CIA denies being fleeced by Russian on Trump info

WASHINGTON, DC: The Central Intelligence Agency on Saturday categorically denied reports that it was fleeced by a mystery Russian who promised compromising information on President Donald Trump.

The secretive agency rarely issues any kind of comment, but came out to deny the report in The New York Times and a similar one in The Intercept, an online journal focusing on national security issues.

“The fictional story that CIA was bilked out of US$100,000 (RM390,000) is patently false,” the CIA said.

“The people swindled here were James Risen and Matt Rosenberg,” the agency said, referring to Times reporter Rosenberg, who wrote the story, and Risen, a former Times reporter who authored The Intercept’s article.

The president tweeted approvingly that The Times article showed a need to “drain the swamp” in Washington.

In a story worthy of a John le Carre novel, which included secret USB-drive handovers in a small Berlin bar and coded messages delivered over the National Security Agency’s Twitter account, CIA agents spent much of last year trying to buy back from the Russians hacking programmes stolen from the NSA.

The seller, who was not identified but had suspected links to both cybercriminals and Russian intelligence, tantalised the US spies with an offer of the NSA hacking tools that had been advertised for sale online by a group called the Shadow Brokers.

The Times described the Americans as “desperate” to get the tools back. Reached through a chain of intermediaries, the seller reportedly wanted US$1 million after quickly dropping his opening demand of US$10 million.

The US$100,000 was an initial payment by US agents still dubious of what he really had.

The Times reported that, in the end, the deal broke down last month as the Russian failed to come up with any of the NSA materials, and the Trump material was either known or untrustworthy.

The Russian was told to leave western Europe and not return, according to The Times.