Washington – The CIA on Saturday categorically denied reports that it wasfleeced by a mystery Russian who promised compromising information on USPresident Donald Trump.
The secretive agency rarely issues any kind of comment, but came out todeny the report in The New York Times and a similar one in The Intercept,an online journal focusing on national security issues.
“The fictional story that CIA was bilked out of $100,000 is patentlyfalse,” the Central Intelligence Agency said in a statement sent to AFP.
“The people swindled here were James Risen and Matt Rosenberg,” the CIAsaid, referring to Times reporter Rosenberg, who wrote the story, andRisen, a former Times reporter who authored The Intercept’s article.
Both reports appeared on Friday.
The president tweeted approvingly that The Times article shows a need to”drain the swamp” in Washington.
In a story worthy of a John le Carre novel that included secret USB-drivehandovers in a small Berlin bar and coded messages delivered over theNational Security Agency’s Twitter account, CIA agents spent much of lastyear trying to buy back from the Russians hacking programs stolen from theNSA, the Times reported.
The seller, who was not identified but had suspected links to both cybercriminals and Russian intelligence, tantalized the US spies with an offerof the NSA hacking tools that had been advertised for sale online by agroup called the Shadow Brokers.
Some of the tools, developed by the NSA to break into the computers of USrivals, were used by other hackers last year to crack or infect computersystems around the world. The Times described the Americans as “desperate”to get the tools back.
Reached through a chain of intermediaries, the seller reportedly wanted $1million after quickly dropping his opening demand of about $10 million.
The $100,000 was an initial payment by US agents still dubious he reallyhad what he was promising.
In its report, the Times cited US and European intelligence officials, theRussian, and communications the newspaper reviewed.
The seller also repeatedly pressed US agents with offers of compromisingmaterials, or kompromat, on Trump, the Times said.
– ‘Off the books’ –
But an investigation was already under way in Washington on possible linksbetween Moscow and Trump’s 2016 election campaign, and the US agentsreportedly did not want to get involved in anything that smelled of thepolitics back home.
US intelligence officials say that Russia interfered with the election tohelp elect Trump, and that it continues to use disinformation to sowconfusion in the American political system.
The Intercept reported that the “off-the-books communications channel” withRussia created rifts in the CIA. The agency is led by Trump loyalist MikePompeo, but many of its staffers are still smarting over Trump’s repeatedharsh comments about the intelligence community’s role in the Russiameddling investigation.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is probing the possible links betweenTrump’s presidential campaign and Moscow, as well as possible obstructionof justice.
Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu said in a tweet Friday that Risen’s article”suggests the CIA Director fears getting information damaging to@realDonaldTrump that is being offered by Russians.”
If that’s true, Lieu said, “the CIA Director needs to explain his actionsto Congress. He took an oath to the Constitution, not to Trump.”
Trump on Saturday referred favorably to the Times article about the Russianwho “sold phony secrets on ‘Trump’ to the US,” and noted the operativereportedly had drastically lowered his original price.
“I hope people are now seeing and understanding what is going on here. Itis all now starting to come out — DRAIN THE SWAMP!” he tweeted, in areference to what he sees as a need for reform.
Trump has frequently criticized the Times, which has published numerousinvestigative reports about him and his administration, calling it a”failing” newspaper providing “fake news.”
Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion with Russia.
The Times reported that, in the end, the deal with the Russian broke downlast month as the Russian failed to come up with any of the sought-afterNSA materials, and the Trump-related material was either already known oruntrustworthy.
The Russian was told by the Americans to leave Western Europe and notreturn, according to the Times. APP/AFP