Thread by @innercitypress

OK - The #CIA leaks case US v. Joshua Schulte is beginning now with opening statements. Inner City Press in writing opposed sealing

https://twitter.com/big_cases/status/1221840965327032323?s=19

and has covered the lead-up patreon.com/posts/33500142 Now, we'll live-tweet the openings: thread

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Programming note: Judge Crotty read the jury the standards rules of the road - don't use the Internet, please come in on time - but then announced a 15 minute break. Opening statements will be at 10:45 am. Thread will continue.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews During the break, Joshua Schulte's lawyer Sabrina Shroff says while the length of her opening will depend on what Assistant US Attorney David Denton says first in his, she assumes hers will be seven to 10 minutes. #countdown

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews OK, Schulte opening arguments:
AUSA David Denton: Ladies and gentlemen, this case is about the biggest leak in the history of the CIA. This man stole the cyber tools we use for national defense. CIA officers were exposed. Allies wondered if US could be trusted

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews AUSA Denton: Joshua Schulte violated his oath. He violated the law. He is not a whistleblower. He did it out of spite. To start an information war against the CIA he felt had wronged him. And it didn't stop. From jail he leaked more...

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews AUSA Denton: The defendant violated orders of this court. You'll see it on the logs of his computer hacking. You'll learn he was a software developer in an elite CIA group, in a secret building protected by armed guards. He had been vetted...

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews AUSA Denton: The group's work was to exploit vulnerabilities in adversaries' networks. Schulte was made a system administrator. He had super-access that normal developers didn't have. He made back-ups. He breached this trust. Why? We was angry

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews AUSA Denton: Schulte started having arguments at work. He falsely accused a co-worker of trying to kill him. He was angry the CIA didn't take his side. He started breaking rules, used his super-access to give himself control over sensitive projects

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews AUSA Denton: The CIA tried to lock down what he had accessed. But Schulte had a back door. He lied that he didn't have super-access anymore. Schulte was told the projects were going to be moved to a new server. So he stole it all first, through the back door

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews AUSA Denton: For over an hour on April 20, he did a reversion. He stole an entire back-up from March 3, 2016 - the very day he felt the CIA has wronged him by dismissing his false allegation against his co-worker. He erased every log file. He unwound the reversion

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews AUSA Denton: The evidence will prove he sent it to WikiLeaks. The very same back-up he stole that day was was WikiLeaks published. He downloaded a program to nuke his hard drive. Then he tried to completely reformat his home computer

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews AUSA Denton: A few unhappy months later, Schulte had left the CIA and come to New York when WikiLeaks started publishing the information. Schulte lied to the FBI and tried to obstruct the investigation by sending them down the wrong path

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews AUSA Delton: Schulte got an encrypted cell phone in prison, and sent more information out. In his notebook in jail he wrote a detailed battle plan. The FBI caught him in the act, and searched the prison. They put a stop to it. That is just an overview

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews AUSA Denton: You'll be hearing from his co-workers.
[Some with pseudonyms or "fake names," no faces.]
You'll hear about the investigation, that the FBI analyzed the info published by WikiLeaks and proved it came from the back-up Schulte stole.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews AUSA Denton: Schulte wrote, I will look to break up diplomatic relations and close embassies. He wrote: Top secret? F*ck your top secret.
Later, Judge Crotty will instruct you on the law. Please follow them, and use your common sense. And you will find him guilty

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Schulte's lawyer Sabrina Shroff: There is no battle plan. There is no information war. Mr. Schulte has not committed these crimes. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I'm here to tell you what really happened on March 7, 2017. A trove showed up on Wikileaks.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: These documents, the CIA did not want them published. This was front page news -and news to the CIA. The CIA had no idea how these documents were leaked. Nor when or why, nor who leaked them. Today, the CIA still doesn't know these things.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: There was pressure to blame this on someone. To take the heat off the CIA for not knowing how the documents showed up on Wikileaks. So they blamed Joshua Schulte. He was an easy lay-up for them, an easy target.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: It is the government's burden to prove that Mr. Schulte is guilty of the 11 charges he faces. They will not be able to do it. The CIA had to work backwards to figure out how they were copied and taken without anyone knowing how

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: The went a whole year without knowing that their super-secure system had been hacked. All they have now is their theory. Do they know when it happened? Let's examine. All they know is Wikileaks published the information on March 7, 2017. Why wait a year?

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews [Shroff is pacing in front of the jury, slowly clapping her hands.] She says, First the CIA claimed the info was stolen in March 2016. Now the prosecutor says it was April. They do not know. The CIA has no idea when it was taken.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: So, who and why? Lots of people at the CIA, computer nerds just like Mr. Schulte, had the same skill set. But Josh Schulte is an easy target. He antagonized almost everybody there. A difficult employee.
Schulte was a smart kid. He went to U of Texas.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: Josh Schulte wanted to serve his country. He went to work for the CIA in 2010. He worked on important projects. He was also a pain in the ass. He had disputes with colleagues, the CIA took their side. He was unhappy. So he left his dream job, came to NY

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: At his new job in NY, he made $200,000 a year, lived on 39th Street. Now the government wants you to believe was so upset about fights at the CIA he would throw everything under the bus, not just for the US, but what he had: a new life, a new city.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: So the government will focus a lot of these case on what they call the MCC counts, his so called information war. They will give you evidence in the hope it will make you think of Mr. Schulte as a bad person. He is a difficult man.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: Schulte in the MCC was desperate. He tried to show the world he was innocent. He got a cell phone, he kept notebooks. What if you were in his shoes, in the MCC day after day, called a traitor. Would you be desperate and reach out to say, I'm innocent?

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: This case is not about whether Mr. Schulte was liked. If you focus on the Wikileaks counts, you'll see he had nothing to do with that. The CIA still does not know. They don't know if Wikileaks was the only entity that got it. With common sense, not guilty.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews For first witness, US asks to qualify GWU adjunct law professor Paul Rosenzweig as an expert.
Shroff: You've never testified about Wikileaks as an expert?
Rosenzweig: No, I haven't. But --
Shroff: All of your knowledge is from public sources?
Rosenzweig: Yes.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: So you read what other people write, you churn it around in your head then write about it? Your Honor, we object to him being qualified as an expert.

It's on.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews As AUSA Denton asks proposed expert Rosenzweig about the damaged caused by Wikileaks, "What is the impact of an ambassador being recalled?" Schulte's laywer Shroff objects.
Judge Crotty overrules the objection.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Rosenzweig: Then Wikileaks and Anonymous started working together, cyber attacks against Mastercard and Paypal.
AUSA Denton: How do you know that?
Rosenzweig: It's public record. 14 of the participants have admitted it. Jeremy Hammond stole emails from Stratfor

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Rosenzweig: These files were stolen from the DNC and passed through Guccifer 2.0... This is a screenshot from the "Submit Documents to Wikileaks" web page as it exists today. Let me tell you about the Way Back Machine. For example, how my website looks in 2015.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Now Schulte's lawyer Sabrina Shroff gets to cross examine Rosenzweig:
Shroff: As far as you know, you've never spoke with anyone with Wikileaks?
Rosenzweig: As far as I know.
Shroff: All you know is what other people tell you.
Rosenzweig: What Wikileaks tells me.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: So CIA has never consulted with you about Wikileaks, correct?
Rosenzweig: Correct.
Shroff: So what Wikileaks releases is outside your area of expertise?
Rosenzweig: I'm not a computer scientist. I don't know the forensics.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: You had an inactive clearance, right?
Rosenzweig: That was the second of two reasons.
Shroff: Let's start with the second... You are with a company you started with Michael Chertoff?
Rosenzweig: I'm a senior advisor if I can add value.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: How much do they pay you, at Michael Chertoff's company?
AUSA: Objection!
Rosenzweig: I don't get paid by the hour. My current project, they pay me $25,000.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: Can the Department of Justice grant you access?
Rosenzweig: The gentlemen there don't control my access (pointing at prosecution table).
Shroff: I'm not asking about the gentlemen there...

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Rosenzweig (voice rising) - As an academic, I rely on reports that I read. I do not know this anymore than I know the results of the Iowa caucuses...

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: So if the New York Post told you Wikileaks did something, you would believe them, correct?
Rosenzweig: Not necessarily... I trust some sources more than other based on my prior experience.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: You worked as a prosecutor for seven years, then for the Heritage Foundation, a right wing think tank, correct?
Rosenzweig: I would call it conservative.
Shroff: Let's talk about their agenda.
AUSA: Objection!
Judge Crotty: Sustained.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: Did you not personally believe it was important to keep Guantanamo Bay open?
Judge Crotty: Sustained.
Shroff: You wrote a blog--
Rosenzweig: This is from 2005, before I was in the Bush Administration.
Shroff: Let's go to the highlighted section

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews [This seems to be the blog at issues, with the term "hysterical claims" heritage.org/terrorism/comm…

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews [During Schulte's lawyer's cross examination of their expert, AUSA Denton and his colleague are conferring, moving their hands around. Sidhardha Kamaraju is taking notes.]

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Rosenzweig: I think individuals in Wikileaks should be held accountable if they violate the law.
Shroff: Does Wikileaks work with the Wall Street Journal?
Rosenzweig: I don't remember that one. They've worked with The Guardian.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews In the middle of Schulte's lawyer's cross of US Attorney / CIA expert Paul Rosenzweig, Judge Crotty calls the lunch break. And it'll be a shorter than normal (e.g. Avenatti trial) afternoon. Story: innercitypress.com/sdnylive2schul… And... radio 3pm: blackstarnews.com/education/educ…

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews OK - we're back for a bit. Before jury comes in, Schulte's lawyer Shroff puts on the record that at the break, a juror may have overheard her talking to defense expert.
Judge Crotty: What voice were your using? Your loud voice or your--
Laughter in the courtroom.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: I think I was just asking, How do you think I did on cross.
Judge Crotty: If you were talking about confidential information, I'd go another way. But you've made your record.
Jury comes in. Cross examination continues.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: So you and the prosecutors emailed back and forth about this, correct?
Rosenzweig: We spoke about it. I must have sent an email.
Shroff: And you put the Wikileaks logo on your demonstrative?
Rosenzweig: That is correct.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: You don't know anything about Anonymous, correct?
Rosenzweig: I don't understand.
Shroff: Have you ever spoke to anyone in the Anonymous hackers collective?
Rosenzweig: I have.
Shroff: Did they tell you how to do this demonstrative?
Rosenzweig: No.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Shroff: How much are they paying you for this?
Rosenzweig: $400 an hour.
Shroff: Who pays for you to stay over in New York?
Rosenzweig: The US Attorney's Office will pay me back.
Shroff: Basically, you looked at Wikileaks--
Rosenzweig: I reviewed other articles.

@MatthewLeeICP @FUNCA_info @nycsouthpaw @jeffstone500 @maher275 @WashTimes @CyberScoopNews Schulte's lawyer ends asking US expert Rosenzweig about Wikileaks he didn't include in his "slide show,"from French arms sales, UAE, to Kenya corruption. On that note, & bad timing, headed to Bklyn for radio interview on UN corruption 3-4 blackstarnews.com/education/educ…