We have our first collusion story

[PersephoneDankles]

From Talking Points Memo

A Republican political operative in Florida asked the alleged Russian hacker who broke into Democratic Party organizations’ servers at the height of the 2016 campaign to pass him stolen documents, according to a report Thursday by the Wall Street Journal.

In return, that operative received valuable Democratic voter-turnout analyses, which the newspaper found at least one GOP campaign consultant took advantage of the information. The hacker went on to flag that same data to Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of Donald Trump’s who briefly advised his presidential campaign, and who is currently under federal investigation for potential collusion with Russia.

The Wall Street Journal’s report presents the clearest allegations to date of collusion between people connected to Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Cybersecurity experts were sounding the alarm as early as last July that Guccifer 2.0, which had tapped into both the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic National Campaign Committee, was connected to the Russian military intelligence apparatus. However, in September, Florida GOP consultant Aaron Nevins wrote to Guccifer 2.0 to tell the hacker to “feel free to send any Florida based information,” according to the Journal.

Guccifer 2.0 ended up passing Nevins 2.5 gigabytes of stolen documents, including information about Democrats’ get-out-the-vote strategy in Florida and other swing states, the Journal reported. Nevins then posted the documents on his blog, HelloFLA.com, under a pseudonym.

The stolen documents Nevins published on his blog and then passed along to Florida journalists included detailed analyses commissioned by the DCCC of specific Florida districts—reports that revealed how many dependable Democratic voters, likely Democratic voters, and frequent-but-not-committed voters resided in each area.

Stone told the Journal that while he did receive a link to Nevins’ blog from Guccifer 2.0, he didn’t share the stolen data published on the blog with anyone.

At least one Florida Republican campaign consultant, however, admitted to using the stolen information. Anthony Bustamante, a campaign consultant for U.S. Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), told the Journal he ramped up his TV ad buys and dialed back a mailer effort: “I did adjust some voting targets based on some data I saw from the leaks.”

Mast succeeded in flipping a previously Democrat-held seat near Palm Beach.

[Baneth]

So is that the reason why that slimy weasel nunes decided to jump ship so early? I figured stone would get caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

[cubby]

So is that the reason why that slimy weasel nunes decided to jump ship so early? I figured stone would get caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Every day it just gets better and better.

[Cthulhu 2020]

And so it begins.

In before "FAKE NEWS!"

[Edge-]

So is that the reason why that slimy weasel nunes decided to jump ship so early? I figured stone would get caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Chaeffitz? Nunes is still very much on the ship, he's just recused himself from the investigation after there were serious allegations of inappropriate behavior on his half...but he's still reviewing documents because he isn't actually stepping back like he said he would.

[Baneth]

Every day it just gets better and better.

It truly does. At first i was furious at the republicans and the trumpkins for allowing, and endorsing this orange gibbon as the 45th. Now, I laugh as I watch and know that they are destroying their political party. At least it annoys the libruhls, amirite?

- - - Updated - - -

Chaeffitz? Nunes is still very much on the ship, he's just recused himself from the investigation after there were serious allegations of inappropriate behavior on his half...but he's still reviewing documents because he isn't actually stepping back like he said he would.

Ah, I stand corrected. Chaffetz jumped ship early, not Nunes. I got the 2 mixed up it appears.

[cubby]

It truly does. At first i was furious at the republicans and the trumpkins for allowing, and endorsing this orange gibbon as the 45th. Now, I laugh as I watch and know that they are destroying their political party. At least it annoys the libruhls, amirite?

Same here. What I love the most is the Trumpers who were saying "we won, get over it" and now that line just bites them in the ass, almost on a daily basis.

[PersephoneDankles]

My favorite line is this.

Stone told the Journal that while he did receive a link to Nevins’ blog from Guccifer 2.0, he didn’t share the stolen data published on the blog with anyone.

As if the king of the ratf*ckers would leave a rat unf*cked.

[Truhan]

Looks like Florida Man strikes again.

[Baneth]

My favorite line is this.



As if the king of the ratf*ckers would leave a rat unf*cked.

I genuinely laughed aloud atfter reading your comment. Thank you.

[PersephoneDankles]

I genuinely laughed aloud atfter reading your comment. Thank you.

It's nice to find a reason to smile in these trying times.

[Xeones]

So a low level guy anyone would be eager to throw under the bus.

[PACOX]

So a low level guy anyone would be eager to throw under the bus.

Until he starts speaking.

[AndaliteBandit]

This thread is curiously quiet.

[PersephoneDankles]

This thread is curiously quiet.

I didn't expect many of President Trump's supporters to post in this one. On other threads, they seem to mainly post "no evidence of collusion."

That's a little more difficult when the story is about evidence of collusion.

[Mormolyce]

I'd wait for this to be reported more widely, right now apart from the original WSJ article it's mostly places like Salon and thinkprogress.

This thread is curiously quiet.

[Milchshake]

I didn't expect many of President Trump's supporters to post in this one. On other threads, they seem to mainly post "no evidence of collusion."

That's a little more difficult when the story is about evidence of collusion.

The Putinistas are oddly quiet as well. Still waiting for orders from NASHI command before they launch the sock puppet attacks. Also the "both sides are wrong" crowd are kinda quiet. Just when they were ramping up accusations of Dems of having an irrational Russophobia.

Putin wanted to undermine the West by any means necessary.
The GOP wanted to win elections by any means necessary.

By their powers combined they form a Trump.