President Donald Trump early Saturday morning declared on Twitter that it is time to "drain the swamp," following an article in The New York Times detailing a Russian's plot to deliver compromising information about him and to return stolen National Security Agency cyberweapons.
"According to the @nytimes, a Russian sold phony secrets on “Trump” to the U.S." Trump tweeted.
"Asking price was $10 million, brought down to $1 million to be paid over time. I hope people are now seeing & understanding what is going on here. It is all now starting to come out - DRAIN THE SWAMP!"
The Times on Saturday reported, quoting several government sources,that the Russian had promised to deliver the materials for $1 million, payable in installments, after he promised to deliver the information on Trump along with the NSA cyberweapons.
Only the first installment, $100,000 was paid, according to American and European intelligence officials. The first payment was delivered in a suitcase to a Berlin hotel room in September.
American intelligence officials told The Times they made it clear they didn't want the Trump information, but they did want the hacking tools. However, the Russian, who had ties to both Eastern European cybercriminals and Russian intelligence — the groups believe to be behind the NSA cybertool thefts — delivered information about Trump that was not verified and even possibly fabricated. U.S. intelligence officials cut off the deal.
The Times' sources said the intelligence officials did not want to be caught up in a Russian plot to cause problems in the U.S. government, and they were concerned about the fallout if it was learned they'd bought information about Trump, so when it became clear he wasn't delivering the cyberweapons, they cut off the plot and threatened the Russian seller with arrest.
The CIA refused to comment about the Russian seller, and the NSA said that its employees "have a lifetime obligation to protect classified information."
According to The Times, the U.S. worked through an American businessman based in Germany who met with the Russian in several locations, while American intelligence agencies spent months tracking him, including with the NSA using its official Twitter account to send him coded messages.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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