and growth, would be a perfect addition to the airport. . .

Likely due in part to his intervention, less than a day after the announcement, the decision to bring Chick-fil-A to the airport was reversed by the NFTA.

Assemblyman Ryan released the following statement following the NFTA’s reversal:

“Earlier today I spoke with the vendor of the Buffalo Airport food court project, and they informed me they will not be opening a Chick-fil-A as a part of their airport project. A publicly financed facility like the Buffalo Niagara International Airport is not the appropriate venue for a Chick-fil-A restaurant. I applaud the decision that has been made to remove Chick-fil-A from the plans for this project.

We hope in the future the NFTA will make every effort to contract with businesses that adhere to anti-discriminatory policies, and we’re confident another vendor who better represents the values of the Western New York community will replace Chick-fil-A as a part of this project in the very near future.”

(Read more from “The Anti-Religious Crusade Continues: Chick-Fil-A Banned From ANOTHER Airport” HERE)

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Trump Is Holding out for This Person to Replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court

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By Townhall. President Donald Trump is reportedly prepared to nominate 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Axios reported.

“I’m saving her for Ginsburg[‘s seat],” Trump reportedly told multiple people in private. Those exact words were echoed days before he announced Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Barretts name come up as a potential contender last year when Trump was contemplating who to replace Justice Robert Kennedy with. She was popular amongst conservatives but some worried about her strong Catholic faith and abortion opposition. In particular, people worried about whether or not she would be confirmed in the Senate. Her stance on overturning Roe v. Wade would lead Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) to vote against her, Axios reported.

The other reason Trump decided to wait to nominate Barrett: his team felt confident in the 2018 elections. They anticipated picking up more Senate seats, which meant a more conservative justice would fly. Republicans did pick up more seats in the Senate during the 2018 midterm elections. (Read more from “Trump Is Holding out for This Person to Replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court” HERE)

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Trump ‘Saving’ Amy Coney Barrett for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court Seat

By Washington Examiner. Barrett, 47, is socially conservative Catholic with seven children – two of whom were adopted from Haiti. Her academic writings suggest she might support overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade case.

Trump went with Justice Brett Kavanaugh to replace Kennedy, who retired in July. During talks about Supreme Court picks, Trump’s advisers were worried that nominating Barrett could cost the votes of Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who supported to Roe v. Wade. . .

Kavanaugh endured a bruising nomination last year. His confirmation vote came by way of a slim 50-48 margin after accusations of sexual misconduct when he was in high school emerged. (Read more from “Trump ‘Saving’ Amy Coney Barrett for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court Seat” HERE)

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Meet the Sheriff Willing to Go to Jail to Protect His Residents’ Second Amendment Rights

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By The Blaze. Colorado lawmakers are on the brink of passing a so-called “red flag” law, which would allow courts to revoke the Second Amendment rights of citizens who are declared threats to themselves or others.

Some Colorado sheriffs have vowed to not enforce the law if approved. And then there is Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams who has declared he is willing to go to jail in order to protect his constituents’ Second Amendment rights. . .

The law, which gun right advocates overwhelmingly oppose, has earned opposition from more than half of Colorado’s 64 counties, some of which have passed resolutions declaring their municipalities Second Amendment “sanctuaries.”

However, as CNN noted, failure to comply with a court order “to seize a person’s guns could mean sheriffs being found in contempt. A judge could fine them indefinitely, or even send them to jail to force them to comply.” For Reams, jail is a sacrifice he is willing to make.

“[The law] has so many constitutional questions,” Reams told KDVR-TV. “I can’t in good faith go forward and carry out a law that I believe puts constituents’ constitutional rights at risk.” (Read more from “Meet the Sheriff Willing to Go to Jail to Protect His Residents’ Second Amendment Rights” HERE)

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Resolution Declares Weld County to Be a ‘Second Amendment Sanctuary’

By Fox News 31. Sheriff Steve Reams said the bill crosses too many constitutional lines and says the issue is mental health, not firearms.

“I have a duty for public safety but also have a duty to protect the Constitution,” Reams said.

The commissioners affirmed their “support for the Weld County Sheriff in the exercise of his sound discretion to not enforce against any citizen an unconstitutional firearms law,” according to the resolution. . .

Reams said the “red flag” bill would put deputies in greater danger.

“The way the bill is written is asking me or my agency to go out and affect one of these gun grabs, if you will, without any notification to person that we’re coming,” he said. “I think that puts my agency at undo risk.” (Read more from “Resolution Declares Weld County to Be a ‘Second Amendment Sanctuary'” HERE)

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Facebook Founder Calls for MORE Internet Regulations

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In an opinion piece published Saturday in The Washington Post, [Mark] Zuckerberg said there are four areas where more oversight is necessary: harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability.

“Technology is a major part of our lives, and companies such as Facebook have immense responsibilities,” Zuckerberg wrote. “Every day, we make decisions about what speech is harmful, what constitutes political advertising, and how to prevent sophisticated cyberattacks. These are important for keeping our community safe. But if we were starting from scratch, we wouldn’t ask companies to make these judgments alone.

Because of Facebook’s ability to control content – particularly speech – Zuckerberg said the company is creating an independent body so users can appeal decisions the social media giant makes regarding content removal. He also said Facebook is working with governments to make sure its content review systems are effective.

Since people use many different forms of sharing services, each with their own policies for policing harmful content, Zuckerberg said there needs to be a “more standardized approach.” He suggested having more regulation to set the baselines for content that is forbidden and require companies to create systems that are used to keep harmful content to a “bare minimum.”

“Facebook already publishes transparency reports on how effectively we’re removing harmful content,” the chief executive wrote. “I believe every major Internet service should do this quarterly, because it’s just as important as financial reporting. Once we understand the prevalence of harmful content, we can see which companies are improving and where we should set the baselines.” (Read more from “Facebook Founder Calls for MORE Internet Regulations” HERE)

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2020 Dems Go After Biden Over Assault Scandal

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A number of Democratic presidential candidates weighed in on Sunday on the allegations made by a former Nevada political candidate that former Vice President Joe Biden kissed her on the back of the head in 2014.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told ABC’s “This Week” that she has no reason not to believe the allegations made by Lucky Flores that Biden kissed the former Nevada state assemblywoman on the back of her head during a 2014 campaign rally supporting her bid for lieutenant governor.

“I have no reason not to believe her,” Klobuchar said. “I think we know from campaigns and politics that people raise issues and they have to address them, and that’s what he will have to do with the voters if he gets into the race.” . . .

In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort,” [Joe] Biden said in his own statement Sunday. “And not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my intention.” . . .

Earlier in the weekend, while speaking to reporters in Iowa, two other Democratic candidates – Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro said they believed Flores. (Read more from “2020 Dems Go After Biden Over Assault Scandal” HERE)

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