Unsealed documents detail tactics in Clinton email probe

So this politico blog, "Under the Radar," has an interesting article which delves into some information that was released in the IG report and some sealed documents that were instrumental in creating said report. Much of what is discussed in this article has been touched upon here at ATS over the time that this has taken place.

The newly unsealed court filings, obtained by POLITICO, may well serve as a Rorschach test about the Clinton email probe. They demonstrate that the FBI's investigation did not rely solely on the voluntary cooperation of those involved, since agents and prosecutors used a combination of search warrants and other court orders to gain evidence relevant to the probe.

At the same time, the records do not contradict complaints by Republicans that the FBI did not use grand jury subpoenas to demand testimony from top Clinton aides, obtain search warrants to gain access to laptops Clintons' lawyers used to review her emails, or seek the personal phones and similar devices used by her top aides.

Now, as to what was revealed by this article that I was unaware of:

The FBI told a federal magistrate judge that a July 2009 email forwarded to Sullivan's personal Gmail account showed that "top secret" information, including records related to sensitive satellite imagery, likely resided on Google's servers.

Seems to me that this would put Mr. Sullivan into quite a bit of hot water.

The federal court filings also show the use of a search warrant to obtain greater access to a server Clinton's attorneys turned over. The FBI said Clinton's lawyers gave permission only to search the email domain she used, clintonemail.com, and not others on the server. A search warrant was also obtained for an email account set up by Paul Combetta, a technology aide who said he set up the account to store some of Clinton's messages while copying them from a laptop to a server at his firm, Platte River Networks.

Ok, a couple of things of note in this paragraph. One, "Clinton's lawyers gave permission only to search the email domain she used, clintonemail.com, and not others on the server." Since when does the subject of an investigation get to determine what it is the investigators are allowed to access in pursuit of their job?

The second is, "A search warrant was also obtained for an email account set up by Paul Combetta,." and so now we know that ol' "stonetear" had an account on the Clinton server at some point in this process.

In addition to the above, there is this:

Sullivan was not the only Clinton aide to have a personal email account accessed by investigators. The FBI also collected years of information on the email accounts used by longtime Clinton personal aide Huma Abedin and Clinton adviser Cheryl Mills. In February 2016, investigators received a magistrate order allowing access to address and timing details on more than four years' worth of emails Abedin sent and received on a Yahoo account, although they did not — at that time — gain access to the messages themselves.

So Abedin and Mills got a very close look as did Abedin's use of Yahoo.

Now moving on, there is a little more that is discussed I want to point out before turning this thread over to ATS for participation.

The unsealed court documents black out the names of two other individuals whose email metadata was obtained by court order as part of the FBI's Clinton email probe. However, their identities are fairly obvious from details in the filings.

One is Philippe Reines, who was a senior adviser to Clinton and later was formally named a deputy assistant secretary of state for strategic communications.

I don't recall Reines being mention prominently in the past in threads on these subjects, but it is possible that he was but that I did not read or nor do I recall sufficiently to be able to track those mentions down. If other ATS members have links, I would appreciate it if you would include those in any response.

Finally:

The other person whose name was deleted from the court documents appears to be a Japan-based venture capitalist and management consultant, Mitch Murata. He drew the attention of investigators for an email he sent to friends about the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear reactor after it was hit by a tidal wave in 2011. A friend of a friend sent it to Mills, who sent it to two State Department officials and to Clinton.

The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, which runs America's spy satellites, determined that part of the message contained information considered "Secret" and not for foreign distribution. How that information would have ended up with Murata is unclear. In any event, the FBI used it to obtain two months of metadata from Murata's Gmail account.

A lawyer for Mills, Sullivan and Reines did not respond to a request for comment for this post. Murata could not be reached for comment.

emphasis mine

Perhaps in a subsequent post we can delve more deeply into this.

Another friend, Tokyo-based management consultant Mitch Murata, advised me to get my hands on K1 (potassium iodide pills) and to buy a related list of items in the event iodine-131 makes an appearance.

...

The radiation is why Mitch decided to move his wife and son to Nagoya, 200 kilometers west of Tokyo, before returning to the city to lend a helping hand. He said that two of his friends had already made the move. He said the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) had been consistently denying and then admitting that greater problems exist with the nuclear reactors and that the numbers of radiation poisoning victims in Fukushima were increasing.

TSUNAMI JAPAN’S POST-FUKUSHIMA FUTURE ESSAYS ON THE MANY AFTERSHOCKS OF JAPAN’S NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE. EDITED BY JEFF KINGSTON (direct .pdf link)

Taking the above into account, it wasn't only Clinton that got the information Murata was privy to, but the author of that piece, David McNeill, was informed as well.

Related links:

Unsealed documents Politico (direct .pdf link)

A Review of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice in Advance of the 2016 Election - DOJ OIG full report (direct .pdf link)

Related ATS threads:

Reddit post apparently related to Clintons email coverup

Loretta Lynch... the Email Probe... and the Redacted Classified Index to the IG Report

Stunning revelation buried deep in IG report blows hole in Lynch-Clinton tarmac meeting narrative

Obama used pseudonym in emails with Clinton

OIG Report Released: Full text

Hillary Clinton's Unclassified Emails About Fukushima...(Why does anyone trust the US government?)


What says ATS?

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Well this certainly opens up a few cans of worms in a few different spaces/cases it appears.

I would love to understand more on the Fukushima emails myself.

The other stuff seems to be what was already hypothesized and believed to be true. Just more evidence of things being shushed at the highest levels.

What's funny to me is all the naysayers on the linked threads that likely have no idea they were wrong.

This whole fiasco has me very much in the category of your name.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Yeah, the Fukushima tie in made my ears perk up. Poking around a little, I found this;

Mitch Murata
Mitch is one of the most brilliant and networked individuals in Tokyo. We are proud to have him on our Board of Advisors. Mitch often helps senior government officials and business leaders obtain those unique and authentic insights which official briefing papers often leave out. He graduated from Georgetown University, where he also obtained an MBA. He is the Managing Partner at Black Pearl Partners.

Board of Advisors The Delphi Network

Interesting how Georgetown University keeps coming up with these people, isn't it?

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

I think this part --

Ok, a couple of things of note in this paragraph. One, "Clinton's lawyers gave permission only to search the email domain she used, clintonemail.com, and not others on the server." Since when does the subject of an investigation get to determine what it is the investigators are allowed to access in pursuit of their job?

That's probably because Hillary's private server wasn't set up from scratch; it was set up on Bill Clinton's existing server in their Chappaqua home, and one that the Secret Service and Feds were already well aware of. I don't have any links handy, but I'll try to find them again for you. I learned this for the first time just over the weekend, while I was looking for more information on the tarmac meetings.

So I would think that "Clinton's lawyers" could just as easily refer to Bill's lawyers, protecting his business and his employee's information.

Good OP -- S&F. I'll have to really dig into it later...

originally posted by: jadedANDcynical
a reply to: Vasa Croe

Yeah, the Fukushima tie in made my ears perk up. Poking around a little, I found this;

Mitch Murata
Mitch is one of the most brilliant and networked individuals in Tokyo. We are proud to have him on our Board of Advisors. Mitch often helps senior government officials and business leaders obtain those unique and authentic insights which official briefing papers often leave out. He graduated from Georgetown University, where he also obtained an MBA. He is the Managing Partner at Black Pearl Partners.

Board of Advisors The Delphi Network

Interesting how Georgetown University keeps coming up with these people, isn't it?

Yeah....Georgetown seems to be a very common connection.

May have to look into the other partners at Black Pearl....

This just confirms what we already knew. The Clinton email investigation was a joke, it was never intended to get at the truth or justice, they were never going to prosecute, even though they had plenty of evidence of crimes.

Another friend, Tokyo-based management consultant Mitch Murata, advised me to get my hands on K1 (potassium iodide pills) and to buy a related list of items in the event iodine-131 makes an appearance

A worthless move for someone already exposed, and they don't do what many people think they do.

It isn't effective against anything other than radioactive iodine, and it isn't recommended for people over 40, which we'll get into in a bit.

www.self.com...

And if your 40 and over?

FORGET IT.

a reply to: Boadicea

...Hillary's private server wasn't set up from scratch; it was set up on Bill Clinton's existing server in their Chappaqua home, and one that the Secret Service and Feds were already well aware of.

Yeah, back when the State Department OIG released it's report on the situation, I think we discussed it around here.

When I get home I'll see if I can dig up the posts on it, but I've known for well over a year now, if not two...

State Department OOH report (.pdf download link)

originally posted by: jadedANDcynical
a reply to: Boadicea
Yeah, back when the State Department OIG released it's report on the situation, I think we discussed it around here.

When I get home I'll see if I can dig up the posts on it, but I've known for well over a year now, if not two...

State Department OOH report (.pdf download link)

LOL -- I just came to post the same link and ya beat me to it! But I have another one. For those who can't read the .pdf, here's a reader friendly summary of it, mostly in the words of the FBI agents... but not until the second half of the article.

What the FBI Files Reveal About Hillary Clinton’s Email Server

Coming back to Philippe Reines:

Some of Hillary Clinton’s closest aides blasted the New York Times for what they said was unfair coverage of the former first lady during a recent secret meeting with the paper’s Washington bureau, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Sources said the meeting included Clinton advisers Philippe Reines and Huma Abedin, as well as Times Washington bureau chief Carolyn Ryan and national political reporter Amy Chozick, who has been on the Clinton beat for the paper.

During the closed-door gathering, Clinton aides reportedly griped about the paper’s coverage of the potential 2016 candidate, arguing that Clinton has left public office and not be subjected to harsh scrutiny, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

Hillary to New York Times: Back Off
Inside the secret summit between Team Hillary and the New York Times

And

Clinton aides unite on FBI legal strategy

The quartet includes Clinton’s former chief of staff Cheryl Mills, who counseled Clinton politically and legally; deputy chief of staff Jake Sullivan, whom sources say authored a number of emails to Clinton that are now considered “top secret”; Heather Samuelson, Mills’ deputy who initially sorted Clinton’s work-related emails from personal messages that were then deleted; and Reines, who served as Clinton’s spokesman and also used personal email for work purposes at State.

Btw, that's a great article, Bo!

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Sniffing around a bit more on Mitch Murata:

Mitch Murata
MMurata, Mitchell Murata, M. Murata, Mitchell Murata/Kanebo/JP
The United States Army

...

CAREER

The United States Army
Black Pearl Inc
Managing Director
Kanebo Cosmetics Usa Inc.
Special Advisor to the CEO

And interestingly:

Hillary Clinton's Unclassified Emails About Fukushima...(Why does anyone trust the US government?), page 2 (Feb-2016)
www.abovetopsecret.com
Share Created on: Mon, Feb 15, 2016 by Anonymous user from 153.230.x.x
US State Dept Unclassified Email Warned Radioactive Steam from Fukushima Blowing Toward Tokyo; FOIA Page Appears Missing | Mining Awareness + (Feb-2016)
miningawareness.wordpress.com
Share Created on: Mon, Feb 15, 2016 by Anonymous user from 153.230.x.x
JAPAN’S POST-FUKUSHIMA FUTURE ESSAYS ON THE MANY AFTERSHOCKS OF JAPAN’S NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE. (2011)
amnesiainternational.net
Share Created on: Mon, Feb 15, 2016 by Anonymous user from 153.230.x.x
Alumni NOTES for 2000 MSB Magazine Winter
www.scribd.com
Share Created on: Thu, Jun 21, 2012 by Anonymous user from 116.80.x.x

Mitch Murata - spoke.com

Someone linked the page to the thread in which I detail much of Murata's background about a week after those posts were made. The top 3 links in the above list were all placed by the same user on the same day.

From the 2000 MSB Magazine:

Mitch Murata is vice president of business development and representative director for Japan at SolutionBank Inc.

Still trying to lock her up?
LOL

I know with the Awan story dropping today, there is likely to be a focus on that and any other information presented might be lost in the noise. Be that as it may, there is more here to be discussed.

Going back to the OP for a moment:

The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, which runs America's spy satellites, determined that part of the message contained information considered "Secret" and not for foreign distribution.

I wanted to take a closer look at this organization and see if it might be able to be determined what it is that Murata included in his message that was of concern to this agency.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is both a combat support agency under the United States Department of Defense and an intelligence agency of the United States Intelligence Community,[7] with the primary mission of collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national security. NGA was known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) until 2003.

NGA headquarters, also known as NGA Campus East, is located at Fort Belvoir in Springfield, Virginia. The agency also operates major facilities in the St. Louis, Missouri area, as well as support and liaison offices worldwide. The NGA headquarters, at 2.3 million square feet (214,000 m2), is the third-largest government building in the Washington metropolitan area after The Pentagon and the Ronald Reagan Building.[8]

In addition to using GEOINT for U.S. military and intelligence efforts, the NGA provides assistance during natural and man-made disasters, and security planning for major events such as the Olympic Games.[9]

Wikipedia

The third largest building in Washington D.C (where real estate is a premium) speaks to the importance of this agency.

In the United States, Geospatial intelligence, GEOINT (GEOspatial INTelligence) is intelligence about the human activity on earth derived from the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information that describes, assesses, and visually depicts physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth. GEOINT, as defined in US Code, consists of imagery, imagery intelligence (IMINT) and geospatial information.[1]

Wikipedia

From the email in question originated by Murata:

Leak has been doing since last night. It is still not under control. A US team was flown in to help get this thing under control, but that is not public record yet. It will come out later, I think.

The fact that there was a radiation leak (that was denied by both TEPCO and the Japanese government) was known by the NGA through use of it's space based platforms. How did Mitch Murata come by this information. He was in Japan at the time of the accident and took steps to protect himself and his family. TEPCO, JapGov and USgov all knew that there had been a leak of radioactive material, but this information was kept from the public.

Looking at the chain of people from Murata to Hillary, we have Michael Kandarakis as the first link from Murata:

Michael Kandarakis founded Synaxia Capital in 2014. It is an investment platform pursuing opportunistic transactions in private equity real estate in Europe, typically in partnership with large private equity partners. Michael is also a member of the Management Advisory Board of Towerbrook.

Prior to that, Michael was a Founder and Senior Partner of Soros Real Estate (later renamed Grove International Partners), a global real estate private equity firm with aggregate equity commitments of over $4.5 billion. He established Grove's Asia operations, initially focusing on Japan.

Advisors

Kandarakis then forwarded the message to Martin Edelman:

Experience

Advisor to Grove Real Estate Partners, The Related Companies, and Fisher Brothers

...

Professional and Community Involvement

On the Board of Directors of Capital Trust, Avis Budget Group, Inc., and Ashford Hospitality Trust
On the advisory board at Columbia University’s Business School
On the Boards of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, and the Fisher House Foundation

From Edelman, it went to Cheryl Mills:

Jackie Robinson Foundation Founded by Rachel Robinson in 1973 in memory of...
Board Member (past)

And then from Mills it went to Hillary. Are there any common threads in all of this?