(…) In her typed summary, Kavalec wrote that Steele told her the Russians had constructed a “technical/human operation run out of Moscow targeting the election” that recruited emigres in the United States to “do hacking and recruiting.”
She quoted Steele as saying, “Payments to those recruited are made out of the Russian Consulate in Miami,” according to a copy of her summary memo obtained under open records litigation by the conservative group Citizens United. Kavalec bluntly debunked that assertion in a bracketed comment: “It is important to note that there is no Russian consulate in Miami.”
Kavalec, two days later and well before the FISA warrant was issued, forwarded her typed summary to other government officials. The State Department has redacted the names and agencies of everyone she alerted.
But it is almost certain the FBI knew of Steele’s contact with State and his partisan motive. That’s because former Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland says she instructed her staff to send the information they got from Steele to the bureau immediately and to cease contact with the informer because “this is about U.S. politics, and not the work of — not the business of the State Department, and certainly not the business of a career employee who is subject to the Hatch Act.” (Read more: The Hill, 5/09/2019) (Archive)
Kavalec Less Redacted Memo by JohnSolomon
Notes from Meeting with Chris Steele and Tatyana Duran of Orbis Security, October 11, 2016
Background: Orbis undertook the investigation into the Russia/Trump connection at the
behest of an institution he declined to identify that had been hacked. The institution
approached them based on the recommendation of Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritch (specialists
in economic crime, formerly of the WSj) and is keen to see this information come to light prior
to November 8. Orbis undertook the investigation in June of 2016. [REDACTED]
Steele indicated they are tracking these Russian lines of effort:
1. Contact between Trump — via Manafort — and the Kremlin that go back to about
2013, about the time he took Miss Universe to Moscow. Steele stressed that while
Trump was filmed engaged in compromising activities with prostitutes in the Ritz
Carlton, the Russians have not needed to use that “kompromat” on him as he was
already interested in cooperation. (Steele said he is persuaded the story about the
prostitutes is accurate because they had their source speak with hotel contacts who
confirmed 1) that the FSB was in the hotel while Trump was there and 2) Trump
regularly availed himself of prostitutes while in Moscow.) Steele indicated that this
operation is run by the Kremlin — former Kremlin COS Sergey Ivanov, Dmitriy Peskov
and PResident Putin — and not the FSB. PResidential Advisor Vladislov Surkov and
Vyacheslov Trubnikov (former head of Russian External Intelligence Service – SVR) are
also involved. Manafort has been the go-between with the campaign. Ivanov
persuaded Putin it was possible to use the hacked information and run an operation
without being detected, while others argued against it. Ivanov was demoted after the
hacking became known and no there is “buyer’s remore.” [REDACTED]
there is panic in the Kremlin about the operation. There was speculation that Lavrov
might be targeted as another fall person. Peter Aven of Alfa
Bank has been the conduit for secret communications between the Kremlin and
Manafort; messages are encrypted via TOR software and run between a hidden server
managed by Alfa Bank (see separate paper on this channel). Aven is reportedly
vulnerable to pressure from Putin because he has declined to repatriate $4B in funds he
took out of Russia. (Steele said Aven’s contacts with Putin go back to St. Petersburg,
when Putin made $100M in the oil-for-food business while Aven was Minister of Foreign
Trade.) Manafort is vulnerable because he owes $100M to the Russians. Carter Paige is
involved, and he had two secret meetings with Rosneft Chairman Igor Sechin in Moscow
earlier this year. Steele says U.S. congressional contacts confirmed Paige was involved
in the effort to have the Republican playform changed with respect to Ukraine/lethal
weapons. Steele noted that according to their source, while there will continue to be
leaks of DNC material, “all the best stuff” has already been leaked and there will not be
any bombshells coming.
2. There is a technical/human operation run out of Moscow targeting the election. There
is a significant Russian network in the U.S. run by the Russian Embassy that draws on
emigres to do hacking and recruiting. This operation involved Russian Embassy officer
Mikhail Kalugin, who was quickly pulled out of the U.S. this summer when the hacking
scandal broke. Kalugin was replaced with Andrey Bondarev. Payments to those
recruited are made out of the Russian Consulate in Miami. (Comment: As of late
September 2016, according to DHS electronic records, Mikhail Kalugin did not appear to be in
the U.S. His travel history indicates he arrived in the U.S. at Dulles airport on April 4, 2016 and
departed at Dulles airport on August 18, 2016. [REDACTED]
Andrey Bondarev appeared to be in the country as of late September
2016. Bondarev’s most recent I-94 indicates he arrived on August 29, 2016 at Dulles
airport. It is important to ntoe that there is no Russian Consulate in Miami. End
comment.)
3. The Russians have succeeded in placing an agent inside the DNC.
4. Steele also mentioned an emigre Amcit by the name of Serge Millian who may be
involved in some day. (according to the Financial Times (FT), Millian is head of the
Russian-American Chamber of Commerce). Steele noted Millian had left the U.S. and
seemed to have disappeared. (Comment: According to FT, Millian’s organization said
in 2009 it had “signed formal agreements with the Trump Organization” to service
Russian real estate clients, but the Trump Organization denied any connections. Per
Steele, Millian is connected to Simon Kukes (who took over management of Yukos when
Khodorkovsky was arrested.) N.B. I’ve seen press reports that Kukes recently donated a
large amount of money to the Trump campaign
On a separate note, Orbis has information suggesting Lesin was killed accidentally. Reportedly
Lesin was trying to push Putin’s mistress Kubayeva out of Gazprom Media, and someone was
sent to warn him off. They did not mean to kill him, but things got out of hand.