But also, the @pwnallthethings dude's story has gone live...and it's a doozy.
I read the Wall Street Journalâs article yesterday on attempts by a GOP operative to recover missing Hillary Clinton emails with more than usual interest. I was involved in the events that reporter Shane Harris described, and I was an unnamed source for the initial story. Whatâs more, I was named in, and provided the documents to Harris that formed the basis of, this eveningâs follow-up story...Although it wasnât initially clear to me how independent Smithâs 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 Flynnâs deep dislike of DNI Clapper, whom Flynn blamed for his dismissal by President Obama. Smith told of Flynnâs 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. He also told of a deep sense of angst even among Trump loyalists in the campaign, saying âTrump often just repeats whatever heâs heard from the last person who spoke to him,â and expressing the view that this was especially dangerous when Trump was away....
Then, a few weeks into my interactions with Smith, he sent me a document, ostensibly a cover page for a dossier of opposition research to be compiled by Smithâs group, and which purported to clear up who was involved. The document was entitled âA Demonstrative Pedagogical Summary to be Developed and Released Prior to November 8, 2016,â and dated September 7. It detailed a company Smith and his colleagues had set up as a vehicle to conduct the research: âKLS Researchâ, set up as a Delaware LLC âto avoid campaign reporting,â and listing four groups who were involved in one way or another.
The first group, entitled âTrump Campaign (in coordination to the extent permitted as an independent expenditure)â listed a number of senior campaign officials: Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sam Clovis, Lt. Gen. Flynn and Lisa Nelson.
The largest group named a number of âindependent groups / organizations / individuals / resources to be deployed.â My name appears on this list. At the time, I didnât recognize most of the others; however, several made headlines in the weeks immediately prior to the election....
Iâm sure readers are wondering: why did I keep quiet at the time? Actually, I didnât. In the fall, prior to the election, I discussed the events of the story first with a friend, and secondly with a journalist. The trouble was that neither I nor the reporter in question knew what to make of the whole operation. It was certainly clear that the events were bizarre, and deeply unsettling. But it wasnât reportable.
After all, Clintonâs private emails never materialized. We couldnât show that Smith had been in contact with actual Russians. And while I believedâas I still doâthat he was operating with some degree of coordination with the campaign, that was at least a little murky too. The story just didnât make much senseâthat is, until the Journal yesterday published the critical fact that U.S. intelligence has reported that Russian hackers were looking to get emails to Flynn through a cut-out during the Summer of 2016, and this was no idle speculation on my part.
Suddenly, my story seemed importantâand ominous.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 1 July 2017 03:37 (six years ago) link