You should read this story about Mariia Butina, an heir to the Rockefeller fortune, the National Prayer Breakfast and a dinner days after Trump's inauguration:
https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/1022553892100497408

At Rockefeller Heir's Dinner, Accused Russian Butina Hobnobbed With D.C. Elites

A scion of the Rockefeller clan, George D. O’Neill Jr., was one of the U.S. conservatives who allegedly helped Mariia Butina’s efforts to build a secret line of communication back to the Kremlin, judging by details in recent U.S. filings.

O’Neill, a 68-year-old sculptor and a rainmaker for conservatives since Pat Buchanan’s 1992 presidential run, hosted a private dinner in Washington, D.C., for a delegation of Russian dignitaries in town for a National Prayer Breakfast in early February 2017, he has said publicly and to Bloomberg last year. There, just days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Russians met two Republican lawmakers and other conservative luminaries, he has said.

The dinner is also referenced in a trip itinerary given to Russian delegates traveling to Washington for the breakfast, which was reviewed by Bloomberg. Delegates also received a Russian-language rundown of the Americans they could expect to meet at the dinner. Among them were O’Neill and his wife, a Russian-speaking congressional aide and a conservative operative they were told was an adviser to the new Trump administration, according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg.

The timing and details of that early 2017 gathering matches one of several dinners that U.S. prosecutors refer to in charges they recently unveiled against Butina, accusing her of failing to declare her efforts to advance Russia’s interests in the U.S. Prosecutors identify the host only as U.S. Person 2. O’Neill didn’t respond to requests to verify that he was that person. The Justice Department declined to comment.

More: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26/rockefeller-heir-seen-to-help-butina-link-russians-d-c-elites

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), appears to have met with Russian spy master Torshin (under sanctions now) and refuses to answer questions about what they might have discussed.

https://twitter.com/StormResist/status/1022235065844211712

Republican representative dodges questions about whether she met with key Russian operative

Did Marsha Blackburn meet with Maria Butina's Russian handler?

In his years helping accused Russian agent Maria Butina infiltrate the National Rifle Association (NRA), Russian official Alexander Torshin kept coming back to one place: Tennessee.

Torshin, now sanctioned by the U.S. and accused by Spanish authorities of mafia ties and massive money laundering, first came into contact with the NRA via a Nashville-based lawyer, Kline Preston. Torshin additionally served as an election observer in the state in 2012, and swung by again in 2015 for the NRA’s annual convention.

Since Butina was named in last week’s major Justice Department indictment, the details of her operations, as well as the expanding roster of NRA and Republican Party officials she accessed, have begun to paint a clearer picture of the broader Russian effort. The new developments have also reignited questions about whether Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), a close associate of Preston’s, met with Torshin and, if so, what they might have discussed.

The question gained new credence over the weekend, as the details of Butina’s and Torshin’s operations have come out. On Saturday, Tennessee Democratic Party spokesperson Mark Brown told WRCB that Blackburn had met Torshin in 2012.

More: https://thinkprogress.org/did-marsha-blackburn-meet-with-maria-butinas-russian-handler-8505b6541aff/

Hey @RandPaul -- you can explain this to the FBI.
https://twitter.com/KremlinTrolls/status/1021124477558706178

From this Aug 2014 article: "Sen. Rand Paul has named as one of his key foreign policy advisers a controversial Russia policy expert with deep ties to the Kremlin. Dimitri Simes, the president of the Center for the National Interest...
https://twitter.com/KremlinTrolls/status/1020982949091643392

Thread by @20committee: "Time for a tweetstorm on the realities of covert action and influence ops in elections. Since Trumpers are now citing the "Everybody does it […]" #realtalk #deza

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1020362363453755393.html


Time for a tweetstorm on the realities of covert action and influence ops in elections. Since Trumpers are now citing the "Everybody does it" line regarding what Russia and its friends did to the USA in 2016 to help put Trump in the WH. So, here's some espionage #realtalk.../1

First, everybody who can, which means all developed countries, does SIGINT, which today means much cyber collection. So, NSA has collected ("hacked" in amateur parlance) emails and whatnot from foreign dignitaries and VIPs. Yes, it's illegal, but, really, everyone does it. /2

Western countries do this for intelligence purposes, ie informing statecraft, broadly. While small bits of SIGINT may be used for narrowly defined covert action, USG/IC does NOT use this intel to broad-brush shift elections and subvert governments, as Russia did in 2016... /3

RIS in 2016 executed an incredibly aggressive clandestine destabilization campaign against the US election encompassing #deza, Active Measures, moles/agents placed all over DC, and classic Chekist spy methods. One truly for the record books, an epic Kremlin SpyWar success..../4

NOBODY else does that. Probably only a matter of time before PRC does (they've gotten awfully far in Australia), but the Russians are in an intel class by themselves. Yes, US IC tries to covertly influence foreign governments; we do NOT do anything like what RIS did in 2016.../5

People who try to equate US IC with RIS inevitably bring up Italy 1947, Iran 1953, Guatemala 1954. Examples not just from the Cold War, but from its early years. IC got out of this seamy business in the 1970s, when the IC got raked over Congressional coals post-Watergate ... /6

For the last 40 years, IC covert action requires a POTUS "finding" + there's Congressional (HPSCI/SSCI) oversight. This prevents one-offs and kooky ideas from getting executed. Sorry, it's nothing like the movies, folks. It's a bureaucratic process like everything else in DC.../7

So, if you think Lajes Boy as HPSCI chair -- or Trump as POTUS -- signed off on aggressive IC CA against Putin just like the Russians did (and keep doing) to us....there's a really nice bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you. Special price, today only -- just for you! ... /8

USG does try to influence, especially the peaceful booting-out of repulsive dictators through democratic means, but since the 1970s it's really pretty overt. The IC assists, but point is walked by DoS and related NGOs. "Color revolutions" as the Kremlin calls them venomously.../9

It's not hiding in plain sight, because it's not even hidden. That the USG, often led by Congress, supports democracy abroad isn't a secret. That's stated US policy. We fund NGOs that push democracy, press freedom, etc. Putin naturally hates this, especially in Russia .../10

This was where some of Putin's venom against Hillary came from, that as SECSTATE she supported pro-democracy efforts in Russia. Nothing secret there. So Vova retaliated with the Chekist toolkit he knows and loves, which is very secret & very nasty. Not equivalent to US MO ... /11

Bottom line, folks, is that there's NO equivalency between Western and Russian CA methods. Everybody spies, everybody "hacks" -- but US/NATO do NOT strategically weaponize intel to overthrow governments like Putin does. Saying we do is simply a lie which needs to be exposed. /12X

VENONA, you say? Now why would the FBI want folks to be reminded of that, the greatest of all US CI successes, right now? I wonder....
https://twitter.com/20committee/status/1020364902177935360

FBI discussion here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210901870

NSCC:

https://twitter.com/NCSCgov/status/1019256093749506050
1/ #OTD IN COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY HISTORY: On July 17, 1950, Soviet spy Julius Rosenberg was arrested for espionage. The Army Security Agency and FBI had been cooperating in the decryption of intelligence messages -- a portion of which were collectively referred to...

2/ as "VENONA" -- exchanged by the Soviet KGB and GRU with their agents in the Western Hemisphere. Some of these messages incriminated Rosenberg, but this highly classified evidence could not and would not be used during his trial.

3/ Rosenberg's wife Ethel was arrested on Aug. 11, 1950 on suspicion of assisting him. Thanks to key testimony from David Greenglass, Ethel's brother, Julius Rosenberg was exposed as the central figure in a very active spy ring that was passing weapons technology information...

4/ to the Soviet Union. In 1951, the Rosenbergs were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. Read the declassified FBI (@FBI) Headquarters Case File here https://vault.fbi.gov/rosenberg-case and CIA's (@CIA) documents here https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/collection/atomic-spies-ethel-and-julius-rosenberg ….

https://twitter.com/NCSCgov/status/1019261334406533120

5/ The first of 6 public releases of translated VENONA messages was made in July 1995 and included 49 messages about the Soviets' efforts to gain info on the U.S. atomic bomb research and the Manhattan Project. Over the course of 5 more releases, all of the approximately 3,000...



6/ VENONA translations were made public. Learn more at NSA's (@NSAGov) VENONA webpage: https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-documents/venona/ … #NCSC #FBI #CIA #NSA

The #FBI Ten #MostWanted Fugitives Program launched in 1950 to bring national attention to dangerous criminals who have avoided capture. To date, 519 fugitives have appeared on the list. #FBI110 https://www.fbi.gov/wanted #FugitiveFriday
https://twitter.com/FBI/status/1020299825752002561

In 1950 British agents arrested Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs after FBI agents helped make counterintelligence use of telegrams decrypted & decoded by Army experts. The work, later code named Venona, was key to advancing #FBI #counterintelligence program. #FBI110
https://twitter.com/FBI/status/1020319198352900097

In 1951, 4 subjects – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, David Greenglass and Morton Sobell – were each convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in what was dubbed at the time as the “Trial of the Century.” #FBI110 https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/atom-spy-caserosenbergs …
https://twitter.com/FBI/status/1020337663138762752

https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1020039571378229249
Coats says “it’s a risk” that Russia could wage a similar attack against defectors, critics in the US as it did in Britain with novichok.

In Helsinki, @POTUS agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs. President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway.

https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1020033303351619584

https://twitter.com/torshin_ru/status/698742761160368128

Translation: Maria Butina is now in the United States. Writes to me that D. Trump (member of NRA) is really for cooperation with Russia
Feb 14, 2016

Steny Hoyer, on motion to recommit to spending bill for more election security funds: "Surely we can rise above pandering to party and Putin to act on behalf of our freedom and our security." Dems start chanting "USA! USA!" on House floor. (via CSPAN)

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1019970138525831168