DELEITURAS

The majority whip of the House of Representatives raised the possibility of giving into President Donald Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion in border security, but with the caveat that it not go toward construction of a wall.

“We see ourselves fulfilling that request” with a “smart wall,” Democratic South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn said to reporters Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Clyburn suggested a compromise bill that could include funding for more border patrol agents, x-rays, sensors and drones. However, the house majority whip said such legislation would bar funding for a border wall.

The proposal, if passed in the House, would likely die in the Republican-controlled Senate and would certainly not be signed if it reached Trump’s desk.

The president has stood firm in his demand for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. However, the $5.7 billion he’s requesting goes toward much more than just wall construction. Trump’s border security package also includes $675 million for increased inspection technology; $571 million for an another 2,000 law enforcement agents; $563 million to fund 75 more immigration judges and staff to handle the backlogged immigration courts; and $211 million to hire an additional 750 Border Patrol agents.

While the offer would likely not suffice Trump’s demands, Clyburn’s proposal is a major shift from statements he recently made.

“[U]ntil the President releases his hostages — federal workers and the American people — there will be no negotiation,” the South Carolina Democrat said after Trump’s address Saturday. “End the shutdown now, and we can consider how a compromise giving lasting protections for Dreamers and TPS recipients may lead to a deal on border security.”

The Democratic leader’s pivot comes as the partial government shutdown entered its 33rd day Wednesday, the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The president offered a “common-sense compromise” Saturday, an offer that includes funding for the border wall in exchange for DACA protections for Dreamers and extended legal status for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi immediately rejected the compromise.

The Supreme Court will consider the Trump administration’s request to intervene in the ongoing legal fight over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on Friday.

DACA is an Obama-era amnesty initiative that extends temporary legal status to 700,000 foreign nationals who arrived in the U.S. as children.

The Trump administration took steps to terminate DACA in September 2017. Those moves were immediately challenged in federal court. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the government to continue administering the program on Jan. 9, 2018. The Department of Justice broke with normal judicial procedure and asked the Supreme Court to overturn that decision, bypassing the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The high court rejected that petition in February 2018, but ordered the 9th Circuit to “proceed expeditiously” in its review of Alsup’s decision. After months passed without a ruling from the 9th Circuit, the Justice Department returned to the Supreme Court on Nov. 5, 2018 and again asked the justices to take their case. Three days later on Nov. 8, the 9th Circuit issued a decision upholding Alsup’s order.

“More than ten months later, the court of appeals’ judgment is here and the Court is presented the opportunity it anticipated in February,” Solicitor General Noel Francisco — the government’s Supreme Court lawyer — wrote in court papers. “The Court should now grant At Trump’s Request, The Supreme Court May Soon Decide On Dismantling DACA

The Supreme Court will consider the Trump administration’s request to intervene in the ongoing legal fight over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on Friday. DACA is an Obama-era amnesty initiative that extends temporary legal status to 700,000 foreign nationals who arrived in the U.S. as children. The Trump administration took steps to terminate DACA in September 2017. Those moves were immediately challenged in federal court. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the government to continue administering the program on Jan. 9, 2018. The Department of Justice broke with normal judicial procedure and asked the Supreme Court to…

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and resolve this important dispute this term.”

Other challenges to DACA’s repeal are pending before appeals courts in New York and Washington, D.C.

The Trump administration urged the justices to take its case because the 9th Circuit’s ruling conflicts with a prior decision of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program.

Like DACA, DAPA is an Obama-era policy which provides benefits to illegal aliens whose children are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. When multiple appeals courts disagree over the same question of federal law, the high court is much more likely to step in.

The government also said that it will be forced to abide widespread disregard for immigration laws if the Supreme Court rejects its petition.

“The district court’s nationwide injunction commands the government to preserve a policy that affirmatively sanctions the ongoing violation of federal law by 700,00 aliens who have no lawful immigration status and no right to the policy’s continuation,” Francisco told the justices in court filings. “Absent this Court’s intervention, the government will be required to maintain the policy nationwide for years after DHS and the Attorney General determined that it should end.”

Some Republican lawmakers have floated the prospect of enacting DACA protections as part of a grand bargain to implement comprehensive immigration reform and reopen the government. Vice President Mike Pence said that the White House will not consider a deal which includes DACA until the Supreme Court decides on its legality during a gaggle with reporters on Thursday afternoon.

The justices could announce a decision to take the case as soon as Friday afternoon.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller will not issue any additional indictments in the Russia investigation and has not filed any charges under seal, a senior Justice Department official told news outlets Friday.

The revelation would seem to be a positive sign for President Donald Trump and several Trump associates who faced legal jeopardy in the Mueller probe. It also means that no Trump associates will face charges related to the main focus of the special counsel’s investigation: whether Trump of members of his campaign conspired with Russians to influence the 2016 election.

Mueller was appointed special counsel on May 17, 2017. In those 22 months, Mueller has indicted or obtained guilty pleas from six Trump associates, most recently on Jan. 24 against Roger Stone. None of the Trump associates faced charges related to contacts with Russia.

Mueller provided a report of his investigation on Friday to Attorney General William Barr, signaling the end of the probe. Barr notified the leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees that he had received the report and would likely provide more details to Congress over the weekend.

Trump critics have long speculated that Mueller would release a slew of indictments prior to or shortly after submitting his final report. Others asserted that Mueller had filed a batch of sealed indictments that would be released at some point during the probe.

None of those predictions proved accurate.

Ron Rockwell Hansen, 58, a resident of Syracuse, Utah, and a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer, pleaded guilty today in the District of Utah in connection with his attempted transmission of national defense information to the People’s Republic of China.

Hansen retired from the U.S. Army as a Warrant Officer with a background in signals intelligence and human intelligence.  He speaks fluent Mandarin-Chinese and Russian.  DIA hired Hansen as a civilian intelligence case officer in 2006.  Hansen held a Top Secret clearance for many years, and signed several non-disclosure agreements during his tenure at DIA and as a government contractor.

As Hansen admitted in the plea agreement, in early 2014, agents of a Chinese intelligence service targeted Hansen for recruitment and he began meeting with them regularly in China.  During those meetings, the Chinese agents described to Hansen the type of information that would interest the Chinese intelligence service.  During the course of his relationship with the agents of the Chinese intelligence service, Hansen received hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation for information he provided them, including information he gathered at various industry conferences.  Between May 24, 2016 and June 2, 2018, Hansen solicited from an intelligence case officer working for the DIA national defense information that Hansen knew the Chinese intelligence service would find valuable.  Hansen agreed to act as a conduit to sell that information to the Chinese.  Hansen advised the DIA case officer how to record and transmit classified information without detection, and explained how to hide and launder any funds received as payment for classified information.  The DIA case officer reported Hansen’s conduct to the DIA and subsequently acted as a confidential human source for the FBI.

As Hansen further admitted in the plea agreement, Hansen met with the DIA case officer on June 2, 2018, and received from that individual documents containing national defense information that Hansen previously solicited.  The documents Hansen received were classified. The information in the documents related to the national defense of the United States in that it related to United States military readiness in a particular region and was closely held by the United States government.  Hansen reviewed the documents, queried the DIA case officer about their contents, and took written notes about the materials relating to the national defense information.  Hansen advised the DIA case officer that he would remember most of the details about the documents he received that day and would conceal some notes about the material in the text of an electronic document that Hansen would prepare at the airport before leaving for China.  Hansen intended to provide the information he received to the agents of the Chinese intelligence service with whom he had been meeting, and Hansen knew that the information was to be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of a foreign nation.

Hansen pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to gather or deliver national defense information to aid a foreign government.  The plea agreement calls for an agreed-upon sentence of 15 years.

NEW YORK — During the month of February 2019, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal’s (ERO) deportation officers assigned to the New York Field Office arrested more than 20 criminal aliens throughout their area of responsibility, after they were released from local law enforcement custody with an active immigration detainer in place.

“The sanctuary city politics of this city continue to put the safety of New York residents at risk,” said Thomas R. Decker, field office director for ERO NY. “We need our elected officials to stop the rhetoric. The fact remains that ICE makes this city safer by removing criminal aliens and public threats off the street so they are unable to reoffend, victimizing our city residents.”

Case Examples

• Bronx County: An unlawfully present Guyanese national, was arrested by local authorities for Assault 2nd, Assault 3rd, Reckless Endangerment, Menacing, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon. A detainer was issued, but was not honored and he was released. On Feb. 8, ERO deportation officers arrested him in the Bronx. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending a removal hearing before an immigration judge.
• Bronx County: An unlawfully present Mexican national, was arrested by local authorities for Robbery 2nd: Aided by Another, and Robbery 2nd: Cause Physical Injury. A detainer was issued, but was not honored and he was released. On Feb. 8, ERO deportation officers arrested him in the Bronx. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending a removal hearing before an immigration judge.
• Bronx County: An unlawfully present Dominican national, was arrested by local authorities for Criminal Sale of Marijuana, Criminal Possession of Marijuana, and Unlawful Possession of Marijuana. A detainer was issued, but was not honored and he was released. On Feb. 8, ERO deportation officers arrested him in the Bronx. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending a removal hearing before an immigration judge.
• Kings County: An unlawfully present Italian national, was arrested by local authorities for Criminal Tax Fraud. A detainer was issued, but was not honored and he was released. On Feb. 25, ERO deportation officers arrested him in Brooklyn. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending removal to Italy.
• Kings County: An unlawfully present Spanish national, was arrested by local authorities for Assault, menacing, Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, and Harassment. A detainer was issued, but was not honored and he was released. On Feb. 26, ERO deportation officers arrested him in Brooklyn. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending removal to Spain.
• New York County: An unlawfully present Mexican national, was arrested by local authorities for Assault 2nd, Assault 3rd, and Criminal Obstruction of Breathing or Blood Circulation. He A detainer was issued, but was not honored and he was released. He subsequently plead guilty to Assault 3rd. On Feb. 26, ERO deportation officers arrested him in Manhattan. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending a removal hearing before an immigration judge.
• Queens County: An unlawfully present Mexican national, was arrested by local authorities for Assault 2nd , Act in Manner Injure Child Less Than 17, Escape, Harassment 2nd: Physical Contact. The victim in this case was under the age of 11. A detainer was issued, but was not honored and he was released. On Feb. 6, ERO deportation officers arrested him in Kew Gardens. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending a removal hearing before an immigration judge.
• Queens County: An unlawfully present Mexican national, was arrested by local authorities for Criminal Contempt: Disobey Court. A detainer was issued, but was not honored and he was released. On Feb. 19, ERO deportation officers arrested him in Kew Gardens. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending a removal hearing before an immigration judge.
•  Queens County: An unlawfully present Colombian national, was arrested by local authorities in October 2018 for Strangulation, Assault, and Harassment, and again in December 2018 for Robbery, and Assault. A detainer was issued each time, but was not honored and he was released. On Feb. 26, ERO deportation officers arrested him in Kew Gardens. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending a removal hearing before an immigration judge.
• Rockland County: An unlawfully present Guatemalan national, was arrested by local authorities for Rape. A detainer was issued to the county jail, but was not honored and he was released. On Feb. 26, ERO deportation officers arrested him in Spring Valley. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending a removal hearing before an immigration judge.
• Suffolk County: An unlawfully present Salvadoran national, and MS-13 associate, was arrested by local authorities for DWI. A detainer was issued, but was not honored and he was released. On Feb. 27, ERO deportation officers arrested him in Brentwood. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending removal to El Salvador.
• Westchester County: An unlawfully present Colombian national, was arrested by local authorities for Assault 2nd: Intent to Cause Serious Physical Injury. A detainer was issued to the county jail, but was not honored due to Westchester County’s Immigrant Protection Act. He was later sentenced to a year in prison. On March 1, ERO deportation officers arrested him in Valhalla. He is currently detained in ICE custody pending a removal hearing before an immigration judge.

ERO New York Operations

In Fiscal Year 2018, the New York field office made more than 3,400 arrests in their area of responsibility (southernmost 14 counties of New York State) – approximately 87 percent of those individuals either had a prior criminal conviction or had criminal charges pending, pursuant to their arrest by a law enforcement agency. In a region with a population of approximately 8-10 million residents, these statistics clearly illustrate that ERO New York prioritizes its daily targeted enforcement efforts, on criminals and public safety threats. Reports of ICE raids, sweeps or checkpoints are false, dangerous and irresponsible. These reports create panic and put communities and law enforcement personnel in unnecessary danger. Any groups falsely reporting such activities are doing a disservice to those they claim to support.

ERO New York Arrests

Description	FY 2017	FY 2018
Criminals	1,902	2,217
Pending Criminal Charges	N/A	804
Total Criminal Arrests:		3,021
Non-Criminals	674	455
Total Arrests:	2,576	3,476

About Detainers

Detainers serve as a legally authorized request, upon which a law enforcement agency may rely, to continue to maintain custody of an alien for up to 48 hours so that ICE may assume custody for removal purposes. Pursuant to ICE policy, all ICE detainers are submitted with an accompanying administrative arrest warrant or warrant of removal depending upon the circumstances of the individual case. ICE places immigration detainers when the agency possesses probable cause to believe an alien is deportable from the United States.

Congress has established no process, requirement, or expectation directing ICE to seek a judicial warrant from already overburdened federal courts before taking custody of an alien on civil immigration violations. This idea is simply a figment created by those who wish to undermine immigration enforcement and excuse the ill-conceived practices of sanctuary jurisdictions that put politics before public safety.

When law enforcement agencies fail to honor immigration detainers and release a criminal alien onto the streets, they have declined an ICE detainer. This negatively impacts public safety and ICE’s efficiency in the apprehension of criminal aliens. Federal immigration laws authorize DHS to issue detainers and provide ICE broad authority to detain removable aliens.

Sanctuary Policies Put Public Safety at Risk

• These dangerous policies leave ICE with no choice but to increase enforcement in neighborhoods and workplaces to locate and arrest these persons while they are at-large – increasing the likelihood that other individuals previously not targeted for arrest will be taken into ICE custody.
• It is safer for everyone if ICE takes custody of an alien in the controlled environment of another law enforcement agency as opposed to visiting an alien’s residence, place of work, or other public area. Arresting a criminal in the safety, security, and privacy of a jail is always the best option.
• When law enforcement agencies don’t honor ICE detainers, these individuals, who often have significant criminal histories, are released onto the street, presenting a potential public safety threat. When ICE Fugitive Operations officers have to go out into the community to proactively locate these criminal aliens, regardless of the precautions they take, it needlessly puts our personnel and potentially innocent bystanders in harm’s way.
• Moreover, tracking down our priority fugitives is highly resource intensive. It’s not uncommon for our criminal alien targets to utilize multiple aliases and provide authorities with false addresses. Many do not have a stable place of employment.

ERO New York’s Area of Responsibility

The City of New York, and the following counties: Dutchess, Nassau, Orange,  Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal” resolution calls on the federal government to provide economic security for those “unwilling to work.”

A “Green New Deal” FAQ posted on Ocasio-Cortez’s congressional website says a “Green New Deal” Would guarantee “[e]conomic security to all who are unable or unwilling to work.” In other words, people who may not want to work.

The same line is on the FAQ Ocasio-Cortez’s staff gave to NPR along with the actual text of the resolution. The “Green New Deal” resolution’s actual text simply calls for “economic security for all people of the United States.”

However, the legislation does put “economic security” on a list of things the government should provide, including “high-quality health care,” “affordable, safe, and adequate housing” and “access to clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and nature.”

Ocasio-Cortez unveiled her “Green New Deal” resolution Thursday alongside Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, who introduced a companion bill in the Senate. Markey’s bill is co-sponsored by 2020 presidential contenders, including Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California.

Ocasio-Cortez said the House version had more than 60 co-sponsors, including Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. The bill is unlikely to pass the House and has zero chance of passing the Senate.

House Democratic leadership hasn’t lined up behind the “Green New Deal.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed the resolution as a “suggestion” that would only be on option her party considered.

“It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive,” Pelosi told Politico Wednesday. “The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they’re for it, right?”

“No, I think it is a green dream,” Ocasio-Cortez responded at an event Thursday to promote her resolution. “I think that all great American programs, everything from the Great Society to the New Deal. Started with a vision for our future, and I don’t consider that to be a dismissive term. I think it’s a great term.”

Justice Department official Bruce Ohr’s testimony about his meetings with FBI officials regarding dossier author Christopher Steele severely undercuts claims made last year by California Rep. Adam Schiff and his fellow Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee.

Ohr told lawmakers on Aug. 28 that he briefed top FBI officials Andrew McCabe and Lisa Page in early August 2016, just days after he met with Steele, a former British spy who was investigating Donald Trump.

Ohr testified that he told McCabe and Page about his interactions with Steele, who was working at the time for Fusion GPS, a Democrat-funded opposition research firm.

The FBI relied heavily on Steele’s unverified dossier to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Republicans have focused on the Ohrs’ link to the dossier and Steele.

In a memo dated Feb. 2, 2018, House Intelligence Republicans, led by then-Chairman Devin Nunes, asserted that the FBI filed to disclose in their FISA applications that Ohr’s wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS. They also noted in the so-called Nunes memo that the FISA applications do not reveal Steele’s anti-Trump bias. Ohr claimed that Steele told him during a meeting on Sept. 23, 2016 that he was “desperate” that Trump not win election.

Ohr testified that he had shared details of his contacts with Steele with the FBI prior to the election.

In addition to the meeting in early August 2016, Ohr met in late September 2016 or early the next month with Page, FBI counterintelligence deputy chief Peter Strzok, and Justice Department officials Bruce Swartz, Zainab Ahmad, and Andrew Weissmann. Ahmad and Weissmann are currently working on the special counsel’s investigation.

The FBI obtained its first FISA against Page weeks after that meeting, on Oct. 21, 2016.

Ohr’s testimony conflicts with House Intelligence Democrats’ claim in a memo released on Feb. 24, 2018 that served as a rebuttal to the Nunes memo.

That document sought to defend the FBI’s handling of the Steele dossier and its applications for the first FISA warrant.

Democrats asserted that Ohr did not meet with the FBI until after the 2016 election and thus had no opportunity to tell the FBI that his wife worked for Fusion GPS. He was also unable to relay that Steele had communicated anti-Trump bias to him.

“[Republicans] mischaracterize[s] Bruce Ohr’s role, overstates the significance of his interactions with Steele, and misleads about the timeframe of Ohr’s communication with the FBI,” the so-called Schiff memo reads.

Democrats claimed that only in “late November 2016” did Ohr inform the FBI “his prior professional relationship with Steele and information that Steele shared with him.”

“This occurred weeks after the election and more than a month after the Court approved the initial FISA application,” reads the memo, which included the emphasis on “after.”

“The Majority’s reference to Bruce Ohr is misleading,” Democrats asserted.

The revelations in Ohr’s testimony create a bit of a dilemma for Schiff, who is now chairman of the House Intelligence panel.

In a Feb. 6, 2018 interview with The Atlantic, Schiff remarked on “how flawed the Nunes memo is.”

Negotiations to keep one of the biggest coal power plants in the U.S. in operation have stalled, placing hundreds of Native American workers at risk of losing their jobs.

Owners of the Navajo Generating Station — a 2,250-megawatt coal-fired plant in northern Arizona — say talks to transfer ownership of the facility have reached a standstill, and they are moving forward with plans to decommission the plant by Dec. 22. The announcement is the latest in a string of bad news for supporters of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS).

Salt River Project, Arizona Public Service, NV Energy and Tuscon Electric Power — all joint owners of NGS — announced in February 2017 that they would be closing the plant down by the end of 2019, claiming its continued operation to be unprofitable. Since that time, there has been a concerted effort to find a buyer and save the more than 700 related jobs to the plant.

Middle River Power, a private equity firm based in Chicago, had been in talks to acquire NGS, but backed out in September after failing to find enough potential buyers of power. Since that time, the Navajo Transitional Energy Company — a coal company created and owned by the Navajo Nation — is actively pursing its options on buying the plant.

However, talks reached an impasse when NGS owners asked the Navajo Transitional Energy Company (NTEC) to take on any known and unknown liabilities, such as land restoration and whatever environmental regulations may be enacted in the future. The Navajo have framed the pledge as unnecessary.

“While the owners have been willing to explore avenues for NTEC to assume ownership of NGS, NTEC is not able to provide the required assurances to protect the plant’s owners, their customers and shareholders in the event of a sale. Because of the time challenges to meet their decommissioning obligations, the owners will continue to move forward with plans to decommission NGS later this year,” Salt River Project spokesman Scott Harelson said in a statement.

The breakdown in negations puts hundreds of jobs at risk, and would likely devastate the surrounding Native American communities. The vast majority of the employees working at NGS — and the Kayenta Mine that supplies its coal — belong to the nearby Navajo Nation and Hopi tribe. In fact, the NGS plant and mine together provide nearly $40 million in annual revenue to the Navajo Nation. Loss of the coal plant would be brutal for a community that already suffers from sky-high unemployment rates.

However, not all is lost for NGS supporters.

Navajo Transitional Energy Company leaders are still hopeful they can reach a deal, and the Navajo Nation Council will continue meeting with company representatives in order to reach a compromise.

A woman who attacked a man sporting a “Make America Great Again” hat was apprehended Tuesday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after authorities discovered she is unlawfully present in the U.S.

“Deportation officers with ICE’s Fugitive Operations Team arrested Rosiane Santos, an unlawfully present citizen of Brazil, today near Falmouth, Massachusetts,” ICE spokesman John Mohan said, CBS News reported Tuesday.

“Santos is currently facing local charges for assault and other offenses. She is presently in ICE custody and has been entered into removal proceedings before the federal immigration courts,” Mohan added.

Authorities charged Santos with disorderly conduct after she attacked Bryton Turner at a restaurant in Falmouth, Massachusetts, CBS reported on Feb. 21. Santos batted the hat off Turner’s head and commenced verbally assaulting him, according to Falmouth Police.

“It’s just a hat at the end of the day,” Turner said after the incident, according to CBS. “I don’t really understand why people can’t just express themselves anymore, everybody has to get mad.”

• A non-profit group linked to Fusion GPS has ties to a cybersecurity firm recently implicated in a self-described “false flag” operation in the Alabama Senate race.
• The Democracy Integrity Project, which works with Fusion GPS and dossier author Christopher Steele, partnered before the 2018 midterms with New Knowledge, an Austin-based firm that has been tied to an operation that created fake Russian bots in Alabama’s December 2017 special election.
• New Knowledge recently produced a report for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and TDIP’s founder was in contact with two Democrats from the committee. 

A nonprofit group linked to Fusion GPS and partially funded by George Soros worked in recent months with a technology company implicated in a scheme to use fake Russian bots during Alabama’s special Senate election.

The groups, the Democracy Integrity Project (TDIP) and New Knowledge, partnered before the 2018 mid-terms to track alleged Russian disinformation networks, a website the organizations collaboratively run shows.

Both organizations have links to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), which is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, as well as possible Trump campaign collusion.

SSCI provided New Knowledge with data from various social media companies as part of an investigation into Russian disinformation networks, according to a report New Knowledge released Dec. 17. Two days later, news broke that New Knowledge’s chief executive was involved in a self-described “false flag” operation in the special election for a Senate seat in Alabama, as was another staffer who was the lead author on the Senate report.

TDIP is also linked to the Senate Intelligence panel. Its founder, Daniel J. Jones, was previously a staffer for Democrats on SSCI. He was also in contact in early 2017 with Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the Democratic vice chairman of SSCI. As part of TDIP’s own Trump-Russia investigation, the group hired Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele, the author of the anti-Trump dossier.

The extent of Warner’s contacts with Jones remain unclear.

The collaboration between TDIP and New Knowledge, which has not been previously reported, involved a dashboard set up at the site, Disinfo2018.com, which tracked “social media disinformation networks — to include suspected foreign state-actors — conducting information warfare against the American public prior to the 2018 U.S. midterm elections.”

The project appears similar to Hamilton 68, a dashboard operated by the Alliance for Security Democracy. Jonathon Morgan, the founder of New Knowledge, helped create Hamilton 68 and has appeared frequently in the media to discuss Russia’s disinformation efforts.

In an interview with BBC, Morgan claimed Russians were behind #ReleaseTheMemo, the hashtag used to call for the release of a memo from House Intel Republicans that questioned the FBI’s reliance on the unverified Steele dossier to obtain surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

But New Knowledge and Morgan are now known for their tactics during the December 2017 Alabama special election.

The New York Times published a damning exposé Dec. 19, 2018, showing New Knowledge operatives targeted conservative Alabamans with fake Facebook pages intended to sow doubt about Roy Moore, the controversial Republican candidate.

The operatives also created thousands of fake Russian Twitter accounts set to follow Moore. The effect was that numerous news outlets reported Moore was being supported by a Russian disinformation network.

New Knowledge has come under heavy criticism following the report, largely because the firm’s tactics in Alabama so closely mirrored the Russian efforts they say they oppose. Morgan, a former State Department adviser, said the Alabama project was merely an experiment that had no impact on the special election, which was won by Democrat Doug Jones.

The Washington Post reported New Knowledge authored a document describing the Alabama false flag operation, but Morgan has denied that claim and said he was unaware of most of the activities detailed in it.

New Knowledge’s Senate report on Russian disinformation networks makes clear its investigation was undertaken at the request of SSCI. But an SSCI official told TheDCNF the committee did not pay New Knowledge and TDIP has never been hired for any work. The official also noted that SSCI does not necessarily endorse New Knowledge’s findings.

TDIP has maintained a lower profile than New Knowledge. Most of what’s known about the group has been revealed only through Adam Waldman, an attorney who had contact with the organization in 2017. Information that Jones, the TDIP founder, provided to the FBI was also released in an April 27, 2018, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence report.

Jones, who registered TDIP on Jan. 31, 2017, told the FBI in late March 2017 his organization had hired Fusion GPS and Steele, a former MI6 officer, to continue investigations into Russian meddling in the U.S. elections that began with funding from the DNC and Clinton campaign. Jones also told the FBI that the project had received $50 million in funding from between seven and 10 wealthy liberal donors.

IRS records suggest that TDIP did not receive all of that funding at once. Information from the nonprofit’s tax filings show that the group received $9 million in 2017.

Around the same time as his meeting with the FBI, Jones reached out to Waldman, an attorney with a myriad of links to players in the Russia saga. Waldman represented Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and has apparent links to Steele.

Waldman told TheDCNF Jones said to him that Fusion GPS was involved with TDIP. He also said Jones claimed Soros had provided funding for TDIP’s anti-Trump operation.

Waldman also provided text messages from March 17, 2017, in which Jones said TDIP helped plant anti-Trump news stories.

“Our team helped with this,” Jones wrote to Waldman, linking to a Reuters article about Russian investment in Florida properties owned by President Donald Trump.

Waldman also exchanged text messages with Warner that suggested the Virginia Democrat was in close contact with Jones.

In an April 25, 2017, text message to Warner, Waldman said Steele had told him “Dan Jones is coming to see you.”

The interactions between Warner, Waldman, Steele and Jones remain one of the enduring puzzles of SSCI’s Russia probe. The committee has refused to discuss the matter.

But Warner was not Jones’s only Democratic contact on SSCI.

According to New Yorker article published Oct. 15, 2018, an unidentified Democratic senator other than Warner contacted Jones in early 2017 to review data related to Alfa Bank, a Russian bank whose computer servers allegedly had back-channel contacts with Trump Organization computers.

The Alfa Bank connection to Trump was first reported by Slate on Oct. 31, 2016. Alfa Bank’s founders are also accused of having cozy relations with the Kremlin in Steele’s dossier. The claims of illicit contact between Alfa Bank and Trump Organization have remain unverified, with some computer experts doubting the theory.

Neither TDIP nor New Knowledge responded to multiple requests for comment.