Мистер Смит

[tijd]

Информационная бомба от Wall Street Journal получила продолжение вчера вечером (спасибо rednyrg721 за наводку). Газета публикует продолжение истории о том, как республиканский трюкач Питер Смит контачил с российскими хакерами для помощи Трампу. Выясняется, что в досье, которое собирал Смит, упоминались люди из окружения Трампа - Бэннон, Коннуэй и Кловис. Это указывает на то, что Смит мог действовать с ведома и по поручению избирательной кампании.

A longtime Republican activist who led an operation hoping to obtain Hillary Clinton emails from hackers listed senior members of the Trump campaign, including some who now serve as top aides in the White House, in a recruitment document for his effort. The activist, Peter W. Smith, named the officials in a section of the document marked “Trump Campaign.” The document was dated Sept. 7, 2016.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-activist-who-sought-clinton-emails-cited-trump-campaign-officials-1498872923

Более подробные детали приводит источник информации - британский компьютерный специалист Matt Tait, которого Смит пытался привлечь для того, чтобы проверить аутентичность емайлов, взломанных хакерами.
https://lawfareblog.com/time-i-got-recruited-collude-russians

Отметим несколько интересных моментов:



1. Питер Смит - ветеран своего дела. В 1990ых он играл важную роль в добыче компромата на Билла Клинтона. Благодаря Смиту удалось раскопать Полу Джонс, на судебном процессе с которой Клинтон произнёс роковую для него фразу "I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. I've never had an affair with her." Эта фраза привела к импичменту.

Beginning in 1992, Smith spent more than $80,000 to finance anti-Clinton research in an effort to persuade the mainstream press to cover Clinton's sex life. Among others, his efforts involved David Brock, the journalist who first mentioned the name "Paula" in an article on Clinton.
In 1993, Brock said, Smith helped introduce him to the Arkansas state troopers who accused Clinton of using them to procure women when he was Governor of Arkansas. Brock wrote an article based on the troopers' account of Clinton's sexual escapades that was published in the January 1994 issue of The American Spectator, a conservative magazine. According to Brock, Smith wanted to establish a fund for the troopers, in case they suffered retribution. Brock said he opposed payments because they would undermine the troopers' credibility.
To allay his concerns, Brock said, Smith urged him to speak to Porter, who was then working at Kirkland & Ellis, the Chicago law firm that employed Starr in its Washington office. Brock said he had hoped his talk with Porter would put an end to any planned payments to the troopers, but Smith did pay them and their lawyers $22,600.
In 1992, Smith also paid Brock $5,000 to research another bit of Arkansas sex lore regarding Clinton, a rumor that has since proved to be baseless. Brock did not pursue an article.
Brock's trooper article in The American Spectator mentioned a woman identified as "Paula," and in May 1994, Ms. Jones filed her lawsuit against President Clinton.
https://partners.nytimes.com/library/politics/012499jones-lawyers.html



Журналист David Brock раскаялся в той роли, которую он сыграл в этом скандале, и к концу 1990ых перешёл на сторону Клинтонов и демократов. Он основал Media Matters и играет важную роль в других прогрессивных организациях. В 2015 он выпустил книгу "Killing the Messenger: The Right-Wing Plot to Derail Hillary and Hijack Your Government".



2. Дата документа Смита - 7 сентября 2016 имеет важное значение. На следующий день, 8 сентября, Сешнс встречается с Кисляком. Особые обстоятельства вокруг этой даты обсуждались ранее, но они предстают в новом свете, если предположить, что Трамп и люди в его окружении знали о тайных переговорах с хакерами.

3. Для того, чтобы скрыть свою ассоциацию с кампанией Трампа Смит зарегистрировал специальную компанию: KLS Research.

The document was entitled “A Demonstrative Pedagogical Summary to be Developed and Released Prior to November 8, 2016,” and dated September 7. It detailed a company Smith and his colleagues had set up as a vehicle to conduct the research: “KLS Research”, set up as a Delaware LLC “to avoid campaign reporting,” and listing four groups who were involved in one way or another.

4. Смита не смущало то, что компромат на Клинтон в виде похищенных емайлов, мог поступать от российских спецслужб. Цель оправдывала средства.

Over the course of our conversations, one thing struck me as particularly disturbing. Smith and I talked several times about the DNC hack, and I expressed my view that the hack had likely been orchestrated by Russia and that the Kremlin was using the stolen documents as part of an influence campaign against the United States. I explained that if someone had contacted him via the “Dark Web” with Clinton’s personal emails, he should take very seriously the possibility that this may have been part of a wider Russian campaign against the United States. And I said he need not take my word for it, pointing to a number of occasions where US officials had made it clear that this was the view of the U.S. intelligence community as well.
Smith, however, didn’t seem to care. From his perspective it didn’t matter who had taken the emails, or their motives for doing so. He never expressed to me any discomfort with the possibility that the emails he was seeking were potentially from a Russian front, a likelihood he was happy to acknowledge. If they were genuine, they would hurt Clinton’s chances, and therefore help Trump.

5. Помимо прочей активности, Смит был ещё и блоггер: http://peterwsmith.com.

В ноябрьском посте он отрицает участие России в хакерской активности:

Despite assertions of the Obama-controlled national security establishment, no evidence was offered that nation-states were involved in the release the Clinton, DNC and Podesta emails. Clearly, all nation-state players had access to the content of these three websites, but appear not to have released such.

В январском посте он признаётся, что сам был жертвой хакеров:

DCLeaks appears to involve individuals in the Washington, D.C. area who are interested in disseminating political information. Included in these emails were those belonging to the author, which were on a weakly-protected state GOP server. It is difficult to see that such mundane content would be of interest to Russia.

Сайт DCLeaks использовался хакерами ГРУ до того, как они переключились на Викиликс.

В майском посте он пишет про угрозы Рашагейт для Трампа:

As attention turns to international affairs, as it will shortly, the Russian interference story will die of its own weight. That story has three parts: first, was there Russian interference-and obviously there was-and the tools available probably took it to a higher level than in prior years. The second, which will prove to be false, is-are any persons linked in some fashion to Donald Trump duplicitous in their dealings with the Russians? This is the sore point for Trump, as the narrative is totally inaccurate. The third piece is-who in the government has been leaking Trump’s conversations? Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates gave a very slick performance as she pushed an unbelievable narrative of Lt. Gen (Ret.) Mike Flynn being blackmail-able, without ever stating a crime that he committed.

Эту запись он оставил за день до смерти.



6. Хотя прямая связь Смита с Трампом и его людьми не доказана, для постороннего человека он слишком много знал.

Although it wasn’t initially clear to me how independent Smith’s operation was from Flynn or the Trump campaign, it was immediately apparent that Smith was both well connected within the top echelons of the campaign and he seemed to know both Lt. Gen. Flynn and his son well. Smith routinely talked about the goings on at the top of the Trump team, offering deep insights into the bizarre world at the top of the Trump campaign. Smith told of Flynn’s deep dislike of DNI Clapper, whom Flynn blamed for his dismissal by President Obama. Smith told of Flynn’s moves to position himself to become CIA Director under Trump, but also that Flynn had been persuaded that the Senate confirmation process would be prohibitively difficult. He would instead therefore become National Security Advisor should Trump win the election, Smith said.

Человек, который много знал, умер через несколько дней после своего интервью Wall Street Journal. Причина смерти не сообщалась.