"A federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida, returned a superseding indictment charging four U.S. citizens and three Russian nationals with working on behalf of the Russian government and in conjunction with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to conduct a multi-year foreign malign influence campaign in the United States.' SEE BELOW
"ATLANTA — Fulton County prosecutors want a judge to restrict defendants, the media and anyone else from publicizing the identities of future jurors in the Georgia criminal case focused on former President Donald Trump.
That request comes after members of the grand jury that indicted Trump and his allies in August for a sweeping racketeering conspiracy had their personal information published on a far-right website.
District Attorney Fani Willis is asking Fulton Superior Judge Scott McAfee to prevent anyone from sharing the likeness or identifying personal information of prospective jurors or jurors in the election interference trial.
"It is clearly foreseeable that trial jurors will likely be doxed should their names be made public," Willis wrote in her motion Wednesday. "If that were to happen, the effect on jurors' ability to decide the issues before them impartially and without outside influence would undoubtedly be placed in jeopardy."
In an attached affidavit, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum wrote that the grand jurors were subject to harassment and threats after their home addresses, phone numbers and vehicle information were posted on a website operated by a Russian company.
At that point, Schierbaum wrote that local law enforcement enacted an operational plan to protect grand jurors, which he says is now straining agency resources. He did not detail what that security entails.
WABE reported in July that Georgia law requires that indictments list the names of grand jurors, even in controversial cases, but the Atlanta chief's affidavit suggests law enforcement took these extra steps to protect their safety only after the grand jurors had been doxed.
Doxing is a term for when a person's private information is posted online without permission to shame, embarrass or target them.
An investigator in the district attorney's office also concluded that Willis and her family's personal information was also posted on the same website, along with racist and derogatory comments. Willis is Black.
The investigator, Gerald Walsh, wrote that the website is known to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the site has refused to take down any of the information.
"The doxing of both the grand jurors and the District Attorney are permanent," Schierbaum wrote.
Juror names are typically made public in Georgia
There has not been precedent in Georgia for sealing the names of jurors or grand jurors in Georgia.
Then this week, the names of grand jurors were not listed in a racketeering indictment charging activists opposing a controversial Atlanta police training center.
"We're in new territory in Georgia," says Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, as judges, jurors and court staff are facing growing harassment and officials in Georgia are beginning to look for novel ways to respond.
He says the names of trial jurors have traditionally been public information, at least after a verdict, if not at the onset.
While Willis' motion does not seem to be asking a judge to formally seal the names, she is asking for an order to prevent the dissemination of "any verbal or written descriptions of any information that would assist persons in determining the identity of any jurors or prospective jurors."
After grand jurors were doxed, Georgia prosecutors want Trump trial jurors shielded
Sam Gringlas September 7, 20233:58 PM ET
***
Tucker Carlson is a shill for Russia:
"Has this ever happened to any leading U.S. television personality? Less than 24 hours after being ditched by Fox News, TV host Tucker Carlson had job offers from two different Russian propaganda outlets:
"We’ll happily offer you a job if you wish to carry on as presenter and host,” Vladimir Solovyov, a prime-time host on state-owned Channel One, wrote on his Telegram channel. "Tucker, come join us. You don’t have to be afraid of taking the piss out of Biden here.”
The RT propaganda channel, for its part, tweeted an invitation for Carlson to join and "question more.”
Although the Kremlin’s pockets are deep enough to provide Carlson with a princely lifestyle, I can’t see him accepting either offer. As much as he seemed to push Vladimir Putin’s agenda to Americans, he was in fact only using it to hit his U.S. political opponents where it hurt. He can keep playing that domestic game profitably wherever he washes up.
But the collateral damage he has inflicted on Ukraine is both real and insidious. The knee-jerk reaction of Carlson’s opponents has been to dismiss him as a pro-Kremlin stooge. In so doing, they also shrug off the responsibility to counter his rhetorical bombshells and address the questions and concerns that his audience increasingly has about U.S. support for Ukraine. As the war drags on, this contest for American public opinion will become even more critical to its outcome.
The Russian propaganda apparatus has long treated Carlson — used him — as one of its own. The GDELT Project, a big data initiative supported by some major tech companies and educational institutions, recently scanned 321 editions of Russian state TV’s "60 Minutes” program (a top political broadcast) and found images of Carlson in 89, or 28%, of them. "As much as 0.13% of the total airtime of one of Russia's biggest television news series over the past year has consisted of clips of a single American news personality being used to advance Russia’s narratives to its population,” GDELT reported."
MORE AT:
Why Russian TV isn’t Tucker Carlson’s dream job
The collateral damage he has inflicted on Ukraine is both real and insidious
***
"A federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida, returned a superseding indictment charging four U.S. citizens and three Russian nationals with working on behalf of the Russian government and in conjunction with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to conduct a multi-year foreign malign influence campaign in the United States. Among other conduct, the superseding indictment alleges that the Russian defendants recruited, funded and directed U.S. political groups to act as unregistered illegal agents of the Russian government and sow discord and spread pro-Russian propaganda; the indicted intelligence officers, in particular, participated in covertly funding and directing candidates for local office within the United States.
Additionally, in a separate case out of the District of Columbia, a criminal complaint was unsealed charging Russian national Natalia Burlinova with conspiring with an FSB officer to act as an illegal agent of Russia in the United States.
“Russia’s foreign intelligence service allegedly weaponized our First Amendment rights – freedoms Russia denies its own citizens – to divide Americans and interfere in elections in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The department will not hesitate to expose and prosecute those who sow discord and corrupt U.S. elections in service of hostile foreign interests, regardless of whether the culprits are U.S. citizens or foreign individuals abroad.”
“Efforts by the Russian government to secretly influence U.S. elections will not be tolerated,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “As today’s announcement demonstrates, the Criminal Division is committed to eradicating foreign malign influence from the U.S. political system and helping ensure the integrity of our elections.”
“Today’s announcement paints a harrowing picture of Russian government actions and the lengths to which the FSB will go to interfere with our elections, sow discord in our nation and ultimately recruit U.S citizens to their efforts,” said Acting Assistant Director Kurt Ronnow of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “All Americans should be deeply concerned by the tactics employed by the FSB and remain vigilant to any attempt to undermine our democracy. The FBI remains committed to confronting this egregious behavior and ultimately disrupting our adversaries and those who act on their behalf.”
United States v. Ionov, et al."
MORE AT:
Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Department of Justice
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs
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