Thread by @TheDudeSeesAll

@RedSpringsSlick There were many secret meetings held all over Europe between Trump associates and known Russian intel agents in 2015-2016. Those agents were being monitored, so the conversations were recorded. Our allies were so alarmed that they informed the FBI. Trump campaign lied about it.

@RedSpringsSlick Over a period of several months, starting in August 2015, and before U.S. intelligence agencies started any investigations, they began to receive alarming reports from eight foreign intelligence agencies ....

@RedSpringsSlick ...(United Kingdom, Germany, Estonia, Poland, Australia, France, a Baltic state, & Holland) describing overheard conversations between known Russian agents & Trump campaigner. This was not spying on the Trump campaign. This was incidental to normal spying on foreign agents.

@RedSpringsSlick The conversations "formed a suspicious pattern". Here are two sources for the content above:
theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/a…

@RedSpringsSlick theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/…

@RedSpringsSlick 1. Since you obviously like to understand these things, I'll post a thread here, largely taken from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_i… The reliable sources used are found there.

@RedSpringsSlick 2. First my introduction:

There were a number of reasons why the investigations into the Russian's "sweeping and systematic" election interference led to suspicion, investigations, and surveillance of the Trump campaign in efforts to determine the nature ...

@RedSpringsSlick 3. of the election interference and the relationships between Russians and Trump campaign members. It started with routine surveillance of Russian assets by foreign agencies, not as part of any surveillance of the Trump campaign...

@RedSpringsSlick 4. That surveillance was started in late July 2016, by U.S. intelligence agencies.

Now from the article:

DNC hack

The GRU (using the names Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear) gained access to the computer network of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) —

@RedSpringsSlick 5. the formal governing body of the Democratic Party — in July 2015 and maintained it until at least June 2016,[21][22] when they began leaking the stolen information via the Guccifer 2.0 online persona.[23][24][25] Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned as DNC chairwoman ...

@RedSpringsSlick 6. following the release of e-mails by WikiLeaks that showed DNC officials discussing Bernie Sanders and his presidential campaign in a derisive and derogatory manner.[26] Emails leaked included personal information about Democratic Party donors, with credit card and...

@RedSpringsSlick 7. Social Security numbers,[27][28] emails by Wasserman Schultz calling a Sanders campaign official a "damn liar".[29]

Following the July 22 publication of a large number of hacked emails by WikiLeaks, the FBI announced that it would investigate the theft of DNC emails.[30][31]

@RedSpringsSlick 8. Intelligence analysis of attack
In June and July 2016, cybersecurity experts and firms, including CrowdStrike,[32] Fidelis, FireEye,[33] Mandiant, SecureWorks,[34] Symantec[33] and ThreatConnect, stated the DNC email leaks were part of a series of cyberattacks on the DNC ...

@RedSpringsSlick 9. committed by two Russian intelligence groups, called Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear,[35][36] also known respectively as APT28 and APT29 / The Dukes.[37][38][32][39] ThreatConnect also noted possible links between the DC Leaks project and Russian intelligence operations ...

@RedSpringsSlick 10. because of a similarity with Fancy Bear attack patterns.[40] SecureWorks added that the actor group was operating from Russia on behalf of the Russian government.[41][42] de Volkskrant later reported that Dutch intelligence agency AIVD had penetrated the Russian hacking ...

@RedSpringsSlick 11. group Cozy Bear in 2014, and observed them in 2015 hack the State Department in real time, while capturing pictures of the hackers via a security camera in their workspace.[43][44] American, British, and Dutch intelligence services had also ...

@RedSpringsSlick 12. observed stolen DNC emails on Russian military intelligence networks.[45]

END of content from that article.

Now my research:

Over a period of several months, starting in August 2015, and before U.S. intelligence agencies started any investigations, they began to receive...

@RedSpringsSlick 13. alarming reports from eight foreign intelligence agencies (United Kingdom, Germany, Estonia, Poland, Australia, France, a Baltic state, and Holland) describing overheard conversations between known Russian agents and Trump campaign members. The conversations...

@RedSpringsSlick 14. "formed a suspicious pattern", and while their nature is known by intelligence agencies, it has not been revealed to the public.

In September 2015, the FBI discovered that a Russian cyber group had hacked the DNC's servers.[47] The FBI then attempted, without success, ...

@RedSpringsSlick 15. to warn the DNC.[48] Seven months later the DNC hired private cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which also found that the Russians were behind the hacks.

Then, in April 2016, the FBI received a tape-recorded conversation from a Baltic state "about money from the Kremlin ....

@RedSpringsSlick 16. going into the US presidential campaign".[Trump's] The Dutch also reported how they watched a group of Russians hacking the DNC.

The New York Times also reported that British and Dutch agencies had evidence of more secret meetings between Trump campaign members and Russian..

@RedSpringsSlick 17. officials in the Netherlands, Britain and other countries, and that U.S. intelligence had overheard Russian officials, some of them within the Kremlin, talking about contacts with Trump associates. Some Russian officials were arguing about how much to interfere ...

@RedSpringsSlick 18. in the election. Then cyberattacks on state electoral systems led the Obama administration to directly accuse the Russians of interfering.

Because the CIA is not allowed to surveil the private communications of American citizens without a warrant, ...

@RedSpringsSlick 19. the CIA and FBI were slow to react to these revelations.

Apr 30, 2019 - A total of 272 contacts between Trump's team and Russia-linked...
themoscowproject.org/explainers/tru…

@RedSpringsSlick 20. They needed evidence showing the spread actions of individual campaign members were connected to the campaign itself. That came in July 2016.

Then an unwitting revelation by George Papadopoulos revealed that he knew, seven weeks before the FBI, that the Russians possessed

@RedSpringsSlick 21. emails stolen from Hillary Clinton. The Trump campaign did not reveal this to the FBI, but the Australian ambassador did. It was this revelation which started the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the Trump campaign on July 31, 2016.

@RedSpringsSlick 22. That was the last drop for the FBI. It provided abundant probable cause to justify an investigation of the Trump campaign. Now they had conclusive evidence that the campaign, not just individuals spread over time and place acting independently, was knowingly working ...

@RedSpringsSlick 23. with Russians to exploit the stolen emails. That justified starting an investigation of the campaign itself, not for political purposes, but for national security purposes.

In sworn testimony, Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen stated that Trump knew in advance ...

@RedSpringsSlick 24. that WikiLeaks would leak the hacked Democratic emails. Trump also repeatedly praised and thanked WikiLeaks and publicly asked the Russians to find Hillary's emails. Russian officials began efforts to hack her server and the Clinton campaign servers ...

@RedSpringsSlick 25. "on or around" the same day as Trump's request. He was co-operating with Russian attacks on American democracy and electoral systems. That sure sounds like collusion.