THERE MAY BE MORE FBI ‘SEARCHES’ ON TRUMP-A-LAGO AND WHO MIGHT HAVE ASSISTED DONALD TRUMP? WHAT ABOUT INTELLIGENCE RISKS? TREASON?

  The Perched Eye blog is 12+ years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's first term. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the ways and directions of American politics and culture, and occasionally summarizing the potential impact of new technologies. Pericles21's observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.                                                                                                                                                                                  -------------------

The rumor is growing that there may be a second FBI search needed to remove additional classified, hidden, White House documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. And, the nature of those documents may be even more serious intelligence threats to American (and it’s allies') security. (The Washington Post's updated report states the August 8, FBI search was about classified documents pertaining to nuclear weapons.)

All of the "classified documents" mess precipitated by the August 8, 2022, FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate raises the thought that because, from reports while he was President, Donald Trump was not savvy enough to understand intelligence matters, nor even interested enough to attend in-depth intelligence briefings, he couldn't have, by himself, put together a plan to first of all, select, then to remove those documents. 

(Note: as reported in the CIA's 4th edition of it's in-house academic center's book, Getting to Know the President (4th edition, October 2021), after the 2016 election, educating Trump-POTUS in the intelligence part of his presidential duties was always difficult and made additionally so because of Trump's  personally friendly take on Russian interests: 

Briefing Trump presented the Intelligence Community with the most difficult challenges it had ever faced.  Trump had publicly criticized CIA and the outgoing DNI and disparaged the substantive work and integrity of the intelligence agencies. In addition, the controversy over Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump associates’ contacts with Russian officials heightened tension between the IC and the president-elect. After the inauguration, the briefings soon settled into a pattern: they were held only two or three times a week, Trump did not read the PDB closely if at all, and the briefers had to draw his attention to the most important issues.

(And, why hadn't the Secret Service objected at the time to the document removals? Who selected and loaded the documents into the boxes? Who carried the boxes to waiting trucks? Who eventually 'spilled the beans'? All of these steps, and more, seem beyond the attention span, and even the intelligence of Donald Trump to carry out.)

The logistics of the overall selection, boxing and removal to Mar-a-Lago 'says' involvement of complicit third parties - intelligence-knowledgable, able bodied, complicit third parties who assisted-guided-instructed Trump to select and remove those 27 (now 27+) boxes of classified documents. (Note: just one classified document in a box makes the whole box 'classified' until culled and cleared by appropriate American intelligence bodies.)

IMO, the complicit third party to the removal of boxes of classified materials from the White House to Mar-a-Lago must be ‘friends’, assets or representatives (agents) of foreign states operating against American interests!

The bottom line question that will probably appear from the fog is ‘has Donald Trump indeed been an active asset-in-place operating in the interests of an enemy foreign state, i.e., Russia? And, from what time period before he came into the White House has might Donald Trump have been a foreign intelligence asset?' Will "treason" appear again in Donald Trump's 'interactions' with, and leanings toward Russia?

The Rigging of the 2016 Election: Was American Intelligence Just Flummoxed by the Audacity of Trump and Russian Hacking, and Paralyzed by Jurisdictional Compartmentalizing (Self-Interest ), And/ Or Has American Democracy Operated Successfully But Against Itself

PREFACE:
Pericles21 believes that in the 2016 election process, America was attacked and conquered by a known, long term and actively detrimental declared enemy state, Russia, in a modernized, non-shooting, non-bombing war largely without America knowing of the war going on or how to respond (e.g., FBI Director Comey's seeming indecision about what to do about Apparent Russian interference and relationship with the Trump campaign the spring and summer 2016).

Pericles21 also believes that since losing that 2016 war, the American public remains confused, overwhelmed by the sophistication that requires a new vocabulary in attendance to the digital world of networks, cryptology, cyber-intelligence, second and third degree crowd-behavior influencing (cyber-social networking nudging), 'cutouts' and good old fake proxies. What a fine world we Americans have naively lived and loved in for at least 40 years. But, 'Hey' if there is one good thing we Americans do well is to continue a good thing and 'naivete' feels so good (and 'Roseanne' is on tonight so don't bother us), so we will try our best to continue to exist in a fine state of denial assisted with a little OxyContin and Beer. We will do our best to maintain behind the wall of ignorance of the sophisticated, non-traditional ways our own culture was attacked, penetrated, taken over and then weaponized against us. What a 'thing'!

BLOG PRIMARY (A little late maturing in a daily amazed and increasingly scared blogger's mind):
The above 'Preface' is a point of view reflected in John Schindler's thorough and sobering article in the 'Observer' ('Here’s How the FBI Investigation Into Russia and Trump Campaign Actually Started', May 28, 2018)
America was outclassed and outfought on a battlefield that had no soil, no water no air. America's educational priorities, or rather, 'de-emphases' away from real science, science rationality, mathematics and cyber education all combined to help defeat us. (America's commodified, comercial-prioritized culture also played a key role in 'plumping', desensitizing our national awareness to being attacked as Russian agents posing as business players walked freely in plain sight along America's streets.)

Also, that 2016 war we just lost, was an asymmetric war - America was attacked but did not (could not?) respond.
Instead of shooting bullets, America's enemy saw and used vulnerable leverage-points in America's own culture - our hugely popular (and influencing) social websites and our mostly right-wing, loud and inciting, emotionally histrionic 'news' venues that claim 'entertainment' status when confronted with factual challenges to their 'news'. In this regard, Russia's weapons of choice were signally, Facebook and Fox News (especially in the latter, the loud, emotionally strident views of Sean Hannity who has been outed as having a discarded mistress, a hook into Tump's dark shade Fixer 'Lawyer' and perhaps even a nipple at. he belly of the ever nurturing )of greedy piglets) Grand Sow, the collective group of Russian oligarchs munching and slurping on the rich far East provinces of the former USSR, all under the watchful eye of the Great Boar himself, Grand Uncle Vladimir.

In that 2016 war America just lost, our huge military budget ($700 Billion asked this year) and advanced war machines were useless. Our 'advanced', decadently expensive, evolved but still essentially traditional weapons we are so proud of sat idle and irrelevant.

COMMENTARY:
Pericles21 believes that American intelligence agencies and politicians, and a large portion of America's general population, who are still scratching their heads about the surprising 2016 election of Donald Trump (aka 'RICO Dedito'), were and remain naive about the re-shaping of warfare and the increasingly clear alliance between Russia (along with other other national interests) and Donald Trump. Americans are also in denial of how Russia used non-traditional warfare to take control of and 'guide' that election through sophisticated cyber-invasion techniques ('hacking') and equally sophisticated manipulation of American voting predispositions. And we are recently become aware of the compromising of America's right wing (Trump supporters)'entertainment' icons, e.g., Sean Hannity.

But not only America's general population were caught unaware of or frozen in the headlights of the Russian attack. America's intelligence defenders seem equally naive not to have expected that America would one day be 'attacked' with the same indirect, non-exposive 'weapons we have been using to accomplish regime change in critical foreign areas for the past 100 years (the sinking of the battleship 'Maine', the many interferences in the mid-East, Indo China, Africa, South America, etc).

When the compromising relationship between Trump and Russia apparently became clear by early 2016, it appears the FBI and the NSA were restricted or delayed in non-interfering (read 'noon-cooperative') stasis by, in retrospect, our Congress's somewhat naive imposition onto the FBI and NSA of jurisdictional hegemony and a administratively old school (Prussian?) perspective that prioritizes non-interfence if not competitive relationships between these intelligence realms.

It is not surprising, therefore, that this intelligence infrastructure of easily administrated (by un-informed elected officers), clean boundaried and separate jurisdictions should fail America in the face of not only increased vulnerabilities of electronic digital communications and networks but the accelerating expertise in penetrating (cyber-hacking) inadequately protected systems.

Opinion. America's inattention to, and/or lack of committed (loyal), deeply trained, expertise to develop cyber defenses and protect America's potential, 'Multi-Front vulnerabilities in our culture as well as our digital systems, has led to a gross vulnerability of American social and cyber systems to penetration, take over and psychological manipulations. We saw that happen in the 2016 election.

-------
Work in progress but the above had to come out or be next week (July 10, 2018)irrelevant

that outcome, were and remain naive about world political realities and the non-traditional forms of warfare that have been written on for centuries (e.g., Lao Tsu's and Mao's 'Little Red Book')

A clear, if not concise article by John Schindler in the Observer [May 28, 2018,'Here’s How the FBI Investigation Into Russia and Trump Campaign Actually Started', May 28, 2018]
https://observer.com/2018/05/what-did-the-fbi-do-in-2016-about-russian-connections-to-donald-trump/

[Personal: Comey (FBI Director) and NSA couldn’t grasp how Trump, a candidate for President, could do such a thing?]

SUMMY: (NSA & FBI: ““ By mid-July 2016 We knew we had a Russian agent on our hands,”

The FBI-NSA investigation of Donald Trump was kicked off by …routine SIGINT reports..from America’s foreign friends before 2016.

2015: Britain’s NSA’s routine surveillance detected suspicious ‘interactions’ between Trump associates and Russian agents.
Britain passed this info to the U.S. as part of their routine exchange of information.”
Late 2015 and into 2016: NSA’s other intell friends ( Australia, Germany, Estonia, and Poland) all reported interactions between Trump and Moscow.
So, too, did the French and the Dutch—the latter being an especially savvy SIGINT partner of NSA’s.
2016: different foreign agencies targeting the same people began to see a pattern of connections that were given to U.S. FBI
2016: In response to FBI urgency, NSA rose to the occasion, and
by mid-July 2016, “We knew we had a Russian agent on our hands,”

A Solution for the Times: 'Daddy Let Your Mind Roll On' (Or, Why Worry, Suck Down That Kool-Ade) - Why Don'tcha?

Are 'we', America and the rest of Earth's inhabitants (all of 'us' - hominids and lesser 'folks')beset with the projected dis-ease of a 'canted' personality, that of our dear POTUS? Think carefully about that before you answer 'Nyet'! (Catch the insinuation?!?!)

Since the November 2016 POTUS election, it's been tough to gather oneself and 'find' time to ponder and collect one's thoughts about what happened in the election, and what is happening and what might still happen. Basically, it's all been 'batshit' crazy since November 2016.

For several months (geez, 6 months actually) Pericles21 has had an unfinished overview post about what happened last November 2016, but it seems - No! It does not 'seem', it 'is the case' - that America, and the world with us (because of us), has fallen into a whirlpool..a whirlpool in the middle of a cesspool..of confusing, too quickly changing but uniformly chaotic..'existence' if one can call it existence. It's hard to adapt to constant chaos isn't it?

How can one use the term 'uniform' with 'chaotic'? Well, for a start, just sit and try to describe what is now going on in Washington, DC, and globally. 'See' - thoughts go round and round...where it all stops is not possible to see. The current world and national situation can't be described using standard expositional structures and analysis and structures. There is so little sense to it all. And it changes so quickly. Too quickly. Chaos is a good term to use.

Some do adapt, though not exactly in a 'healthy' mature manner (depending one one's perspective and personal tools). A Zen perspective might help. But not everyone has the Dalai Llama's reincarnate centuries of Zen training.

'Taking the bullet' and simply ducking and avoiding the stage lights helps, too. Doesn't it?

But the 'normal' person (who gives a shit) is left with just dizziness - but that at least means plenty of company ( isn't that comforting?), over 60% of our American population experiences 'diarrhea-nervosa' trying to get its heads around our dear leader and his antics.

That's comforting, too. Isn't it?.

The rest of the world largely copes by laughing it's collective head off at our arms-a-flailing running around like headless chickens.

And that's real comfort...isn't it?

And there you have it,

there is comfort for everyone... we all can be happy, theoretically, if one is willing to walk around giggling like a mad person, or half asleep or mentally dwelling off-planet.

If these traits (artifices for us) sound familiar it's because they are all found in the person of Dear POTUS. In other 'words' we Americans and the rest of Mother Earths two-legged hominids have been gobbsmocked, bamboozled and smoky-mirrored by an ace carny clown into a state of high dis-ease.

But what does one do, many times, in that state ...of dis-ease? Why kick back, pop a top (or corn), fill a bowl (popped corn, cherries, or might be appropriate in your State, or state?), turn on TV and 'GET OUT' (Paglia). It works. For a while.

America re-discovers it's past remedy for this dis-ease(1970s at least, during the time of the Nixon 'illness').

'Sit right down, Daddy, let your mind roll on'

But, there is, at least, an analysis tool/phraseology that many Americans are familiar with who have experience with military. A unifying phrase, ultimate in simplicity, maximal in American linguistic abstraction that describes our current national state of existence pretty well and has been used a a safe drug by many military recruits whose minds have been have been dizzied by the whirlpool of immersion in a military world of commands and counter-commands and counters-to-counter commands:

'SNAFU..SITUATION NORMAL, ALL FUCKED UP'.

SNAFU pretty well describes the world we live in...a world in a chaotic 'non-sense' state since America's Nov 2017, POTUS election, and largely accelerated in non-sense by the principal (POTUS) of that election.

Are 'we', America and the rest of Earth's inhabitants (all of 'us' - hominids and lesser 'folks')beset with the projected dis-ease of a 'canted' personality, that of our dear POTUS? Think carefully about that before you answer 'Nyet'! (Catch the insinuation?!?!)

There, it's said - America's POTUS is the principal agent of a current, all-enveloping national and global Chaos - our global, existential WhirlPool. Will it end, this mutant sport presently occupying the Office of America's President? Of course it will end, sometime. Meanwhile, cope however one can, or must. Just don't forget.

America Stumbles in English to Describe Trump Jr's Two-Stepping Double-Cross of America - 'We're Just Not Subtle Enough, Ma' (Where is HL Mencken?)

[this post is an edited version of a July 12, 2017 post]

'Come forth, you incarnate Menckens! America calling! Mencken is also referenced, thoroughly, in a recent article, 'Revisiting H.L. Mencken in The Age of Trump' (FRANK FEAR, LA Progressive)

The American, so-called progressive, media keeps going with the Trump head-fakes - or is too cowardly to steady-gazed call a charlatan a charlatan. 'How come, Ma? They can read and write words like nobody's business(scratching of head.)' Ma: "Well, sonny, it's all about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - or, if you can't deal with that, 'you pay your money then you have to choose', is that clear enough for you?" Sonny: "Sure Ma! Can I go out to play, now?" Ma: "Don't forget to tie your shoe laces and chew some gum." Sonny: "You're great, Ma."

Americans use language like...chimps read encyclopedias...seemingly absorbed utlil one notices the encyclopedia book is upside down.

And on to this post.

Almost daily,in the last six-months since the January inauguration, we've witnessed better entertainment than television farce - belly-splitting comedy and ballyhoo regarding Father Trump and most recently, son 'Junior' Trump and the 'Russian thing'.

More specifically, we are now grappling with Trump Jr's attempts to tell us about his interfaces before the 2016 election with Russian interests while in the same breath, lying-by-omission about those encounters. Seems Trump Jr, and many many other key Trump-president staffers and advisers who have critically sensitive security clearances (insisted on by DT) didn't exactly tell about all their meetings with Russian agents, businessmen-agents, crooks and grifters... all of whom had bad intentions in mind for America. Or, who were currently involved with active bad things against America.

All this has come down to a specific meeting between Trump Jr (with two of daddy's key staffers) and a Russian lawyer-alleged-agent. But wait a minute! Seems that meeting has grown in number with each retelling. We won't know where it ends but how many others attended that meeting? Well, that room surely was crowded with all those Russians, American political hacks (Trump supporters) and electronic surveillance and blocking devices!

According to Trump Jr, the meeting was all about procuring offered "dirt" (damaging info) on Hillary Clinton. But then again, if one shifted one's gaze into the mirror a bit, there appears in the background a tear jerking scene - the meeting was 'really' about pleading with Russia, on behalf of all those sad American childless couples, to lift Russia's bad ban on letting childless Americans adopt Russian babies. 'Bayby-Gate'

'But then', Russia's baby-ban was Russia's answer to America's economic sanctions on Russia (Putin and his Russian-global mafia) for it's attempt to launder dirty money from illicit global operations (read 'crime') consisting mostly of sex-slave trafficking, surplus nuclear-and-standard weaponry, drugs, etc.

The main talking point surely wasn't about babies!

But Trump Jr's tale has shown us tricky turns, back flips, reverse angle corner shots ( excuses and dodges) and other contortions all woven together in Trump Jr's attempts to tell his side of things and yet spin a golden veil from coarse home-spun.

Almost as bad as Trump Jr's omissions and dodging is the almost-as-bad efforts of the American press and media to parse WTF is happening in all this tragi-comedy, political magic act from the Trump opus.

Is it that the Trump male line is endowed with a 'slick gene' so slack that any one of them can come off the bench and bamboozle the media with split-fingered, meth-jumpy, spit-gooberish curve ball pitches? It looks like it, but Pericles21 posits a reason for this might just be that the Trumps are playing Brooklyn street ball (known for its traditions of roughhouse mayhem) while the media is playing cricket in the highlands (tea break, anyone?

In the July 12, 2017, DailyKos web page (july 12, 2017) "On language: The meeting was about sanctions, not "adoption", "Dcg2" commented on the failure of even veteran American media writers to use the English language sufficiently to convey how Trump Jr's recurring excuses and resultant, unending descent into ludicrousness and self-immolation amaze the 'veteran' American media.


However, fret not. Pericles21 has a thought that should help put our media's plight into perspective.

Pericles21 (me):

Americans are not subtle in how we use our language...even though increasingly our culture, especially the political part, has become full of situations that call for subtlety in cynicism and humor, or (deliciously) both. 'Ordinary' America-speak just can’t carry the weight. I have had Russian-American friends who’ve described the cathartic joy that Russian people under current and previous Russian dictators have enjoyed using the power of subtlety and irony in their language. Maybe it’s that we Americans like to get right to the bone of a situation and, instead of language-basd subtlety, employ such mind-releasing tricks as shooting, stabbing, punching, lynching, burning to the ground, running over with cars, tossing out of windows, etc. (and with as much dramatic noise as possible).  America needs, desperately, as many Neo-Menckens as possible. They’re around...let them come forth!

And Dcg2 sums it all up in a tidy parse:

Ultimately, we don’t control government.  We don't control the media. But we do control the language we use — and we don't have to adopt their language or their spin, nor should we legitimize the mainstream media adopting their language or talking points

Daily Kos web ("On language: The meeting was about sanctions, not "adoption")