Intelligence community challenged; mysteries of Russia’s Fancy Bear hackers; “digital Watergate,” and more
anti-Russian-hacking initiatives. But as one former N.S.A. director put it, “As good as it is, it’s not good enough.”
Coats faces greater scrutiny as fallout from Russia summit spreads (Christopher Cadelago and Martin Matishak, Politico)
Trump is said to be exasperated with his national intelligence director, but a direct challenge could lead to a congressional firestorm. Republicans in Congress have managed to block measures backing the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia meddled in the 2016 election. But Trump allies told POLITICO that directly confronting, let alone firing, Coats — who before the latest blow-up over Russia was believed to be weighing his own retirement date — could create an uncontainable firestorm on Capitol Hill. One former Trump senior official described the situation to POLITICO in one word: “meltdown.”
The strategy Mueller is using to protect his investigation (Barbara McQuade, Daily Beast)
By farming out cases, Rosenstein and Mueller may have built a structure that cannot be felled by one political axe. The indictment against alleged Russian agent Maria Butina appears to be part of a strategy often associated with investment advice – diversify your assets.
Unanswered questions trail a Trump DOJ official with a Russia tie (Natasha Bertrand, The Atlantic)
Brian Benczkowski, Trump’s appointee to run the Justice Department’s criminal division, represented Russia’s Alfa Bank. Senate Democrats have questions about recusal.
Inside Bannon’s plan to hijack Europe for the far-right (Nico Hines, Daily beast)
Bannon is moving to Europe to set up The Movement, a populist foundation to rival George Soros and spark a right-wing revolt across the continent. Up until now insurgent populist groups across Europe have often suffered from lack of expertise and finances. Le Pen’s party was kept afloat by Russian loans back in 2014, when French banks refused to extend lines of credit for the Front National. Le Pen was back in Moscow shaking Putin’s hand before last year’s French elections, which the NSA subsequently revealed had been hacked by the Russians. Bannon was stunned to discover that the nationalist movements in Europe were not pooling skills and sharing ideas with populist parties in neighboring countries—let alone on a global scale. “I didn’t get the idea until Marine Le Pen invited me to speak at Lille at the Front National,” recalled Bannon.
