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You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Just a Quick Note Regarding the President, Members of His Administration, and Operational Security Matters

Just a Quick Note Regarding the President, Members of His Administration, and Operational Security Matters

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Anne Laurie covered the details that we currently have regarding the recent security breach at Mar a Lago, but I wanted to add a couple of quick points.

I would not be surprised at all if Zhang was sent by the PRC’s intelligence services specifically to be caught and divert attention from their real infiltration work, which involves, among other things, buying memberships to Mar a Lago and the President’s golf clubs. And my guess is she was used at that moment to provide cover for someone actually penetrating a Trump property, most likely Mar a Lago, but possibly somewhere else, at roughly the same time. This technique is not novel. When Ramzi Youssef entered the US so he could build the bombs for the first World Trade Center bombing, he was a number of people behind one of his co-conspirators who just happened to go through the something to declare customs line and when his carry on was opened, they found circuit boards and other suspicious materials. When Youssef came through about 20 minutes or so later, he went through the nothing to declare line and zipped through because everyone was still focused on the guy they were sacrificing to get Youssef into the country. Zhang is most likely a PRC sacrifice. The real questions are who they actually got in by sacrificing her, how many, and what are they actually doing?

I expect that all of the President’s commercial properties are fully compromised at this point between employees, contractors brought on to do day work like A/C repair or other repair/replace projects, and membership. This ties in to the concerns about the President being compromised. As we know was the case with the pursuit of Trump Tower Moscow, the President, his campaign’s, his business’s, his employees’, his political surrogates’ repeated denials that he was pursuing the deal during the election was the only compromising information that Putin needed. And I would expect that the Chinese, the Israelis, the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Estonians, the Latvians, the Germans, the French, and our Five Eyes Allies all new about this attempted deal too from their own intelligence collection. Regardless, because Putin and the Russian government knew something about the President’s and his business that the President, his business, his campaign, and his surrogates were denying, Putin had compromised the President. Or, more accurately, the President had compromised himself for Putin. Repeatedly lying during and after the campaign about pursuing Trump Tower Moscow gave Putin, his government, his intelligence services, his oligarchs, and his other surrogates leverage over the President because they knew something the President had been lying about. Pursuing Trump Tower Moscow wasn’t illegal. Even pursuing the opportunity during the campaign wasn’t illegal. Trying to conceal it also wasn’t illegal. But by doing so the President compromised himself. And one has to ask why it was necessary to lie about pursuing this opportunity and then lie about when that pursuit stopped. Because those lies just further compromised the President.*

There are similar issue regarding the President’s late night phone calls from the residence with Deity knows whom from his unsecured phone. Everyone and their brother is collecting on those calls. And since there’s no readouts, no notes, no note takers, all of this is just more and more compromising information on the President created by the President. Does anyone think that Sean Hannity or Lou Dobbs wouldn’t break under even the mildest forms of forceful interrogation? And the same issue exists with whomever Jared is texting with, regardless of whether he’s using WhatsApp, which is insecure. It doesn’t matter whether he’s texting MBS or MBZ or Bibi or Ron Dermer, or his dad – all of that data is being collected by allied, partner, competitor, and hostile foreign state actors. I would also expect that whomever the President is speaking with from his unsecured phone or whomever Jared is texting with are also keeping a record – either recording, transcript, or both – of those phone and text message conversations. I have no doubt that Kislyak and Lavrov’s photographer made a recording of what was actually said when the President was alone with them in the Oval Office, which, of course, produces more compromising material. Just letting them in with their own photographer with his own equipment was a major security breach in and of itself. And I’m sure that a similar situation surely occurred in his one on one meetings with no note takers, interpreters, and/or aides with Putin in Helsinki, with Putin at the G20 meeting, as well as in his two one on one meetings with Kim. I’d put good money on the fact that Putin and Kim surreptitiously made recordings of those meetings, just as I’d be very surprised to find out that Kislyak and Lavrov had not done so.

These are two very, very serious and significant operational security issues. Because the President has refused to divest himself from his commercial interests, those interests – from Mar a Lago to his golf clubs and golf resorts – are all targets for infiltration and collection by foreign intelligence services. And because the President and his senior advisor and son in law Jared Kushner continually compromise themselves because of who they are in communication with and how they communicate with those people, they continually put themselves as representatives of the United States and the United States at risk by giving foreign actors leverage that can be used over them and against the best interests of the US.

Open thread.

* This is similar to one of the really big unanswered questions from the Special Counsel’s investigation: why did LTG (ret) Flynn, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, Attorney General Sessions, Erik Prince, George Papadopolous, Roger Stone, and many others lie about meetings and contacts with the Russians. Why was Jared Kushner seeking to establish an off the books back channel to the Russians housed in the Russian Embassy in DC? If there was no there there, if nothing illicit, illegal, or even unethical was going on, then why lie about it to Federal investigators, Congress, or both?

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  1. 1.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Um, because there was illicit, illegal, and unethical stuff going on? SATSQ. :)

    Thank you for the excellent analysis.

  5. 5.

    West of the Rockies

    My goodness… This is right out of a movie!

    Adam, once more, I want to express the gratitude so many of us here feel for your efforts and contributions.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    a Quick Note

    This word quick that you use….

    ;)

    Seriously, good stuff about bad stuff. Wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out China’s intelligence services were listening in real time to the Kim meetings.

    Not up to speed on the ins and outs but wasn’t there chatter about China’s intelligence operations being cozy with the UAE?

  12. 12.

    swordfish

    I read here often but hardly ever comment. But I wanted to say how much I appreciate these insightful pieces by Mr, Silverman.

  13. 13.

    piratedan

    well… so far, we’ve seen evidence that this administration has played treachery patti-cakes with the Turks, the Russians, the Saudis and now the Chinese, is there any other foreign nation that this administration hasn’t prostituted themselves to in order to make a buck?

  14. 14.

    Adam L Silverman

    @West of the Rockies: Thanks. Honestly, I could be wrong here, that’s always an option, but everything there doing goes against every bit of operational, informational, and cyber security training I’ve ever had.

  15. 15.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: Yep, he’s now suing Liz Mair for $400k between the two suits. The whole thing is absolutely ridiculous and I wouldn’t be surprised if Speaker Pelosi doesn’t set the House Ethics Committee folks on him over this.

  17. 17.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: No, private Israeli security and Intel firms. The PRC connection to the UAE is through Erik Prince. They own his Frontier Services contracting company.

  22. 22.

    different-church-lady

    Whew… well, I guess we’re all lucky we don’t have a president who’s sloppy with her e-mail.

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: Mair’s a horrible person. And a delusional one. She was born and raised in Seattle, spent two to three years in Scotland for grad school, and now she’s some sort of Mancunian Tory or something just because she married a Brit she met in grad school. Normally, I’d be rooting for injuries here, but she’s got 1st Amendment rights and Nunes, as a member of Congress, should know better.

  33. 33.

    piratedan

    @Adam L Silverman: well first he has to find a lawyer to take his case right? I assume the rules of discovery will apply here? I look forward to watching the trails and tribulations of Congressman Pufferfish in his legal largesse

  34. 34.

    wjs

    Thanks to our worthless media, the minute that a Democrat steps into the White House, the GOP will suddenly become the “daddy” party once again, and they will nitpick everything that happens, and be accorded the honor of being heard each and every time there is a possible compromise of operational security or “best practices” anywhere the president goes. She won’t catch a break, of course. The media will give Republicans a pass on this, like they always do.

    But Mr. Silverman is once again exactly correct. This is horrifying, and no one should minimize how dangerous this is for the American people. Nobody is safe right now, no one.

  36. 36.

    sharl

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks for that background on Mair. I didn’t know she was a phony Scot in addition to her other “qualities”. Trump and his allies manage to make people like that look far better than they deserve. The times we live in and all that, I guess…

  40. 40.

    Amir Khalid

    @Adam L Silverman:
    The Trumps lie and cheat as a matter of course. I think Jared’s FIL does it on the golf course, usually his own golf course, not just for gain but also because he can — as a demonstration of power over others. That’s what they consider the mark of a winner.

  41. 41.

    Mary G

    WaPo says Chuck Grassley is trying to keep the president from firing more DHS officials:

    The most senior Senate Republican is warning the White House not to oust another top immigration official, making appeals to the administration against dismissing Lee Francis Cissna, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, amid a purge of Homeland Security leaders.

    In an interview with The Washington Post, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said he was “very, very concerned” regarding reports that Cissna could be next in a series of rapid-fire DHS dismissals that began late last week when the White House suddenly pulled the nomination of Ronald Vitiello, who had been tapped as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    “One, those are good public servants,” Grassley said Monday evening, after rumors of Cissna’s potential exit percolated all day. “Secondly, besides the personal connection I have with them and the qualifications they have, they are the intellectual basis for what the president wants to accomplish in immigration.”

    Evidently a lot of the people at DHS came from Grassley’s. He texted Mick Mulvaney:

    “He didn’t seem to know who I was talking about,” recalled Grassley, whose top aides were also talking with senior White House staff about those concerns. Asked whether he wants to speak with Trump directly on the matter, Grassley said: “I’ll see if it’s necessary.”

    And took a shot at Stephen Miller:

    The GOP senator was also critical of Stephen Miller, a senior White House adviser who has been one of the leading voices within the administration that has lobbied for the wholesale housecleaning at DHS.

    “I think it would be hard for him to demonstrate he’s accomplished anything for the president,” Grassley said. When asked to elaborate, the senator chuckled and added: “It’s pretty hard to elaborate on it when there hasn’t been any accomplishments.”

    Chuck, you have a snowball’s chance in hell.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    @Adam L Silverman:
    She and Devin may deserve one another. But if she coaxes him into doing something that violates congressional ethics standards [hey, no laughing back there, I MEAN IT?] then Nancy could open a can of SMASH-ass on him.

  43. 43.

    Adam L Silverman

    @sharl: She got to St. Andrews right around the time I was leaving. I’m pretty sure I know her husband. I don’t know her personally, but from what I’ve seen of her when she’s been on TV and what she does on social media, she’s got issues. That said, she has been fearless in going after Nunes, as well as Roy Moore, and she certainly doesn’t deserve this crap from Nunes.

  44. 44.

    Jay

    BTDub’s, Dolt 45’s declared the IRGC a terrorist organization.

    The declaration is broadbased and sweeping, affecting over 11 million Iranians and tens of thousands of Iraqi’s.

    In response, the Iranian Parliament has declared that CENTCOM is a terrorist organization.

  48. 48.

    trollhattan

    @Mary G:
    Swear to bog, Grassley has had a bug up his arse ever since Trump and the windmill cancer thing. Suspect he ripped open the chronic wound that is the tariffs damage to Iowa.

  54. 54.

    SFAW

    @piratedan:

    is there any other foreign nation that this administration hasn’t prostituted themselves to in order to make a buck?

    Fredonia, Grand Fenwick (althought I guess, technically, it’s a Duchy), Nambia, Dumbfuckistan, and Ubeki-beki-beki-stan-stan come to mind. I’m sure there are others

  56. 56.

    Dan B

    @piratedan: Cuber and Venzenwayla are prolly not cofeve’d. Nor the Mexicoes. And I think I’m getting a vibe from Ghermoney ana Canadia too.

    Wand enny moar or I’ll keep goin till you skreem! Your welcome bigly!

  64. 64.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    Sooner or later, all this shit is going to spill out. It sometimes amazes me that people like Donald Tяump go to such lengths to try to keep it all hidden, since it always seeps out. Always. It’s like when you watch a movie, and some idiot lies to the police or to the F.B.I., and you’re saying to yourself, “Don’t lie to them, man! You’re only making it worse for yourself! They’re going to find out you’re lying, if they don’t know already!” And the dumbshits never listen, since, after all, they’re only characters in a movie, and they can’t hear what you tell them.

    Only these guys are real people, and presumably they have real lawyers, and not just Rudy Giuliani giving them advice, but they don’t listen. All this will come out, and I can only guess that it’ll be horrendous. But I guess they’ve painted themselves into corners, so all they can do is try to brazen it out.

  66. 66.

    Jay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    They are hitting the IRGC, the IRGC companies, the IRGC Companies business partners and finance, and the Iraqi Political Parties and Militias.

    The idiots just painted bulleyes on the backs of every American in the Middle East.

  68. 68.

    Dan B

    @Jay: Oh noes! Mah supra-powerz iz faydin!!

    An therz Belgium, an Lichtenstein, an moar! Hiw can Jarvandrumpf progressh in theze headwindz?

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    @piratedan:

    is there any other foreign nation that this administration hasn’t prostituted themselves to in order to make a buck?

    I don’t think he’s prostituted himself to any of the shithole countries yet, probably because he doesn’t believe they have enough money to meet his price.

  75. 75.

    lgerard

    Can you imagine the poor Chinese operative who has to listen to endless hours of trump bloviating to Hannity, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Piro. He must be begging for reassignment to the Mongolian front.

  77. 77.

    Redshift

    I just found out I’m the degrees of separation from the Trumper cooperating witness who’s being sentenced this week. More I cannot say. Strange world.

  79. 79.

    Jay

    @NotMax:

    They are going to use FINCEN against anybody and anyone who does any kind of business with the IRGC, it’s Companies and it’s allies.

    They are going to try for arrests and extraditions.

    They will add in drone strikes and SOF teams for “targetted executions”.

    The Mustache of War, just got his waron,

    And all because Jarvanka LLC is owned by Bibi and Prince Mohammed Bone Saw.

  82. 82.

    SFAW

    @Jay:

    They are going to use FINCEN against anybody and anyone who does any kind of business with the IRGC

    Now, if only they would expand that to include Russia and MbS …

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    OT.

    B fare, but good of that ilk, The Penguin Pool Murder on TCM at the top of the hour. Edna May Oliver and James Gleason affectionately playing against each other so perfectly makes it a delight to watch.

    Some of the dialogue is priceless.

    Secretary: Sure I remember a call. It was a man. He said Mrs. Parker was in trouble so I put him right through.

    Hildegard Withers: Are you sure it was a man’s voice?

    Secretary: Well, it ain’t likely a woman would be calling me “Baby,” is it?

    Hildegard Withers: No, not so far downtown as this.

    Also,

    Oscar Piper (Gleason): Oh, Hello Miss Withers, what’s on your chest?

    Hildegard Withers (Oliver): None of your business.

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Maybe Mr. 9-9-9 and future Fed board member can help with that.

    Better that, than letting him anywhere near the US economy.

    Good Christ, from Janet Yellen to that moron in less than two years.

  85. 85.

    AnotherBruce

    @trollhattan: Joni Ernst is getting an earful about the Trump tariffs from her constituents at a recent town hall event. They want her to stand up to Trump. Someone mentioned that the tariffs could cost the state 2.2 billion in revenue. She waffled with the responses. It might be time for targeting her senate job. That was Tom Harkin’s seat. Democrats should want it back.

  86. 86.

    Jay

    @lgerard:

    They rotate them. CBC News simply has their reporters report Treason Tribbles words, they don’t use Treason Tribbles voice, too triggering.

    4 hours on, 20 hours off, 6 one hour coupons a day for the Pearls of Asia Day Spa.

  87. 87.

    oldgold

    Two windmills are standing in a field. One asks the other, “Do you like ‘Blowin in the Wind’?”

    “No, I’m a big heavy metal fan.”

  91. 91.

    Jay

    @SFAW:

    Since the Iranian Revolution every American administration, even Dubya Dubya Me Too, looked at designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization,

    They all passed because it’s stupid and the blowback would be yoouge,

    So of course, Dolt 45 has to do it, amp it all up to 11, because Bibi and Prince Mohammed Bone Saw own every inch of Jarvanka’s ass.

  93. 93.

    trollhattan

    @AnotherBruce:
    That’s great to hear! Maybe she can volunteer to come out and help cut hogs.

    Flood photos from western Iowa show grain heaped on the ground after silos burst open. Now why do we suppose all that grain is still in storage at winter’s end?

  99. 99.

    Jay

    @trollhattan:

    Feedlot and factory farms need “grain”, if that’s what you want to call it, 24/7, 365, except when they shut down, kill and dump all their stock because of outbreaks of BSE, BTB, Samonella, Lysteria, etc.

    It’s not like the livestock go out in the spring and eat fresh green grass.

    Ethanol profuction also requires a 24/7, 365 supply.

    Read something interesting recently. “We” grow enough food to feed 10 billion people a full healthy diet. There’s 7. something billion people on the planet.

    Almost 25% of the food grown is used for fuels.

    Almost 50% of the food grown or made, ends up in the dump or plowed under.

  100. 100.

    oldgold

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    OK, if you insist, back to the day gig.

    There has been s lot of talk about Federal Criminal Rule 6(e) in connection with the Grand Jury material in the Mueller Report. So, this weekend I read it closely.

    It seems clear to me that subsection 6(e)(3)(D) is going to be the key to the Congressional Intelligence Committees getting this material unredacted.

    “Exceptions.

    (A) Disclosure of a grand-jury matter—other than the grand jury’s deliberations or any grand juror’s vote—may be made to:

    (D) ….. An attorney for the government may also disclose any grand-jury matter involving, within the United States or elsewhere, a threat of attack or other grave hostile acts of a foreign power or its agent, a threat of domestic or international sabotage or terrorism, or clandestine intelligence gathering activities by an intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by its agent, to any appropriate federal, state, state subdivision, Indian tribal, or foreign government official, for the purpose of preventing or responding to such threat or activities.”

  102. 102.

    The Dangerman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    (110th St. just south of Avenue D).

    Yeah, I think you said you were gonna be in the area of the Poppy Reserve; I just don’t recall from my visit feeling that close to the city (or a poppy field that intense and that flat.

    Nice shot.

  105. 105.

    trollhattan

    @Jay:
    I recall in bumper crop years the elevators in my granny’s town would fill and they’d pile it alongside in the open, waiting for somewhere to haul it. In fall of course. By spring a good deal would have sold and shipped, but I’m no commodities guy and don’t know how sales and supply compare between 2018 and say, 2016 as a result of “I’m a tariffs guy.”

    When the only tool you have is a hammer, you should eventually use it on your own head, Donny.

  108. 108.

    The Dangerman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    …the group leader didn’t want everyone to spring the $10…

    Yeah, I hear ya; I parked outside and walked in. Figured $10 is two premium cups of coffee!

    It was pretty crazy the day I was there (on a Monday or Tuesday, I don’t exactly recall); I can’t imagine what a Sunday woulda been. I parked legally, but there as enough parking in the “No Parking Zone” to make Lancaster, or the State, a pretty penny. Didn’t see a single ticket, though, so someone was being very nice.

  109. 109.

    Jay

    @trollhattan:

    Farm silo’s are tricky to define, with out knowing the farm.

    Growers ususally ship to bulk by midwinter, but because of Tariffs, many bulk silo’s are full.

    Feedlots keep them full, 24/7, with “imported feed”,

    So with out knowing what kind of farm it is, it’s hard to define a burst silo from water swelling means in the bigger picture.

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    If they had even a smidgen of common sense……….
    Of course if common sense was more common they might have even some of it.
    But then we’d have nothing to discuss. Wouldn’t that be nice?

  113. 113.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    “Does anyone think that Sean Hannity or Lou Dobbs wouldn’t break under even the mildest forms of forceful interrogation?”

    Let’s find out.
    Start with limb-amputation and dial it down if they won’t shut up.

  115. 115.

    Jerri

    You are too kind. Trump has been compromised since he decided to run for president. I’m positive that when the Secret Service first cleared Trump Tower NYC they found an unbelievable amount of bugs/hacking and sophisticated surveillance stuff. Yes, all the Trump properties are compromised and you have to wonder have all the corporation/heads of state that have stayed at the Trump DC hotel now realize how compromised they are now?

  116. 116.

    J R in WV

    @Jay:

    Regardless of the value or lack of value of the grains inside a silo, when one bursts, that’s a huge financial loss for the construction costs of the silo itself.

    The hardware store owner, Bob, where I bought much of the material for my little house in AZ closed a deal for several silo foundations, each involved several tons of steel rebar. He never took possession of the steel, they bought it and he had it delivered to their sites directly on big flatbeds with cranes to off load it right beside the new construction.

    It took months for experienced professionals to build each set of silos. I would be shocked if we aren’t talking between $250,000 and $500,000 per unit for a now burst and ruined silo. On top of no market for the grain which caused the silo to burst.

    This is the kind of high-cost in dollars learning experience that can make a former Republican not vote Republican next year, so no wonder Grassley is upset.

  117. 117.

    J R in WV

    @J R in WV:

    Google tells me I was wrong about the cost of a silo. More like just under $100,000 for a 30,000 bushel unit… most farms build in several units at a time in AZ, like 4 each for example.

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