Three media organizations widely reported on it: the NYTimes, MotherJones, and Slate.
Well, you guessed it: it was false. The source of the story was Hillary's lawyer. At the same time, Hillary tweeted about it.
This is how FakeNews works. Hillary's campaign has its lawyers tell the FBI that Trump's servers are communicating with Putin, and then leaks the FBI's "investigation" to the media. Wala, the public thinks that Trump's servers are under investigation! Then, Hillary's campaign amplifies the media's reporting by tweeting about it. The result is FakeNews.
I don't know how some of you morons do not see how evil Hillary was.
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The Alfa Bank Allegations
The information that [HILLARY'S LAWYER] Sussmann provided to [FBI GC] Baker on Alfa Bank’s alleged communications with a Trump Tower server was later detailed in a since-debunked article by Slate, “Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia.” The article, which was published on Oct. 31, 2016, concerned allegations regarding a server in the Trump Tower that had allegedly been communicating with a server at Alfa Bank in Russia. Both the FBI and The New York Times found the allegations to be unfounded. Nevertheless, the article was used in the promotion of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.
On the very same day, Oct. 31, 2016, two other articles were also published. The first, “Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia,” by the New York Times, appeared to be an updated version of the article they had intended to publish before the FBI asked them to delay their reporting:
“In classified sessions in August and September, intelligence officials also briefed congressional leaders on the possibility of financial ties between Russians and people connected to Mr. Trump. They focused particular attention on what cyberexperts said appeared to be a mysterious computer back channel between the Trump Organization and the Alfa Bank, which is one of Russia’s biggest banks and whose owners have longstanding ties to Mr. Putin.
F.B.I. officials spent weeks examining computer data showing an odd stream of activity to a Trump Organization server and Alfa Bank. Computer logs obtained by The New York Times show that two servers at Alfa Bank sent more than 2,700 “look-up” messages—a first step for one system’s computers to talk to another—to a Trump-connected server beginning in the spring. But the F.B.I. ultimately concluded that there could be an innocuous explanation, like a marketing email or spam, for the computer contacts.”
The other article published on Oct. 31, “A Veteran Spy Has Given the FBI Information Alleging a Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump,” by Mother Jones reporter David Corn, provided the first public reporting on the existence of the Steele dossier:
“A former senior intelligence officer for a Western country who specialized in Russian counterintelligence tells Mother Jones that in recent months he provided the bureau with memos, based on his recent interactions with Russian sources, contending the Russian government has for years tried to co-opt and assist Trump—and that the FBI requested more information from him.”
Notably, Corn’s article also mentioned Alfa Bank:
“(In recent weeks, reporters in Washington have pursued anonymous online reports that a computer server related to the Trump Organization engaged in a high level of activity with servers connected to Alfa Bank, the largest private bank in Russia. On Monday, a Slate investigation detailed the pattern of unusual server activity but concluded, ‘We don’t yet know what this [Trump] server was for, but it deserves further explanation.’ In an email to Mother Jones, Hope Hicks, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, maintains, ‘The Trump Organization is not sending or receiving any communications from this email server. The Trump Organization has no communication or relationship with this entity or any Russian entity.’)”
All three articles came out on Oct. 31, 2016, including The New York Times article. Recall, the The New York Times had been asked to refrain from publishing while the FBI was investigating the matter. Which begs the question, were the authors of these other two, highly-coincidentally timed articles also asked to delay their publication? It certainly seems as if all three were given the green light at the same time.
This raises the question of whether Sussmann was also leaking to Franklin Foer of Slate and David Corn of Mother Jones. Or whether Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, whose firm had hired Steele, was acting as a conduit to these individuals.
It’s possible another explanation exists for the same-day publication of all three articles, but the concurrent timing, along with details from Baker’s testimony, appears to suggest otherwise.
On the same day, Oct. 31, Hillary Clinton sent a tweet which included a statement from Jake Sullivan, a Senior Policy Advisor:
“Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.”
Sullivan’s statement referenced the Slate article and included the following:
“This could be the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow. Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.
This secret hotline may be the key to unlocking the mystery of Trump’s ties to Russia. It certainly seems the Trump Organization felt it had something to hide, given that it apparently took steps to conceal the link when it was discovered by journalists.”
With this statement from the Clinton campaign, combined with the Slate article and the Corn article, the Alfa Bank story took off—despite the same-day story from the New York Times, which specifically noted the FBI had investigated that matter and found nothing untoward.
Sussmann’s decision to choose Baker as his FBI contact proved highly effective.
Link: Hillary is a liar
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He chooses the best sources. The best.
And so it goes, or Gongs.
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Was there a particular point in the story that you disagree with?
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isn't covering this story. It hurts it.
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....but their liberal code prevents them from admitting it. It is essentially assumed news at this point even before it breaks anymore.
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For those that do not know, Baker was the FBI's General Counsel under Comey.
Link: https://www.theepochtimes.com/baker-testimony-reveals-perkins-coie-lawyer-provided-fbi-with-information-on-alfa-bank-allegations_2773855.html