AP News Summary at 4:59 a.m. EST FOX 28 Spokane
Category: Selected Articles
Category Added in a WPeMatico Campaign
Updated on: September 22, 2016 / 11:09 AM / CBS/AP
NEW YORK – Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner has acknowledged he communicated online with a girl who accused him of sending sexually explicit messages, but he’s also claiming he’s been the subject of a hoax.
An online news outlet, DailyMail.com, on Wednesday published an interview with the 15-year-old girl, who said the online text and video exchanges, including Skype chats in which Weiner asked her to undress and touch herself, went on for several months this year.
The Daily Mail also published screen grabs of texts provided by the girl, whose identity it didn’t disclose.
Weiner, a Democrat who resigned from Congress in 2011 after revelations he was sending sexually explicit messages to multiple women, issued a statement apologizing but not directly addressing the issue of whether he had engaged in chats with the girl.
“I have repeatedly demonstrated terrible judgment about the people I have communicated with online and the things I have sent. I am filled with regret and heartbroken for those I have hurt,” Weiner wrote. “While I have provided the Daily Mail with information showing that I have likely been the subject of a hoax, I have no one to blame but me for putting myself in this position. I am sorry.”
The girl told the Daily Mail she told her father and a teacher about the relationship last spring.
Weiner gave The Associated Press an email, written by the girl to her teacher, in which she recanted her story.
“Our online chats were never inappropriate,” the email said. “I wanted to publish my story. He was the best candidate to pin the story to. The story needed a hoax to ride on.”
However, the girl told the Daily Mail she wrote the email at Weiner’s request but never sent it to the teacher.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who was formerly the state’s attorney general, said that “if the reports are true, it’s possibly criminal and it is sick.”
State law makes it a felony to knowingly send minors “harmful” online messages or pictures involving nudity or sexual conduct or ask them to engage in sexual acts or performances, and some federal criminal laws also prohibit such behavior.
How will Huma Abedin-Anthony Weiner split impact the 2016 race? 02:53
Whether prosecutors decide to pursue a case can depend on a range of factors, including the content of the messages and the age gap between the people involved, said Robin Sax, a former Los Angeles sex crimes prosecutor now in private practice.
Fifty-two-year-old Weiner is now separated from his wife, Huma Abedin, a top aide to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and they have a young son. Abedin left Weiner this month after revelations he had sent more sexually charged messages to another woman. The New York Post published photos reportedly sent last year to the woman — one of which showed Weiner in his underwear, lying on a bed with his 4-year-old son. The New York City Administration for Children’s Services is investigating that incident.
Weiner unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2005. He made another bid for mayor in 2013 and was leading several polls until it was revealed he had continued his questionable behavior after his resignation from Congress. He now works as a pundit and consultant.
His failed 2013 mayoral bid is the subject of the documentary “Weiner.”
First published on September 22, 2016 / 11:06 AM
© 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The outcome of the U.S. midterm elections is widely interpreted by many as positive for the stability of and prospects for American democracy. However, the fact that the feared Republican tsunami turned out to be little more than a ripple does not mean that the U.S. is moving into calmer waters.
Although “Trumpism” has taken a punch in the midterms, the movement has certainly not been knocked out. American democracy remains vulnerable, as evidenced by the undermining of trust in the electoral process, the media, the courts and the political system.
A CNN national exit poll of voters shows that 93 percent of Republican voters still believe that Biden was not elected fairly and legitimately and 95 percent are positive about Trump. Incidentally, of all voters, only slightly more than 60 percent think that Biden legitimately won.
But dissatisfaction goes much further. According to the CNN poll, 7 out of 10 voters are “dissatisfied” or “angry” and two-thirds believe American democracy is “somewhat” or “very” in danger. A Gallup poll taken this year reveals that institutions inspire very little confidence: Only 25 percent of respondents have moderate to high confidence in the Supreme Court; for newspapers, this is 16 percent; for big business, 14 percent and Congress scores an abysmal 7 percent. These are all historically low scores.
Government and political science professors Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way wrote 20 years ago about the rise of what they call competitive authoritarianism. They note that formal, democratic institutions do matter in states where such governance takes place, and they are regarded as fundamental means of acquiring and exercising political authority. However, those in power violate the rules and institutions in such ways that they basically no longer meet the prevailing minimum standards of democracy. Examples of countries that can be grouped under this heading include Russia, Venezuela and Turkey. In 2020, Levitsky and Way wrote, “Competitive authoritarianism is not only thriving but inching westward. No democracy can be taken for granted.”
Over the years, the crash barriers that keep American democracy on the road have started to erode and show holes, as evidenced by endless legal proceedings to challenge election results, eroding trust in institutions and of course, the storming of the Capitol and the lukewarm reaction from some Republicans. Organizations such as Freedom House, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance that measure the democratic content of states have awarded the U.S. increasingly fewer points.
In spite of the U.S. sliding down the democratization charts, much of the country still sees itself as an unparalleled democracy, where the myths of American exceptionalism continue to dominate and citizens are eager to present the nation as the only one that can truly spread democracy and freedom around the world. In view of domestic political developments, the U.S. may not be on its way to becoming an autocracy, but chronic political instability and unpredictability are certainly threatening.
America has long been unstable in the eyes of many, and the model that the U.S. never tires of prophecizing for the rest of the world is now also coming under pressure. The Western/American model consists of two foundations: economic freedom and democracy. Despite a fair amount of hypocrisy and error, the U.S. was able to show the world for many decades how best to shape a society to have success, using the conviction of American exceptionalism and the ‘leading by example’ approach. The perhaps naive expectation was that the whole world would automatically become a version of “Great America.”
However, the prestige of the U.S. model has suffered considerable dents due to, among other factors, the financial crisis of 2008-2009, gun violence in U.S. society, considerable and growing inequality, the election of former president Donald Trump and the sometimes shameful state of affairs surrounding elections. This gives alternative models such as those of Singapore and China opportunities to advance, with Beijing being able to boast that it has lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty within a few decades without embracing the American capitalist democratic model.
Economist Branko Milanovic wrote in this context: “If the most successful part of mankind is organized according to principles A, and our historical and cultural experience tells us that the best way to organize society is B, how long can this tension persist?”
A misguided emissions rule could expose sensitive work by our military and scientific institutions All-or-nothing approaches to firearm safety have gotten us nowhere
The so-called exhausted majority has been very vocal in the midterm elections, saving the U.S. from a free fall for now. As mentioned, however, the crash barriers are certainly not in order. In response to the preliminary results and the major success of the Republicans in what used to be a Democratic Florida, President Biden’s former spokeswoman tweeted this week: “So Dems have a Florida problem, but Republicans have a Trump problem. That seems harder to solve.” The whole of America still has a Trumpism problem and, over the next few years, this political issue will ensure that prospects for the dollar, U.S. shares and bonds will have to be tempered in any event.
Moreover, if America stumbles, the global economy will falter as well. Indeed, under pressure or not, the U.S. is still a political, military and economic superpower. Instead of offering a helping hand from a position of strength and trying to share the throne together for better or worse, an unstable and insecure America is more likely to anxiously try and prevent China from playing catch-up.
Andy Langenkamp is a senior political analyst at ECR Research which offers independent research on asset allocation, global financial markets, politics and FX & interest rates.
The insular world of FBI counterintelligence agents was rocked last month when one of their own, Charles F. McGonigal, formerly the FBI’s top counterintelligence official in New York, was indicted for allegedly selling access to Russian and Albanian officials in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.
The insular world of FBI counterintelligence agents was rocked last month when one of their own, Charles F. McGonigal, formerly the FBI’s top counterintelligence official in New York, was indicted for allegedly selling access to Russian and Albanian officials in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.
After retiring from the FBI in 2018, McGonigal is accused of illegally working for one of Russia’s most notorious oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska, who was linked to the FBI’s Russia probe thanks to his ties to Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Former FBI officials who worked with McGonigal told CNN they were stunned, disappointed, and “pissed off” when they learned the news. One called the charges, “horrifying.”
“This guy was unbelievably respected and really seen as a career counterintelligence expert,” according to a former senior FBI official who worked with McGonigal. “He was one of these rockstars in [counterintelligence] who, when hard jobs, when very sensitive assignments came up, he was on the shortlist of people that you would look to and say, ‘Hey, where’s Charlie, what’s he doing for the next six months?’”
Speculation has swirled around the potential damage McGonigal may have caused, including whether he exposed any sensitive information that could damage US national security. As a senior counterintelligence official, McGonigal had access to some of the most sensitive information in the FBI’s possession, as well as the CIA’s and other agencies’ information.
He would have also been privy to FBI collection techniques, operations against Russian diplomats in the US, and more, former officials familiar with his work say.
There are also questions over McGonigal’s proximity to several high-profile investigations, including those involving Hillary Clinton and associates of Donald Trump. McGonigal helped oversee parts of both probes.
That’s all sparked a strong interest in McGonigal, including most recently from Congress.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is demanding a briefing on “the true extent to which Mr. McGonigal’s alleged misconduct may have impacted these highly sensitive matters, including whether he compromised sensitive sources, methods, and analysis” and “whether his alleged misconduct materially impacted the outcome of any investigations or further compromised our national security.”
House Judiciary Republicans said Thursday that they have launched their own investigation.
Peter Lapp, a former FBI counterintelligence agent who once worked for McGonigal, told CNN the McGonigal case is, “an absolute embarrassment” to the FBI.
Sources briefed on the matter tell CNN that, at least for now, FBI officials view McGonigal not as a spy, but more as a corrupt former official looking to make a buck on his way out the door. Top FBI officials reject the idea of McGonigal’s arrest as an embarrassment, instead touting it as a sign the bureau is willing to go after its own who are accused of breaking the law.
FBI Director Christopher Wray, whose tenure began just before McGonigal retired, bristled at a question about the case at an unrelated news conference last week.
“There are some important things that are getting lost here in respect to that case,” Wray said. “It’s the FBI who initiated this investigation, it’s the FBI and our agents that painstakingly and methodically put the case together against him, and it’s the FBI that arrested him….I think [what] the charges in that case demonstrate is the FBI’s willingness as an organization to shine a bright light on conduct that is totally unacceptable, including when it happens from one of our own people, and to hold those people accountable.”
After conducting assessments of the possible damage done to intelligence information, as well as sources and methods that McGonigal possessed, the FBI came to view him as a case of simple corruption, according to people briefed on the matter.
The bureau does not view McGonigal as a case of espionage in the style of Robert Hanssen, the most damaging spy in FBI history.
Hanssen spied for Russia for years while holding high-level counterintelligence positions, doing dead drops to provide Russia with information that helped identify US spies and espionage techniques.
There is no suggestion in the public indictment, either, that McGonigal committed espionage. Current and former FBI officials familiar with McGonigal and his work say they believe McGonigal – a former accountant – simply got “greedy.”
Former officials also dismiss the series of theories that have proliferated on social media about McGonigal’s role in the FBI’s Russia investigation, in particular those related to his work for Deripaska.
McGonigal headed the cyber section of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in 2016, when the bureau was closely tracking efforts by Russian intelligence to influence the presidential election. But former officials say McGonigal didn’t have final decision-making authority in the broader investigation, which ultimately encompassed activities far beyond Russia’s cyber activities.
McGonigal was promoted to handle some of the most sensitive counterintelligence cases in the FBI’s files, including a high-stakes investigation into a spate of CIA assets that had been killed or otherwise lost in China. He was seen as competent, incredibly intelligent and a hard worker.
But by 2017, exactly a year after he had been appointed the head of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York, McGonigal allegedly sat in a parked car outside of a restaurant in the city and accepted $80,000 in cash from a person who had previously worked with Albanian intelligence.
It is one of the more lurid details from the two indictments against McGonigal, filed last month in New York and Washington, that include charges of money laundering, conspiracy to violate US sanctions against a Russian oligarch and lying to the FBI.
For almost two years before his retirement in 2018, the Justice Department claims McGonigal effectively sold his access to senior US officials, attempting to broker meetings for individuals from Bosnia and Herzegovina on behalf of the person formerly linked with Albanian intelligence.
McGonigal allegedly accepted at least $225,000 for that assistance, all while lying to the FBI about his activities, including multiple trips to Europe paid for by his Albanian contact and taken without informing the FBI, as well as a secretive relationship he kept with the Prime Minister of Albania.
After he retired in 2018, according to the New York indictment, McGonigal violated US sanctions by receiving illegal payments to help Deripaska attempt to get US sanctions against him removed and investigate a political rival in Russia.
For some current and former officials, McGonigal’s conduct while he was still working at the bureau is far more “horrifying,” as the former senior official put it, than the charges against him related to Deripaska that took place after he had retired.
Particularly troubling, this person said, is the allegation that McGonigal caused the FBI to open a criminal investigation of a US citizen in which the person formerly associated with Albanian intelligence was expected to act as a human source – but failed to disclose his own financial relationship with that person to the bureau.
“This is incredibly serious, so obviously wrong – if he did these things they allege, it’s not like a gray area,” said the former senior FBI official.
It’s not clear exactly what tipped the FBI off that one of its star counterintelligence agents may have been crossing a line.
Behind the scenes, the FBI has been investigating McGonigal for years, people briefed on the matter said, including surveilling him for months at a time.
Some who worked closely with McGonigal say there was little hint at the time that anything was amiss. Peter Lapp, who worked for McGonigal on a China-related espionage case and was subsequently dismissed by him, recalled to CNN that McGonigal had a temper and “screamed” at subordinates so frequently the office had a nickname for the dressings-down: “the McGonigal Hotwash.”
“He would scream at you so much that you would get your second shower of the day,” said Lapp
Asked if he ever had reason to suspect McGonigal’s conduct, Lapp was unequivocal: “Even in retrospect, no. Just because you’re an asshole boss doesn’t mean that you’re going to be corrupt.”
Another former senior official was equally blunt when asked if they ever had suspicions about McGonigal being corrupt. “Absolutely none ever.”
Did late James Kallstrom of the NY FBI and his protégé Charles McGonigal fix the Election 2016 for Trump for $1.3 ml by orchestrating the Weiner-Abedin laptop – Clinton emails affair?
thenewsandtimes.blogspot.com/2023/02/did-la…
“If the #FBI won’t ask those questions, who will? …when McGonigal come to trial or, perhaps, if he is the string that, when pulled, will unravel all sorts of unimaginable secrets.”
Did the FBI’s Charles McGonigal Help Throw the 2016 Election to Trump? newrepublic.com/article/170328…
Retired FBI Executive Charged with Concealing $225000 in Cash … – Department of Justice
Retired FBI Executive Charged with Concealing $225000 in Cash … Department of Justice
The 2016 Election, which altered American political history, was not decided by the Russians or in Ukraine or by Steve Bannon. The event that broke Hillary’s blue wall in the Midwest and swung Florida and North Carolina was an October Surprise, and it was wholly a product of the leadership of the FBI. This is the inside story by the reporter closest to its center.
In September 2016, Hillary Clinton was the presumptive next president of the US. She had a blue wall of states leaning her way in the Midwest, and was ahead in North Carolina and Florida, with a better than even shot at taking normally Republican Arizona. The US was about to get its first woman president. Yet within two months everything was lost. An already tightening race saw one seismic correction: it came in October when the FBI launched an investigation into the Clinton staff’s use of a private server for their emails. Clinton fell 3-4 percent in the polls instantly, and her campaign never had time to rebut the investigation or rebuild her momentum so close to election day. The FBI cost her the race.
October Surprise
is a pulsating narrative of an agency seized with righteous certainty that waded into the most important political moment in the life of the nation, and has no idea how to back out with dignity. So it doggedly stands its ground, compounding its error. In a momentous display of self-preservation, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and key Justice Department officials decide to protect their own reputations rather than save the democratic process. Once they make that determination, the race is lost for Clinton, who is helpless in front of their accusation even though she has not intended to commit, let alone actually committed, any crime.
A dark true-life thriller with historic consequences set at the most crucial moment in the electoral calendar,
October Surprise is a warning, a morality tale and a political and personal tragedy.
james kallstrom – YouTube youtube.com/results?search…
Clinton email investigation was ‘a joke’, says James Kallstrom youtu.be/vnp2jnZnEJ0 via @YouTube
#FBI:
Did late James Kallstrom of the NY FBI and his protégé Charles McGonigal fix the Election 2016 for Trump for $1.3 ml by orchestrating the Weiner-Abedin laptop – Clinton emails affair?
thenewsandtimes.blogspot.com/2023/02/did-la…
james kallstrom and hillary clinton – GS google.com/search?q=james…
Did late James Kallstrom of the NY FBI and his protégé Charles McGonigal fix the Election 2016 for Trump for $1.3 ml by orchestrating the Weiner-Abedin laptop – Clinton emails affair?
thenewsandtimes.blogspot.com/2023/02/did-la…
james kallstrom and hillary clinton – GS google.com/search?q=james…
“revelation was like “dropping a bomb …”
But the discovery fell through the cracks because top #FBI officials were “overwhelmed” by the Russia probe, Stewart wrote.”
But the discovery fell through the cracks because top #FBI officials were “overwhelmed” by the Russia probe, Stewart wrote.”
‘Oh s–t’: The moment the FBI found Clinton emails on Weiner’s laptop nypost.com/2019/10/08/oh-…
“If the #FBI won’t ask those questions, who will? …when McGonigal come to trial or, perhaps, if he is the string that, when pulled, will unravel all sorts of unimaginable secrets.”
Did the FBI’s Charles McGonigal Help Throw the 2016 Election to Trump? newrepublic.com/article/170328…
#FBI
“FBI failed miserably at documenting Trump’s four-decade relationship with the Russian mafia and Russian intelligence… assessing how the former president might be compromised.”
Did the FBI’s Charles McGonigal Help Throw the 2016 Election to Trump? newrepublic.com/article/170328…
“FBI failed miserably at documenting Trump’s four-decade relationship with the Russian mafia and Russian intelligence… assessing how the former president might be compromised.”
Did the FBI’s Charles McGonigal Help Throw the 2016 Election to Trump? newrepublic.com/article/170328…
The News And Times Information Network – Blogs By Michael Novakhov – thenewsandtimes.blogspot.com
Woman pens love letters to accused Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger, calls him ‘perfect man’ Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
