Chinese Hackers Targeted IoT During Trump-Putin Summit (defenseone.com)

Zorro shares a report from Defense One: Four days before U.S. and Russian leaders met in Helsinki, hackers from China launched a wave of brute-force attacks on internet-connected devices in Finland, seeking to gain control of gear that could collect audio or visual intelligence, a new report says. Traffic aimed at remote command-and-control features for Finnish internet-connected devices began to spike July 12, according to a July 19 report by Seattle-based cybersecurity company F5.

China generally originates the largest chunk of such attacks; in May, Chinese attacks accounted for 29 percent of the total. But as attacks began to spike on July 12, China's share rose to 34 percent, the report said. Attacks jumped 2,800 percent. The China-based hackers' primary target was SSH (or Secure Shell) Port 22 -- not a physical destination but a specific set of instructions for routing a message to the right destination when the message hits the server. "SSH brute force attacks are commonly used to exploit systems and [internet of things, or IOT] devices online," the report says. "SSH is often used by IoT devices for 'secure' remote administration." The report notes that attack traffic came from the U.S., France, and Italy as well, but the U.S. and French traffic kept with its averages. "Russian attack traffic dropped considerably from third, its usual spot, to fifth," reports Defense One. "German attack traffic jumped."

Comments

China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

China, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 2-hour Trump-Putin transcripts that are missing.

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.

Re:China, if you're listening

[diesel66]

Don't worry, it was just golf and grand-kids ;)

Re:China, if you're listening

[c horde]

There were none taken. How can they be missing? I assume you believe China is our friend. It is amazing to watch people that lost an election, willing to destroy the country over a minor incident. Russia hardly did anything. The spent $5 million dollars total, yet Russia did expose corruption at the highest levels of the DNC. Oh well, such is life. When do we get to look into the voting irregularities in many Democratic states, like California?

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting. The pro-Trump trolls have been remarkably quiet on Slashdot as elsewhere for a few weeks now. Then the Helsinki summit, and suddenly they're back in force.

Just sayin'.

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

The spent $5 million dollars total,

This is an outright lie. You are just quoting how much they spent on advertising via facebook. They had to pay for multiple years the dozen or so people who we have already indicted.

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

$20 says Trump can't name a single grand kid, the number of them, or any birthday beside his own.

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

Not counting the $1 billion in Facebook shares that they bought through Gazprom.
That doesn't include the ~5.4% of Facebook they already owned.

Russia funded Facebook and Twitter investments through Kushner investor

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of them are Russians from St. Petersburg, they occur whenever the word "Putin" occurs in an article or headline. Other trigger words: "Ukraine", "Crimea", and now probably also "Novichok"

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

Lol, hey look, we've found a live Russbot moron right here in this thread.

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually Russia has succeeded tremendously. Russia knows, as Obama stated, and has been stated numerous times by intel and the DOJ, that they couldn't change the election, no votes were changed by anything they did or could do.

But they have succeeded in their real goal, causing societal disruption. You see, the leftists haven't realized the only Russian puppets involved are they themselves. They are the epitome of what Lenin referred to as useful idiots. The Russians have gotten these people so worked up they are literally arguing that national borders create an injustice, effectively saying there should be no United States.

This is exactly what the Communists of Russia have been trying to accomplish since they came to power, and now with just a few million dollars and social media, they are closer to their goal then ever before.

So to you high and might leftists on Slashdot, before you call another poster on a Russian bot or troll, think long and hard about your own role in this. Are you actually one of the Communist's useful idiots helping push their agenda or are you actually thinking for yourself? Have you read the reports that have come out, reviewed the details of the actual indictments to see if what is happening is valid or do you just listen to your Communist, I mean Democrat, handlers and their talking points?

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

We're still here, we just have lives. Don't worry, though, 2018 and 2020 will be just like '16: we won't say much, you'll think the election is in the bag, forget that we also vote, and we'll feast on your tears for the next six years.

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

ALL YOU WANT IS A GLOBALIST WARMONGER BACK IN OFFICE well sunshine people like you are the reason Trump won.
Did i bother you in the slightest how gleeful Hillary was at the death a Gaddafi or what that country has become because of your hero's actions?
Are you so tribal that there is nothing she could ever do that would put you off?
I am not American and i am well aware of how dirty Trump is but holy hell you progressive morons put him there and now you come to slashdot to rage grow the fuck up you tribal piss ants.
$10 he calls me Russian.

Re:China, if you're listening

[Train0987]

Ironically Russia created the discord and chaos by funding Leftist causes like BLM and various SJW movements. Who are Putin's stooges again?

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

Woosh

Re:China, if you're listening

[Shotgun]

The question still stands. Why did Obama issue a stand down order on the agent investigating all this?

Re:China, if you're listening

[Shotgun]

Ironically Russia created the discord and chaos by funding Leftist causes like BLM and various SJW movements. Who are Putin's stooges again?

I don't get your point. Putin funded these groups just enough to get them going. BLM and SJW movements are the stooges.

Re:China, if you're listening

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you read the reports that have come out, reviewed the details of the actual indictments to see if what is happening is valid or do you just listen to your Communist, I mean Democrat, handlers and their talking points?

Yes! Although I didn't need to read them to understand that Putin is the antithesis of freedom, and a murderous thug to boot.

Have you read about Russia's goal of causing disruption in the west? They themselves spelled out long ago what their plan was. They are following this plan now, and it is working spectacularly.

The book declares that "the battle for the world rule of [ethnic] Russians" has not ended and Russia remains "the staging area of a new anti-bourgeois, anti-American revolution". The Eurasian Empire will be constructed "on the fundamental principle of the common enemy: the rejection of Atlanticism, strategic control of the USA, and the refusal to allow liberal values to dominate us."

Another nice part:

Russia should use its special services within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics".

If we are lucky

[Anonymous Coward]

They got a recording of Putin/Trump. No one else knows what was discussed except the translators. PeePee tapes maybe????

Re:If we are lucky

[Anonymous Coward]

I suspect that the translators didn't know either, considering the participants of the talks.

Re: If we are lucky

[Anonymous Coward]

You pee tape kooks make the flat-earthers look sane. Even the anti-vaxxers are laughing at you.

Re: If we are lucky

[Anonymous Coward]

What else would a Trumpanzee say.

Re: If we are lucky

[datavirtue]

The peepee thing, the pepe thing....all plausible but no one cares. Track something substantive like the deep state or the number of 1950s cars in Cuba.

Last time china was accused it was the USA

[Anonymous Coward]

Do we know for sure its china? Everyone oursouces shit there, they are probably the middleman though.

Re:Last time china was accused it was the USA

[HiThere]

I'm always dubious about attributions of web activity, but this actually makes sense. China would definitely want to know what Russia and the US were planning when they got together, and certainly they couldn't trust what either side would tell them.

Note that activity by Germany was also up, which makes sense for the same reason. The odd thing is that US activity was down, but perhaps that's just in proportion.

Never doubted it

[rmdingler]

Despite the American President's obvious fealty to the Russian President, the Chinese apparently hold no sway over his actions, and is the nation that stands to lose the most if a trade war continues to fester.

Re:Never doubted it

[Anonymous Coward]

Accept the President committed to nothing after the meeting.
Sanctions still place. Check
Diplomats still kicked out the US. Check
Seized Russian real estate in US still seized. Check
Still providing offensive weapons systems to the Ukraine. Check
US military still resting comfortably while blocking Syrian, Russian, and Iranian forces from accessing one of Syria's largest oil producing regions. Check.

Before Trump meet with Putin he accused Germany of being Russia's bitch due to their over dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies. This statement can be fact checked and shown 100% true. And this is a statement that infuriates Russia because if Europe starts buying their oil and gas elsewhere Russia loses most of their customers. It's bad enough that the US can now control the price of oil but losing any of their current customers is a disaster. And Russia also uses their oil and gas exports as leverage to manipulate half of Europe in the winter. And since Russia's economy is almost 70% funded by oil and gas exports things will continue to decline inside Russia.

  All of Trump's detractors are throwing hissy fits because Trump couldn't get Putin to publicly confess his many sins in the last election. Seriously? Meeting with your enemies doesn't mean you are betraying your country. Saying one thing face to face and another forted up in the White House secured conference rooms is common SOP. In the end it is actions and not words that have meaning.

There is one facet of this hacking story that people are overlooking. The US intelligence agencies and FBI identified and collected all their evidence while Obama was still President. He had 8 months to do something with the intelligence and chose not to use it for anything. Instead he dropped all the evidence on Trump as he was on his way out of the WH. If the intelligence was so overwhelming and accurate he had a duty to do something about it before the election. Obama's excuse was he did not want to do anything that would effect the campaigns leading up to the election. So he was good with Russia doing stuff to effect the campaigns. After all Obama trusted Russia to monitor the destruction of all chemical weapons in Syria after his "red line" bluff was called.

But the sad truth about this whole clusterfuck is if Clinton had won the election none of this intelligence or investigations would have happened. Facebook wouldn't have been called before Congress to explain why their largest ad customer was Russia and associates. Comey would have been immediately fired once Clinton took office because of his e-mail investigations which were widely accepted as being the reason Clinton lost the damn election.

Re:Never doubted it

[duke_cheetah2003]

the Chinese apparently hold no sway over his actions, and is the nation that stands to lose the most if a trade war continues to fester.

Pardon, but really? The Chinese have the most to lose? They could care less about us. They own us. On paper at least, they hold so many bonds and assets in the us now.

But that's not even important, the Chinese have built up their own healthy base of consumers, they don't need us to buy their junk anymore. We need their junk though cuz we stopped making pretty much everything the Chinese make for us.

Americans will be the ones who suffer, not only from the price increases, but now the Chinese are just going to tariff us right back. Farmers are already bitching. And it's just begun? You think Americans have any stomach for policies that mess with their day to day lives? Support for Trump seems to be waning, even his own party seems to be waking from their collective coma.. I think?

Trump's delusion that the world needs the US is just that, a delusion, and as he isolates us more and more from the rest of the world, we're gunna have no one to turn to if someone does something unspeakable to us. We've turned our back, we will be repaid in kind.

Re: Never doubted it

[Anonymous Coward]

Your delusion is that the U.S. needs the world. Not that I hate the others but we are diverse enuff to make it on our own.

Re: Never doubted it

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing coward about it to lazy to log in maybe.....Joseph Palaca ...own it all day

Re: Never doubted it

[datavirtue]

Wall of diarrhea...try again when you turn 18

Re:Never doubted it

[Anonymous Coward]

It's pretty obvious that Trump shows the signs of someone who willfully obliges in advance for fear of being blackmailed. That's what upsets the people in the US intelligence community so much. You have to understand that in ordinary elections, the candidates are checked before the final stages - they get in some room with old farts who have been in many intelligence committees and are asked: So, Mister X, is there anything we should know about your past before we go on endorsing your candidacy?

As probably the first US president in history, Trump skipped that step, and it's apparent to anyone knowing something about human beings that he fucked prostitutes all over the world in the past without caring whether he might be recorded or not. Once the president is elected, POTUS has full access to all top-secret classified information and there is no vetting or background checking of the president himself. That's the problem.

I understand why someone like you who is butthurt because of Trump's unpopularity and blinded by partisan politics cannot recognize this problem, but for people who know things work in the world Trump is potentially a huge problem and liability. Another issue is that Trump frequently leaks highly classified intelligence data, inadvertently when he's boasting and just can't keep his mouth shut.

Re: Never doubted it

[Kiuas]

Your delusion is that the U.S. needs the world. Not that I hate the others but we are diverse enuff to make it on our own.

Depends on what you mean by 'need' here. I mean sure, the US is large enough and wealthy enough that you could survive on your own, but with both China and the US the thing is that exporting goods and services is deeply integral to the economy and society. The US is the second largest export economy in the world. And that's only counting stuff you directly export to other countries. When you factor in the fact that most of the top US companies do business globally via subsidiaries which - depending on how the corporations and sales are structured - may not show up at all as exports, it becomes even more clear just how connected you and everyone else is to the global economy.

So could you 'make it on your own'? Absolutely, and moreso than most other western countries, including for example my own small country (Finland) that's more heavily dependent on exports because the domestic market is small. Buuut at the same time seizing exports would cause a significant dent in your economy, lead to shrinking of the economy, loss of millions jobs which in turn would lower the incomes of Americans leading to reduced domestic demand, and in general diminished influence on the global stage. It would be survivable, but it wouldn't be pleasant 'business as usual' stuff. Same goes with China who exports even more than you do.

So that being the case I'd say the US does in fact need the rest of the world, not in terms of survival, but in terms of maintaining your current economic status and the quality of life it brings.

Re:Never doubted it

[Anonymous Coward]

It's pretty obvious that Trump shows the signs of someone who willfully obliges in advance for fear of being blackmailed.

THIS!

I really try to understand Trump's behavior without bias. The only rational* explanation I can see for his behavior is if Putin really does have the "pee" tape. I tried to think why he would cooperate (read: treason) when he could just let him release it, and it would be more publicity for Trump. I think Trump recognizes that it is his name that is the thing he can sell. If that tape was released his name would no longer be profitable, so he cooperated, not realizing that Putin would begin extracting more and more.

Now he is in so deep the fear has to be killing any rational thoughts he's having.

This is truly frightening: that the world may face two cooperating nations run by murderous dictators who control most of the world's nuclear weapons.

* Rational, for what it's worth, has a fucking new, crazy meaning in this timeline we've been thrown into.

Re:Never doubted it

[HiThere]

Sorry, but I don't think that would suffice. So far Trump has shown no embarrassment even to things that would cause just about everyone in the country to turn red with shame.

My guess is that Putin threatened him physically. He is known to be a physical coward (see "cadet bone spurs") and that this is being hidden behind a facade that he's being blackmailed over kinky sex. This might even explain a couple of KGB assassinations in Britain, though that's a bit of a stretch.

Re:Never doubted it

[HiThere]

I think you underestimate the importance of US agricultural exports to China, but just how much that would affect the leadership is another question. They could clearly direct a lot of the resentment over any tight belts against the clearly malign policies of the US government. They wouldn't even need to lie.

Also China has been building ties with various other agricultural exporting countries, so the importance of the US is probably less than it was. And despite the problems it caused, the "one child per family" policy did reduct the population of China substantially, and now economics and family planning are letting them manage the population size (with, admittedly, a lot of lag in the feedback).

It's been clear for quite awhile that the US was falling out of the dominant nation position, and perhaps we can thank Trump for getting us into a secondary position without the common accompaniment of a huge war. This would be a very good thing, as being the "top nation" is generally a bad thing for a country. Perhaps China will be up to it, or at least long enough for an AI to make the matter irrelevant in one way or another. I'd been hoping for the US to hold onto the top position, but it has clearly been in decay mode for decades, with less and less concern being given to it's national ideal and more concern to holding onto power. In olden times this is a mode that could last for centuries, but that was with weaponry that was considerably less powerful than the current weaponry. Fortunately, like the US, China is predominately introverted and moved to economic dominance. I hope that they aren't too introverted to continue development of space, but we still seem to be pushing them there, at least in the shape of SpaceX and possibly Blue Origin. (NASA appears moribund, but I can hope I'm wrong.)

Crazy MSM

[labnet]

The mainstream media behave like petulant children that didn't get their way. Their attacks on trump and Putin just read like nonsense now. Putin is not the boogeyman, China is.

Re:Crazy MSM

[Gravis Zero]

Putin is not the boogeyman

Putin is an ex-KGB Lieutenant Colonel. If you don't qualify him as being a serious threat then you don't know shit.

Re:Crazy MSM

[rmdingler]

The mainstream media behave like petulant children that didn't get their way. Their attacks on trump and Putin just read like nonsense now. Putin is not the boogeyman, China is.

Of course they are. We've elected a petulant, childlike, American President... the media are responding in kind, like they've been gut-punched.

Putin, the Chinese, Trump, and the US allies since WWII are not the boogeyman; it's the US electorate.

Re:Crazy MSM

[Anonymous Coward]

You certainly don't know shit. Your posts are always fact free. It's amazing you still show your face around here given how many times you've been proven wrong. I would guess you have a picture of Vlad shirtless on his horse in your basement given the way you talk about him.

Re:Crazy MSM

[GrimSavant]

The barbarians are at the walls, and Trump is trying to hold open the gates, saying that no one's and there nothing to worry about. At least some of us have eyes and ears and are willing to use them.

Long term this is an unmitigated disaster, since it won't be just the Russians trying to manipulate the US if we've shown such remarkable defenselessness. China will want to grab hold on some of the puppet strings.

Re:Crazy MSM

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy shit you hit the nail on the head.

Re:Crazy MSM

[Anonymous Coward]

Google translate from trumpland to known universe:

trump behaves like a petulant child that didn't get their way. His attacks on the intelligence branch of the United States Military just read like nonsense now. Putin is not the boogeyman, he is a real active adversary of the US, similar to China. Unlike China's economic "attacks" Putin bases his on information warfare experience gained during his time in the KGB.

Re: Crazy MSM

[datavirtue]

MSM only act that way because thier viewers are that way. ....or maybe it is the other way around?

Re:Crazy MSM

[queBurro]

Yup, to a bully like Trump, Putin is a scary guy.

Re: Crazy MSM

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget to check under your bed before you go to sleep. Putin might be there, waiting to get you.

Re:Crazy MSM

[houghi]

Sure the Russians try to manipulate the US people and the Chinese want to manipulate, but so do the people in power that hold your welth and have an American passport.
Just because their passport sayd "No1 Country" does not mean they have amny interest in you, the wellbeing of your fellow sitizens or anything that the country has been, is or stands for.

Do not think that if you hand over the puppet strings to anybody, that they are somehow treat you different than a puppet.

Re:Crazy MSM

[Anonymous Coward]

He's the one trying to build a wall to keep the barbarians out.

Re:Crazy MSM

[Anonymous Coward]

You know you've lost the argument when your rebuttal has as it's only basis an ad-hominim attack. :D

More blood on Trump's tiny hands...

[Anonymous Coward]

This proves Trump wants us to get hacked.

Re:More blood on Trump's tiny hands...

[greenwow]

So how is this Trump's fault? If Trump wanted to leak info to China, he would just do so.

Re:More blood on Trump's tiny hands...

[Anonymous Coward]

But this way Trump has plausible deniability to information that is leaked to China. He is a racist so of course he wants to help a racist country. That is the way all racists be.

Re:More blood on Trump's tiny hands...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm confused. If Trump is a racist, then why can you claim he wants to support the Chinese?

Re:More blood on Trump's tiny hands...

[greenwow]

Wait. What? You call him a racist, but if he was then why would you claim he wants to help China?

Re:More blood on Trump's tiny hands...

[duke_cheetah2003]

Wait. What? You call him a racist, but if he was then why would you claim he wants to help China?

Greed.

Probably an ISO Hack

[Kokobaby39]

This seems like port noodling the ISO stack. Ports don't quite fly when people are attacking en masse. A couple of days ago, there was an attack on the ISO, thinking that they would take the Link Layer out. To the best of my knowledge, the ISO Stack does not work on IoT. Once this IoT was found, I'm sure that people were hacking multiple aisles with it. Maybe their intent is to stop the front of ISO-less internet usage. Dunno though.

Re: Probably an ISO Hack

[Anonymous Coward]

wha the fuck are u talking about

this is the same attack that has been going on for like the twenty years I have been in security

it is trying to brute force common creds over ssh and there is nothing special about iot devices except they have default creds easily available on manuals and idiots that stick them on the internet because nobody can ever guess their ip address

Re:Probably an ISO Hack

[Anonymous Coward]

The summary says quite clearly it's not physical, but a set of specific instructions for routing, so I don't know where you conjured all that gibberish from.

Sure they do

[rsilvergun]

You don't read a lot of /. do you?

For the record, stuff like this is why not releasing your tax returns is a big deal. We have no idea who has their hooks in Trump and how deep...

Just another Russian trick

[Anonymous Coward]

It was Russian hackers disguised as Chinese hackers. Only Russia ever hacks anything ever.

hackers hackers hackers

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not just fake news.

It's completely content-free sensationalism. Apparently that's what BeauHD likes best.

Wow, So Lucky!

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't it amazing that all these Chinese and Russian hackers are so shit at hiding their true location that American security organisations can always know where these hacks originate from!?!?!?!
Fuck me we're lucky they don't know the first thing about hacking!!!

everybody knows

[Anonymous Coward]

This is no surprise. Everybody knows the opposition to President Trump is bankrolled by the Chinese state.

Transcript

[Anonymous Coward]

Putin: I can help Republicans eat chocolate cake, we have all these men, 'cooks', 'menu writers', 'cake seos', access to all your opponents recipes, the recipes of their families, their secret recipes, all at Republican disposal. All we ask in return is the lifting of this tiny minor health code violation removed.

Trump: That's an incredible offer. Beautiful chocolate cake. Who could resist.

The sad thing is, Republicans think they're getting help in the November elections from Russia in exchange for lifting sanctions, but they're literally getting a slice of chocolate cake.

Re:Transcript

[Shotgun]

You mean the sanctions that Trump has doubled down on? Do you mean the act of selling missiles to a neighboring country? Do you mean calling out Germany for propping up Putin by buying their energy resources?

I'm trying really hard to figure out which of these sanctions have been "lifted".

Cybersecurity

[Anonymous Coward]

Since when is F5 a cybersecurity company? They make load balancers... Guess when everybody is eating your lunch you have to branch out.

Wow a triple

[Anonymous Coward]

Ivan: "I am ordinary Texas housewife and appallled at our petulant media complaining of our glorious American President"

Igor: "I am fake counterpoint, I almost spit out my hot dog at mall with my confirmation of the petulant media while pretending to disagree"

Mikail: "Wow, you two really summed up the mood of ordinary Americans and their hatred of the mainstream newspapers and China".

Get a room you three.... oh wait, you share a cubicle, so technically you have already.

Re: Wow a triple

[Anonymous Coward]

No numpty, I was agreeing that the real problem with America is the electorate. Trump, Hillary, your useless two part system owned by corporations, your pathetic media, your whole broken system, they'll all just symptoms of an electorate of poorly educated, easily manipulated rubes. Don't worry, you're not special. It happens all over the world. People are stupid as fuck.

Re:Wow a triple

[Anonymous Coward]

This is exactly how they operate. Good eye.

Nah, he apponted Ivan Muellersky

[Anonymous Coward]

According to Russian press, he agreed to Russian intelligence interviewing US intelligence and diplomatic staff, under oath to get to the bottom of Russian meddling in the US elections. According to Huckerbee Sanders, he didn't pinky swear so it doesn't count.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/18/politics/white-house-proposal-putin-mcfaul/index.html

He literally thinks the fix to his treason is to appoint 'Ivan Muellersky', a KGB man, run an investigation using Russian intelligence, to exonerate himself and swap the Russian investigation for the US investigation.

He's appointed to the lawyer for Russias Alfabank (Brian Benczkowski) as the head of criminal prosecutions at the FBI.... that's Putin's money laundering bank.

Hear the silence from the GOP? See the fake smiles form Fox and Friends as even they struggle to swallow the treason.

Re:Nah, he apponted Ivan Muellersky

[AmiMoJo]

Interesting that Trump invited Putin to the Whitehouse. If anywhere is bugged (by US intelligence) it would be there.

Re:Nah, he apponted Ivan Muellersky

[Anonymous Coward]

You're argument falls apart when it starts with

According to Russian press

then supports that with a link to CNN.

But perhaps you can redeem yourself by listing out exactly what treasonous acts Trump has committed.

Is it treason for the US President to meet with the Russian head of state if the two nations are not at war?

Is it treason if two heads of state meet if there is a declared war between them?

Is it treason for the US President to meet with the Chinese Premier?

Is it treason when a President and an administration are aware of possible interference in our elections by the Russians, but the President tells his intelligence chiefs to stand down so as to keep a lid on any possible connections with his chosen successor?

Is it treason when a candidate for President receives over $400m in money funneled from another nation?

Is it treason for a Deputy Attorney General to name a special prosecutor to investigate a counter intelligence action when the special counsel law specifically states an appointment must be for investigating criminal activities?

Is it treason for the FBI to plant spies/informants in the political campaign of the candidate they oppose, and discuss how they can prevent him from getting elected?

Is it treason for a President to use tax dollars to campaign against a candidate running for Prime Minister of Israel?

Is it treason when a President tells the Russian President to wait until the election is over when he'll have more flexibility?

Is it treason when a President cancels a deal with an ally, Poland, to provide a defensive weapon system so as not to upset Russia?

Is it treason when a President refuses to live up to the Budapest Memorandum that the US agreed to in 1994 that said the US would assist in Ukrainian security in exchange for Ukraine not pursuing nuclear weapons, but then does nothing when Russia invades?

Is it treason for a President to make back channel deals with the largest state sponsor of terrorism and fail to provide details on those agreements to Congress for review?

Is it treason when a President uses the IRS to target political enemies?

Is it treason when the ATF provides high powered weapons to Mexican drug cartels and ends up getting a border patrol agent killed and the DOJ refuses to answer questions on it?

Is it treason when the Attorney General refuses to investigate voter suppression committed by members of his race because he won't investigate "his people"?

Is it treason when a President and a Secretary of State lie to grieving families about the reason their loved ones were killed when the bodies were coming back from Libya?

Is it treason when a President's National Security Adviser is all over the US media lying about an attack against a US Consulate, saying it was a reaction to a video instead of reporting the truth that it was a planned terrorist action, lying so that the President who was campaigning for re-election could continue with the false narrative that he had terrorist groups on the run?

Is it treason when a President keeps his campaign promises or is it treason when he doesn't?

Is it treason when a President pushes for tax cuts to give American's back money they earned?

Is it treason when a President eliminates hundreds of "administration regulations" that have the force of law but were never passed as laws by a spineless Congress who don't want to go on record voting for them?

Is it treason when a President openly lies to the American people to get legislation passed that would put the federal government in charge of 1/8th of the US economy?

Is it treason when a President takes a 1 trillion dollar spending bill intended to be used for shovel ready projects but instead uses the money to support the pensions of State employees in States he won and to pay campaign bundlers who run failing green energy companies, then later joke that the jobs weren't so shovel ready?

Re: Nah, he apponted Ivan Muellersky

[Anonymous Coward]

They are going to use Pruittâ(TM)s isolation chamber, where Trump will award Putin a Chick-Fil-A franchise.

Re:Nah, he apponted Ivan Muellersky

[Anonymous Coward]

The one constant with Trumpanzees is willful ignorance.

When The Orange Turd goes to prison I am hoping the Trumpanzees go to Russia and stay there. The US will be much better off.

numbnuts

Re:Nah, he apponted Ivan Muellersky

[HiThere]

Treason is defined in the US Constitution, and Trump does not appear to have committed treason. Malfeasance in office, violation of his oath of office, probably lots of other things, but not treason.

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

So for that to be even theoretically possible I think the US has to have declared war. And it's been a long time since the US Senate declared war on anyone. 1942 according to Wikipedia.

Re:Nah, he apponted Ivan Muellersky

[sysrammer]

When one party is kissing the other party's ass, is that considered "adhering to their Enemies"?

Re:Nah, he apponted Ivan Muellersky

[Anonymous Coward]

Only when you do it because you use your tongue.

Re:Nah, he apponted Ivan Muellersky

[GrimSavant]

or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort

That's the relevant part that brings forth the possibility of treason. If you replace the word "Enemies" with "the Russian government", then Trump looks pretty guilty based on public knowledge alone. They launched a campaign of subversion, psychological warfare, espionage, and cyberwarfare and Trump was read in on the most top secret of details confirming that before he was inaugurated. Since then he has covered for Russia and continually denied and obfuscated the truth of their attack, instead attacking and alienating our traditional allies, and he is now rewarding Russia and promoting Putin in front of the world. And who knows what else he promised in secret, since we know he even considered handing over former American officials to the Russians based on laughably absurd accusations because they've been a thorn in Putin's side.

The reason why it might not be treason is mostly semantic, the Russians might not technically qualify as enemies. By the pedantic and minimalist reading treason might be functionally impossible for anyone to commit if you limit it to only enemies that you have a declared war against, since we haven't had a formally declared war in many decades. In that case, Trump's actions are merely "treason adjacent."

This. Exactly.

[Anonymous Coward]

Russia is friendly nation. Love our USA and us Americans. China is enemy #1 and should be opposed at all costs. Trump is amazing. Putin is cool guy who is friendly and helpful. MSM is ally of left/SJW's and enemy of all free people.

Waste of time

[Anonymous Coward]

The Chinese dictator can just call up Agent Orange, tell him some lies about how awesome he is and the orange numbnut will tell him exactly what he said to Putin.

I can't wait for the movie

[Anonymous Coward]

"Trump and Putin: An orange love story"

Too bad Brando and Orson Wells are dead. They are the only two actors fat enough to play the Orange Turd.

Coming From China != Chinese

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's not assume that an attack coming from China is necessarily a Chinese attack. It is merely being initiated by someone who happens to be located in China. For all we know, Putin had operatives in China carrying out this attack.

Making wild-ass assumptions is the best way to keep yourself in the dark.