Russian regime has been cultivating Donald Trump for five years
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While the pop-media of TV and Twitter chases the nothing-burger of Huma Abedin's emails,
real news just was broken: CNBC reports that Comey opposed having the FBI's name on a report accusing Russia of interfering with US elections. "
He believed it to be true, but was against putting it out before the election," said CNBC's source. That's odd in light of the fact that Comey released much more damaging information about Hillary Clinton a mere 11 days before the election.
David Corn reports that a "former senior intelligence officer for a Western country" says that he informed the FBI in July that the Russian regime has been cultivating Donald Trump for five years. "Aim, endorsed by PUTIN, has been to encourage splits and divisions in western alliance," the former spy said in a memo. He claimed that Russian intelligence had "compromised" Trump during his visits to Moscow and could "blackmail him":
The former intelligence officer says the response from the FBI was "shock and horror." The FBI, after receiving the first memo, did not immediately request additional material, according to the former intelligence officer and his American associates. Yet in August, they say, the FBI asked him for all information in his possession and for him to explain how the material had been gathered and to identify his sources. The former spy forwarded to the bureau several memos—some of which referred to members of Trump's inner circle. After that point, he continued to share information with the FBI. "It's quite clear there was or is a pretty substantial inquiry going on," he says.
NBC News reports that the FBI is conducting a preliminary inquiry into the "foreign business connections" of Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager.
Frank Foer reports on the very peculiar transmissions between a Trump computer and a computer owned by Alfa Bank—a Russian bank run by oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin. The transmissions began early this year, peaked in early August, and then abruptly ceased a few weeks ago when a New York Times reporter began inquiring about them.