Epstein Secrets

nce efforts, where pushback has begun in Germany. Chancellor Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron have initiat

e agents had used faked LinkedIn identities or avatars of Germans engaged with China to contact people in the political and media spheres. Politics Angela Merkel, the present chancellor, has a decidedly cool attitude toward China, although she has established mechanisms to work closely with China over the year

e has established mechanisms to work closely with China over the years. Possibly because of her experience of being raised in communist East Germany, Merkel clearly sees the challenges presented by China to democracy and a liberal society. Indeed, there’s an argument to be made that with the retreat of th

tion inherently creates the potential for exploitation, particularly given the intrinsic difficulties of monitoring and enforcement. For example, the Intercept has reported that American Pacific International Capital (APIC), an American subsidiary of a corporation owned by a Chinese citizen, contributed $1.3

The most sensational of them was a purported document attrib- uted to Snowden concerning the NSA hacking of the cell phone of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. The story was published on October 23 on the Der Spiegel website. Appelbaum was the co- author of the story. Even though Snowden had by now been in

istent with @ Kucherena’s assertion that he had access to the archive. @ Adding to the intrigue, Poitras was apparently caught by surprise when the Merkel story broke in Der Spiegel. She urgently texted Snowden on what she called “background” (which ordinarily means that a journalist will not attribute

loit selected fruits of its espionage activities Greenwald and Poitras also released belated documents. On July 15, 2015, their web publication, The Intercept, released a Snowden document that cited an NSA intercept of an Israeli mili- tary communication concerning an Israeli raid in Syria on August 1, | |

s expose purported U.S. government actions in foreign lands, including the alleged tapping of friendly government officials’ con- versations, such as Angela Merkel’s, these are implicitly conflated with the NSA’s domestic surveillance program, around which a | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.indd 303 @ 9/30/16 8:1

ficial who requested anonymity, inter- view with author. 183 German federal prosecutor: Theodore Schleifer, “Germany Drops Probe into U.S. Spying on Merkel,” CNN Politics, June 13, 2015. 184 “Russian planners might have”: Adam Entous, Julian E. Barnes, and Siobhan Gorman, “U.S. Scurries to Shore Up Spy

yrian Gen- eral at Dinner Party,” Jerusalem Post, July 16, 2015. 182 Specifically, it disclosed: Cora Currier and Henrik Moltke, “Spies in the Sky,” Intercept, Jan. 28, 2016. | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.z.indd 321 @ 9/30/16 11:09 AM | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019809 322 | Notes to pages 185-199 182 Putin

ve...”—Author’s interview with Source B 30. “German federal prosecutor concluded. ..”-- Theodore Schleifer, “Germany drops probe into U.S. spying on Merkel,” CNN Politics, June 13, 2015 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020412 261 31. “ NSA lost sight of. ..”-- Adam Entous, Julian E. Barnes and Siobhan Gorman, “U.S. S

Snowden Files. op cit. p.100-115 16. “Arranged for Micah Lee...”-- Micah Lee, “Ed Snowden taught me to smuggle secrets past incredible danger.” The Intercept, Oct 28, 2014. 17. “I took everything I...” Edward Snowden and Peter Taylor, “Are you a traitor,” Transcript. BBC Panorama, October 15, 2015 (Aired