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Victoria Toensing's Story about Sam Clovis' Grand Jury Appearance

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emptywheel
Victoria Toensing has offered up a version of what her client, Sam Clovis, said to the Mueller grand jury. It is inconsistent with George Papadopoulos'.
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We Have No Idea What Emails the Papadopoulos Plea Refer To

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emptywheel
There are far more emails out there -- in both the hands of the Russian and the American government -- than any of the commentary on yesterday's events seems to understand.
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The Footnote Shows Manafort Was Hiding Willingness to Reach Out to Russia

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emptywheel
The footnote showing Manafort was trying to hide any signal of rapprochement with Russia came two months before such a meeting, including Manafort, was approved.
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A Month and a Half before the June 9 Meeting, Trump Campaign Learned about Hacked Emails

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emptywheel
The George Papadopoulos plea deal makes it clear the Trump campaign knew the Russians had Hillary's emails a month and a half before the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
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Paul Manafort Indicted for Laundering 50 Times as Much Through Rugs as Through Household Labor

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emptywheel
In response to yesterday's server hiccups and in anticipation that Mueller is nowhere near done, we expanded our server capacity overnight. If you think you'll rely on emptywheel reporting on the Mueller probe, please consider a donation to…
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Some Thoughts On The Manafort Indictment

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bmaz
In response to yesterday's server hiccups and in anticipation that Mueller is nowhere near done, we expanded our server capacity overnight. If you think you'll rely on emptywheel reporting on the Mueller probe, please consider a donation…
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Indictment Weekend Trash Talk

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bmaz
While we spend the weekend wondering and theorizing what Bob Mueller has in the candy store for us on Monday, it is time for some Trash Talk. Who will it be? Are there more than one? What are the "charges"? Exciting times. Okay, on to the…
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The Boente Resignation and the Reported Charge[s]/Indictment[s]

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emptywheel
Why did Dana Boente announce his resignation on the same day two outlets reported that Mueller has charged at least one person?
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Trump's Campaign Didn't Use Cambridge Analytica's Pyschographics; Did His SuperPAC?

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emptywheel
The Cambridge Analytica folks who worked with the Trump campaign said they were walled off from CA, because it was working with the Trump SuperPAC. So what did CA do for the SuperPAC?
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Did Manafort Prep Trump for the Dossier Lawfare

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emptywheel
The Republican and Russian lawfare surrounding the Steele dossier has always felt very well coordinated. Did Manafort help make that happen?
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M&M Mars Candy, Trump and The Estate Tax Giveaway

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bmaz
The Mars candy-fortune clan has joined with 17 other billionaire families and collectively spent $500 million lobbying Congress to cut taxes on billionaires and the companies they run.
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Cambridge Analytica and the Hillary Emails

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emptywheel
It increasingly seems like the easiest nexus on which to prove "collusion" between Russians and Trump's people is the abandoned effort to publish Hillary's deleted emails.
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Reasons Why Dems Have Been Fucking Stupid on the Steele Dossier: a Long Essay

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emptywheel
On the many many ways that the revelation that Marc Elias paid for the Steele dossier really hurts the Democrats.
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Shorter Kaspersky: Our Home AV Found NSA's Lost Tools Six Months Before NSA Did

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emptywheel
Kaspersky lab has a new explanation for how it came to find NSA's Equation Group tools in 2014. And by this telling, it looks like the Duqu hack was a chicken chasing the egg made available by NSA's own hacker.
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Ron Wyden Is Worried the Government Will Use FISA Process to Force Companies to Make Technical Changes

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emptywheel
Ron Wyden and Rand Paul just introduced their bill to fix Section 702. It's a good bill that not only improves Section 702 (by prohibiting back door searches, prohibiting the 2014 exception, and limiting use of 702 data), but also improves FISC…
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The Senate Intelligence Committee 702 Bill Is a Domestic Spying Bill

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emptywheel
The Senate Intelligence Committee bill affirmatively authorizes the use of Section 702 to collect and prosecute certain crimes.
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[Photo: National Security Agency, Ft. Meade, MD via Wikimedia]

Rick Ledgett Claims NSA's Malware Isn't Malware

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emptywheel
I was beginning to be persuaded that Kaspersky Labs had done something wrong, in discovering NSA's malware on an TAO developer's computer. But now that Rick Ledgett claims NSA malware isn't malware, I'm convinced again this is just an attempt to protect NSA's tools from one of the few AV companies that will look for it.
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After the Ad Hominem Approach to Surveillance Reauthorization Fails, Spooks Now Revert to Secrecy

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emptywheel
The spooks and their congressional servants know they have to cheat to codify dangerous parts of Section 702. So they're trying to do it in secret.
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Random Trash

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bmaz
Was out and about much of yesterday, so Trash is late and will be short. We learned a couple of things yesterday. Thing one: Ed Walker's Fighting Irish are for real. Thing two: Marcy's Bo Merlots are not. And, at least here, there was pure…
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