Laptop holding Trump Tower floor plans, Hillary Clinton email investigation info stolen from Secret

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: New York Daily News

Laptop holding Trump Tower floor plans, Hillary Clinton email investigation info stolen from Secret Service agent

Rocco Parascandola

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Friday, March 17, 2017, 11:50 AM

A laptop computer containing floor plans for Trump Tower, information about the Hillary Clinton email investigation and other national security information was stolen from a Secret Service agent's vehicle in Brooklyn, police sources told the Daily News. ... Authorities have been frantically searching for the laptop since it was stolen Thursday morning.

Some items stolen along with the laptop including coins and a black bag with the Secret Service insignia on it were later recovered. ... But the laptop, along with other documents described as "sensitive," were still being sought.

The thief stepped out of a car, possibly an Uber, on a street in Bath Beach and stole the laptop from the agent's vehicle, which was parked in the driveway of her home. ... He was then seen on video walking away from the scene with a backpack.

The agent reported the laptop contained floor plans for Trump Tower, evacuation protocols and information regarding the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server. ... The agent also told investigators that while nothing about the White House or foreign leaders is stored on the laptop, the information on there could compromise national security.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/laptop-trump-tower-floor-plans-stolen-secret-service-article-1.3001078

---

Well, that's just the icing on the cake, isn't it?

The way I see it, there are two possibilities here:

1) The thief is totally clueless as to what he has in his possession, assuming he hasn't traded it for crack.
2) No, he isn't.

@NYDN_RParascandola
https://twitter.com/rparascandola

@rparascandola
https://twitter.com/rparascandola

{same Twitter account for both user names}

I'm the New York Daily News Police Bureau Chief. I appreciate any feedback about our coverage, as well as any suggestions or story tips you may have.

[C Moon]

1. Sounds suspicious to me.

"Oh. I'll just leave this top secret laptop in my car while I step away for a minute."

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. I don't doubt that part.

I've heard of that happening many times.

[Blue_Tires]

17. Happens much more often than you think...

Which is why thieves and spies used to LOVE staking out coffee shops and eateries popular with the government sector in D.C....

[SharonAnn]

87. One of our management team had his stolen by a car pulling up alongside them,

stopping by them at a traffic light, man got out and opened the back door of our manager's car, pulled out the laptop, got back in his car and his driver peeled out. Quite brazen.

[C Moon]

88. So they must follow people getting into their cars with laptops. Wow. I had no idea. :O

[Fast Walker 52]

2. Obama plotted this from his bunker, right?

The deep state strikes again!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

14. Thanks, Obama. NT

[volstork]

74. Naw, man!

It was the microwave.

[tenorly]

91. Not to mention

the Rothschilds, the Illuminat-eye, and those crafty lizard people.

Always scheming, those guys.

[Fast Walker 52]

95. LOL-- but I thought the Republicans were the lizard people

[KWR65]

3. Oh Brother. Please don't post tabloid press articles here.

Fer g-d's sake!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Sorry. I saw no other source. I had reservations too.

I'm guessing this reporter had some good contacts. I'll bet the SS did not want this story to get out at all.

Got a better source?

Welcome to DU.

@NYDN_RParascandola

@rparascandola {same Twitter account for both user names}

I'm the New York Daily News Police Bureau Chief. I appreciate any feedback about our coverage, as well as any suggestions or story tips you may have.

Laptop with Trump Tower floor plans stolen from Secret Service

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

7. You're thinking New York Post?

[Renew Deal]

19. Welcome to DU

lol

[mac56]

6. Sure am glad we didn't elect the candidate with the private email server.

[RKP5637]

41. Phew, yep, sure glad we got better than that. n/t

[yurbud]

76. did anyone do polling on how many people were swayed by that story?

You would think after more than 20 years of GOP fake scandals about the Clintons, that most people wouldn't give a crap.

I had reservations about her, but neither the email business or anything else the right said about her were among them.

[Kimchijeon]

77. lol yeah

[riversedge]

8. umm.. Seems like the thief had to know the Sec Service lived there.............

................ The thief stepped out of a car, possibly an Uber, on a street in Bath Beach and stole the laptop from the agent's vehicle, which was parked in the driveway of her home.

The laptop contained info regarding the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. (BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS)

He was then seen on video walking away from the scene with a backpack.......................

[Hortensis]

81. Yes! Her pattern was already known, perhaps of going home then

heading out again, so leaving stuff in the car. A little surveillance of people of interest like her would identify any opportunities. Agent has Uber pick up as/very shortly after she leaves work, gives driver her address, pays and steps out with backpack, uber driver leaves, pleased to find she once again left laptop in car, takes and walks away to car parked nearby.

I also find nothing not credible here. Who knows? May have been their fifth try. Except her leaving the laptop in the car, even temporarily--no idea how common that is.

[Mr. Sparkle]

9. Why does a Secret Service agent have information about Hillary Clintons email investigation

on her laptop? and what is the reference to uber as if to imply a millennial stole it .

[NewRedDawn]

15. My question also?

This does not pass the smell test. sorry.

[ATL Ebony]

59. Agree, smells like a real fish tale.

If the briefcase was in her car (assumed car was also unlocked) which contained important government info why for God's sake wasn't it at least stored in the trunk? Also, how convenient that this Uber rider/driver happened to directly target this particular driveway and steal the briefcase. And why did such a careless agent have control of the only copy? Not buying it for a minute.

[7962]

21. Huh? Everybody uses Uber these days

Might have been seen as a "fad" when it started, but I'm in my late 50s and everyone i know uses Uber when traveling.
Now the other part of your post, yeah, why would a SS agent have Clinton investigation stuff on her laptop?

[lapucelle]

51. My thoughts exactly concerning Uber.

I still remember some of Hillary's Uber passwords that we used in PA to get to and from our canvas locations from various field offices. I'm in my 60's.

I'm a high school teacher and still have an AOL email address. Whenever a 15 year old snickers at it, I let him know that the reason I still have it is because I was on the internet at the beginning and that I was using computers 10 years before he was even born.

As for the "Hillary email investigation material", that doesn't sound right. .

[Mr. Sparkle]

70. The Uber comment didnt make sense

as why would someone use a UBer to go stealing. It sounded like they were trying to create an impression it was a hideous millennial. Though i'm open to correction.

[ColemanMaskell]

90. Associating Uber with millennials is what makes no sense to me. Where do you even get that?

Are you saying everything recent is de facto branded millennial? or what - that millennials don't have cars? I'm not getting it at all, what it is you're thinking ties Uber with millennials.

When I read it, I just thought it was a way of explaining why a car just dropped the thief off and then left. Without hypothesizing some service like Uber, the main possibilities you're left with are that the driver might be a friend or an accomplice, and in either case they'd have the job of looking for the car to find that person. Of course the thief might have hitchhiked etc.

Also, if they do decide to look for the car, guessing it was an Uber gives them the easiest approach to finding the car -- try to contact Uber and put the burden on them.

That's the interpretation that made logical sense to me.

[pnwmom]

67. Exactly my question. n/t

[karynnj]

10. This makes NO SENSE

Consider - would you, a random person on the internet with no special security needs (true for most but not all of us) leave a laptop in your car? I live in a peaceful neighborhood in Burlington VT -- and no way would I or anyone I know do this. Yet this is a SECRET SERVICE officer, well trained and this is a GOVERNMENT laptop.

I would assume that they are trained to always have the lap top secured.

Not to mention, how would it be known that the thief got to the agent's driveway by Uber? Also consider that makes it sound like the thief intentionally went to the agent's driveway -- WHY?? How would the thief know that there was anything to get in the agent's car? Not to mention, why leave that path -- take the subway or get out of the Uber/taxi a few blocks away?

Not to mention, why would a SS person have Clinton's emails? What would that have to do with the SS's mission - even if assigned to protect the Clintons, who still have SS.

[TheBlackAdder]

29. That's the key question. Why does Secret Service have Clinton Email Investigation records?

[ET Awful]

58. The exact question I was getting ready to ask. . .

Makes no sense.

[not fooled]

86. They read them

to little donnie at night as bedtime stories?

[dixiegrrrrl]

60. Why would they leave the car unlocked with a laptop inside??

And doesn't a laptop have a way to be traced????

So someone came to the house by...a car, let's agree....walked over to the parked car and grabbed the laptop.

Does the footage show if it was as simple as that, ..walk...open door...grab laptop.
or does it show the thief searching the car first?

[Occulus]

85. Exactly. This is a setup.

There's more to this that we don't know.

[ColemanMaskell]

92. It sounds like the thief knew the agent, or at least had been observing the agent.

Also it sounds like the agent is just incompetent, a trait we're seeing a lot in public life these days.
The thief may have observed, or become acquainted with, any number of agents until finding one careless and incompetent enough to leave a laptop in the car. The thief does not need to know the contents of the laptop to know that an SS laptop is likely to be valuable, either to hold for ransom or to sell to interested third parties.

The fact that the thief had the driver go right up to the driveway, rather than leaving the car a few blocks away, hints that they didn't want to be seen in the area any longer than absolutely necessary. If a friend of the agent, they could be afraid of being identified by a neighbor. Or they might simply have been afraid of being caught on security cameras. The thief must have had fear of being recognized, for whatever reason.

Could be the agent's boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, husband, or some other close person who would know that particular agent well enough to be aware that she was careless with her laptop. Could be the agent herself is actually a very careful agent normally, and she was in on the deal and left the laptop deliberately, then reported it stolen.

As for "how would it be known that the thief got to the agent's driveway by Uber?" they actually only said the thief was dropped off and that the car might have been an Uber. If they know the thief was dropped off, then presumably either there was a witness or it was caught on a security camera.

[jalan48]

11. Looks like major distraction material to me. This should create "Breaking" FOX News for weeks.

[Botany]

12. Please

[TheBlackAdder]

13. 1) Why would they state the contents of the laptop?; 2) The drives should be fully encrypted, right?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. I'm no IT expert, but

I am of the impression that the contents should be encrypted.

On the other hand, there are probably some people out there who know how to "overcome" that.

Floor plans for Trump Tower were surely on file for years at whatever agency in NYC inspects buildings for code. They might have been removed by now, but plenty of water has already gone under that bridge.

Thanks for writing.

[TheBlackAdder]

26. My crystal ball says there will be a Hillary Clinton EMail Document dump implicating her w/BENGHAZI!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

27. I'll go to Radio Shack and buy a blank tape.

I hope they have Beta.

[TheBlackAdder]

30. This is a fun OP, thanks!

[RKP5637]

39. Yep, Beta is best!!!

[lagomorph777]

49. My wife has hundreds of beta tapes

and thousands of VHS. You want some? Please?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

52. I have some Beta tapes and at least one Zenith VCR, that my father bought in 1982.

I have more VHS tapes. I still tape things.

Yes, I know there's a new way to do that.

The problem is that my flat screen TVs do not have tuner outputs. If they did, I would have a big incentive to buy a DVR. Now though, there's no source of a 1080i or 1080p signal, so having a DVR is pointless.

[7962]

18. So a thief uses Uber? I'd go with your #2 theory

Awfully odd crime to happen upon a car while exiting an Uber car right at that spot

[lagomorph777]

50. Unless he has diplomatic immunity.

[7962]

89. Ahhhhhhhhh!

[Renew Deal]

20. I imagine that any hard drive is encrypted

[RKP5637]

36. One would think so. It's hard to imagine they would carry around un-encrypted laptops or

with the encryption off.

[Renew Deal]

38. But if they do...

Prepare to feast

[RKP5637]

48. It'll be more entertainment time!!! SNL is gonna be on overload they have so much material to

pick from! Spicer is going to have to get some wheels on his podium soon.

[pnwmom]

68. Hard to imagine that an SS agent has need for Hillary Clinton investigation info. n/t

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. "Let's go get sushi and not pay."

So there's this valuable thing out there. People are frantically trying to recover it. A huge reward has been put on its recovery.

Sounds to me like:

[Hekate]

23. I'm going with Door #2. That was awfully slick. And the agent? What?!

Who leaves anything valuable in a car that can just be popped open that fast?

[brooklynite]

24. Secret Service Field office...

222 West 7th Avenue, #559
Anchorage, AK, 99513

[mahatmakanejeeves]

28. If you like winter sports, there could be worse duty stations. NT

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Taking Uber to a crime? Isn't that just asking to be traced?

The whole point of Uber is they know who you are. They have a phone number for you, at minimum; and I thought (not being a user) they have a full identity for you too.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

31. "Sure. I have it right here. 'Boris Badenov.'"

[muriel_volestrangler]

40. Can you be completely anonymous on Uber?

How anonymous is a smartphone?

[IronLionZion]

61. Uber and Lyft could be supoenaed to provide all drop offs at that time and location

but this whole story sounds like fake news tabloid nonsense

unless the Russian spies did it.

Next we need Trump to come out and claim that Obama ordered it

[KingCharlemagne]

66. My money is on GCHQ - nt

[Texin]

72. The article didn't identify it as an Uber vehicle. Just that it might have been a driving service.

This sounds conceivable because it's happened before and it was reported on by MSM at that time. I believe it happened during the Obama administration if I recall correctly, and I'm certain it's happened before. I don't understand why a Secret Service agent would do something like this. Why wouldn't someone like that take their laptop or tablets with them, especially if one was at his or her own residence (unless they've got a teen or overly snoopy spouse at home they worry about getting into their stuff).

[thesquanderer]

32. The Secret Service had their scandals under the Obama administration...

...but at least no one ever accused them of losing sensitive information that could risk national security. Finally, Trump out-does Obama!

[brewens]

33. "Pisstain" isn't going to be happy when he and "Mail Orders" secret service code names are leaked!

[Lochloosa]

34. Why would there be information about the investigation into Clinton's email account...

on a SS laptop?

What reason would they need with that info?

[ymetca]

35. How did it become known what was on the laptop?

"Omigosh! My laptop was stolen, and here is a list of all the valuable information to be found on it!"

WTF?

[MineralMan]

37. Probably locked with a seriously difficult password.

That would be my guess. At least I'd think such laptops would be protected pretty well. I could be wrong, though.

It will probably get sold and the buyer will do a factory reset on it before even trying to look at the data. That's the most likely scenario, really.

[Ford_Prefect]

42. Where's the police report? Where are the videos? This is more fakery!

Friday News dump to get the budget news off the radar.

[FarPoint]

43. The New York Daily...

Isn't that owned by Rupert Murdoch?...

Answering my own question...It's Zuckerman...Must be another paper Murdoch own I forgot about.

[lagomorph777]

44. The drive was encrypted, right?

Because this is a Federal computer and Little Donnie hasn't had time to cut the SS IT budget yet...

right?

[FakeNoose]

45. This is what happens when you fire everybody

Sure stuff is disappearing. What did Trump think was going to happen?

Either fired employees took their computers with them, or else there's nobody left to guard government property
and it's disappearing. Stop firing people and get a grip!

[gordianot]

46. Someday all of this will make a truly great movie.

All the Presidents Men pales in comparison.

[riverwalker]

47. I don't even leave my iPad in the car

Story smells fishy

[Honeycombe8]

53. Now, why would Secret Service have info on Clinton's emails?

That's suspicious to me. Esp since the campaign is over, although SS shouldn't have a reason to have that info even during the campaign.

I suspect the thief knew exactly what he was doing. You can't miss Secret Service. I've seen them in person. Their cars are also very pricey, super clean, and don't look like average cars.

[WheelWalker]

54. Tell me there's a tracking feature. Laptop must have been baited. A physical Trojan Horse?

[KittyWampus]

55. Why would a secret service agent have info about Clinton's email? Trump Tower makes total sense.

[safeinOhio]

56. A few Russians have been spotted

making the rounds of pawn shops. Also trolling Craigslist.

[blitzburgh55]

57. ABC News reporting it too

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/secret-service-laptop-trump-tower-floor-plans-details/story?id=46204467

[enid602]

62. suspicious

I can see why a NYC based SS Agent would have blueprints for tRump Tower, but why the fuck would she have Hill's emails? So careful as to have security cameras, but she left the car unlocked? Give this woman a raise!

[KewlKat]

63. weren't some of the NY FBI branch doing some interferring during the election....

Last edited Fri Mar 17, 2017, 02:55 PM - Edit history (1)

against Hillary, etc.......might be why there is still that info on there....or are the gearing up for another Hillary email investigation?

[enid602]

64. fbi

I think you're refering to McCauley, the retired FBI agent who received $28K from Michael Flynn.

[JTFrog]

65. Saw the story on ABC. I want to know what the fuck they mean by they can wipe the drive "if needed"

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/secret-service-laptop-trump-tower-floor-plans-details/story?id=46204467

The computer is encrypted and authorities are able to wipe the hard drive remotely if needed.

What the fuck do they mean "if needed"? Stolen, but hey, no biggie... right up there with every fucking thing these people do.

[poli-junkie]

69. Too specific

The description of what info was "stolen" was too specific. Why would they announce such specifically tantalizing info, but to only prick up the ears of a gullible public/media?

This story is BS.

[truthisfreedom]

73. +1000

WAY too specific. This information is being planted for some nefarious reason.

[NewRedDawn]

71. Maybe FBI would have

Clinton emails, not SS. I smell Bullshit either way.

[yurbud]

75. remember odd security breaches early on with Obama?

Those could easily have been taken as warnings.

The problem with these being warnings to Trump is the message is too subtle for him to get.

[brooklynite]

78. UPDATE: Additional sensitive items takes (per Politico)

Link to tweet

[briv1016]

79. So I guess the Secret Service now has to foot the bill for a Trump Tower remodel.

And Hillary's emails are back in the news while Donald has multiple scandle going on. Sounds legit.

[ColemanMaskell]

93. Tee-hee -- Good thinking.

[LaydeeBug]

80. Why would it have HRC email investigation info on it? This is a ruse...

plausible deniability

[Valhallakey]

82. The thief seemed to be well informed

I Know where to go and I know the bag is in the car? Really can any of you tell from the street that someone has left a bag in their car in the driveway? Add that to the other points above and the whole thing seems extremely odd.

[tanyev]

83. Has anyone accounted for James O'Keefe and Roger Stone's whereabouts at the time of the incident?

[Occulus]

84. This is a setup.

No Secret Service agent is stupid enough to leave these things in an unlocked vehicle.

[R B Garr]

94. I thought that right away, too.

I bet it's a trap. Maybe an omen of how things will get leaked with that handy theft excuse.

[UCmeNdc]

96. Russians are still out there helping Donald Trump.

They are going to use this information to muddy the waters to help Trump. It really comes down to what exactly did she have on that computer. Will they say that the FBI or CIA bugged the Trump building and place bugs in there to be found now? The Russians are really one step ahead of US counterintelligence.

[Paapa1]

97. Its unbelievable

Tis scary, is it just me?

[gopiscrap]

98. welcome to DU

[Rhiannon12866]

99. No, you're right, these are scary times

I've voted since Jimmy Carter (who promised to "always tell the truth" and the press held him to that promise) and I've never seen anything remotely like this...

Welcome to DU, Paapa1! You're in good company here!