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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBlackwater boss Erik Prince helped hack the election for Trump
I think I hear the fan's engines revving up; can shit be far behind?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/01/19/1622036/-Blackwater-boss-Erik-Prince-helped-hack-the-election-for-Trump?detail=facebook
Blackwater boss Erik Prince helped hack the election for Trump
By Christian Dem in NC
Wednesday Jan 18, 2017 · 8:34 PM EST
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Former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince recently got back in the news when it emerged that hes serving as an informal adviser to Trump. Thats not the only time hes offered his services to the Donald. He played a key role in a conspiracy by rogue FBI agents to throw the election to Trump.
Late last night, HuffPo columnist Seth Abramson discovered that Prince gave a rather interesting interview to Breitbart News Daily on November 4less than 24 hours before Comey announced there was no there there in the new emails. Prince claimed that the FBIs hand was forced by hopping mad NYPD detectives investigating Anthony Weiner. Supposedly, they found State Department emails and evidence of a trove of criminal activity involving the Clintons and other prominent Democrats. Click over to my piece at Liberal America to hear itbut be sure youre sitting down. After all, this is Breitbartor rather, Trumpbartwere talking about.
According to this narrative the NYPD gave the FBI an ultimatumreopen the investigation, or we will hold a press conference to announce a ton of arrests. Supposedly, this pushed the FBI off their chairs, prompting Comeys now-infamous letter.
Two big problems. First, we know that the warrant contained no such thing. Rather, its sole probable cause was a possible email exchange between Hillary and Huma Abedin. On that basis, a number of legal experts have condemned it as hackery at best and a Fourth Amendment violation at worst.
More seriously, Prince openly admitted that he knew about the emails before Comey did. For those of you keeping score, that makes THREE close confidants to Trump who knew about the emails in the three weeks between when they were found and when Comey was finally notified. The other two? Rudy Giuliani and Jim Kallstrom, both of whom were in contact with active agents during the investigation.
And all three of them knew damn well what they were doing when they made those leaks. Remember, Giuliani is a former U. S. Attorney, and before then headed the DOJs criminal division. Kallstrom is the former head of the FBI in New York City. Prince was a major government contractor during his tenure at Blackwater. If this isnt evidence that this election was tainted by criminal misconduct, what is?
Abramson muses that Giuliani revealed his contacts with FBI agents on orders from Trump, while Prince did so on orders from either Steve Bannon or Trump. I havent seen anything to suggest--yetthat Trump was directly involved. After all, youre talking about a couple of guys who are known to be cowboys. The fact that Prince went on Breitbart, though, makes you wonder if Bannon was in some way involved.
He also muses that Princes adviser role, as well as the choice of his sister, Betsy DeVos, as Education Secretary, are rewards for a job (criminally) well done. Thats a bit of a stretch. Its very likely that DeVos is part of the massive debt Trump owes to the fundies, while Prince simply bought his post.
What is clear beyond any doubt is that, at the very least, Trump fostered an environment in which this was even remotely acceptable. Ironic, since Chris Christie lost out on the VP slot under similar circumstances. What is also clear is that Abramson wasnt kidding when he called this potentially worse than Watergate.
MagickMuffin
(15,943 posts)Dark days ahead of us that is for sure. Hopefully WE the people can do something to stop this train wreck of a circus that is taking place. Of course we'll get no help from the TV media. They played a very big role in the deception that took place over the course of the campaign.
Thx for the post babylonsister!
renate
(13,776 posts)The red meat of the election is over... now there'd be the red meat of the investigation.
MagickMuffin
(15,943 posts)I haven't seen much interest in really exposing the republicons crimes, misdeeds or scandals.
SleeplessinSoCal
(9,123 posts)Doitnow
(1,103 posts)herding cats
(19,565 posts)I'm glad to see this is getting some sunlight!
SleeplessinSoCal
(9,123 posts)WHO do we get this news to that could penetrate the wall around Trump supporters?
meow2u3
(24,764 posts)I.e., he may have been blackmailed by Erik Prince and Blightbart?
babylonsister
(171,070 posts)brush
(53,784 posts)Remember Comey was the one who stood up to Alberto Gnzalez in John Ashcrofts hospital room over authorizing illegal wire taps in 2004 during the Bush admin.
He's head of the FBI so I don't think he would be cowed by some NYP detectives.
Here's a link to the Ashcroft story:
https://eideard.com/2013/05/30/the-hospital-room-showdown-over-illicit-wiretaps-in-2004-james-comey-vs-alberto-gonzalez-george-w-bushs-flunkey/
I'm not letting Comey off the hook. Remember he went rogue in June with that first press conference on the emails. He did that without even letting Lynch know what he was about to do. He purposely poisoned the waters by chastising Hillary publicly by all but calling her a corrupt criminal.
He saw in October that she was about to win so he went public again against her.
All this coming out now that he was intimidated seems like a cover story. Nah, IMO, he was in on it.
The timing of the Oct. 28 letter, leaving no time for Hilary to recover from the damage, is too perfect not to have been calculated.
And then the Nov. 6 "oh, never mind, the emails were duplicates letter" 2 days before the election?
Come on! I was born at night but not last night.
Initech
(100,079 posts)underpants
(182,826 posts)Just learned that the other day
japple
(9,828 posts)and saw your reply title "Prince and Sec. Ed. Nominee DeVos are brother and sister," and literally spewed my beer. I was thinking the real PRINCE + that tRUMP nominee, etc, etc.????
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FailureToCommunicate
(14,014 posts)malaise
(269,028 posts)Rec
Me.
(35,454 posts)The Domestic Conspiracy That Gave Trump The Election Is In Plain Sight
While a full summary of the Prince-Giuliani-Trump conspiracy would require a longer discourse, the actions of these men, along with multiple still-anonymous actors, can be summarized in five paragraphs. It will be for journalists with more resources than this writer to follow up on these leadsand, moreover, to see how this domestic conspiracy dovetails with the Trump-Russia controversy, though this too is briefly addressed below. Cont
"Prince claimed he had insider knowledge of the investigation that could help explain why FBI Director James Comey had to announce he was reopening the investigation into Clintons email server last week....[NYPD] found a lot of other really damning criminal information [on Weiners computer], including money laundering, including the fact that Hillary went to this sex island with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Bill Clinton went there more than twenty times. Hillary Clinton went there at least six times, he said. The amount of garbage that they found in these emails, of criminal activity by Hillary, by her immediate circle, and even by other Democratic members of Congress, was so disgusting they gave it to the FBI, and they said, Were going to go public with this if you dont reopen the investigation and you dont do the right thing with timely indictments, Prince explained. I believeI know, and this is from a very well-placed source of mine at One Police Plaza in New Yorkthe NYPD wanted to do a press conference announcing the warrants and the additional arrests they were making in this investigation, and theyve gotten huge pushback, to the point of coercion, from the Justice Department.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-domestic-conspiracy-that-gave-trump-the-election_us_587ed24fe4b0b110fe11dbf9?
We are witnessing conflicts within the "private" and federal intelligence agencies, at a level that has not been approached ever before in the our nation's history. It is not a good thing.
Me.
(35,454 posts)That someone (not pointing fingers, mind you) could write an excellent OP about this.
H2O Man
(73,558 posts)if a qualified person would. Suppose I could, but I don't think many here would get it.
Me.
(35,454 posts)My boy has a fight in Albany on Saturday. After that .....
Me.
(35,454 posts)I'll keep an eye out (now That I can )
Blue_Roses
(12,894 posts)that hooks the reader in ( so to speak) and has them chomping-at-the-bit to speak out and do something.
There is no doubt that we still have excellent investigative reporters who do awesome work with news that MSM never would report on, but in our short-attention world, sound-bites are what grab and stick.
I love reading articles that go into the "whys, wheres, how, and who", however, my spouse hates to read and only picks up sound-bites and headlines. However, if those "sound-bites or headlines", affect him, his pocketbook, or NFL football team (sad, but true), he is all ears. Even with his ADHD self.
After the Bush-Gore fiasco, it took forever for the MSM to pick up a needed story. Many times we would see it here on DU way before it ever broke the headlines. We've got to be the voice that changes that and I'm all in to help.
voteearlyvoteoften
(1,716 posts)He is a relation to her
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)State the Obvious
(842 posts)...he nominates Prince's sister....Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education!
babylonsister
(171,070 posts)Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)2naSalit
(86,646 posts)was happening in my recurring dream of late... and today is the big day that covers the weekend. Something totally unexpected is about to take place, I hope it's a good thing for we the people and the rest of the planet.
ETA: I was wondering where the mercenary corps got off to after being allegedly dismissed from the wars of public renown. I'm not surprised about this revelation, sadly.
Alice11111
(5,730 posts)Now, months later, the media is just beginning to state it outright. It will be a long time b4 it is accepted news. Trumpsters won't believe it until fox carries it. Fox will probably title the article, Hillarys emails waste more taxpayer money, and then convolute the facts.
Renew Deal
(81,861 posts)handmade34
(22,756 posts)written extensively about Erik Prince... this and many other articles:
https://theintercept.com/2016/03/24/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-under-federal-investigation/
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/17/notorious-mercenary-erik-prince-is-advising-trump-from-the-shadows/
also from Rachel Tabachnick :
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/5/16/123025/506
The Sunday New York Times reported that Erik Prince, founder and former owner of Blackwater (now XE), is building a "secret desert force" of 800 non-Muslim foreign mercenaries for the United Arab Emirates. Blackwater "collected billions of dollars in security contracts from the U.S. government," but Prince sold the company and moved to Abu Dhabi in wake of legal troubles. Over the last decade, as Prince has built private armies funded with tax dollars, his older sister Betsy DeVos has been leading a campaign to privatize education but fund it with tax dollars. Her organizations have also run into legal troubles, including a $5.2 million fine in Ohio for breaking campaign finance laws.
The Prince and DeVos Families
Betsy Prince DeVos and Erik Prince are two of the four children of Elsa Prince Broekhuizen and the late Edgar Prince. The Prince family made their fortune in Prince Automotive, and became one of the primary supporters of numerous Religious Right organizations and right-wing causes...
cbdo2007
(9,213 posts)that he wouldnt' be able to control himself.
Stinky The Clown
(67,807 posts)Extremist Right Wing Billionaires doing extremist right wing shit to benefit extremist right wingers.
All spawned from Amway Founder, pyramid schemer, and right wing billionaire Rich DeVoss.
SleeplessinSoCal
(9,123 posts)Then Trump actually considered Rohrabacher for secy of state. The Breitbart connection needs more investigation beyond White Supremacists and fake news.
There is a cabal of Putin people in Amerika.
Hekate
(90,712 posts)SunSeeker
(51,564 posts)orangecrush
(19,571 posts)It is entirely possible Prince dreams of initiating a Vietnam era "Phoenix" style program right here in the United States to deal with Trump opposition.
In the article he discussed doing exactly that in the Middle East.
"In July, Prince told Trumps senior adviser and white supremacist Steve Bannon, at the time head of Breitbart News, that the Trump administration should recreate a version of the Phoenix Program, the CIA assassination ring that operated during the Vietnam War, to fight ISIS. Such a program, Prince said, could kill or capture the funders of Islamic terror and that would even be the wealthy radical Islamist billionaires funding it from the Middle East, and any of the other illicit activities theyre in.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/static.theintercept.com/amp/notorious-mercenary-erik-prince-is-advising-trump-from-the-shadows.html?client=ms-android-boost-us
Efilroft Sul
(3,579 posts)Trump's private security force is ostensibly for protection, for defense. But with Prince in the picture, that security force can very easily be turned to an offensive attack force against Trump's political enemies.
orangecrush
(19,571 posts)It can happen here.
They need to read some accounts of survivors of thr Phoenix program.
cilla4progress
(24,736 posts)on Thom Hartmann's show. Wow. DISCLOSE AND DISSEMINATE!!
H2O Man
(73,558 posts)Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)uponit7771
(90,346 posts)... or some shit !!!
babylonsister
(171,070 posts)the company name to Xe. A search on DU should provide plenty of history.
democrank
(11,096 posts)Whatever the word is, fill in these blanks.
_________, ________, __________.
spike jones
(1,680 posts)What could go wrong with a guy like this advising Trump.
Xe is a christian symbol.
http://www.truthistreason.net/erik-prince-blackwater-xe-the-new-christian-crusade
Erik Princes personal Crusade
Among his personnel at Xe, Prince is known to be a high-profile Islamophobe who believes his personal mission in life is to bring about the total extinction of the Muslim population of this planet in what he has described as a global campaign of genocide or a, Crusade.
Here is an excerpt of an article about Prince that appeared in The Economist: http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/08/erik_prince_and_the_last_crusa
Trump could use the employees of Prince as his personal security. The Nazi SS started out as Hitler's private security.The very rich can now afford private armies of the likes of old Blackwater.
the Schutzstaffel (SS), Adolf Hitlers private army
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel
roseBudd
(8,718 posts)The Russian kompromat could get him impeached.
https://www.facebook.com/649431898439670/photos/a.672858129430380.1073741831.649431898439670/1216753041707550/?type=3&theater
spanone
(135,843 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,819 posts)Eric Prince did his best to elect Putin's lackey Trump.
But he did his least to send four men to their deaths at the Fallujah Bridge with inadequate equipment.
Chicago1980
(1,968 posts)Betsy deVos
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)to about four paragraphs, if we can -- copyright laws. Remember the DU lawsuit?