Jack - A Thing of Value

Episode Date: February 27, 2022

This week: a Republican Congressional candidate sought the help of Russian intel in his attempt to unseat David Cicilline in 2016, plus Sabotage and the Fantasy Indictment League.Read Kuffner's piece:https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/2022/02/21/rhode-island-republican-candidate-h-russell-taub-sought-russian-assistance-2016-election-cicilline/6881067001/Follow AG on Twitter:Dr. Allison Gillhttps://twitter.com/allisongillhttps://twitter.com/MuellerSheWroteDownload Switchcraft for free and unlock the magical mystery!

Welcome to Teacher Quit Talk, I'm Misredacted, and I'm Mrs. Frazzled. Every week we explore the teacher exodus to find out what if anything could get these educators back in the classroom. We've all had our moments where we thought, what the hell am I doing here? From burnout to bureaucracy to soul-sucking stressors and creative dead ends, from recognizing when it was time to go, to navigating feelings of guilt and regret afterwards, we're here to cut off a gaslighting and get real about what it means to leave teaching. We've got insights from former teachers from all over the country who have seen it all. So get ready to be disturbed and join us on teacher quit talk to laugh through the pain

of the US education system. We'll see you there. Thank you to SwitchCraft for supporting my podcasts. SwitchCraft is a mobile game with a unique blend of TV-worthy writing. Choose your own adventure style narrative and thousands of magical match three levels. Download Switch Craft for free and unlock the magical mystery. Hey all, this is Glenn Kirschner, and you're listening to Muller She Wrote. So to be clear, Mr. Trump has no financial relationships with any Russian oligarchs.

That's what he said. That's what I said. That's obviously what our position is. I'm not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time, a two, in that campaign, and I didn't have, not have communications with the Russians. What do I have to get involved with Putin for? I have nothing to do with Putin. I've never spoken to him. I don't know communications at the Russians. What do I have to get involved with Putin for having nothing to do with Putin?

I've never spoken to him. I don't know anything about a mother than he will respect me. Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. So it is political. You're a communist. No, Mr. Green.

Communism is just a red hairing. Like all members of the oldest profession I'm a capitalist. Hello and welcome to Mueller, she wrote, I'm your host, A.G. Alison Gil. We have one big story today, and some sabotage, and some fantasy indictment league. But this first story involves recently released FEC documents about a congressman mentioned in the Muller indictment of 12 Russians. This is a relatively short episode because I'm off this week. Thank you for allowing me to have a vacation once every eight weeks.

I appreciate you. But I couldn't not report this story. I know that's a double negative, but so is this congressman. So I'll dig into that and we'll talk about the fantasy indictment league like I said. With some actual sabotage ahead of that. Hey everybody, it's AG and today's show is brought to you by Switchcraft. This is so awesome. While match three games can be a lot of fun, it seems like most of them are very similar. Often the themes and characters change, but overall it's the same boring format. They lack that kind of cool gripping television worthy story that keeps you on edge of your seat.

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The story features over 85 characters from a variety of cultural backgrounds, as well as differently abled and LGBTQ plus characters, which is amazing. There are thousands of levels to play while enjoying the unfolding storyline. I never get bored because the storyline is so compelling. I want to keep playing just to see what happens next. The story begins with the disappearance of your best friend. You use your magical match three skills

to solve the mystery of her disappearance. I've loved it. I'm on chapter three now. Downloads Switch Craft for Free and unlock the magical mystery today. So relatively short show, but very important information, let's jump in with just the facts. All right, this story comes from Alex Kufner, writing for the Providence Journal in Rhode Island. And this story really only came out in local

news. H. Russell Talb, the one-time Republican congressional candidate who was in prison for defrauding political donors three years ago, illegally sought help from Russian intelligence in his failed bid to unceased US rep David Sissillini in 2016. And that's according to the FEC Federal Election Commission. A few months before the November 2016 general election, Talb, this Rhode Island congressman, you know, running for Congress, sent a direct message to a Twitter account known to be used by the GRU. That's Russia's main intelligence agency. And that's according to that FEC filing in the message to Goosef for 2.0, Talb asked for a list of Republican donors

saying I could use your help to defeat Sicilini. Talb provided an email address and later received a dossier that included opposition research reports, polling data, and other information about his incumbent democratic opponent in the first congressional district race. Talb, who was 33, violated federal campaign law by quote, knowingly soliciting, accepting, or receiving a prohibited, in-kind, foreign national contribution in the form of opposition research related to the candidates opponent.

And that's the conclusion by the FEC. Talb admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlement agreement with the FEC, but he was excused from paying a $31,000 fine due to financial hardship, and the restitution he must pay for his previous conviction. If he's found to have misrepresented his finances, the fine will be reinstated. In 2019, after pleading guilty to wire fraud and campaign finance violations, Todd was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to repay $1.1 million

that he took through unregistered political action committees, unregistered. Todd admitted to raising $1.6 million in donations and using more than a million of the money on cigars, meals, clothes, airfare, strip clubs, escorts, and the like. And the investigation came after a Washington ethics watchdog filed a complaint against Taube with the FEC alleging his keeping America in Republic control political action committee, excuse me, Republican control political action committee was a scam violating campaign finance reporting requirements. That's for the miss handling of funds, not the Russia stuff. Tau formed the PAC but never legally registered it.

After finding a wealthy couple from Ohio, receptive to his appeals for money, he formed the keeping Ohio in Republican control PAC to solicit more money from them. Federal investigators did not initially name the couple, but according to the Cleveland Plain dealer, an FEC document later identified them as Karen Bouchwald Wright, the CEO of Aerial Corporation, and maker of gas compressors, and her husband, Thomas Raston,

a vice president in the Ohio-based company. They gave 1.275 million to the fucking loser. Excuse my French. The recent FEC filing mentioned special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The investigation determined that, quote, the GRU, hacked the computers and email accounts of various organizations related to the 2016 US election, including the DNC and the D-Triple C, and disseminated stolen materials through fictitious online personas, including GUSA for 2.0.

That's the filing. The documents sent to Taube from GUSA for 2.0, the documents, were, quote, apparently stolen from the GRU's various election-related hacking targets. Federal law prohibits any foreign national from directly or indirectly making a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value in connection with a federal, state, or local election. It also prohibits any person from knowingly soliciting, accepting or receiving any such contribution or donation from a foreign national.

According to prison records, Todd was released on January 13th this year. A lawyer representing him in the FEC case and Cecilini's office did not respond to requests for comment. So let's take a look at the indictment by Mueller that mentions Taube. And I'm going to need to go here into my Pete's struck text because he's the one who sent this to me. And in this filing on page 15, this is the, the indictment of the 12 Russians, it says between in or around June 2016 and October 2016, the conspirators used Guzifr 2.0 to

release documents through WordPress that they had stolen from the D-Triple C and DNC. The conspirators, posing as Guzifr 2.0, also shared stolen documents with certain individuals. Number one, honor about August 15, 2016, the conspirators posing as Gustafor 2.0 received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for U.S. Congress. The conspirators responded using the Gustafor 2.0 persona and sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidate's opponent. That is this Talb guy mentioned in the indictment of the 12 Russians. But part B here says, on or about August 22, 2016, the conspirators posing as GUSA for 2.0 transferred approximately 2.5 gigabytes of data stolen from the D-Triple C to then registered state lobbyist,

A then registered state lobbyist, A then registered state lobbyist and online source of political news. The stolen data included donor records and personal identifying information for more than 2,000 Democratic donors. Who was that registered state lobbyist and online source of political news? We don't know. And then number three, honor about August 22, 2016, the conspirators, Guseford 2.0, sent a reporter, sent a reporter, stolen documents pertaining to the Black Lives Matter movement. The reporter responded by discussing whether and when to release the documents and offering to write an article about their release. Who was that reporter?

to write an article about their release. Who was that reporter? Those are two things that are still unanswered. Also unanswered is why Taub wasn't criminally charged. Also wondering if this was one of the cases, those 14 redacted cases in Appendix D of the Moller Report that were forwarded on to another agency. Were their criminal referrals made? Was this outside the scope of Mueller's probe as defined by Rod Rosenstein? Is that why there wasn't an indictment for accepting a foreign in-kind contribution of value? Or did Mueller determine it had no value much like the dirt that was

never presented at the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. I'm unsure but those are my unanswered questions and with that it's time for sabotage. All right here it is today man Hatton District Attorney, the new one, Alvin Bragg, has asked his investigations chief to oversee the ongoing probe into former President Donald Trump and his business practices a day after the abrupt resignations of two veteran attorneys who had been leading the case for over a year. Susan Hoffinger, also an experienced litigator and recent addition to Bragg's executive team, will captain what has been described

as a squad of about 25 lawyers, paralegals, and analysts, working on the Trumporg case. Over more than three years, the group has poured through millions of records related to Trump and his operations at the Trumporg, his family run company, focusing mostly recently on whether assets were illegally overvalued to secure better terms on loans and insurance rates and undervalued to get tax breaks.

Bragg's announcement Thursday follows the dramatic departure of Carrie Dunne and Mark Palmerance, whose resignation signaled a marked shift in the probe. Multiple people with knowledge of the matter say Dunne and Palmerance felt Bragg who took office January 1st was not interested in pursuing a case against Trump and had not given them direction on how to proceed. Bragg's office has said this case, which he inherited from his predecessor, Sy Vance, Jr. is proceeding, and on Thursday, who spoke to the person, said it was not true that Bragg was unconcerned with advancing the matter. The only people I trust in this matter? Don and Palmarants.

And I'd like to hear from them. And with that new information, it's time for the fantasy indictment leak. I'm going to be a dick. No, it is going to be a dick. I'm a dick. A diner. A diner. A diner.

I'm going to be a diner. Hold it. They can't. It's going to be with my Florida team, Gates, LAK, Engels and Sabatini, Anthony Sabatini, and then up in the DC, USAO, US Attorney's Office. This is part of the one six investigation. I'm going to pick Sidney Powell over to the Southern District of New York. I'm going to go with Rudy, Tonesick and a Genova. And then let's see, superseding, Georgia, and Adironditments. We got a recent story. I think I talked about this last week that the FBI had gotten a warrant to look into old

native stuff because he was indicted for funneling illegal foreign money to the Hillary Clinton campaign, but not to the Trump campaign. So we'll see what happens with that. But I think superseding George and Dmitra are on the way. And I'm going to keep superseding Weiselberg on the team, even though we lost Dun and Palmer Ants. even though we lost, done in palmarounds, I still think that they were poised to add more charges to Weiselberg and the Trump organization, but maybe not Trump yet.

We will see if they couldn't get Weiselberg to flip, then more charges make sense. All right, that's a show. Thank you so much for your support. Thanks to our patrons. We also have a new episode of the MSW book club out today. That's episode eight of Corruptible by Brian Klaus and I'll be back with an abridged version of the daily beans tomorrow. I am on vacation, but I'm just gonna do a little tiny bit of work I'm not really going anywhere

So I want to get those headlines out to you and we have a lot of great content via interviews that you've never heard before So tune into that. And until then, please take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. Take care of the planet. Take care of your mental health. And vote blue over Q. I've been AG. And this is Mola She wrote.

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