577
After all, we know that the late Peter Smith looked for help in finding Clinton’s deleted emails on the dark web. Now we have just learned that Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, Joseph Schmitz, was also seeking her emails on the dark web concurrently.
“A former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser in the summer of 2016 asked multiple federal agencies, including the FBI, to review material obtained from the “dark web” that he believed to be content from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s deleted emails.”
“Joseph Schmitz, formerly a Pentagon inspector general and then a member of the Trump campaign’s national security and foreign policy team, reportedly found the unverified material through a client, who remains an unidentified contractor. He brought it to at least two federal agencies and two congressional committees, CNN reported. ”
Seth Abramson argues that Peter Smith was his client.
2/ The chances that two Trump agents (Smith and Schmitz) were independently discovering alleged Clinton emails at the exact same time without being in any way connected to one another's efforts—despite Mike Flynn being a highly probable link between them—seems to me to be *zero*.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 12, 2018
Indeed, it’s like Malcom Nance says-Nance’s Law: coincidences take a lot of planning.
To be sure, these emails were fake.
“CNN’s sources said the material from Schmitz was never verified and was considered fake. One expert who reviewed the material told CNN the “dark web” source made the material more questionable. The “dark web” is the part of the internet that is difficult to trace.”
“Schmitz also brought the information to the State Department and the intelligence community inspector general for review, according to CNN. He expressed concern that viewing potentially classified information could compromise his security clearance as well as his client’s.”
“When the government agencies and watchdogs declined to review the material after interviewing Schmitz, the campaign official then listed his concerns in a memo he provided to the House Intelligence Committee, a congressional panel simultaneously probing Russia’s interference in the election.”
Abramson questions why these Congressional committees didn’t disclose this:
7/ The government ultimately deemed ex-Blackwater COO Schmitz to be peddling fake emails. Were these the *same* fake emails ex-Blackwater CEO Prince was peddling days before the election? I think we need to know—and know who Schmitz went to in Summer 2016. https://t.co/r2Czrn4Q7F
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 12, 2018
Oh, yeah, by the way Schmitz was also a friend and former colleague of Erik Prince at Blackwater. Were they the same fake emails Prince was peddling?
Again, coincidences take a lot of planning.
UPDATE: In Chapter A I conjecture if the fake Clinton emails Schmitz peddled to the FBI-aka Trumpland-contained the fake Russian document Comey used as a pretext for his extremely careless press conference.
Regarding Smith, Abramson has argued that he was the Trump campaign’s designated cutout in trying to locate Clinton’s emails.
31/ In order for Smith to have been selected by top Trump aides, approached by them, and made a cut-out—*and* to have already made contact with the Russians by mid-July 2016—the effort to find the Clinton emails literally *had* to have begun soon after the Trump Tower meeting.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 8, 2018
Regarding Schmitz, CNN sources state there’s no reason to believe he spoke to the Russians.
“CNN’s sources said there was no reason to suspect Schmitz had communicated with Russians over the course of the campaign. It remains unknown whether special counsel Robert Mueller, who took over the Russia investigation from the FBI last year, is interested in speaking with Schmitz.”
Ok, but there’s no reason to believe he didn’t either. For his part, Peter Smith did claim to have been contacted by the Russians during his search on the dark web.
33/ Trump was *obsessed* with getting Clinton emails—we know that from his June 7 speech and planning meeting *and* what he said publicly (at huge risk) on July 27, 2016. So the chances that Flynn, Clovis, Bannon, and Conway would've *kept from him what they were doing* are zero.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 8, 2018
Keep in mind that Smith had emailed all of these above named high ranking Trump campaign officials about his search for the emails. And Smith’s main contact with the campaign was Michael Flynn who was Trump’s-true-top foreign policy adviser. Smith was very close to both Flynn and his son.
33/ Trump was *obsessed* with getting Clinton emails—we know that from his June 7 speech and planning meeting *and* what he said publicly (at huge risk) on July 27, 2016. So the chances that Flynn, Clovis, Bannon, and Conway would've *kept from him what they were doing* are zero.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 8, 2018
Along with Prince-who was CEO while Schmitz was COO at Blackwater.
So-very close to Flynn and his son-and he and Prince were the top guys at Blackwater; and, again, Prince and Flynn were Trump’s de facto real top foreign policy advisers. As for Schmitz, his role in the Trump campaign was: a foreign policy adviser.
By the way, Schmitz and Erik Prince both took trips to Hungary during the campaign.
9/ Now, this unexplained-trips-to-Hungary thing (in each case with the trip being made by a Trump national security adviser) would only be significant if Budapest, Hungary's capital, were the European HQ of Putin's FSB…
…which it is.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 12, 2018
4/ Mike Flynn was on Trump's national security team, as was Schmitz; who would believe that the same national security team was running two *entirely unconnected* "Dark Web" searches for "missing" Clinton emails? No one. No one is who would believe that. It makes no sense at all.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 12, 2018
So Nunes finally defines what would rise to the level of a criminal conspiracy to steal the election from its rightful winner, Hillary Clinton.
Again, coincidences take a lot of planning.