WNYers with connections to findings in Mueller Report speak out

During his Thursday morning news conference in advance of releasing a redacted version of the Mueller Report, US Attorney General William Barr acknowledged that Russians attempted to meddle with the 2016 election cycle but no Americans - including then-candidate Donald Trump - colluded with the foreign effort. Western New Yorkers who were contacted by Russians, including one identified in the report, shared their thoughts.

Attorney General Barr, after opening his news conference acknowledging and thanking Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for his work, restated the finding that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe did not find any collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian interests seeking to influence the 2016 election.

"As the Special Counsel’s report makes clear, the Russian government sought to interfere in our election," Barr said. "But thanks to the Special Counsel’s thorough investigation, we now know that the Russian operatives who perpetrated these schemes did not have the cooperation of President Trump or the Trump campaignor the knowing assistance of any other Americans for that matter. That is something that all Americans can and should be grateful to have confirmed."

He then verbally summarized Russian efforts to influence American voters, beginning with a social media misinformation campaign conducted by the entity Internet Research Agency, which created numerous accounts targeting both ends of the political spectrum. Among its creations were faux far-right accounts including "Tea Party News," "Being Patriotic" and "Stop All Immigrants."

The Russians also created false accounts which sought to connect with activists tied to causes including Black Lives Matter. One such account, known as Blacktivist, successfully made contact with Buffalo-area interests who were, in 2016, protesting the death of India Cummings, whose stay in the Erie County Holding Center was followed shortly after by her death. Her family is currently suing dozens of deputies, claiming medical neglect.

Katrinna Martin-Bordeaux, president of Young Black Democrats of Western New York, confirms she and other local activists were contacted by Blacktivist, which offered to assist in their protest effort. She tells WBFO while they were unfamiliar with Blacktivist, it gave the appearance of a Facebook account with thousands of likes and follows and the other appearances of being a legitimate source.

"They completely took over people that had good will to stand up to this young lady," Martin-Bordeaux said. "They began to give the direction and, come to find out, this was infiltration.

"Eventually, I started to ask questions. I wanted to know 'your group is Blacktivist, but who are you? Who is your lead organizer? Who are we corresponding with?'"

Martin-Bordeaux told WBFO no one locally would ever conceive that Russians would have an interest in the activism of people in a city of Buffalo's size. But she looks back at hindsight to conclude why Russian interests would seek to meddle.

"We were some of the original Bernie Sanders supporters," she said. "From that aspect of it, all of this, it makes sense now."

Identified by name in the Mueller Report is Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign aide and longtime political operative who previously worked in Russia. The Mueller Report describes a contact Caputo received in 2016 by a business partner who, in turn, suggested a man identifying himself as Henry Greenberg had damaging information about presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. That man's alias is Henry Oknyansky, and according to the report Caputo set up a meeting between Oknyansky and Trump aide Roger Stone.

"The only conclusion I came to was that he was some kind of crackpot," Caputo said. "My discussion with him was on the telephone for about two minutes. Roger Stone's exposure to him was about the same when they met briefly in South Florida."

Stone, according to the Mueller report, was introduced by Oknyansky to Alexei Rasin, a Ukrainian who offered the sell "derogatory information on Clinton" for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Stone turned down the offer. Caputo later traded text messages with Stone, a conversation that was brought up while Caputo was questioned during Mueller's investigation.

"I texted to Roger, 'so what happened with the Russian?' He wrote back, 'a complete and total waste of time,'" said Caputo, who then told WBFO Oknyansky has been working as an FBI informant for the past 17 years.

The Mueller Report, in its conclusion, states that "while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." By early Thursday afternoon, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) had issued a written request to Mueller to testify before that panel.

Caputo told WBFO he believes Democrats, confounded by the finding of no collusion by Trump's presidential campaign, will now focus intensely on how they may stick obstruction of justice charges against the president.

"The Democrat prosecutors of the Mueller investigation have left a trail of bread crumbs for Congressional Democrats, especially on the House side, to begin a series of hearings that I think will end up in an attempt to impeach the president, even though it's not legally possible that he could have obstructed justice by firing (former FBI Director) James Comey."

Even before the conclusion of the Mueller probe, Caputo predicted Trump would be eventually impeached but ultimately acquitted by the Senate. He stands by that prediction today.

Meanwhile, as the 2020 election nears, Martin-Bordeaux says lessons were learned by the Russians' 2016 effort.

"We know a lot of the national political activists. We do know more now about who people are at this point," she said. "Going forward to the 2020 election campaign cycle, I think we'll be better prepared to counter groups, fictitious made-up groups, or groups that are making an attempt to appeal to people based on their disparity but, at the same time, making attempts to cause a division."