Russian tech firm used in hacking of Democrats, McCain's associate disseminated Steele dossier, unsealed documents show

Documents newly unsealed Thursday in a case involving a Russian entrepreneur and anti-Trump dossier author Christopher Steele reveal that a tech company owned by the Russian was used to hack Democratic Party leaders.
Aleksej Gubarev, a businessman who runs companies across the world, claims his organizations Webzilla and XBT Holdings were defamed by Steele after the unverified dossier was published by BuzzFeed on Jan. 10, 2017.
The dossier alleged that Gubarev's companies “used botnets and porn traffic to transmit viruses, plant bugs, steal data and conduct 'alerting operations' against the Democratic Party leadership.” The dossier also suggested that Gubarev played a “significant” part in the operation while “under duress” from the Russian security agency FSB.
But the unsealed documents on Thursday include a forensic analysis report by a former top cyber expert in the FBI’s cybercrime division that concludes that Gubarev’s companies were indeed used by Russian operatives in an effort to hack Democratic Party leaders, the New York Times reported.
The report notes that the businessman’s companies were often used by criminal groups and Russian agents to carry out various operations, including an attack on Ukraine’s power grid in 2015.
Yet while the report links Gubarev’s companies to Russia’s larger efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, it doesn’t claim that the businessman or his executives actually participated in the hacking operations.
“I have no evidence of them actually sitting behind a keyboard,” Anthony Ferrante, the report’s lead author, said in a deposition, according to the Times.
Gubarev denied the involvement in the hack, while his lawyers tried to ensure the report would be kept under seal and inaccessible to the public and the media, but the judge last December refused the request and ordered the documents unsealed.
Steele and his company, Orbis Business Intelligence, were hired by Glenn Simpson's U.S. based company, Fusion GPS, to work on the dossier and promote its contents to journalists. Fusion GPS received $1.8 million via the law firm Perkins Coie, with the money paid by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign.
A transcript of a court deposition unsealed Thursday also reveals that an associate of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was in contact with multiple journalists and government officials in an effort to disseminate the dossier.
David Kramer, a former State Department official, said in a Dec. 13, 2017, deposition that the dossier was provided to journalists at McClatchy, NPR, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and BuzzFeed and CNN’s Carl Bernstein, according to the Daily Caller.
The report by Steele was also shared with State Department official Victoria Nuland, Obama National Security Counsel official Celeste Wallander and Illinois GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger.
Kramer said that Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson suggested he would use McCain to pass the dossier around.
“I think they felt a senior Republican was better to be the recipient of this rather than a Democrat because if it were a Democrat, I think that the view was that it would have been dismissed as a political attack,” Kramer said, according to the outlet.

49 killed and more than 20 seriously injured in New Zealand mass shooting targeting mosques

Ambulance staff take a man from outside a mosque in central Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, March 15, 2019. A witness says many people have been killed in a mass shooting at a mosque in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.(AP Photo/Mark Baker)

One person has been charged in connection with a “well-planned” terrorist attack that killed 49 people and injured dozens more in two mosques in New Zealand on Friday, authorities said.
The New Zealand police said four people -- three men and one woman -- were in custody in connection with the attack. Investigators later defused a number of improvised explosive devices that were found inside vehicles. Prime Minister Jacinda Arden described the suspects as one principal, two associates and one person not directly connected to the attacks. She said the suspects were not on any security watch lists.
"These are people who I would describe as having extremist views, that have absolutely no place in New Zealand." Arden said.
Thirty people were killed at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch and seven were slain inside the Linwood Masjid Mosque. Another three died outside the Linwood mosque.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that one of the detainees was a 28-year-old white Australian-born citizen. He described the suspect as “an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist.”
The suspects were apprehended by local police following Friday's attack, Mike Bush, New Zealand's police commissioner, told reporters at a news conference. No motive for the attack has been determined.
Investigators did not rule out that more gunmen could be involved, he said.
Police were also working to remove an unconfirmed video that circulated online showing the Australian suspect entering a mosque and firing multiple shots at people inside. He claimed responsibility for the shooting and reportedly published a 74-page anti-immigrant manifesto prior to the killings. He wrote that he traveled to the island nation to train and commit the attack.
In one video frame, the suspect is seen driving to the mosque with what appeared to be several semi-automatic weapons inside his vehicle.
Officers responded to a shooting at the Masjid Al Noor in Christchurch on Friday afternoon and also responded to a second shooting at the nearby Linwood Masjid mosque.
Authorities were not sure if any other locations were under threat and urged worshipers to refrain from visiting any mosque in the country, Bush said. A brief lockdown of Christchurch schools was lifted Friday evening.
AOC DRAWS IRE RIPPING ‘YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS’ AFTER CHRISTCHURCH MOSQUE SHOOTINGS
Ardern said Friday's events represented "one of New Zealand's darkest days."
Witnesses said the Masjid Al Noor mosque was full for Friday afternoon prayers when the shooting occurred. Len Peneha told the Associated Press that he saw a man dressed in black enter the mosque and then heard dozens of gunshots. That was followed by terrified mosque-goers running from the terror. A suspect was seen outside, fleeing after dropping what appeared to be a semi-automatic weapon, witnesses said.

A man reacts as he speaks on a mobile phone outside a mosque in central Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, March 15, 2019. A witness says many people have been killed in a mass shooting at a mosque in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.(AP Photo/Mark Baker)

"I saw dead people everywhere," one nearby resident said.
Another witness told TVNZ he saw three women shot and bleeding outside the mosque. A third witness said a suspect fired more than 50 shots, Stuff.co.NZ reported.
"He had a big gun and a lot of bullets and he came through and started shooting, like, everyone in the mosque, like, everywhere, and they have to smash the door and the glass from the window and from the small door to try and get out," he said.
WITNESSES SAY MANY DEAD, INJURED IN SHOOTING AT NEW ZEALAND MOSQUE
Retno Marsudi, Indonesia's foreign minister, said six Indonesians were inside the Al Noor Mosque when the shooting occurred and three escaped.
“We are looking for three other Indonesian citizens," Marsudi said.
Members of the Bangladesh cricket team said they narrowly escaped the shooting at the Masjid Al Noor mosque. Players and coaching staff were reportedly getting off a bus when the shooting broke out. Tamim Iqbal, a batsman on the team, tweeted: “Entire team got saved from active shooters. Frightening experience and please keep us in your prayers.”
Mario Villavarayen, a strength and conditioning coach with the team, told New Zealand media the players did not see the suspect but heard shots. He said the group was shaken but unhurt.
“I spoke to one of them shortly after,” Vllavarayen said. They didn’t see anything but heard gunshots. They were at the ground and just started running. The coaching staff were all at the hotel.”
The team reportedly fled the scene on foot to Hagley Oval where it was scheduled to play New Zealand on Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

DOJ reached agreement with Clinton lawyers to block FBI access to Clinton Foundation emails, Strzok says

The Justice Department "negotiated" an agreement with Hillary Clinton's legal team that ensured the FBI did not have access to emails on her private servers relating to the Clinton Foundation, former FBI special agent Peter Strzok testified during a closed-door appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last summer, according to a newly released transcript.
Republicans late last year renewed their efforts to probe the Clinton Foundation, after tax documents showed a plunge in its incoming donations after Clinton’s 2016 presidential election. The numbers fueled longstanding allegations of possible “pay-to-play” transactions at the organization, amid a Justice Department probe covering foundation issues.
Under questioning from Judiciary Committee General Counsel Zachary Somers, Strzok acknowledged that Clinton's private personal email servers contained a mixture of emails related to the Clinton Foundation, her work as secretary of state and other matters.
"Were you given access to [Clinton Foundation-related] emails as part of the investigation?" Somers asked
"We were not. We did not have access," Strzok responded. "My recollection is that the access to those emails were based on consent that was negotiated between the Department of Justice attorneys and counsel for Clinton."

Peter Strzok arrives at a closed-door interview before the House Judiciary Committee in June. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Although the FBI eventually took possession of the servers, Strzok continued, the possession was "based upon the negotiation of Department of Justice attorneys for consent."
"A significant filter team" was employed at the FBI, Strzok said, to "work through the various terms of the various consent agreements." Limitations imposed on agents' searches included date ranges, and names of domains and people, Strzok said, among other categories.
The agreement was reached, Strzok said, because “according to the attorneys, we lacked probable cause to get a search warrant for those servers and projected that either it would take a very long time and/or it would be impossible to get to the point where we could obtain probable cause to get a warrant.”
Strzok did not elaborate on whether prosecutors made any effort to secure a search warrant, which could have delineated precisely what agents could and could not search.
But Strzok later said that agents had access to the "entire universe" of information on the servers when using search terms to probe their contents. He also told Somers that "we had it voluntarily," although it was unclear if he meant all emails on the servers -- including ones related to the Clinton Foundation.
Former Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who chaired the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee until 2017 and is now a Fox News contributor, said the arrangement signaled that agents wanted willful blindness.

"They had no interest in pursuing the truth."
— Former Oversight committee chair Rep. Jason Chaffetz

"What's bizarre about this, is in any other situation, there's no possible way they would allow the potential perpetrator to self-select what the FBI gets to see," Chaffetz said, noting that the FBI was aware that the servers contained classified information in unclassified settings. "The FBI should be the one to sort through those emails -- not the Clinton attorneys."
The DOJ's goal, Chaffetz said, was to "make sure they hear no evil, see no evil -- they had no interest in pursuing the truth."
Chaffetz added that the DOJ's behavior, including its award of immunity to top Clinton aides early on in the investigation, signaled a clear double standard: "They didn't go make a deal with anyone in Trump's orbit. They seized it. They used guns and agents -- and just went in there and took it."
"The Clinton Foundation isn't supposed to be communicating with the State Department anyway," Chaffetz continued. "The foundation -- with her name on it -- is not supposed to be communicating with the senior officials at the State Department."
The Clinton Foundation did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Republican-led concerns that the DOJ, under the Obama administration, was too cozy with the Clinton team during the 2016 presidential campaign have grown louder in recent days. Earlier this week, Fox News exclusively reviewed an internal chart prepared by federal investigators working on the so-called "Midyear Exam" probe into Clinton's emails. The chart contained the words "NOTE: DOJ not willing to charge this" next to a key statute on the mishandling of classified information.
The notation appeared to contradict former FBI Director James Comey's repeated claims that his team made its decision that Clinton should not face criminal charges independently.
But Strzok, in his closed-door interview, denied that the DOJ exercised undue influence over the FBI, and insisted that lawyers at the DOJ were involved in an advisory capacity working with agents.
Fox News also confirmed the chart served as a critical tip that provided the basis for Texas Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe's explosive questioning of former FBI lawyer Lisa Page last year, in which Page agreed with Ratcliffe's characterization that the DOJ had told the FBI that "you're not going to charge gross negligence."
A transcript of Page's remarks was published Tuesday as part of a major document release by the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins.
Separately in the closed-door session, Strzok defended his affair with Page, repeatedly denying that the relationship presented a security risk when challenged by GOP aides.

Former FBI director James Comey speaks during the Canada 2020 Conference in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Strzok, who was fired from the bureau after months of scrutiny regarding anti-Trump text messages between him and Page, confirmed he was involved in an extramarital affair when asked about it during his interview before the committee on June 27, 2018. But Strzok was also asked by Art Baker, the GOP investigative counsel for the committee, whether that affair could have made him "vulnerable to potential recruitment" by "hostile intelligence service[s]."
“Yeah, I don’t think I would characterize it that way,” Strzok said. “I think it is not so much any particular action as it is the way that action might be used to coerce or otherwise get somebody to do something. I can tell you that in no way would that extramarital affair have any power in coercing me to do anything other than obeying the law and doing honest, competent investigation."
Fox News' Brooke Singman and Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.

AOC draws ire ripping ‘your thoughts and prayers’ after Christchurch mosque shootings

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., slammed those expressing thoughts and prayers for the victims of Friday's mass shooting that killed 49 people in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Reacting to remarks made by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter and invoked other mass shootings that took place in houses of worship.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ'S SOCIALIST VISION FOR AMERICA
“At 1st I thought of saying, ‘Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.’ But I couldn’t say ‘imagine.’ Because of Charleston. Pittsburgh. Sutherland Springs,’” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
The congresswoman was referencing the 2015 Charleston shooting at the Emmanuel A.M.E. Church that left nine dead, the 2017 Sutherland Springs shooting at the First Baptist Church that left 27 dead, and the 2018 Pittsburgh shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue that left 11 dead.
“What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?” she asked.
That sparked plenty of backlash on social media.

Hillary Clinton Cartoons

Kellyanne Conway’s husband rips Trump for ‘pathological’ lying, claims president has ‘disorder’

The husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway blasted President Trump on Wednesday, claiming Trump has a problem with "pathological” lying.
George Conway, an attorney who has become an outspoken critic of the president via Twitter messages, posted a thread that began when he called out Trump for claiming that Judge Amy Berman Jackson's sentencing of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort earlier in the day had exonerated the president from the Russian collusion narrative.
“Have we ever seen this degree of brazen, pathological mendacity in American public life?" Conway asked in a tweet. "One day he makes a harmless slip of the tongue, something any mentally balanced person would laugh off. But instead he lies about it. He denies what the world can see on videotape. Even his donors and supporters wonder, what is wrong with him? Why would he feel compelled to tell such an absurd lie?"
Conway then invoked Trump’s recent meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook, whom the president referred to as “Tim Apple.” Trump reportedly later told RNC donors that he had really said “Tim Cook Apple,” uttering Cook's last name softly, but then reversed course on Twitter when he claimed he called the CEO “Tim Apple” to “save time and words.”
Conway also mocked the president’s two-hour-long CPAC speech, which he called “incoherent.”
“The judge says, in open court, that Manafort’s lawyers’ ‘no collusion’ ‘mantra’ was patently ridiculous because it was irrelevant to the charges at hand- not that there was no proof of collusion, just that whether there was or wasn’t was irrelevant to the proceedings at hand,” Conway wrote. “And yet he lies again – a blatant lie – about what the judge said in open court.”
Conway later suggested that the president has a “disorder” and that an inquiry needs to be made regarding his “condition of mind.”
“It’s not rational, because it’s a lie that no reasonable person would believe. It undermines his credibility. It’s self-defeating. But these are just two of… how many examples? Hundreds? Thousands? Is it possible to count?” he asked. “At any level of government in this country, in any party, have we ever seen anything like this? It’s beyond politics. It’s nuts. It’s a disorder. Whether or not impeachment is in order, a serious inquiry needs to be made about this man’s condition of mind.”
Instances of the president or members of the Trump family publicly criticizing George Conway have been relatively rare. But one sharply worded Twitter message came in December from Eric Trump.
"Of all the ugliness in politics, the utter disrespect George Conway shows toward his wife, her career, place of work, and everything she has fought SO hard to achieve, might top them all," Eric Trump wrote. "@KellyannePolls is great person and frankly his actions are horrible."

If Manafort must be punished, then 'drain the swamp' of all the other Manaforts in DC: Tom Bevan

If former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is being held accountable for the laws he has broken, he’s got plenty of company in Washington, D.C., Real Clear Politics founder Tom Bevan argued Wednesday evening.
Manafort is now facing more than seven years in prison for crimes he committed before joining Donald Trump’s presidential campaign as well as for crimes he committed during the Russia investigation. His legal troubles are far from over as he has now been indicted on an additional 16 counts in New York state.
During Thursday's "Special Report" All-Star panel, Bevan -- along with national security analyst Morgan Ortagus and Georgetown Institute of Politic executive director Mo Elleithee -- weighed in on the Manafort sentencing as well as the latest developments from former FBI lawyer Lisa Page’s congressional testimony.
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Bevan began by making it clear that “nobody is going to shed a tear” for a “corrupt guy” like Manafort. That being said, he insisted that if Manafort was being punished for his crimes, then plenty of others should be as well.
“If the standard is now, ‘We’re going to prosecute for FERA violations and we’re going to drain the swamp,’ let’s do it because there are another fifty or a hundred Paul Manaforts doing the exact same thing. So if that’s the standard, let’s go ahead and drain the swamp,” Bevan told the panel.
Elleithee warned about the consequences of President Trump possibly pardoning Manafort, saying that at minimum the “optics look bad” and noting that Trump cannot shield Manafort from the state-level charges against him.
Meanwhile, Ortagus noted Lisa Page’s significant role in revealing what happened in the Department of Justice during its handling of the Clinton email investigation as well as the early stages of the Russia probe. Testimony shared by the House Judiciary Committee shows that Page confirmed to lawmakers that the Justice Department instructed the FBI not to pursue charges of “gross negligence” against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“When the story, the history is written about all of this, Lisa Page is going to be such a fascinating and integral character in this,” Ortagus said. “I mean, look at all the number of people -- Comey, McCabe, Strzok -- all of these people she’s given congressional testimony to counter them, to contradict them and they are all in trouble, multiple times over. ... So pay attention to Lisa Page. She’s taking down some of the biggest names in the FBI.”

Lori Loughlin's daughter Olivia Jade was aboard USC official's yacht in Bahamas when mom was charged: reports

Lori Loughlin's daughter Olivia Jade was spending spring break on a University of Southern California official's yacht when her mother was accused Tuesday of involvement in a college admissions scheme, reports said.
Jade, 19, was on Rick Caruso's luxury yacht Invictus in the Bahamas, a report said. Caruso is chairman of USC's Board of Trustees.
Jade, who currently attends USC, was with Caruso's daughter Gianna and several other friends, the outlet reported.
"My daughter and a group of students left for spring break prior to the government's announcement yesterday," Caruso told TMZ. "Once we became aware of the investigation, the young woman decided it would be in her best interests to return home."

"Once we became aware of the investigation, the young woman decided it would be in her best interests to return home."
— Rick Caruso, chairman of USC's Board of Trustees

Loughlin's daughter has since returned to Los Angeles to face the allegations that could result in her getting expelled from USC, the Daily Mail reported.
USC's Board of Trustees will not decide the status of Jade and the other students involved in the case, but rather, the university's president will make the decisions, according to TMZ.

Lori Loughlin and daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli attend Women's Cancer Research Fund's An Unforgettable Evening Benefit Gala at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on Feb. 27, 2018, in Beverly Hills, California. (Getty)

Loughlin's rep had no comment, People reported.
Jade is a YouTube beauty vlogger and social media star, but in the midst of her mother's charges, she may lose the lucrative brand-sponsorship deals she has landed over the years, Variety reported.
HP, having cut ties with Jade, said in a statement, “HP worked with Lori Loughlin and Olivia Jade in 2017 for a one-time product campaign. HP has removed the content from its properties.”
Jade also cut brand deals with partners including Amazon, Dolce & Gabbana, Lulus, Marc Jacobs Beauty, Sephora, Smashbox Beauty Cosmetics, Smile Direct Club, Too Faced Cosmetics, Boohoo, and Unilever’s TRESemmé, the report said.
Jade's rep declined to comment, Variety reported. Estée Lauder Companies, which owns Smashbox and Too Faced, also declined to comment, while the other brands or companies the magazine reached out to did not immediately respond to their requests for comment.