Trump aide Rick Gates requested online manipulation proposals from Israeli firm

[Borealis]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/us/politics/rick-gates-psy-group-trump.html

WASHINGTON — A top Trump campaign official requested proposals in 2016 from an Israeli company to create fake online identities, to use social media manipulation and to gather
intelligence to help defeat Republican primary race opponents and Hillary Clinton, according to interviews and copies of the proposals.

The Trump campaign’s interest in the work began as Russians were escalating their effort to aid Donald J. Trump. Though the Israeli company’s pitches were narrower than Moscow’s
interference campaign and appear unconnected, the documents show that a senior Trump aide saw the promise of a disruption effort to swing voters in Mr. Trump’s favor.

The campaign official, Rick Gates, sought one proposal to use bogus personas to target and sway 5,000 delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention by attacking Senator
Ted Cruz of Texas, Mr. Trump’s main opponent at the time. Another proposal describes opposition research and “complementary intelligence activities” about Mrs. Clinton and people
close to her, according to copies of the proposals obtained by The New York Times and interviews with four people involved in creating the documents.

A third proposal by the company, Psy-Group, which is staffed by former Israeli intelligence operatives, sketched out a monthslong plan to help Mr. Trump by using social media to help
expose or amplify division among rival campaigns and factions. The proposals, part of what Psy-Group called “Project Rome,” used code names to identify the players — Mr. Trump was
“Lion” and Mrs. Clinton was “Forest.” Mr. Cruz, who Trump campaign officials feared might lead a revolt over the Republican presidential nomination, was “Bear.”

There is no evidence that the Trump campaign acted on the proposals, and Mr. Gates ultimately was uninterested in Psy-Group’s work, a person with knowledge of the discussions
said, in part because other campaign aides were developing a social media strategy.

“He was interested in finding the technology to achieve what they were looking for,” Mr. Birnbaum said in an interview. Through a lawyer, Mr. Gates declined to comment. The special
counsel’s office indicted Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates last year on multiple charges of financial fraud and tax evasion. Mr. Gates pleaded guilty to several of the charges this year, and he
is cooperating with Mr. Mueller’s investigation.

Mr. Nader and Mr. Zamel have given differing accounts over whether Mr. Zamel ultimately carried out the social media effort to help the Trump campaign and why Mr. Nader paid him
$2 million after the election, according to people who have discussed the matter with the two men. The reason for the payment has been of keen interest to Mr. Mueller, according to
people familiar with the matter.

It is unclear how and when the special counsel’s office began its investigation into Psy-Group’s work, but F.B.I. agents have spent hours interviewing the firm’s employees. This year,
federal investigators presented a court order to the Israel Police and the Israeli Ministry of Justice to confiscate computers in Psy-Group’s former offices in Petah Tikva, east of Tel
Aviv. The company is now in liquidation.

[VinLAURiA]

Yeah, Israel is one of those countries I hope we come down hard on should we regain control of Congress, right next to Russia. All these years thinking they deserve a free pass because they're the "holy land", what they really deserve is a boot up the ass.

[Borealis]

The article says that Gates knew about it from a Republican consultant that helped Netanyahu win in 1996.

[Sableye]

not gonna happen, best case is Netenyahu is forced out after strongmanning Israeli politics for so long and the government of Israel takes a hard look at itself.