FBI, 5 other agencies probe possible covert Kremlin aid to Trump

The FBI and five other law enforcement and intelligence agencies have collaborated for months in an investigation into Russian attempts to influence the November election, including whether money from the Kremlin covertly aided President-elect Donald Trump, two people familiar with the matter said.

The agencies involved in the inquiry are the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and representatives of the director of national intelligence, the sources said.

Investigators are examining how money may have moved from the Kremlin to covertly help Trump win, the two sources said. One of the allegations involves whether a system for routinely paying thousands of Russian-American pensioners may have been used to pay some email hackers in the United States or to supply money to intermediaries who would then pay the hackers, the two sources said.

The informal, inter-agency working group began to explore possible Russian interference last spring, long before the FBI received information from a former British spy hired to develop politically damaging and unverified research about Trump, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry.

Could be. Or it could be there wasn’t any money transfer at all. All the original Baltic intelligence source provided was a tape, allegedly, according to Brennan, according to the BBC. The Baltic agency who provided the tape (if there was one) could have recorded anyone talking if they wanted to promote Hillary in order to push for stronger NATO action against Russia. Or it could be an authentic tape. Or it could be Brennan made the tape up. The investigating agencies haven’t provided any public evidence of an actual tape or actual money transfers. Until they do, everything is pure speculation based on the BBC’s word.

The informal, inter-agency working group began to explore possible Russian interference last spring, long before the FBI received information from a former British spy hired to develop politically damaging and unverified research about Trump, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry.

Oh, goody. More leaks from our intelligence services.

However, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that she believes that Russia's tactics did alter the election result.

Oh really? She has no proof of that. If the election result was altered, it was directly because of the actual words contained in those emails - all true. They are mad that Russia "rigged" the election by showing that the Democrats rigged the election against Bernie (who rolled over pathetically).

To another point, I'm GLAD she's saying this. Why? It means, of course, the Democrats still can't take responsibility for their loss. They are continuing to find things to blame as opposed to looking at the reasons they lost - no message, lack of campaign in swing states, Benghazi, Hillary putting classified information on an unsecure server, and pay to play are all ignored!

During the campaign in July, he displayed ignorance that Russian-backed separatists had invaded Crimea in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and he called on Russia to hack away to uncover thousands of emails that Clinton had never made public after using a private server while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.

THIS IS A LIE! He never displayed ignorance. Russia already annexed Crimea. He was saying Russia wouldn't go further. The media spun his statement to make it sound like he didn't know Russia annexed Crimea. Secondly, he did not call on Russia to hack away to discover Hillary's deleted emails that she bleached. It was a joke. What was Russia supposed to hack? Her server was defunct. The emails were deleted. The U.S. government didn't have them. What were they supposed to hack? Furthermore, the emails on that server were supposed to be personal and all about weddings and yoga. What would they have discovered anyway? (That is, unless the media believes Hillary is lying.)

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