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Report Blames Russia for Sonic Attacks

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U.S. personnel assigned to diplomatic missions in Cuba have over the past year or so complained about a “sonic attack” that produces in victims abnormal sensations of sound and pressure. . .

So the FBI, CIA and other agencies have been investigating, and their conclusion is that it may have been Russia using electromagnetic weapons against Americans. . .

“U.S. officials said in July they were still investigating health problems at the U.S. embassy in Cuba, and do not know who or what was behind the mysterious illnesses, which began in 2016 and have affected 26 Americans,” the report said.

“NBC has achieved the seemingly impossible, somehow managing to incorporate mysterious brain-zapping weapons, evidence-free accusations from anonymous U.S. officials, and Russia, into a juicy smorgasbord of journalistic excellence,” the publication said.

“The bombshell report opens with a phrase that every American schoolchild already knows by heart – ‘Russia is likely behind’ – but this is no ordinary, Pulitzer-prize winning morsel of security state stenography. This time, the Russians ‘likely’ targeted U.S. diplomats stationed in Cuba and China with a powerful brain-altering weapon (which has yet to be identified/confirmed to actually exist), resulting in various injuries, ranging from hearing loss to ‘problems with cognition.’” (Read more from “Report Blames Russia for Sonic Attacks” HERE)

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Russian Threat Forces U.S. Military Action in Syria

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As Russia and Syria attacked Syria’s last major region held by anti-government rebels, the United States sent a warning to Russia’s Syrian-based forces in the form of a contingent of Marines.

Hours before reports of bombing began to come in from Idlib province, located in the northwest of Syria, more than 100 Marines were sent to a coalition base in Al Tanf, which the U.S. protects with a 35-mile security zone around the town. Marines conducted live-fire exercises in the region.

Tanf is located in the south, near Syria’s border with Jordan. Twice this month, Russian leaders have threatened the U.S. with military exercises in the region, and twice the Russians have been told the U.S. will not permit that, Fox News reported.

“The United States does not seek to fight the Russians, the government of Syria or any groups that may be providing support to Syria in the Syrian civil war,” said Lt. Col. Earl Brown, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, the Los Angeles Times reported. “However, the United States will not hesitate to use necessary and proportionate force to defend U.S., coalition or partner forces.”

The U.S. uses the Tanf base to train Syrian fighters to oppose Islamic State militants. Officials said they sent the Marines in response to fears that Russia could use its upcoming offensive in Idlib province as a time to also attack Tanf.

Initial reports Saturday from Idlib province said Russian jets were bombing civilian targets. At least four people were reported killed, according to The Guardian.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported there were more than 30 air raids Saturday in southwestern Idlib and Hama province, Fox News reported.

Health official Munzer Al-Khalil said there was “great fear” in Idlib province, Sky News reported.

“I fear we are about to face the most catastrophic crisis in our war,” he said. “When they decide to take an area, they first attack hospitals. I am worried this has already started.”

Neighboring Turkey issued a warning against escalating the attacks.

“Idlib is a ticking bomb,” said Turkish government spokesman Ibrahim Kalin. “We can turn it off and start a new process in Syria if the international community gets serious about the Syrian war and shows that they do care about the Syrian people.”

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump warned Syria against attacking Idlib.

“President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province. The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!” Trump tweeted Monday.

With that in mind, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said conversations have begun to develop military response options for Trump, NBC reported.

Dunford said no decision has been made.

“But we are in a dialogue, a routine dialogue, with the president to make sure he knows where we are with regard to planning in the event that chemical weapons are used,” he said during a trip to India.

Trump “expects us to have military options and we have provided updates to him on the development of those military options,” Dunford said. (For more from the author of “Russian Threat Forces U.S. Military Action in Syria” please click HERE)

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Trump Issues Weighty Warning to Syria, Russia, Iran

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As Syria builds up forces for what is expected to be a battle to obliterate the last major pocket of resistance to the regime of dictator Bashar Assad, President Donald Trump is leading a battalion of American voices warning Syria not to make a mistake it will regret.

About 3 million people live in Idlib Province in northern Syria. Russian officials last week said an attack on the region was necessary. Russia and Iran have provided key military aid that has enabled Assad to score military victories over the rebels who have been fighting his government for the past seven years, according to The Hill.

“Idlib is the last major stronghold of terrorists who are trying to gamble on the status of the de-escalation zone and hold civilians as human shields and bring the armed formations ready for negotiations with the Syrian government to their knees,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week.

“So, from all standpoints, this ‘abscess’ has to be liquidated,” he said, according to the Voice of America.

Not so fast, Trump tweeted Tuesday.

“President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province. The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!” Trump tweeted.

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley also sent a warning.

“All eyes on the actions of Assad, Russia, and Iran in Idlib. #NoChemicalWeapons,” she tweeted.

CNN reported Monday that Russian jets attacked targets in Idlib Province after Trump issued his tweet.

The United States has already launched two attacks against Syria for using chemical weapons against the rebels.

An attack on Idlib Province would take a heavy toll of civilian lives, one expert said.

“Idlib would see a humanitarian catastrophe that exceeds the level of any seen in the Syrian conflict so far,” said Lina Khatib, head of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House in London, according to CNN.

“You have the potential for civilians to be not just targeted by the regime but also to be caught in battles through which these rebel groups aim to defend against regime attacks.” (For more from the author of “Trump Issues Weighty Warning to Syria, Russia, Iran” please click HERE)

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Bombshell: FEC Records Indicate Hillary Campaign Illegally Laundered $84 Million; Cohen Deletes Important Hillary-Related Tweet

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By The Federalist. The press continues to feed the dying Russia collusion conspiracy theory, spending Friday’s news cycle regurgitating Democrat talking points from the just-filed Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act lawsuit against the Trump campaign, WikiLeaks, and Russia.

Yet the mainstream media took no notice of last week’s federal court filing that exposes an $84 million money-laundering conspiracy the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign executed during the 2016 presidential election in violation of federal campaign-finance law.

That lawsuit, filed last week in a DC district court, summarizes the DNC-Clinton conspiracy and provides detailed evidence from Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings confirming the complaint’s allegations that Democrats undertook an extensive scheme to violate federal campaign limits. . .

Dan Backer, a campaign-finance lawyer and attorney-of-record in the lawsuit, explained the underlying law in an article for Investor’s Business Daily: Under federal law, “an individual donor can contribute $2,700 to any candidate, $10,000 to any state party committee, and (during the 2016 cycle) $33,400 to a national party’s main account. These groups can all get together and take a single check from a donor for the sum of those contribution limits—it’s legal because the donor cannot exceed the base limit for any one recipient. And state parties can make unlimited transfer to their national party.”

This legal loophole allows “bundlers” to raise large sums of money from wealthy donors—more than $400,000 at a time—filtering the funds to the national committees. Democrats and Republicans alike exploit this tactic. But once the money reaches the national committees, other limits apply. (Read more from “Bombshell: FEC Records Indicate Hillary Campaign Illegally Laundered $84 Million” HERE)

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Cohen Deletes Tweet Predicting Clinton Would Go to Jail

By NY Post. A day after pleading guilty to a swarm of criminal charges that will land him behind bars, President Trump’s longtime lawyer deleted a gloating 2015 tweet predicting that Hillary Clinton would end up in the slammer.

“@HillaryClinton when you go to prison for defrauding America and perjury, your room and board will be free!” Trump’s self-described fixer Michael Cohen tweeted that December.

Critics including comedian Kathy Griffin gleefully reposted the tweet, which was removed sometime Wednesday morning.

Cohen in court Tuesday described how he violated campaign finance laws by arranging hush-money payments to porn vixen Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal. (Read more from “Cohen Deletes Tweet Predicting Clinton Would Go to Jail” HERE)

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CIA-FBI-Deep State Plot Against Trump Thickens: Fusion GPS Spy Natalia Veselnitskaya Worked out of Obama Official’s Office, GOP and Dem Donor

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The Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya who set up Don Trump Jr. for a meeting in Trump Tower as part of a Fusion GPS plot was operating out of the Washington offices of Cozen O’Connor, a law firm run by an anti-Trump former Obama administration official whose super PAC donated to Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush in the 2016 presidential election.

Veselnitskaya’s work from the Cozen O’Connor office provides more evidence of a Democrat and establishment Republican effort to set up the Trump campaign for a future Russian collusion case. Veselnitskaya was allowed into the United States by the Obama Department of Justice while the former Obama official who runs Cozen O’Connor publicly warned then-candidate Trump that if he became president he would be investigated by the DOJ for contacts with foreign leaders. Veselnitskaya reportedly had dinner meetings with Fusion GPS chief Glenn Simpson the day before she met in Trump Tower and also the day after she went inside Trump Tower. . .

Russian and U.S. citizen Rinat Akhmetshin, a Soviet military veteran, was present at Veselnitskaya’s meeting with Don Jr. in Trump Tower after leading a lobbying push supposedly to repeal the Magnitsky Act. Akhmestshin is believed by insiders to be linked to Russian government intelligence, a fact that the Washington Post seized on when reporting that he met with Don Jr. and Jared Kushner in Trump Tower. A nonprofit group (editor’s note: probably a front group financed by the CIA or FBI) focused on promoting Akhmetshin and Veselnitskaya’s cause to lawmakers actually hired Cozen O’Connor, which the law firm confirms. . .

James Comey’s friend, Columbia University professor Daniel Richman, leaked classified information that Comey gave him. During this leaking period, Richman was apartment-building neighbors with a partner at the Cozen O’Connor law firm that strategized with Fusion GPS operative Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian plant who set up Don Jr. in Trump Tower.

Veselnitskaya and Fusion GPS, led by Glenn Simpson, were part of John Brennan and Peter Strzok’s CIA-led “Operation Crossfire Hurricane” plot aimed at President Donald Trump and the Trump campaign. (Read more from “CIA-FBI-Deep State Plot Against Trump Thickens: Fusion GPS Spy Natalia Veselnitskaya Worked out of Obama Official’s Office, GOP and Dem Donor” HERE)

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Cohen’s Counsel Denies the Central Allegation of the Deep State Plot Against Trump

By Chuck Ross. For nearly 20 months, the allegations made in the infamous Steele dossier have hung like a cloud over the Trump administration and several of his former advisers.

The salacious 35-page document has become Exhibit A in President Donald Trump critics’ conspiracy theory that the campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election. Numerous news outlets, pundits and lawmakers have also pushed the theory.

But the dossier arguably suffered its heaviest blow on Wednesday after Clinton-connected lawyer Lanny Davis emphatically denied one of the document’s most intriguing allegations.

Davis said the dossier’s claims that his client, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, traveled to Prague in August 2016 as part of a conspiracy with the Kremlin are “100 percent” false.

Davis’ comments received little attention from the both the mainstream press and the entities that have pushed the dossier. (Read more about this Deep State Plot HERE)

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Russian Strategic Bombers Deploy Near Alaska

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The Russian military says that two nuclear-capable strategic bombers have flown to the easternmost Chukotka Peninsula, near Alaska, as part of an air force exercise.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Tu-160 bombers flew about 7,000 kilometers (4,350 Miles) from their home base near Saratov in southwestern Russia to Anadyr, on Chukotka, before returning to their home base. The ministry said the mission was the first time the bombers had flown to Chukotka, which faces Alaska across the Bering Strait.

The ministry said the air force exercise also involved the Tu-95 strategic bombers and tanker planes. (Read more from “Russian Strategic Bombers Deploy Near Alaska” HERE)

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Whoa: Former U.S. Attorney General, Longtime Clinton Confidante Both Call for End of Mueller Probe

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It’s only Monday, and it has already been an eventful week on the Russia investigation front. We’ll get to the president’s tweets and the DOJ’s response in a moment, but let’s start with a fresh pair of op/eds urging the conclusion of Robert Mueller’s probe. Finding anti-Mueller commentary online isn’t exactly a challenge, but these pieces are noteworthy because of their authors. The first comes from a respected former US Attorney General who served during the last Republican administration, but isn’t known as a partisan fire-breather or bomb-thrower. The other comes from a longtime Democratic strategist with close ties to the Clintons. In an essay penned by Michael Mukasey for USA Today, the former top federal law enforcement officer contends that the current special counsel investigation is operating beyond the bounds of standard operating procedure — and questions its initial legal basis:

Because Attorney General Jeff Sessions had worked on the Trump campaign, he recused himself from the matter, and so the deputy — Rod Rosenstein — took the decision to appoint a special counsel. The regulations require that such an appointment recite the facts justifying the conclusion that a federal crime was committed, and specify the crime. However, the initial appointment of Robert Mueller did neither, referring instead to a national security investigation that a special counsel has no authority to pursue. Although Rosenstein apparently tried to correct his mistake in a new appointment memo, he has thus far refused to disclose, even to a federal judge, a complete copy of it. In other investigations supposedly implicating a president — Watergate and Whitewater come to mind — we were told what the crime was and what facts justified the investigation. Not here.

Nor have any of the charges filed in the Mueller investigation disclosed the Trump campaign’s criminal acceptance or solicitation of help from the Russians. The one indictment that relates to Russian criminality charges that the Russians hacked Democratic Party computers and committed other social media abuse, but says specifically that if the Trump campaign got the benefit of it, that was “unwitting” — i.e., without criminal intent…The ongoing investigation saps the resources and attention of the Trump administration. If the administration cannot function, the burden of this constantly shifting investigation will give rise to a narrative that any failure was due to the Mueller diversion — that the Trump administration was stabbed in the back. That is potentially more damaging to our politics than any salaciousness that might be tossed up by Robert Mueller. For both legal and political reasons, the end of this investigation is overdue.

(Read more from “Whoa: Former U.S. Attorney General, Longtime Clinton Confidante Both Call for End of Mueller Probe” HERE)

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Russia Is Already Meddling in the 2018 Election – Here’s Who They’re Targeting This Time

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By The Blaze. According to a report from the Daily Beast, the same Russian intelligence agency behind the cyberattack in the 2016 election is already meddling in the 2018 midterm election. . .

The report said that the alleged hacking attempts were aimed at staffers for Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), and used the same tactics that were successful against former Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta.

The attacks involved links sent to the staffers’ email addresses that were made to look like official notices from their websites requesting a password change. The link provided also mimes official email address change websites, but sends the information to hackers.

“We did discover that a fake Microsoft domain had been established as the landing page for phishing attacks, and we saw metadata that suggested those phishing attacks were being directed at three candidates who are all standing for elections in the midterm elections,” said [Tom] Burt. . .

“Russia continues to engage in cyber warfare against our democracy. I will continue to speak out and press to hold them accountable,” McCaskill said to the Daily Beast. “While this attack was not successful, it is outrageous that they think they can get away with this. I will not be intimidated. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Putin is a thug and a bully.” (Read more from “Russia Is Already Meddling in the 2018 Election – Here’s Who They’re Targeting This Time” HERE)

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Russians Unsuccessfully Tried to Hack Computers of Democratic Sen. Claire Mccaskill

By NPR. Russian hackers trying to influence the 2018 elections made an unsuccessful attempt to breach the computer system of Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, one of this fall’s most vulnerable Democrats.

The Daily Beast reported that McCaskill is the first known target of the Kremlin’s plot to interfere in this fall’s midterm elections after targeting the U.S. in the 2016 presidential election.

McCaskill has been a critic of Russia and of President Trump — who has at times doubted that any such interference happened at all and decried attempts by special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate as a “witch hunt.” At a press conference last week after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump appeared to believe Putin’s denials over the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies, though he later tried to walk that back.

In a statement, McCaskill said she “will not be intimidated” by the attempts, which occurred around August 2017.

“Russia continues to engage in cyber warfare against our democracy. I will continue to speak out and press to hold them accountable,” McCaskill said in a statement. “While this attack was not successful, it is outrageous that they think they can get away with this. I will not be intimidated. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Putin is a thug and a bully.” (Read more from “Russians Unsuccessfully Tried to Hack Computers of Democratic Sen. Claire Mccaskill” HERE)

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Bulldozes Another Narrative About Russia

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By Townhall. After months of speculation President Trump would recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea as legitimate, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo bulldozed that narrative during testimony in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday afternoon.

“On the subject of Russia, I want to bring something to your attention right off the bat today. Today the Trump administration is releasing what we’re calling the Crimea Declaration,” Pompeo said.

“I want to show this committee that the United States does not, and will not recognize the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea,” Pompeo continued. “There will be no relief of Crimea-related sanctions until Russia returns control of the Crimean peninsula to Ukraine.”

Pompeo also said NATO is an “indispensable” part of U.S. national defense and that President Trump’s demand members pay their fair share will only bolster the alliance against Russia.

Pompeo testified about a number of issues and said negotiations with North Korea, despite progress until now, have a long way to go. (Read more from “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Bulldozes Another Narrative About Russia” HERE)

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Pompeo Faces Tough Questions on Russia, North Korea

By ABC News. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo fiercely defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy on Capitol Hill Wednesday, facing tough questions from Republican and Democratic senators about North Korea, Russia, Iran, and more.

But it was the divide in U.S. foreign policy between President Trump’s comments and his administration’s actions that underlaid the contentious hearing, with Pompeo at one time seeming to suggest that the administration’s actions mattered more than Trump’s words. He was quick to correct himself later, saying that he misspoke, but blasting what he called Democrats’ “glee” at his mistake and their efforts “to make a political point from that.”

“That’s silliness. This president runs this government. His statements are in fact U.S. policy,” Pompeo declared in a particularly heated exchange with the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey.

It was Pompeo’s first time in front of the committee since President Trump’s historic meetings with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Russian leader Vladimir Putin – the outcomes of which are both now being called into question. (Read more from “Pompeo Faces Tough Questions on Russia, North Korea” HERE)

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Trump Is Very Concerned About This Possible Russia Decision

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President Donald Trump appeared to want to flip the script on Tuesday tweeting that he is “very concerned” that Russia will be “pushing very hard for Democrats” this fall in the midterm elections.

Trump tweeted, “I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats.”

“They definitely don’t want Trump!” he added.

Trump received a torrent of criticism from members of the media, as well as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, for seeming to be as ready to accept Putin’s denial of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential race as the U.S. intelligence community’s findings that it did.

The president, following the meeting, clarified that he has “full faith” in America’s intelligence agencies, including their findings concerning Russian attempts to influence the election.

He noted that he has stated multiple times over the past year that he believes Russia sought to meddle, but he does not believe it changed the outcome.

In an interview with CNBC last Thursday, Trump said, “Getting along with President Putin, getting along with Russia, is positive, not a negative.”

He added, “That being said, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll be the worst enemy he’s ever had.”

Trump emphasized the actions he has taken against Putin’s interests.

“Look at the sanctions I threw on. Look at the diplomats I threw out. Look at all of the things that I’ve done,” he said.

The president continued, “Nobody else did what I’ve done. Obama didn’t do it. Obama was a patsy for Russia. He was a total patsy.

“I have been far tougher on Russia than any president in many, many years.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded to the president’s assertion that the Russians may help the Democrats this fall by tweeting video footage from the Helsinki summit of Putin saying he wanted Trump to win in 2016. “Let’s go to the video tape (again),” Schumer wrote.

Following the Democrat’s harsh rhetoric toward Trump’s meeting with Putin last week, a 2003 Associated Press photo of Schumer accompanying the Russian president on a visit to New York City circulated widely.

Garrett Graff, writing for Politico, argued that Trump just might be right about the Russians seeking to help the Democrats regain power this November.

“There’s solid geopolitical evidence that boosting the Democrats would be a smart strategy for a foreign actor this fall,” he wrote.

Graff continued, “Vladimir Putin’s goal isn’t—and never was—to help the Republican Party, at least in the long run.”

“Boosting Trump’s presidential campaign was a means to Putin’s end: Weakening the West, and exploiting the seams and divisions of the West’s open democracies to undermine our legitimacy and moral standing.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., agreed with Trump that Putin’s plan is not wedded to a person or a party, but meant to sow chaos.

He wrote, “Putin is pro-Chaos and is an Equal Opportunity Disruptor of the American electoral system.” (For more from the author of “Trump Is Very Concerned About This Possible Russia Decision” please click HERE)

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