The FBI & Justice Dept tried to flip Oleg Deripaska. Christopher Steele and Bruce Ohr were involved.

[MelissaB]

Last edited Sat Sep 1, 2018, 05:50 PM - Edit history (1)

Agents Tried to Flip Russian Oligarchs. The Fallout Spread to Trump.

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — In the estimation of American officials, Oleg V. Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin, has faced credible accusations of extortion, bribery and even murder.

They also thought he might make a good source.

Between 2014 and 2016, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department unsuccessfully tried to turn Mr. Deripaska into an informant. They signaled that they might provide help with his trouble in getting visas for the United States or even explore other steps to address his legal problems. In exchange, they were hoping for information on Russian organized crime and, later, on possible Russian aid to President Trump’s 2016 campaign, according to current and former officials and associates of Mr. Deripaska.

In one dramatic encounter, F.B.I. agents appeared unannounced and uninvited at a home Mr. Deripaska maintains in New York and pressed him on whether Paul Manafort, a former business partner of his who went on to become chairman of Mr. Trump’s campaign, had served as a link between the campaign and the Kremlin.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/us/politics/deripaska-ohr-steele-fbi.html

[MelissaB]

1. ... another snip

Two of the players in the effort were Bruce G. Ohr, the Justice Department official who has recently become a target of attacks by Mr. Trump, and Christopher Steele, the former British spy who compiled a dossier of purported links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The systematic effort to win the cooperation of the oligarchs, which has not previously been revealed, does not appear to have scored any successes. And in Mr. Deripaska’s case, he told the American investigators that he disagreed with their theories about Russian organized crime and Kremlin collusion in the campaign, a person familiar with the exchanges said. The person added that Mr. Deripaska even notified the Kremlin about the American efforts to cultivate him.

[MelissaB]

2. Important point here

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an initiative that remains classified. Most expressed deep discomfort, saying they feared that in revealing the attempts to cultivate Mr. Deripaska and other oligarchs they were undermining American national security and strengthening the grip that Mr. Putin holds over those who surround him.

But they also said they did not want Mr. Trump and his allies to use the program’s secrecy as a screen with which they could cherry-pick facts and present them, sheared of context, to undermine the special counsel’s investigation. That, too, they said they feared, would damage American security.

[pnwmom]

3. The headline is deceptive. They had been trying to get info on Russian organized crime

and, later, related to the Russians' contact with the Trump campaign.

[triron]

4. I don't particularly like the NYT headline.

[triron]

5. The link has this title:

"Agents tried to flip Russian Oligarchs. The fallout spread to Trump."

[MelissaB]

6. Evidently the NYT changed it because I copied and pasted.

[riversedge]

7. Papers have been known to change titles. New one still up.....

Last edited Sat Sep 1, 2018, 07:49 PM - Edit history (1)

Actually this new one is more meaningful.

Agents Tried to Flip Russian Oligarchs. The Fallout Spread to Trump.

[MelissaB]

8. Yes, I agree. I'll change

the headline.

[pnwmom]

10. The new one is much better. I wonder if the reporters objected to the title

the editor had placed on their article, because it really was a bad title.

[pnwmom]

9. The original title was "Agents tried to flip Oligarchs to get dirt on Trump."

Or something very close to that. A completely different meaning, and contradicted the facts in the article.

[triron]

11. Sounds almost as if whoever it was that used that 1st title was trying to make Trump a victim.

[pnwmom]

13. Yes, and the article was making the opposite point -- that some Trumpers

were cherry picking things from the Ohr testimony to make it appear that Ohr was going after Trump.

[Horse with no Name]

12. Knowing that John McCain made it clear he didn't want these grifters there

How dare he put the widow of his supposed friend in that position.