New York Times dumps bombshell 7:30 p.m. on a Friday night: Deep State NSA Spies Gave $100,000 to Russian Agent for Fabricated Compromising Material on Trump --$100K was first installment of $1M payout --U.S. intelligence officials said they cut off the deal because they were fearful of political fallout in Washington if they were seen to be buying [with U.S. tax dollars] scurrilous information on the president. --The N.S.A. even used its official Twitter account nearly a dozen times to send coded messages to the Russian. | 09 Feb 2018 | After months of secret negotiations, a shadowy Russian bilked American spies out of $100,000 last year, promising to deliver compromising material on President Trump. The deal would also include stolen National Security Agency cyberweapons, according to American and European intelligence officials. The cash, delivered in a suitcase to a Berlin hotel room in September, was intended as the first installment of a $1 million payout, according to American officials, the Russian and communications reviewed by The New York Times. The Russian claimed the information would link the president and his associates to Russia. But instead of providing the hacking tools, the Russian produced unverified and possibly fabricated information involving Mr. Trump and others, including bank records, emails and purported Russian intelligence data.