UPDATED: British spies were first to spot Trump team's links with Russia

[DonViejo]

Last edited Thu Apr 13, 2017, 01:02 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: The Guardian


Luke Harding, Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Nick Hopkins

Thursday 13 April 2017 09.39 EDT Last modified on Thursday 13 April 2017 10.57 EDT

Britain’s spy agencies played a crucial role in alerting their counterparts in Washington to contacts between members of Donald Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives, the Guardian has been told.

GCHQ first became aware in late 2015 of suspicious “interactions” between figures connected to Trump and known or suspected Russian agents, a source close to UK intelligence said. This intelligence was passed to the US as part of a routine exchange of information, they added.

Over the next six months, until summer 2016, a number of western agencies shared further information on contacts between Trump’s inner circle and Russians, sources said.

The European countries that passed on electronic intelligence – known as sigint – included Germany, Estonia and Poland. Australia, a member of the “Five Eyes” spying alliance that also includes the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand, also relayed material, one source said.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/13/british-spies-first-to-spot-trump-team-links-russia

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UPDATE:

Investigators now have ‘concrete evidence’ of collusion between Trump camp and Russian govt: source

DAVID FERGUSON
13 APR 2017 AT 12:55 ET

A source close to the investigation into President Donald Trump’s campaign and its ties to Russia says that there is now “specific concrete and corroborative evidence” that individuals within Trump’s immediate orbit coordinated with Russian intelligence operatives during the election.

The Guardian said on Thursday that the U.K.’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has been watching the Trump camp since late 2015, having noticed suspicious “interactions” between Trump associates and well-known Russian agents.

GCHQ passed the information it had uncovered along to U.S. intelligence agencies as part of the routine exchange of information and for the next six months until summer of 2016, U.S intelligence agencies were receiving information about the contacts from European agencies in Germany, Estonia and Poland.

More information came in to U.S. hands from members of the “Five Eyes” alliance that includes the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/investigators-now-have-concrete-evidence-of-collusion-between-trump-camp-and-russian-govt-source/

[Botany]

1. How wide, how deep and how far back do the Trump/Republican links go?

" ... aware in late 2015 of suspicious “interactions” between figures connected to Trump
and known or suspected Russian agents .... "

Mitch McConnell I'm looking at you.

In September, during a secret briefing for congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voiced doubts about the veracity of the intelligence, according to officials present.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?utm_term=.f1c0905fc46d

[ananda]

2. God, we have to depend on foreigners to alert us to treason!

This is a sorry state of affairs... because even though we
were alerted, Reeps have made sure that we have essentially
done nothing to make the traitors accountable!

In fact, they turned all their attacks on the innocent
Clinton... and are trying to deflect now by attacking
Obama and people from his admin

Quite a feat!

[riversedge]

8. It looks like the [US] agencies were asleep, the source added. They [the European agencies] were

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/13/british-spies-first-to-spot-trump-team-links-russia


....The Guardian has been told the FBI and the CIA were slow to appreciate the extensive nature of contacts between Trump’s team and Moscow ahead of the US election. This was in part due to US law that prohibits US agencies from examining the private communications of American citizens without warrants. “They are trained not to do this,” the source stressed.

“It looks like the [US] agencies were asleep,” the source added. “They [the European agencies] were saying: ‘There are contacts going on between people close to Mr Trump and people we believe are Russian intelligence agents. You should be wary of this.’

“The message was: ‘Watch out. There’s something not right here.’”

According to one account, GCHQ’s then head, Robert Hannigan, passed material in summer 2016 to the CIA chief, John Brennan. The matter was deemed so sensitive it was handled at “director level”. After an initially slow start, Brennan used GCHQ information and intelligence from other partners to launch a major inter-agency investigation.
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In late August and September Brennan gave a series of classified briefings to the Gang of Eight, the top-ranking Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate. He told them the agency had evidence the Kremlin might be trying to help Trump to win the presidency, the New York Times reported. .....

[DK504]

10. Out "intelligence" agencies are corrupt and compromised to the core.

Comey has allowed partisanship to take hold and it ruined our election. He should have been fired immediately.

[Spider Jerusalem]

16. Well part of that is because surveillance of "US persons" by US intelligence...

in many cases requires a warrant. The intelligence agencies of American allies like the UK aren't bound by those strictures. (FISA requires a court order for electronic surveillance of "US persons&quot .

[INdemo]

3. And now Russians and the Trump admninistration is saying "Oh we are not getting along with

Last edited Thu Apr 13, 2017, 02:41 PM - Edit history (1)

the Russians"..The Syrian misled attack was for the purpose of diverting attention and the Corporate media bought into it and the deplorables are rejoicing.
Why is it that the ordinary citizens see through this Bull shit but the journalists don't...

[Enoki33]

4. More elaborate subterfuge.

[ancianita]

5. The Upton Sinclair rule.

[PatSeg]

6. Since 2015?

This is getting really interesting.

[riversedge]

7. Lots of details in the article. Thanks for posting.

[Perseus]

9. "The Guardian has been told the FBI and the CIA were slow"

Were they slow, or were they trying to turn the other way? Comey knowing what he knew then, why did he do what he did 11 days before the election with the supposedly Hillary emails that were not Hillary emails? Was Comey trying to distract? How far does treason go?

Why is it that none of the guilty parties, not one is in jail for treason? If this investigation has been going on since 2015, one would think they have enough information to prosecute a few?

This is worst than it looks...

[DK504]

11. Yeah, flat out.

He purposely held on to this as long as he could then let it go 11 days before the election.

This should have been released in 2015. They already knew he was a traitor.

[SunSeeker]

12. Fucking infuriating. The FBI & CIA protected Trump, not our country.

Heads should roll.

[Judi Lynn]

13. If they ever do the right thing, removing him from office, everything he has done should be voided.

Why should it stand, when it was done illegally?

He should also repay the US taxpayers for his inordinate misuse of government funds for his appalling, insane self-indulgence.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

14. K&R

[ColemanMaskell]

15. Thanks for posting that.

I wonder if the Russians were helping DT win the nomination too, and if so how they did that