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Two videos on You Tube which people can play, in order to get a sense of what is going on in Washington after the Helsinki Putin meeting, are as follows.
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GOP Senator Corker to Pompeo: Trump concerns us
6 minutes
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WATCH LIVE: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testifies before Senate Foreign Relations Committee
2:56:27
(Senator Corker looks a little like Pat Paulsen, in this picture...)
(Pat Paulsen: "I've upped my standards. Now, up yours."
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Mueller indictment (continued)
[highlights provided, to skim]
Use of Organization 1
47. In order to expand their interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Conspirators transferred many of the documents they stole from the DNC and the chairman of the Clinton Campaign to Organization 1. The Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, discussed the release of the stolen documents and the timing of those releases with Organization 1
to heighten their impact on the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
a. On or about June 22, 2016, Organization 1 sent a private message to Guccifer 2.0 to "[s]end any new material [stolen from the DNC] here for us to review and it will have
a much higher impact than what you are doing."
On or about July 6, 2016, Organization 1 added, "if you have anything hillary related we want it in the next tweo [sic] days prefable [sic] because the DNC [Democratic National Convention] is approaching and she will solidify bernie supporters behind her after."
The Conspirators responded, "ok ... I see." Organization 1 explained, "we think trump has only a 25% chance of winning against hillary ... so conflict between bernie and hillary is interesting."
b. After failed attempts to transfer the stolen documents starting in late June 2016, on or about July 14, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, sent Organization 1 an email with an attachment titled "wk dnc link1.txt.gpg."
The Conspirators explained to Organization 1 that the encrypted file contained instructions on how to access an online archive of stolen DNC documents. On or about July 18, 2016, Organization 1 confirmed it had "the 1Gb or so archive" and would make a release of the stolen documents "this week."
48. On or about July 22, 2016, Organization 1 released over 20,000 emails and other documents stolen from the DNC network by the Conspirators. This release occurred approximately three days before the start of the Democratic National Convention. Organization 1 did not disclose Guccifer 2.0's role in providing them. The
latest-in-time email released through Organization 1 was dated on or about May 25, 2016, approximately the same day the Conspirators hacked the DNC Microsoft Exchange Server.
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"Float like a butterfly,
Sting like a bee..."
~ Mohammedd Ali
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Last night on You Tube, I was listening to Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testified.
One of the main questions was, What did Presidents Trump and Putin discuss and/or agree to, in the two-hour meeting alone with no one else in the room but the translator?
(Some members of Congress want to call upon the translator to testify and give information, so that Americans will be allowed to know the same information that the Russian people are allowed to know.)
"Why are we being kept in the dark?" was the unspoken question.
About the time last week when we heard Pres. Trump say America was foolish and Mr. Putin was "very strong," I thought -- Well, that's new. I've never heard any U.S. president say something like that, before.
I played a couple of videos of the hearing, on my tablet last night, while doing things at home. (We were talking about this, one day at work -- when you are home, chores and little adjustments and organizing projects are never really All Finished -- as a co-worker said wisely, "There is always something to do.")
So for me last night it was like, Cat food, toilet paper, Mike Pompeo, kimchi, facial cleanser....
I listened to him answer questions from Senator Menendez of New Jersey, and Senator Bob Corker, Tennessee, and I felt like, "he's not answering the questions, he's just -- talking about other stuff instead." But then thought -- (scooping kitty litter, sprinkling baking soda) -- "maybe I'm not hearing every word, maybe I didn't listen closely enough, maybe Secretary Pompeo did answer the questions..."
But then Senator Corker said to Mr. Pompeo: "I notice that you are not responding to what I'm saying."
Pompeo answered, insisting that he had responded and answered what was asked.
Corker said, evenly, "No, you didn't."
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Mueller indictment (continued)
[highlights provided, for readers who prefer to skim]
45. The Conspirators conducted operations as Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks using overlapping computer infrastructure and financing.
a. For example, between on or about March 14, 2016 and April 28, 2016, the Conspirators used the same pool of bitcoin funds to purchase a virtual private network ("VPN") account and to
lease a server in Malaysia.
In or around June 2016, the Conspirators used the Malaysian server to host the dcleaks.com website. On or about July 6, 2016, the Conspirators used the VPN to log into the @Guccifer_2 Twitter account. The Conspirators opened that VPN account from the
same server that was also used to register malicious domains
for the hacking of the DCCC and DNC networks.
b. On or about June 27, 2016,
the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, contacted a U.S. reporter with an offer
to provide stolen emails from "Hillary Clinton's staff." The Conspirators then sent the reporter the password to access a nonpublic, password-protected portion of dcleaks.com containing emails stolen from Victim 1 by LUKASHEV, YERMAKOV, and their co-conspirators in or around March 2016.
46. On or about January 12, 2017, the Conspirators published a statement on the Guccifer 2.0 WordPress blog,
falsely claiming that the intrusions and release of stolen documents had "totally no relation to the Russian government."
(to be continued)
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"He [Putin] said there was no collusion whatsoever."
~ President Donald Trump
"I am not a crook."
~ President Richard Nixon
"Don't count the days, make the days count."
~ Mohammed Ali
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What is that expression -- where rivals face each other, you lose if you blink first... Was thinking of this, and also about Mohammed Ali, after President Trump's recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland.
It's like -- instead of the "thrilla in Manila" it was the "blinkie in Helsinki."
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Mueller indictment (continued)
[highlights provided, for readers who prefer to skim-fast]
Stolen Documents Released through Guccifer 2.0
40. On or about June 14, 2016, the DNC -- through
Company 1 -- publicly announced that it had been hacked by Russian government actors. In response,
the Conspirators created the online persona Guccifer 2.0 and falsely claimed to be a lone Romanian hacker to undermine the allegations of Russian responsibility for the intrusion.
41. On or about June 15, 2016, the Conspirators logged into a Moscow-based server used and managed by Unit 74455 and, between 4:19 PM and 4:56 PM Moscow Standard Time, searched for certain words and phrases, including:
Search Term(s)
"some hundred sheets"
"some hundreds of sheets"
dcleaks
Illuminati
[some Russian letters that aren't on this keyboard]
["widely known translation"]
"worldwide known"
"think twice about"
"company's competence"
42. Later that day, at 7:02 PM Moscow Standard Time, the online persona Guccifer 2.0 published its first post on a blog site created through WordPress. Titled "DNC's servers hacked by a lone hacker,"
the post used numerous English words and phrases that the Conspirators had searched for earlier that day
(bolded below):
Worldwide known cyber security company [Company 1] announced that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) servers had been hacked by "sophisticated" hacker groups.
I'm very pleased the company appreciated my skills so highly))) [...]
Here are just a few docs from many thousands I extracted when hacking into DNC's network. [... ]
Some hundred sheets! This's a serious case, isn't it? [...]
I guess [Company 1] customers should think twice about company's competence.
F[***] the Illuminati and their conspiracies!!!!!!!!! F[***] [Company 1]!!!!!!!!
43. Between in or around June 2016 and October 2016, the Conspirators used Guccifer 2.0 to release documents through WordPress that they had stolen from the DCCC and DNC. The Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, also shared stolen documents with certain individuals.
a. On or about August 15, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0,
received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for the U.S. Congress.
The Conspirators responded using the Guccifer 2.0 persona and sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidate's opponent.
b. On or about August 22, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, transferred approximately 2.5 gigabytes of data stolen from the DCCC to a then-registered state lobbyist and online source of political news. The
stolen data included donor records and personal identifying information
for more than 2,000 Democratic donors.
c. On or about August 22, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, sent a reporter stolen documents pertaining to the Black Lives Matter movement. The reporter responded by discussing when to release the documents and offering to write an article about their release.
44. The Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, also communicated with U.S. persons about the release of stolen documents. On or about August 15, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, wrote to a person who was in regular contact with
senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump, "thank u for writing back ... do u find anyt[h]ing interesting in the docs i posted?" On or about August 17, 2016, the Conspirators added, "please tell me if I can help u anyhow ... it would be a great pleasure to me."
On or about September 9, 2016, the Conspirators, again posing as Guccifer 2.0, referred to a stolen DCCC document posted online and asked the person, "what do u think of the info on the turnout model for the Democrats entire presidential campaign." The person responded, "[p]retty standard."
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(to be continued)
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"Don't confuse stubbornness and selfishness with strength."
~ Reader Comment, The Guardian
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If you want to see and hear something different, type in on Google,
putin blueberry hill.
What comes up is a 4:30 video titled, "Singing PM: 'Fats' Putin over the top of 'Blueberry Hill' with piano solo..."
It's some kind of charity event to benefit children; there are some Hollywood people in the audience. President Putin, with musicians, back-up singers, and his own arrangement of the number, gives his interpretation of the 1950s Fats Domino hit song "Blueberry Hill."
He plays the song's main melody line on the piano at the beginning -- an elementary version, no chords. He wants to follow the Domino performance, or pay homage to it...
His English is strongly accented -- "but all of those vohs we mayed -- where nehv-air to be..."
I watched this video several times.
Tried to imagine how Vladimir Putin came to be influenced by this sentimental, sweet song -- it's clear that he loves it.
I was thinking, well, Putin was born in 1952, Fats Domino put the song out in 1956 -- Putin would have been four. Maybe an older brother or sister bought the record and they played it a lot, or maybe they heard it on the radio. (In that era, with the Cold War at its most intense, did Soviet people have radios? Was American music played on their radio stations?...)
And it turns out, with research we learn -- Fats Domino was not the originator of that song -- it was published in 1940, music written by Vincent Rose, & lyrics by Larry Stock and Al Lewis. That year, the song was recorded six times -- The Glenn Miller Orchestra had a Number One hit with it.
Louis Armstrong recorded it in 1949, and charted in Billboard's Top 40. (Louis Armstrong then was like Willie Nelson, now -- sang every song there is....)
A little more consideration on the topic of Vladimir Putin and the song "Blueberry Hill" -- Putin doesn't speak fluent English, so when he listens to this song, the impact is not the same as if you or I listen to it. We hear the melody, and the story the lyrics tell, and the sentiment they express.
The lyrics aren't going to make a difference to Putin -- when he performed it, he was singing phonetically -- he is enchanted by the melody, and what musicians call the "soul" of the work.
An example of how music speaks to us on multiple levels.
At the end of President Putin's performance, he walks over to a tall guitar player behind him and shakes hands with him and kisses his cheek, European-style. As he walks away, the next musician by the guitar player has this watchful, dubious look, like he's wondering if Vlad is going to kiss him too....
_______________________________
Mueller indictment (continued)
Stolen Documents Released through DCLeaks
35. More than a month before the release of any documents, the Conspirators constructed the online persona DCLeaks to release and publicize stolen election-related documents. On or about April 19, 2016, after attempting to register the domain electionleaks.com, the Conspirators registered the domain dcleaks.com through a service that anonymized the registrant.
The funds used to pay for the dcleaks.com domain originated from an account at an online cryptocurrency service that the Conspirators also used to fund the lease of a virtual private server registered with the operational email account dirbinsaabol@mail.com.
The dirbinsaabol email account was also used to register the john356gh URL-shortening account used by LUKASHEV to spearphish the Clinton Campaign chairman and other campaign-related individuals.
36. On or about June 8, 2016, the Conspirators launched the public website dcleaks.com, which they used to release stolen emails. Before it shut down in or around March 2017, the site received over one million page views. The Conspirators falsely claimed on the site that DCLeaks was started by a group of "American hacktivists," when in fact it was started by the Conspirators.
37. Starting in or around June 2016 and continuing through the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Conspirators used DCLeaks to release emails stolen from individuals affiliated with the Clinton Campaign. The Conspirators also released documents they had stolen in other spearphishing operations, including those they had conducted in 2015 that collected emails from individuals affiliated with the Republican Party.
38. On or about June 8, 2016, and at approximately the same time that the dcleaks.com website was launched, the Conspirators created a DCLeaks Facebook page using a preexisting social media account under the fictitious name "Alice Donovan."
In addition to the DCLeaks Facebook page, the Conspirators used other social media accounts in the names of fictitious U.S. persons such as "Jason Scott" and "Richard Gingrey" to promote the DCLeaks website. The Conspirators accessed these accounts from computers managed by POTEMKIN and his co-conspirators.
39. On or about June 8, 2016, the Conspirators created the Twitter account @dcleaks. The Conspirators operated the @dcleaks Twitter account from the same computer used for other efforts to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
For example, the Conspirators used the same computer to operate the Twitter account @BaltimoreIsWhr, through which they encouraged U.S. audiences to "[j]oin our flash mob" opposing Clinton and to post images with the hashtag #BlacksAgainstHillary.
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(to be continued...)
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In an effort to hear a "just-plain-facts" in a low-key style on this Putin-Trump-Helsinki meeting, I came across a listen-able report/discussion on You Tube --
when you Google:
Intel chief: Don't know what happened in Trump-Putin meeting
you get some information you can use...
It's 23:20 in length. (There's another one with that title & the same guy's face, on CNN.com, that is one minute 17 seconds. I'm recommending the 23-minute one.)
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Mueller indictment (continued)
30. On or about May 30, 2016, MALYSHEV accessed the AMS panel in order to upgrade custom AMS software on the server. That day, the AMS panel received updates from approximately thirteen different X-Agent malware implants on DCCC and DNC computers.
31. During the hacking of the DCCC and DNC networks, the Conspirators covered their tracks by intentionally deleting logs and computer files. For example, on or about May 23, 2016, the Conspirators cleared the event logs from a DNC computer. On or about June 20, 2016, the Conspirators deleted logs from the AMS panel that documented their activities on the panel, including the login history.
Efforts to Remain on the DCCC and DNC Networks
32. Despite the conspirators' efforts to hide their activity, beginning in or around May 2016, both the DCCC and DNC became aware that they had been hacked and hired a security company ("Company 1") to identify the extent of the intrusions. By in or around June 2016, Company 1 took steps to exclude intruders from the networks.
Despite these efforts, a Linux-based version of X-Agent, programmed to communicate with the GRU-registered domain linuxkrnl.net, remained on the DNC network until in or around October 2016.
33. In response to Company 1's efforts, the Conspirators took countermeasures to maintain access to the DCCC and DNC networks.
a. On or about May 31, 2016, YERMAKOV searched for open-source information about Company 1 and its reporting on X-Agent and X-Tunnel. On or about June 1, 2016, the conspirators attempted to delete traces of their presence on the DCCC network using the computer program CCleaner.
b. On or about June 14, 2016, the Conspirators registered the domain actblues.com, which mimicked the domain of a political fundraising platform that included a DCCC donations page. Shortly thereafter, the Conspirators used stolen DCCC credentials to modify the DCCC website and redirect visitors to the actblues.com domain.
c. On or about June 20, 2016, after Company 1 had disabled X-Agent on the DCCC network, the Conspirators spent over seven hours unsuccessfully trying to connect to X-Agent. The Conspirators also tried to access the DCCC network using previously stolen credentials.
34. In or around September 2016, the Conspirators also successfully gained access to DNC computers hosted on a third-party cloud-computing service. These computers contained test applications related to the DNC's analytics.
After conducting reconnaissance, the Conspirators gathered data by creating backups, or "snapshots," of the DNC's cloud-based systems using the cloud provider's own technology. The Conspirators then moved the snapshots to cloud-based accounts they had registered with the same service, thereby stealing the data from the DNC.
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(to be continued...)
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