This is actually a very big deal. It's the first concrete allegation of Trump team collusion. https://t.co/zTKVUiRmIE
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) June 29, 2017
New: GOP operative sought Clinton emails from Russian hackers, implied he was working with Mike Flynn. https://t.co/25qjKRRYRA
— Shane Harris (@shaneharris) June 29, 2017
#EvenTheStaunchlyConservativeWSJ:
Before the 2016 presidential election, a longtime Republican opposition researcher mounted an independent campaign to obtain emails he believed were stolen from Hillary Clinton’s private server, likely by Russian hackers.
In conversations with members of his circle and with others he tried to recruit to help him, the GOP operative, Peter W. Smith, implied he was working with retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, at the time a senior adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump.
“He said, ‘I’m talking to Michael Flynn about this—if you find anything, can you let me know?’” said Eric York, a computer-security expert from Atlanta who searched hacker forums on Mr. Smith’s behalf for people who might have access to the emails.
Emails written by Mr. Smith and one of his associates show that his small group considered Mr. Flynn and his consulting company, Flynn Intel Group, to be allies in their quest.
What role, if any, Mr. Flynn may have played in Mr. Smith’s project is unclear. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Smith said he knew Mr. Flynn, but he never stated that Mr. Flynn was involved…
Mr. Smith died at age 81 on May 14, which was about 10 days after the Journal interviewed him. His account of the email search is believed to be his only public comment on it….
In the interview with the Journal, Mr. Smith said he and his colleagues found five groups of hackers who claimed to possess Mrs. Clinton’s deleted emails, including two groups he determined were Russians.
“We knew the people who had these were probably around the Russian government,” Mr. Smith said…
Mr. Smith said he never intended to pay for any emails found by hackers.
He said he understood the risk in publishing the emails himself. If, under public scrutiny, they proved not to be genuine, “people would say we made them up,” he said, and the whole project would be dismissed as a Republican hit job on the Clinton campaign. In the early 1990s, Mr. Smith helped publicize Arkansas state troopers’ claims that then-Gov. Bill Clinton had enlisted them to arrange trysts with women, an unproven allegation denied by the Clinton White House…
How implausible is it that people in Trump's campaign actually tried to put that plan into motion? 2/2
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 29, 2017
Flynn was shortlisted to be VP. Don't forget that as this WSJ scoop unfolds.
— Salacious Materiel (@ZeddRebel) June 30, 2017
This guy solicited Russian hackers, but somehow was CERTAIN Russia wasn't involved. https://t.co/EOYYdXxRXs
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) June 29, 2017