UPDATED: The Frankfurt 'Raid' And Related Matters

Adam Housley reports on what he has been able to learn from three "solid" sources:

One of the claims by Powell I have looked into...the claim a location was raided in Germany with servers. I have 3 sources on this...all as solid as they come. Here is what I have found: 

1.There is/was a clandestine location in Frankfurt run by CIA used to monitor/manipulate elections around globe.

2.That location did have servers & a front company as cover.

3.I cannot confirm the location was tied to U.S. elections.

4. One source says raided, 2 don't know. 

So, the sources seem to be saying that Scytl was a CIA front company and they definitely confirm that the CIA in Frankfurt was manipulating elections around the world. Of the three sources, when queried regarding the "raid," one said, "I know about that--it happened." The other two said: "We don't know. whether it happened or not" Note that well. One said, "Yes, I have knowledge and it's true." The others simply said, "We don't know." Not to belabor the obvious, but that's not a denial of an event, it's a denial of knowledge about an alleged event. It's not even an expression of skepticism.

The more we hear about all this, the more it sounds like a professional intel operation. All the evidence that's been accumulating and is now being presented on the internet--how does that happen without the knowledge of key components in our IC? Especially when those IC agencies have been working with the same companies to manipulate elections around the world? Try reading this thread: Dominion Voting Systems (DVS) and the Author who created Scorecard in the Serbian team for DVS. Tell me if it doesn't smell like a professional--i.e., State run--intel operation, using sophisticated techniques to conceal the identities of operatives.

UPDATE: In case anyone is interested, here is how I see the "raid" in Germany going down. I wrote this as an email earlier. Of course I may be wrong, but to me it makes sense:

Trump/Barr come to the decision that the CIA/Scytl servers must be obtained for purposes of a national security investigation involving the election--obviously, not simply for the Trump campaign. I assume that, since manipulation of foreign elections is a very sensitive operation, for the sake of security the servers are located on a US Army facility (NOT an overt CIA facility).

Having come to the decision, Barr drafts up whatever legal process is required for the FBI to take possession of another USG agency's property--possibly against their will. The FBI will be used to take possession of the servers because they're the lead investigative agency on such matters (DIA only handles intra-military matters). Barr also arranges with the SecDef to grant the FBI base access and support and to have the servers transported by military flight to the US. From wherever they land, the servers are then taken to the FBI's forensic computer lab in Quantico--possibly by USMC vehicles, since FBI Quantico is located on a USMC base.

Trump or a trusted designee sends the paperwork to Amb/Germany with instructions to order the FBI to take possession of the described servers. The FBI agents are also given a point of contact at the Army facility in Wiesbaden--since the FBI has no authority to simply barge onto a military facility and conduct a search and seizure. The FBI is also probably told that any questions may be addressed to Barr and to nobody else--or possibly a trusted aide.

The FBI in Germany follows the instructions and orders they receive from the Ambassador and take custody of the servers. The "raid" will appear to have been led by the military, but the FBI agents will have been present throughout and will be the ones who take official possession of the servers. FBI agents from Germany also accompany the servers on board the military flight and all the way to Quantico--with the FBI agents maintaining custody the whole way.

At some point I suspect that a copy is made of all the servers--just in case. Who would have custody, I'm not sure. But not Chris Wray or Gina Haspel.

Finally? Sidney Powell Says, Yes, The Scytl Servers Were Seized

H/T to an anonymous commenter.

We've all been puzzled over the seeming confusion surrounding whether or not the Scytl servers in Germany have been seized by the US Government. Yesterday, after a Trump Recount staffer specifically confirmed that the servers had been seized, at the Big Presser Sidney Powell appeared to back away from that somewhat--saying she wasn't sure whether "good guys" or "bad guys" had taken possession of the servers.

I commented last night that I thought Powell was being cautious, unsure--as a personal lawyer for Trump--whether she could confirm a government action that she most likely knew about.

This morning Powell appeared on the Glenn Beck show--Tucker Carlson will be mightily miffed over that--and this time she forthrightly confirmed that the servers were seized by the US Government. Note, however, she first speaks of "our forces" "confiscating" the servers, and then refers to the "US Government" working on an "investigation." Note, too, that Powell offers some very specific information regarding the configuration of the servers. I continue to believe that, while various agencies of the Government may have had some involvement, DoJ must be driving this or controlling the process--it's the only thing that makes overall sense, given that this is all occurring in the context of legal processes:

The servers at Scytl in Germany WERE confiscated the other day. I'm hearing it was our forces that got those servers. So I think the government is now working on an investigation of what really happened. But we're getting evidence, also, that there were lines into the servers from four foreign countries--all extremely adverse to the interests of the United States.

Regarding Powell's reference to "lines in," that sounds like the four foreign countries would have had access to the data on the servers and would have been able to manipulate it. I personally doubt that. My suspicion is that the connections were for the purpose of the server operators accessing the foreign countries' data. Others may wish to weigh in on the security implications of that setup.

Again, this type of investigation was always going to take time. Demands for EVIDENCE NOW, while understandable, are unreasonable in the current circumstances. Powell is obviously being very careful to maintain the necessary distance between her private representation of Donald Trump and what is a government led investigation of election fraud. No matter that they share common interests, they cannot act as, or be perceived as, a single team.

Larry Johnson On The Scytl "Raid"

Briefly, here's what I maintained regarding the purported "raid" in Germany in which servers said to be relevant to the 2020 US election were seized from a Scytl facility in or near Frankfurt. My view was that such an operation--in which private property on German soil was seized--would have had to have been handled through legal channels between the US government and the German government. Since the private property would have been seized for use as evidence in a criminal investigation, proper US warrants would have had to have been obtained and those warrants would have had to conform to German law, as well. To me, that meant that DoJ/FBI--both of which have considerable expertise in such matters--would have taken the lead, which possible assists from DoS. 

The question remaining, of course, was: Did any of this actually happen in the real world? The persons supporting the narrative that this did happen--including Sidney Powell--appeared to me to be credible, yet one would have expected some further confirmation. So far there really hasn't been any.

This morning Larry Johnson, former CIA analyst, has weighed in with a thought provoking account in which he claims he was "reliably informed" of what he says--presumably by former colleagues: Unraveling the Deep State Coup. (h/t "j") I refer you to the full blog for all details, but here's the short version.

The core of Johnson's account is that the servers in question were not owned by private companies: Dominion or Scytl, or anyone else. Rather, they were owned by CIA. That, of course, would put an entirely different light on the legalities that would have been in play. If the Scytl facility were US government property, and if the personnel effecting the seizure of the servers were proceeding in accordance with valid orders, there would have been no need for German government involvement. Here's how Johnson puts that:

The Scytl affair might be a hoax

Following is an article by commenter Mike Sylwester. The opinions expressed are his own, of course. I don't necessarily agree with Mike's specific assessments but my hope is that Mike's speculations will provide a basis for commentary and discussion. As Mike recognizes, we're not in a position to make final judgments--and may never be.

My own bottom line is easily summarized. This election was stolen--the anomalies we've all seen are simply not explicable in any other way than by a presumption of external manipulation that goes beyond the more traditional forms of voter fraud. This is especially apparent in the swing states--a telling indicator in itself--and we can expect (as Scott Adams predicted) more such indicators will turn up (check this one out). In those circumstances the only definitive way to get to the bottom of this--to get beyond statistical analysis--is for investigators to get their hands on Dominions records as they exist on a server. I insist that this is possible--if necessary by means of cooperation with foreign governments--but only through action by DoJ. If such action has taken place we'll be among the last to know. In the meantime, I continue to hold out hope that Trump can reverse the fraud by traditional legal means. Time will tell, of course.

 The Scytl affair might be a hoax

Assuming for the sake of argument that it is not a hoax, I suggest the following scenario as a basis for consideration and discussion.

-------

One person ("The Hacker") with the necessary access and expertise figured out how to manipulate the USA election on a large scale. If he needed some confederates, then they were only one or two.

The motivations to manipulate the election might have included the following:

Update Re Scytl

 At 11:28 PM last night commenter American Cardigan wrote:

AmericanCardigan November 13, 2020 at 11:28 PM

Scytl website updated with "Learn More" disclaimer refuting it all. Reads like Adam Schaffer legal ease.

This morning I tried to verify that "disclaimer" but all Scytl sites were down. TGP has now posted the text of the Scytl statement, which I'll reproduce in full. Scytl sites remain inaccessible. Note that the statements are carefully crafted and would need to be intensively examined for their precise meaning. Some of the statements are directly relevant to the reported "raid", others are not. For example, even with regard to the "raid," the statement denies that anything was seized from Scytl by the US army--which doesn't preclude seizure by other agencies of the US government. Take it for what it's worth, as also the reports of the "raid". Nothing confirmed:

Fact Checking Regarding US Elections: Debunking Fake News

November 13, 2020 | General

Following several erroneous statements that have been published in digital and social media, Scytl would like to clarify the following:

The technologies implemented by Scytl in the US are both hosted and managed within the US, by a local subsidiary, SOE Software, based in Tampa, Florida.

We do not tabulate, tally or count votes in the US

We do not provide voting machines in the US

We did not provide online voting to US jurisdictions for the US elections.

We do not have servers or offices in Frankfurt

The US army has not seized anything from Scytl in Barcelona, Frankfurt or anywhere else

We are not owned by George Soros and have never been connected to him

We are not tied to Smartmatic, SGO, Dominion or Indra

We have no ties with Russia either

The statement denying that Scytl has "servers or offices" in Frankfurt would seem to contradict accepted news reporting. Again, that statement is not a denial of servers or offices in Germany, near Frankfurt. In that regard there is a reference in Wikipedia:

2019 center in Frankfurt

During the nine-month period preceding June 2019, Scytl established a center in Frankfurt, Germany for emergency back-up.

From which it appears that Scytl's statement must be viewed as very carefully worded. I would expect that backup servers would be exactly what investigators would want to get their hands on.

We await developments. If any.

 

UPDATE: Did The US "Raid" Scytl And Seize The Election Server

UPDATE: No official confirmation to this point, although the three principle members of Trump's legal team have commented in one way or another. Rudy Giuliani declined to confirm whether or not he's had discussions with US intel officials. Sidney Powell and Lin Wood both appear to believe that there has been a seizure of election related servers at the Scytl facility in Frankfurt Germany. All we can do at this point is wait for confirmation.

To reaffirm what I say below and what I mentioned in an exchange with commenter Mike Sylwester, for the US to take possession of these servers the US agencies involved--which would ultimately, as I understand this to be a criminal investigation, would be DoJ/FBI--would need to satisfy German law. Alternatively, there could be some bi-lateral agreement between the two countries that the two countries would honor representations made by the other. The point is, the US would have to assert a justification for the seizure under either/both US and German law that would be equivalent to what we call "probable cause". German law could be easier or more difficult to satisfy as regards the evidentiary standard to be satisfied.

As a practical matter, DoJ would have had to examine allegations of fraud after the election and decide whether they were met a standard on which a criminal investigation could be predicated. That evaluation would need to be done specifically with regard to these servers in order to apply for a search/seizure warrant. 'Garden variety' voter fraud would not suffice--it would need to pertain to activity on the servers. At that point DoJ--and possibly DoS--could enter discussions with their German counterparts and, if all requirements were satisfied, arrange for the transfer/seizure of the servers into US custody.

The importance of this is that if, indeed, a seizure has been made, a prior evidentiary determination has been made--ultimately by Barr accepting it. That determination would not be dispositive of whether or not a crime occurred, but would be considered probable cause sufficient to get a search/seizure warrant--not a small thing.

As you know by know, Scytl is the company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, that has the servers that control and store the Dominion generated election data. (I probably haven't described that with 100% accuracy, but you'll get the picture.) We've all seen the highly improbable voting data for several swing states that strongly suggest computer driven manipulation, but without the data on the servers at Scytl proof--one way or another--may be lacking.

Earlier today there were reports that the US military had raided Scytl's facility in Frankfurt and seized the servers there. It was very difficult to track down the source of those reports, although Sidney Powell and Lin Wood--both on Trump's legal team--seemed to hint that those reports were true--I covered these early reports in I Can't Actually Confirm This.

Tonight there are additional reports confirming that the servers were seized by the US. Details remain sketchy and likely unreliable in some details, especially from a strictly legal standpoint. I offered my caveats on the other thread--that I believed DoJ (and probably the FBI, via its Legat Office in Germany) would need to be involved and would be required to go through some legal process before Germany would allow them to take custody of property that was on German soil. TGP offers what seems to me the most plausible explanation, if these reports are accurate, and confirms what I said on the other thread:

From our source: The US government, once they determined that this Dominion server was involved in switching votes, then the intelligence community began a search for the server and discovered that the server was in Germany. In order to get access to that server and have it available for use in a legal manner they had to have the State Department work in tandem with the Department of Justice. They had to request that the government of Germany cooperate in allowing this seizure of this server.

The appropriate documents required to affect that kind of seizure were put in place, signed off on, and it appears there was also US military support in this operation. The US military was not in the lead. But this helps explain why Esper was fired and Miller and Kash Patel were put in place — so that the military would not interfere with the operation in any way.

By getting ahold of the server they now are going to have the direct evidence of when they were instructed to stop counting. They will also discover who gave the direction to stop counting and who initiated the algorithm that started switching votes. The CIA was completely excluded from this operation.

Some observations--again with the caveat: If these reports are accurate.

First: "The CIA was completely excluded from this operation." This is a legal operation or, more precisely, it appears to be a criminal investigative operation, a search and seizure, and has to do with criminal violations of election laws in the US. The CIA has no role to play in such matters. Because this is a criminal investigation, that means--as TGP indicates--that this is being driven by DoJ, with FBI involved as well. State Department would be facilitating liaison between the Justice components of the two governments. It's not surprising that it's taken over a week to get this done, since each government had to jump through their own legal hoops.

Second: We read in the last paragraph the use of the pronoun "they". In my opinion, this must refer to DoJ, per what I just wrote. So, DoJ now has the evidence they will need for their investigation--the forensics being handled by the FBI or by others working at the direction of the FBI. DoJ and the FBI will be the ones finding out what happened.

Third: If anyone wants to substitute "AG Bill Barr" for "DoJ" in what I've just written--go ahead. Barr is surely the person who has been driving this process. Once he understood what was needed and what role DoJ could play, he wasted no time doing it. DoJ's role is to conduct a  criminal investigation. Acquiring this server is the type of thing that DoJ can do quickly and efficiently. That would not be the case with trying to track down every instance of voter fraud across several states in the Midwest. The ins and out of election law will need to be handled by Trump's legal team.

Fourth: Note again that Powell and Wood, while hinting at these developments, are not fully in the know. That's because they are Trump's personal lawyers. DoJ is conducting this investigation on behalf of the US Government, not strictly speaking for Citizen Trump--although, depending on results, this could be of immense importance to Trump. Barr knows all that, knows what the stakes are for the government, knows all the deadlines, and will not dawdle. He also has the discretion to make what he learns public. He will also take every precaution to maintain the proper legal distinctions between the DoJ and Trump's personal legal team, which has no role to play in the criminal investigation--beyond offering information to DoJ/FBI.

 Finally: It's not surprising that this operation has been conducted in the strictest secrecy.