Tag: corruption

FBI Has ‘Secure’ Workspace in Law Firm That Represents Democrats: Document

The FBI has a workspace in the same law firm that employed the lawyer who took sketchy Donald Trump-Russia claims to the bureau in 2016, the firm revealed in a new document.

The workspace, known as a Secure Work Environment, at Perkins Coie’s office in Washington was cleared by the FBI on March 26, 2012, and has been “in continuous operation since then,” Michael Bopp, an attorney representing Perkins Coie, told members of Congress in a May 25 letter that was reviewed by The Epoch Times.

What’s more, Michael Sussmann, the lawyer who took the sketchy claims against Trump to the FBI’s nearby headquarters ahead of the 2016 election, had access to the workspace through July 2021, according to the missive.

The workspace was part of a construction project completed in 2011 and includes a General Services Administration-approved security container and a key locker, both of which were paid for by Perkins Coie. It also features a secure telephone, a fax machine, and a security token card, each of which is owned by the bureau.

The workspace is maintained by Perkins Coie and periodically inspected by the FBI to ensure the space “is operating in accordance with the requisite standards,” according to the letter.

“The Democrat Party’s law firm … has this co-located workspace that they operate in concert with the FBI. Why in the world would that be the case?” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said on Fox News, which first reported on the letter, which was sent to Gaetz and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

The FBI indicated that the workspace is lawful and that it is meant to shield classified documents from the bulk of workers at Perkins Coie and other companies that have similar spaces.

“The FBI complies with the law and security policies and works with the Department of Justice to serve classified, Court-authorized legal process [sic] necessary to support national security investigations,” an FBI spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

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‘Privacy’ Search Engine DuckDuckGo Smoked Over Hidden Tracking Agreement With Microsoft

DuckDuckGo, the search engine which claims to offer ‘real privacy’ because it doesn’t track searches or store users’ history, has come under fire after a security researcher discovered that the mobile DuckDuckGo browser app contains a third-party tracker from Microsoft.

Researcher Zach Edwards found that while Google and Facebook’s trackers are blocked, trackers related to bing.com and linkedin.com were also being allowed through.

In response to the revelation, CEO Gabriel Weinberg essentially shrugged – telling BleepingComputer that the company offers “above-and-beyond protection” that other browsers don’t, but that he ‘never promised’ anonymity when browsing.

“We have always been extremely careful to never promise anonymity when browsing, because that frankly isn’t possible given how quickly trackers change how they work to evade protections and the tools we currently offer,” he said.

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DOJ: FBI Agents Who Allowed Pedophile Larry Nassar to Violate Children Won’t Be Charged

The Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents who looked the other way while infamous pedophile Larry Nassar violated children will not be charged for their misdeeds.

The DOJ said on Thursday that following a “careful re-review of evidence,” the department “is adhering to its prior decision not to bring federal criminal charges.” 

“This does not in any way reflect a view that the investigation of Nassar was handled as it should have been, nor in any way reflects approval or disregard of the conduct of the former agents,” they added.

Even though they will have no accountability, the feds continue to pay lip service to victims regardless of their total inaction and willingness to allow predators to violate the innocent with impunity.

The DOJ said it will “continue to learn from what occurred in this matter, and undertake efforts to keep victims at the center of our work and to ensure that they are heard, respected, and treated fairly throughout the process, as they deserve,” adding that it will work with Congress to “help prevent events like this from taking place in the future and hold perpetrators accountable.”

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Top California Democratic Party Official Resigns After FBI Arrest Becomes Public

On Sunday, Melahat Rafiei announced her resignation as Secretary of the California Democratic Party and State Representative to the Democratic National Committee.

The resignations come during an ongoing FBI investigation for corruption. 

In a lengthy tweet, Rafiei said the investigation had become a “hindrance” and “distraction from the important work of the party.”

Under a cloud of controversy, late last week Rafiei also resigned from her appointed roles on Anaheim’s Culture and Heritage Commission and the OC Fair and Event Center Board.

Rafiei lost the support of Democrat Party leadership after news surfaced that the FBI had arrested her on suspicion of bribing public officials in 2019.

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Busted: Disinformation Operative Who Attacked Elon Musk’s Push for “Free Speech” Caught Red-Handed in Secret Influence Operation

It is not yet clear whether Elon Musk’s increasingly precarious play for Twitter will result in the restoration of free speech in the “global public square.” Successful or not, Elon’s brave move has clarified beyond any doubt the Regime’s fundamental hostility to free speech and dissent. Judging from the critical reactions from journalists, NGOs and Democrat politicians, you’d think the man were attempting to invade Poland rather than remove censorship on a social media platform.

Of all the regime scribblers and scribes flooding the internet with glorified blog posts on the awfulness of Elon Musk’s Twitter bid, a piece by Renée DiResta published in the Atlantic stands out from the rest — not because of its force of argument, but because of the largely forgotten scandal behind its author.

Like the now disgraced and jobless Nina Jankowicz, DiResta is a career-girl of the Disinformation Industry — a constellation of NATO and US State Department-funded NGOs and civil society groups that censor inconvenient truths, facts and narratives under the guise of protecting the public from so-called “disinformation.” And like Nina Jankowicz, it turns out that DiResta’s name is closely associated with one of the most explosive and aggressively covered-up influence operations of the century.

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2020 Census: Significant Miscounts in 14 States, Mostly Red States Lost Congressional Seats

The 2020 census made significant miscounts, with population numbers in six states being undercounted while eight states saw an overcount in population, based on data from a recently published U.S. Census Bureau report.

Interestingly, five of the six states where the population was undercounted were red states—Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, and Texas. The only blue state was Illinois.

Of the eight states where the population was overcounted, six were blue states, with the exceptions being Utah and the battleground state of Ohio.

In Arkansas, the population was undercounted by 5.04 percent, Tennessee by 4.78 percent, Mississippi by 4.11 percent, Florida by 3.48 percent, Illinois by 1.97 percent, and Texas by 1.92 percent.

In Hawaii, the number of people was overcounted by 6.79 percent, Delaware by 5.45 percent, Rhode Island by 5.05 percent, Minnesota by 3.84 percent, New York by 3.44 percent, Utah by 2.59 percent, Massachusetts by 2.24 percent, and Ohio by 1.49 percent, according to the May 19 report.

“For the remaining states and the District of Columbia, the estimated net coverage error rates were not significantly different from zero,” it said.

There are several explanations for the miscounts according to AP. In states like Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Florida, local administrations are believed to have not spent many resources to encourage residents to fill out census forms.

Demographer Allison Plyer points out that in states like Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas, the proportion of homes with a computer and internet subscription is among the lowest. The 2020 census was the first in history in which most participants were encouraged to fill out online forms.

“Get-out-the-count efforts can make a big difference, even when your community has poor internet access and is less likely to answer the census,” Plyer told the media outlet.

States that suffered from undercounting lost potential congressional seats. In Florida, the undercount translates into 750,600 missed citizens. According to an analysis by Election Data Services, Florida only needed 171,561 more people to get another seat.

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Dark money gets darker with less disclosure in the 2022 election

Dark money is pouring into U.S. elections, but the vast majority of it is not being disclosed to the Federal Election Commission. 

The 2022 election cycle has already attracted more than $115 million in contributions from and spending by 501(c) groups reported to the FEC, OpenSecrets’ new analysis found. 

Many of the top spenders on so-called “issue” ads that mention candidates are politically-active nonprofits that do not disclose their donors. Issue ads aired on TV or radio are only required to be disclosed in the weeks leading up to an election, and online ads that avoid expressly advocating for an election outcome are not required to be disclosed at all.

Nonprofits that do not disclose their donors reported less than $3 million of their independent spending to the FEC during the 2022 election cycle as of May 19.

Most of the spending on these issue ads has not been disclosed to the FEC because they do not explicitly advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate within the weeks leading up to an election.

One top dark money spender that has yet to disclose any spending to the FEC is American Action Network, a 501(c) nonprofit aligned with House Republican leadership. According to analyses by OpenSecrets and the Wesleyan Media Project, the group has spent more than $9.5 million on TV ads mentioning House candidates and about $800,000 on Facebook ads during the 2022 cycle – none of which have been disclosed to the FEC. 

In addition to its own spending this cycle, American Action Network has given more than $11.5 million to Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with House Republicans that shares staff and resources with the dark money group.

Senate Republican leadership’s dark money group, One Nation, has also poured millions of dollars into 2022 elections but has yet to disclose any spending to the FEC. The dark money group has spent over $2.8 million this cycle on TV ads and hundreds of thousands of dollars on digital ads tracked by OpenSecrets.

Senate incumbents in swing states such as Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) are among One Nation’s prime targets in ads.

One Nation has avoided disclosing their spending to the FEC by framing the advertising as issue advocacy, as the ads attack Democratic incumbents without explicitly advocating for their election or defeat. One Nation has also given $14.4 million to Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC tied to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that shares staff and resources with the dark money group. The dark money group makes up the majority of the super PAC’s funding, ultimately leaving the donors fueling Senate Leadership Fund undisclosed.

During the 2020 election cycle, One Nation did not disclose any spending to the FEC but poured about $125 million into political contributions and ads — more untraceable money than any other dark money group. 

Dark money groups aligned with Democratic party leadership have also poured millions of dollars into influencing 2022 elections. 

Congressional Democrats’ dark money group, House Majority Forward, has spent more than $2.3 million on TV ads, according to figures from the Wesleyan Media Project, and $453,000 on Facebook ads. 

House Majority Forward gave another $2.5 million in contributions to House Majority PAC, a super PAC aligned with House Democratic leadership that shares resources with House Majority Forward.  

Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC received $14.3 million from Majority Forward, a dark money group that shares the super PAC’s staff and resources. Majority Forward has spent more than $2.1 million on TV ads and about $250,000 on Facebook ads during the 2022 cycle. 

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Agent misconduct revealed to be recurring theme at FBI; attempts at fixes fall short

FBI agents have a longstanding pattern of breaking rules on investigations and the bureau’s efforts to solve them did not eliminate the problems, according to more than six years of internal reviews obtained by The Washington Times. 

The previously undisclosed data covering 2013 to 2019 documents more than 1,600 instances of broken rules on cases that involved investigations that do not require a warrant, the use of informants and undercover agents, and on sensitive matters involving people engaged in politics, government, the news media and religious groups.

Mike German, a Brennan Center fellow who formerly worked undercover as an FBI agent, said the rule-breaking detailed in the audits are “the tip of the iceberg.” Mr. German, who left the bureau in 2004 and authored the 2019 book “Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Democracy,” said the actual problem is likely far worse than the public knows. 

“The culture is one of impunity,” Mr. German said. “The FBI leadership controls what gets approved and what doesn’t, regardless of the rules.”

The Times first reported in March about internal FBI audits in 2018 and 2019 showing misconduct by agents. These newly revealed documents portray a persistent pattern of rule-breaking since at least 2013. 

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