Joseph Mifsud, Maltese Man of Mystery

Right wing conspiracists are hanging their hat on Joseph Mifsud and I welcome the company! Eric Felten, writing for Real Clear Investigations, leads with the Cong. Jim Jordan questioning about Prof. Mifsud at the Mueller hearing, so let's include that video. From Mr. Felten, excerpting Jordan/Mueller:

“Did you interview Mifsud?”

“Can't get into that.”

“Is Mifsud Western intelligence or Russian intelligence?”

 “Can't get into that.”

That’s an awfully consequential question to be outside the special counsel’s purview, one consequential enough to be worth asking until an answer can be found.

Lee Smith, also writing for Real Clear Investigations, provided lots of background on Mifsud last May 2018. My fave from that article: Mifsud denies being an MI6 "agent", which fans of the genre (but not all legacy journalists) understand is quite different from being an MI6 "asset".

And the latest hook is the failure of Mueller to charge Mifsud with false statements, even though Mueller had no problem indicting unreachable Russians in Lenningrad and other Americans closer to home. Why so shy about the guy whose interactions with Papadopoluos ostensibly triggered Crossfire Hurricane? Who knows? One day Mifsud may be singing a song under the bright Congressional lights and we'll be reading about the Maltese Canary.

But do let me highlight a problem faced by Mueller and noted by Mr. Felten: charging both Papadopoulos and Mifsud with false statements may have been challenging:

Not so, said Mifsud in February 2017 when FBI agents interviewed him in the lobby of a Washington hotel. As Mueller recounted it in his report, Mifsud “denied that he had advance knowledge that Russia was in possession of emails damaging to candidate Clinton, stating that he and Papadopoulos had discussed cybersecurity and hacking as a larger issue and that Papadopoulos must have misunderstood their conversation.” The special counsel blamed Papadopoulos’ dissembling for disabling the FBI agents’ ability to get the goods on Mifsud: “The false information and omissions in Papadopoulos's January 2017 interview undermined investigators' ability to challenge Mifsud when he made these inaccurate statements.”

Maybe Mifsud was telling the truth. After all, the evidence to the contrary is supplied by someone who has done (a very little) time in jail for telling federal officials falsehoods. Which would at least explain why the special counsel did so little to pursue the professor. Having wrung a confession out of Papadopoulos for false statements about Mifsud, the special counsel’s team may have anticipated the difficulty they would face basing accusations against Mifsud on Papadopoulos’ say-so.

 

Comments

[Threadkiller]

One day Mifsud may be singing a song under the bright Congressional lights and we'll be reading about the Malteste Canary.

:-)

[Narciso]

This is my go to mifsud expert:

https://mobile.twitter.com/CJBdingo25/status/1156197212277358592

[Narciso]

As you can see they were relying on another burnt toast associate of mifsud to impugn Brexit and trump

[henry]

he disguised himself as a falcon.

[jimmyk]

Wasn’t Mifsud MIA for a long time? I recall people wondering if he was still breathing.

[Narciso]

Yes the dnc said he was no longer pining:

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/30/secret-texts-cast-light-uk-early-role-trump-russia-inquiry?__twitter_impression=true

Is every part of the UK intelligence establishment useless?

[jimmyk]

Meanwhile, Taranto catches the AP in a willful distortion, a day ending in y.

https://twitter.com/jamestaranto/status/1155285703166705665

[Old Lurker]

#2weeks, TK?

[Narciso]

Mi 5 is supposed to be doing domestic surveillance like say the terror cell that declared itself on BBC televidion

[Melinda]

Nuance:

https://twitter.com/antielabhk/status/1156186080736972800?s=21

[MissMarple3]

Since henry reported that someone on Twitter said that the money in Baltimore was stolen, I will re-post what I said:

President Trump has worked in construction most of his life. He is used to looking at budgets and knows how much trash removal and building tear-downs cost. (I wouldn't have the faintest idea.)

Those raids on the mayor's home, offices, and associated places (I think there were 7 sites) no doubt confirmed his suspicions. He is also well aware of things politicians try to do like skimming and kick-backs.

And MORE fun; since the mayor made a huge amount selling her children's book to local health agencies, he knows about books as well, since he himself wrote a best-seller.

Which is ALSO why he made that pointed remark about the Obama's book deals!

I am enjoying this tremendously!

[Narciso]

So what did he do for the 12 years between the time he got his PhD and he became chief of cabinet?

[Thomas Collins]

TM's post is a perfect example of why I think the big kahunas will escape. Whatever fire there is behind the Mifsud smoke, many still in our intelligence agencies and federal law enforcement institutions have too much to lose not to keep the fire contained. The most Huber and Horowitz may accomplish is some swamp draining. But even OL couldn't develop this swamp into a nice mall.

[henry]

vid at link:

Harry Cherry
@TheHarryCherry

President Donald Trump: "What Elijah Cummings should do is take his Oversight Committee, bring them down to Baltimore and really study the Billions and Billions of Dollars that's been stolen"

"See if you can find the Billions"

"As you know, Cummings has been in charge"

https://twitter.com/TheHarryCherry/status/1156206148636348416

[Momto2]

I had forgotten Joe/Mika were still on in the mornings. Does anyone watch those 2? Apparently, according to President Trump, very few do!

Love your new Maggie avatar, MM!

[Narciso]

One tip off us national guard dont carry arm bands with soamish initials on their uniforms

[MissMarple3]

Thanks, Momto2!

I forgot I had that photo on the computer. When I had to reregister, there she was! It makes me happy to see her!

[Jane]

I'm fascinated by Mifsud but in the meantime I'm taking bets.

The left, via the squad are squabbling about Muslims v Gay. Obviously they both can't be democrats - so who would you bet on? (Remember, the loser comes to us.)

[Momto2]

If all of this results in Cummings being investigated and his corruption exposed, can we attribute it to another manifestation of Haman's gallows? (Esther 7:10)

[Threadkiller]

Indeed, OL.

[hrtshpdbox]

Has tk commented on the utter illegality of the impending Harris-Gabbard ticket?

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/klayman/190712?fbclid=IwAR1TmoDPFV9hnnEu0eKVFTktOq2DAxMOVak1CS7D7-a1RD9Px4xbJOqjAxE

[Narciso]

Well in the UK it's the firmer that has privileges, consider the anagram curriculum in Birmingham, but they've reached critical mass.

[GUS]

He's officially a troll now.

[Narciso]

But they have reached critical mass over there,

[hrtshpdbox]

T Collins, I think once overseas people (the Five Eyes and all that) start getting their wings singed, the U.S. has to back away. Trump has no reason to burn bridges, he won't take the fight there.

[Rocco]

Nunes and Graham claim Muellers assessment of Misfud doesn't add up instead believing Misfud was a western intelligence asset.

Conservative defenders of President Trump, including former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have raised recent concerns that Mueller’s portrayal of the Mifsud-Papadopoulos contacts doesn’t add up.

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/454409-robert-mueller-soon-may-be-exposed-as-the-magician-of-omission-on-russia

[Melinda]

US News Dot Com, in the business section, has a warning to small plane owners that your avionics can be hacked.

Typhuspad refuses my linkage.

[Tom R]

Nobody said that. Not a soul. The argument has been and continues to be that DSW didn't provide any evidence to back up the Sharpton/Trump claim above. Additionally, and more importantly, neither have you.

OK you admit Sharpton was a FBI informant. That's a positive step. Remember a few months back when we were having a back and forth about Mueller and I pointed out Trump was a FBI informant when Mueller was FBI Director? You demanded I provide proof of that. I provided a link from a tweet that DawsonSFields had sent that links to the FBI Vault. For reasons unknown, the FBI decided to release their case files on their collaboration with Trump, which just happened to back up my point that Trump and Mueller had worked together in the past to take down organized crime. Instead of acknowledging the link, you dropped the subject like a hot potato and never commented on it.

That is why I said Fields is PROBABLY correct. Fields is an informed Twitter Sleuth, which I think irritates the hell out of you based on your frequent failed attempts to try and discredit him. Fields correctly pointed out that Trump and Sharpton were FBI informants at the same time and both were helping the Feds combat organized crime. Fields pointed out the obvious conclusion, reinforced by Trump's tweet yesterday that he has known Sharpton well for 25 years, that it was LIKELY the two of them worked together to help the Feds.
What is your motive for trying to discredit someone who made a logical observation like that?

It can be argued that you are smarter than this, but it is clear that this is the same pattern you have used in the majority of your posts.

Is the "same pattern" you refer to being factually correct and being able to logically defend my point of view?

You are getting less and less people here to defend that you aren't a troll, but acting like JOR for any much longer may fracture the resolve of those few JOMers.

A lot of people apparently don't know what the definition of a troll is. My bet is there is a strong correlation between people who think I'm a troll (or an idiot, or mentally ill) and people who are close-minded, intolerant of different opinions, and/or unwilling to admit what they perceived to be true, very often based on the misinformation of politicians and pundits, is not true at all. On that note, who do you believe was telling the truth: Gohmert or the Globe?

[Melinda]

That small aircraft warning is from DHS, FYI.

[Threadkiller]

#JOR

[GUS]

Tk, the little guy is mentally ill. Watch him dance.

[Threadkiller]

That article is spot on, Hrt.

[Narciso]

No I don't think so, however many of these promised leads dont check out, why wasnt banamex under criminal investigation for the time that Mueller and Comey were in charge.

[hrtshpdbox]

OK you admit Sharpton was a FBI informant.

I ain't going back and lookin'. Oswald was an FBI informant. Perhaps. He certainly did try to visit FBI Agent Hosty just a couple of weeks before killing JFK; Hosty was out, Oswald didn't get a chance to yell at Hosty for harrassing Marina, but he left a note for Hosty that has disappeared. I propose that any time any of us want to talk about anyone's hat color, we instead discuss that note!

OK, well I tried.

[hrtshpdbox]

tk, you'd figure at least some Dems would think that issues like that should be looked into before multi-zillion dollar campaigns are launched.

[hrtshpdbox]

Trump demands to know what happened to Oswald's note to Hosty!

Alright, I guess he doesn't demand that, but here's some background for him if he gets interested:
https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/13/archives/agent-tells-fate-of-oswald-note-says-he-flushed-it-down-drain-on.html

Who's worse, Hosty or McCabe? That's what everyone's asking.

[Threadkiller]

After the Republican cave-in wrt Obama's eligibility, Hrt, the dems have no reason to even consider this an issue.

[Narciso]

I went to school with the son of the guy who said he saw Oswald with a company operative.
One of the founders of alpha 66, which was led by ex rebels students poets

[Tom R]

Heart Shaped Box,

The only reason we are discussing Sharpton is because yesterday TK thought he could get away with discrediting DawsonSFields observation about Trump and Sharpton. Now that I have debunked that, he has adopted a different tactic and is trying to compare me to whoever JOR was.

[hrtshpdbox]

Tom R, my "point", besides a never-ending desire to be silly, in bringing up something as left-field as JFK's assassination when referencing your Sharpton comment is this - the FBI will get info from whoever they can, and that fact alone won't stop them from turning around to arrest that person in the next breath, and that fact alone doesn't indicate in any way whether the informant is reliable or of good character. Something like that.

[MissMarple3]

JFK was assassinated in the fall of my sophomore year in high school. We were sitting in the basement rec room watching the coverage on CBS.

They were getting ready to move Oswald and my dad, who had spent his childhood on a Texas ranch, said "They better have that guy under guard or some Texan will shoot him," and just then Ruby came in and shot Oswald right in front of us!

[hrtshpdbox]

Narciso, Oswald was an extremely odd bird and he seems to pop up Zelig-like in more than a few curious places. Even Bugliosi, who takes the standard prosecutor burn-down-Atlanta approach to a "case", concedes that Oswald was travelling through Texas with anti-Castro forces directly after distributing pro-Castro literature in New Orleans.

[Tom R]

Heart Shaped Box,

Got it. No one was defending Sharpton's character. If you believe that video of the former Mafia guy that I linked yesterday he said the reason Sharpton became a FBI informant was because he got caught either with drugs or trying to peddle drugs so the FBI had leverage on him. In other words, Sharpton didn't become a FBI informant voluntarily.

[Narciso]

According to baers chase down the rabbit hole, the connection might have extended farther pasr

[hrtshpdbox]

Miss M, I was in 2d-grade in Queens, NY Public School 32. Teacher started crying, school closed down, everyone got released into the playground to wait for parents to come get them. I saw Ruby get shot on TV, too, and even as a little kid I knew it was "real" and not a cartoon.

[James D.]

Did we need more proof that the Ivy League is a total horrible sham?

https://www.thecollegefix.com/harvard-med-school-remains-tight-lipped-about-transgender-overhaul-of-curriculum/

[Narciso]

And be was the senior agent in charge in Dallas, baer debunked some of the craziness through acoustic and ballistics tests but came up with other angles.

[Old Lurker]

TC I agree with your Major Point and with your Minor Point (Mall Conversion).

Rome in large part was brought down eventually when its entrenched bureaucracy became so powerful and intrusive that it could not be supported with all the taxation and regulation required to feed it.

We ran from England for many of the same reasons (read the list of complaints in the Declaration of Independence).

Sadly, unlike in those and in so many similar declines, we are running, have run, out of places to run and start over.

[Threadkiller]

Trust me, Tom, JOR is a perfect description of you and your strawmaning. Everyone has caught on.

Now we all wait for you to explain your motive that involves defending Mueller against Trump's wishes.

Oh that's right. You don't want to explain your motive. I'll take a guess. As you have shifted goalposts here for many years you have laid a trail of breadcrumbs so you could find your way back to an "I told you so" event. Unfortunately you left a trail of mousetraps that you keep stepping in as you zig and zag.

Your current position is to no longer get things wrong by not staking a serious position that everyone else will hold against you. Keeping your motive a secret isn't what is going on. You just don't want to add to your record of being wrong.

[Rocco]

I saw a documentary about Joe Kennedy visiting Giancana before the election. No one knows what was said behind those closed doors but we do know that the unions in Chicago stuffed the ballot boxes to give Kennedy the win. Then the first thing Robert Kennedy did when appointed US AG was go after the mob.

[Old Lurker]

TK "Now we all wait for you to explain your motive"

TK, if one wanted to design and deploy a poster who could destroy a blog from within in order to silence a specific group, what better device could you imagine?

[James D.]

From that article I just linked. This is the kicker:

According to HMS’s website, the initiative was made possible by a $1.5 million gift from the Cohen and Bull-Cohen families, motivated in part by Perry Cohen’s difficulty finding physicians. Cohen, who is transgender, recalls that finding doctors with the practical knowledge to treat transgender patients proved difficult, not because of discrimination, but rather, a gap in their medical knowledge. “It wasn’t about malice; it wasn’t about not affirming me, but rather, they had this look of, ‘Oh, no, I don’t know if I’ll be able to help this patient’,” Cohen said.

That significant donation may prove consequential not just to Harvard but to medical schools everywhere. Halem told Simmons University: “Because we have financial support, we can replicate our curriculum and bring it to other medical schools across the country — maybe even around the world.”

Replicated all around the country and the world. It’s not just Harvard going mad, it’s building the madness into the foundation of medical education everywhere.

The giant civilization ending asteroid can’t come soon enough.

[Tom R]

Since the topic of this thread is Misfud, does the nature of the discussion change if it turns out Popodapolous was a neocon plant in both the Carson and then Trump campaigns to pass on the neocons in the Swamp the details of what was going on inside the two campaigns he worked for?

[Threadkiller]

No kidding, OL.

[Old Lurker]

James "The giant civilization ending asteroid can’t come soon enough."

Oh, the asteroid that will do that is here already.

[hrtshpdbox]

Narciso, I think Robert Bear, ex-CIA, led a years-later JFK inquiry but at the time of the assassination wasn't involved with the agency (was too young). I might not be getting what you're saying, though.

[Captain Hate]

TK, if one wanted to design and deploy a poster who could destroy a blog from within in order to silence a specific group, what better device could you imagine?

Writing #2weeks

[Narciso]

Yes hes done a private investigation in part relying on documents that wrrent available well bill kurtis embarrassed himself in 1988.

[MissMarple3]

Another great thread by Brian Cates (@drawandstrike):

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1156178389646155777.html

In the video at the end, he doesn't just talk about Baltimore. He talks about "other democrat-run cities" having stolen and wasted money as well.

I wonder if that big budget he signed onto was intended as a trap. Ha!

[henry]

Debra Heine @NiceDeb
14h

Joe diGenova: The DOJ Will Begin Dropping ‘Hugely Embarrassing’ Declassified Documents on Wednesday

https://twitter.com/NiceDeb/status/1156001999827034112

[Tom R]

TK @ 11:20 translated

I am not going to admit I was wrong about DawsonSFields who made a logical observation and Tom R did nothing wrong in agreeing with Fields. Instead I will continue to evade any points Tom R makes that I am incapable of providing a counterpoint to and instead will try to put him on the defensive by making multiple attacks on his character which I know due to my popularity here at JOM no one will say anything about.

Gohmert or the Globe?

Have a MAGA day TK.

[hrtshpdbox]

Got it, Narciso; yes, I see Jefferson Morley referencing Baer, and he's been pretty good.

[Captain Hate]

Tom, I'm generally supportive of what you try to do here but "translating" other commenters is a lowlife thing to do.

Everybody's pissing me off today. I should do other things.

[Narciso]

Well hes chased too many blind alleys, as we see almost day to say, these agencies dont know a heck of alot, what they do know they dont share.

[henry]

Here might be the Solomon (may have misdirected earlier). Puts Wray in a bad context.

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/455228-chris-wrays-fbi-continues-to-cover-for-team-comeys-russia-shenanigans

[Threadkiller]

Writing #2weeks

I took that to be typical JOM humor after Melinda joined in with saying it as well. He is of the mindset that there is a greater strategy afoot, but manages to make his observations without being pretentious.

Tom, on the other hand writes things like:

OK you admit Sharpton was a FBI informant. That's a positive step.

The discussion was never about that. His strawman was.

That is disruptive.

[Threadkiller]

Sorry I contributed to that, CH.

I'll go ice my foot for awhile.

[Narciso]

It's just frustrating the same lies get played back for two threw years now, despite thsre is a parallel track with evidence.

[GUS]

Tk and OL. Standing ovation. This dude is garbage, it's psychological for him. He absolutely CRAVES....CONTROL, ATTENTION and begs for AFFIRMATION.

And that's being nice.

[rich]

afternoon all.

[Narciso]

Shirley they cant be serious:

https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/07/man-allegedly-behind-9-11-willing-to-help-victims-lawsuit-to-avoid-execution/

[Captain Hate]

rich,

My Oktoberfest starts later today.

[henry]

Melinda tried to link to this story earlier (different source)

MarketWatch @MarketWatch
47s

U.S. warns that small planes are vulnerable to hacking

https://twitter.com/MarketWatch/status/1156234689109250048

[rse]

Well, the inevitable fall finally happened with my dad, but under circumstances that demonstrate he must have a guardian angel. I just knew it would happen on the steep stairs coming up from garage while he still lived at home. Mom would follow him behind and they would have this tumbled together.

She is sitting outside last night in the fenced memory garden and apparently he got up to walk. Me, I take his hand now or arm just above his elbow so I could catch him if needed. Mom let's him walk on the concrete sidewalk but not too far from her. He falls over but lands in some begonias instead of hitting his head on the concrete.

Needless to say, he is going nowhere now so this morning my mom went with the diva to pick out a kitten. She had them as a child as did her mom and grandmother but my dad did not like cats after one scratched him badly as a young adult.

Bro still hasn't spoken to me since I pushed so hard for the memorycare after mom's er visit.

[Melinda]

Narc,

Bill Kurtis made a nice living not asking the right questions as a Chicago newsman/anchor/meat puppet.

He founded and runs his own PR shop, now, so his ViaCom cut has been reduced.

[rich]

>>>My Oktoberfest starts later today.

Posted by: Captain Hate | July 30, 2019 at 12:01 PM<<<

nice anything special this season.

[Gentlejim]

Captain,
Since you’re already pissed off I figure I’d add that craft beer is for Nancy boys.

:)

[clarice]

rse, your brother is being unreasonable. I hope you won't let that continue to bother you. You've saved your father and mother's lives with this tep.

[clarice]

s/b Step

[Melinda]

Hah!

"More Expensive Rat Poison."

https://twitter.com/EddyElfenbein/status/1156236312074211329

[Old Lurker]

Cap'n is cute when he is pissed off, isn't he?

:-)

[Narciso]

Sorry to hest that rse, that happened with my grandmother

[Melinda]

TK-

When it happens, I'll be changing that hashtag and will be aiming to time it mid-beverage for you. My clock is already ticking down....

[henry]

Melinda, can I have a two week heads up for that? I'll want time to lay in a special beverage.

[joan]

rse,

I think I'd ignore my brother. He's choosing to be uninformed about your parents' needs, as well as an apparent bully when he doesn't get his way. Hope I'm not too harsh, but his anger doesn't give him a vote in their care.

Best regards to you during this period. And, so glad your dad had beautiful begonias to cushion his tumble. :)

[henry]

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
1m

Great reception in Jamestown by both REPUBLICANS & DEMOCRATS. Respect for our Country’s incredible Heritage. Thank you!

[Melinda]

Too late, we're inside that window already....

[henry]

Does that mean moar hair sniffing?

The Wall Street Journal @WSJ
10m

Joe Biden promises to be “less polite” in tonight’s debate. Whether he delivers is one question heading into the contest. Here are 4 more.

[rich]

so the hash tag has been changed to lessthan2weeks?

[MissMarple3]

We are very encouraged that @SenBillCassidy and @SenatorSinema have released the first bipartisan framework for #PaidFamilyLeave legislation.https://t.co/QNPJdMK53f

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) July 30, 2019

Link goes to statement from Cassidy's office.

[MissMarple3]

Craig Caplan‏Verified account @CraigCaplan · 18h18 hours ago

Senate failed in three separate attempts to override President Trump's vetoes of resolutions blocking US arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE and other countries, falling short of 2/3rds votes needed (45-40, 45-39 and 46-41).

===================
This is from a guy from C=SPAN.

[MissMarple3]

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump · 8m8 minutes ago

 More

Great reception in Jamestown by both REPUBLICANS & DEMOCRATS. Respect for our Country’s incredible Heritage. Thank you!

[Extraneus]

#OneDay, according to deGenova.

[henry]

Paid Family leave? Because money grows on trees? Hell no.

[MissMarple3]

Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor today and told the dems as much as to go to hell. This was retweeted by the President.

https://twitter.com/senatemajldr/status/1155949605147648006

[GUS]

Capn is cute all the time!!

BRECKENRIDGE VANILLA PORTER.

Discuss.

[Captain Hate]

rich,

They're starting to roll them out early as usual. I'll have a Market Garden Old Zahn later on but I'm really ready for Sierra Nevada's annual collaboration with a different German brewer

[henry]

CNBC @CNBC
3m

Jeffrey Epstein got court documents claiming he raped 15-year-old girl day before he was injured jail in cell cnb.cx/2K2rcwm

https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1156241547115028480

[MissMarple3]

Retweeted by the President. Video and article at the link.

Mitch McConnell argues Dem's 'Moscow Mitch' moniker is 'modern-day McCarthyism' https://t.co/1lAyMij6IW pic.twitter.com/1YWXdl3bj8

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 30, 2019