RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
July 28 to August 3 Robert Mueller was supposed to dispel clouds over American democracy by giving the American people definitive answers regarding Donald Trump, Russia, and the 2016 election. Although he resolved some major issues - there was no conspiracy with Russia - Mueller and his team closed shop leaving many fundamental questions unanswered. In an article essential for understanding where Russiagate stands today, Aaron Maté reports in RealClearInvestigations on major mysteries Mueller was unwilling or unable to solve, including: - Who is Joseph Mifsud and was he the actual trigger for the FBI's investigation of the Trump campaign?Mueller repeats the FBI's claim that it started its counterintelligence probe into the Trump campaign after Trump adviser GeorgePapadopoloustold someone that Mifsud had told him that the Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton in the form of emails. But Muller never established that Mifsud was a Russian agent, or why the FBI would take such an extraordinary step based on a second-hand rumor.
- What was the role of the Steele dossier? Before it handed off the Trump-Russia investigation to Mueller's team, the FBI relied on the series of unverified and salacious opposition research memos against Trump, secretly financed by the Clinton campaign and compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele. But the FBI has never been clear about how and why it relied the partisan, unverified reports. Mueller does not get to the bottom of that or the role of the opposition firm that hired Steele, Fusion GPS.
- Why did the Mueller's team invent a false theory about polling data and fail to mention the U.S. ties of an alleged Russian agent?In the run-up to the election, onetime Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort shared polling data withKonstaninKilimnik, a man the FBI had assessed as having a "relationship with Russian intelligence." In court Mueller deputy Andrew Weissman repeated that ambiguous claim and tacked on a tantalizing flourish that generated media headlines of collusion: "This goes to the larger view of what we think is going on, and what we think is the motive here." Mueller's report pulled back from that inflammatory claim, without saying why it had or why the claim had been made in the first place. The report also failed to note that Kilimnik had been a "secret source" for the U.S. government.
- Why did the Mueller team falsely suggest that Trump Tower Moscow was a viable project - and what was the role of FBI informant Felix Sater?House Democrats repeatedly played up the Mueller team's indictment of Michael Cohen for lying to Congress about the failed effort to build a Trump Tower Moscow. In court filings, the Mueller team insinuated that the project was viable and lucrative without providing a basis for this claim. Mueller's team also failed to address the fact that the once-dead project was almost single-handedly resurrected by Felix Sater, a shadowy Trump associate who had once been an FBI informant.
Matéwrites that Mueller's awkward performance before Congress suggested he was not the hard-nosed investigator the media portrayed him to be. Perhaps he was a figurehead. And perhaps continuing Justice Department investigations will get closer to truths that either eluded Mueller or he avoided. Read Full Article Why the Mystery of Russiagate Hinges on the Mystery of Joseph Mifsud
Special Counsel Robert Mueller declined to answer questions about Joseph Mifsud in congressional testimony last week, but the missing Maltese professor is crucial to understanding how and why members of the Trump team were treated by the FBI as potential traitors, Eric Felten reports for RealClearInvestigations. In stonewalling Congress on Mifsud, Mueller has succeeded in heightening doubts about the very origins of the Trump-Russia investigation even as Democrats are trying to move on to President Trump's supposedly impeachable obstructive behavior. Felten unpacks the Mifsud mystery anew: - Why wouldn't Mueller answer Rep. Jim Jordan's questions about why Mifsud wasn't charged with lying to investigators, even though a raft of Trump figures had been so charged in his probe? (Even people outside the U.S., like Mifsud, were indicted by Mueller.)
- Mueller chose to stay mum, but his own report said Mifsud lied in denying that he told Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos that the Russians had thousands of Hillary Clinton's emails.
- Thereport also blames the dissembling of Papadopoulos for investigators' inability to nail Mifsud on that lie.
- That raises the question of who's lying about the episode: Papadopoulos, an admitted liar under duress of interrogation by the FBI; or Mifsud, also accused of lying by Mueller's people? Or were the Mueller people themselves lying?
- What transpired between Mifsud and Papadopolousanchors the new origin story for the Trump-Russia probe. U.S. officials suddenly began talking about it after doubts began to arise about the discredited, lurid, Democrat-commissioned Steele dossier.
So, if the Mifsud rock is upturned to undermine the Mueller narrative about him and Papadopoulos, there goes that foundational justification of the Trump-Russia probe. The above may explain why Democrats are taking an easier tack. They have largely turned from the dead end of collusion to focus instead on using Mueller's obstruction-of-justice insinuations as a brief for impeaching the President. Read Full Article The Trump Investigations: Top Articles Comey's Handling of Memos Doesn't Merit Charges: DoJ, Washington Post
FBI Evidence Log Says Comey Lost Track of Trump Memos, Washington Times
Group That Targeted Rep. Nunes Paid Fusion GPS $140,000, Daily Caller
Fed Probe of Trump Friend Focuses on His Lobbying for Arabs, NY Times
Maria Butina Framed? Her Overstock.com CEO Lover's Story, saraacarter.com
Judge Tosses Dems' Trump-Russia Conspiracy Suit, Politico The Epstein Investigations: Top Articles Jeffrey Epstein Hoped to Seed Human Race With His DNA, New York Times
Trump and Epstein Partied Together. Then, the Mansion Rift., Washington Post
Epstein Was Cosmo's Bachelor of Month, July 1980, Daily Beast
The Epstein-Tied Russian Peddling Girls to Billionaires, Daily Beast Other Noteworthy Articles and Series How Rapid E-Cash Transfers Are Creating Instant Suckers
RealClearInvestigations
It's never been easier to send money around the world in a flash. Or to become an instant sucker doing so. As John F. Wasik reports forRealClearInvestigations, booming fintech apps are moving into dominance of personal banking much the way the ATM eclipsed in-person cash withdrawals from banks decades ago. That means watch your digital pockets. Since the fintech industry is barely regulated, Wasik writes, it doesn't have the same protections as hyper-regulated mainstream banking, such as federal deposit insurance. Wasik reports that hundreds of complaints about scamsters stealing money have been posted online and more have been filed with federal agencies. But the feds may be behind the curve because fintech is growing so fast. Biden, Inc.: 'Middle Class' Joe's Family Fortunes
Politico Magazine
As recently as 2009, Joe Biden's net worth was less than $30,000, though in recent years he has made millions from book sales and speaking fees. He refers to himself as "Middle-Class Joe," and presents himself as a corrective to a system rigged by financiers and networked corporate elites. Biden's image as a straight-shooting man of the people, however, is clouded by the careers of his son and brother, who have lengthy track records of making, or seeking, deals that cash in on his name. Interviews, court records, government filings and news reports reveal that some members of the Biden family have consistently mixed business and politics over nearly half a century, moving from one business to the next as Joe's stature in Washington grew. This investigation says it "offers the most comprehensive account to date of the politically tinged business activities of Biden's brother and son, and is the first-time former associates of James and Hunter have alleged that the pair explicitly sought to make money off of Joe's political connections."
Virginia: Police Seized Her $53,000 SUV Over $200 Drug Delivery
Washington Post
Leslie Mayo's problems began when her ex-husband invited her to hang out with a friend. The friend wanted the 51-year-old network engineer to help him find drugs. She said no. He called a month later with the same request. She ultimately agreed to buy $200 of crack for the man, who turned out to be an undercover Fairfax,Virginia, police officer. Mayo had no record, was found by a judge not to be a regular dealer and made no money on the deal. Nevertheless, her $53,000 Chevrolet Tahoe was confiscated by the police because she used it to deliver transport the drugs. "The sting that unfolded in the months that followed," the article says, "provides an unusual window into the murky world of undercover drug busts and police seizing property they believe was used in a crime, which is known as civil asset forfeiture." Why Police Can't Stop Sex Trafficking at Massage Parlors
USA Today
Police across the nation have touted sex spa stings for years as evidence that they are cracking down on rampant human trafficking. The publicity surrounding these operations hit a high in February in raids in South Florida that led to charges against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who police said was caught on video paying for sex acts. But a USA Today review of three high-profile raids - the one in Miami Beach and others in nearby Hollywood and Southwest Florida - found that law enforcement's tough-on-trafficking image fizzled after initial headlines. Charges were dropped or pleaded down. Spas often popped up in the same or new locations. And pursuit of higher-ups, including international crime figures bringing women from overseas, was rare. Genetic-Testing Scam Targets Seniors and Rips off Medicare
Kaiser Health News
Here's a little story about your tax dollars at work. Capitalizing on the growing popularity of genetic testing — and fears of terminal illness — scammers are persuading seniors to take two types of genetic screenings covered by Medicare Part B, according to experts familiar with the schemes. The tests aim to detect their risk for cancer or medication side effects. The scammers bill Medicare for the tests. The patients, who might never receive any results, typically pay nothing. Taxpayers foot the bill for tests that may be unnecessary or inappropriate. Scammers can really cash in: Medicare pays an average of $6,000 to $9,000 for these tests, and sometimes as much as $25,000, according to the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. Isolated, Struggling, Many Older Americans Turning to Suicide
National Public Radio
Across the country, suicide rates have been on the rise, and that rise has struck the nation's seniors particularly hard. Of the more than 47,000 suicides in 2017, those 65 and up accounted for more than 8,500 of them, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Men who are 65 and older face the highest risk of suicide, while adults 85 and older, regardless of gender, are the second most likely age group to die from suicide. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 47.8 million people over the age of 65 in the U.S. as of 2015. By 2060, that number is projected to reach 98.2 million. What's particularly worrying is that when seniors attempt suicide, they are far more likely to die than those who are younger. One of the most prevalent factors is loneliness over the loss of a lifelong spouse or loved ones. The Black Market in Dead Links Left in News Articles
BuzzFeed
After Patricia Disney, the first wife of former Walt Disney executive Roy Disney, died in 2012, her family set up a memorial site, WeLovePatty.com, which was linked to a glowing obituary in the Hollywood Reporter. When the family stopped paying for the domain, it had a second life - clicking on the link took readers to blaze4days.com, a cannabis blog offering content such as "Videos to Watch When High (Best of 2019)." An investigation by BuzzFeed News found dozens of examples of the link-hijack scheme being used to secure backlinks from at least 10 major news sites, including the New York Times, the Guardian, Forbes, HuffPost, CNN, BBC News, and Bloomberg. The link on the Hollywood Reporter obit was hijacked by a vendor with the handle "maryfarrow," who currently charges up to $215 for backlinks on the New York Times, the Independent, and Mashable. |
