August 8, the Russian business newspaper Kommersant published the full text of the latest US Russia sanctions bill [DASKAA PDF] and moved the Russian markets; the Rouble dropped 2.2% in short order. The bill was introduced Aug 2 by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and 5 co-sponsors, but the full text was not published on Congress.gov until Aug 14. The bill draft copy published by Kommersant was from Sen. Graham’s office; his signature can be seen in the top right-hand corner of the first page. Graham’s Communications Director Kevin Bishop said in an email that there’s “nothing at all unusual” about a draft bill copy being distributed to inquiring reporters following the introduction of a bill — his comments are quoted below.

Insiders have said the draft bill, called the “Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act of 2018”, was circulating among insiders for a week before the release. Only a few US business media noted Kommersant’s publication of the draft bill, with their main interest being that it roiled Russian markets.

No US corporate media have asked or provided answers to obvious questions that Americans were asking online and speculating about, such as: How did Kommersant get the bill? What American gave it to which Russian, and why? Why do Russian insiders and a Russian newspaper get to see the sanctions bill text before Americans get to see it?

The obvious acronym for the bill is “DASKAA”. This is what Russian and other media are calling it. “DASKA” is in the file name of the bill copy I was sent by Sen. Graham’s office. US corporate media are using “DESKAA”.

Other internet users were criticizing the bill — paralleling Russian government statements — as something that would negatively impact US relations with Russia. Keep in mind that Russia is a historic enemy/adversary of the US, and since 2016, Russia has been caught hacking US electoral systems and private emails, manipulating social media, and cultivating influence with Donald Trump and other Republicans, which some US officials have characterized as an attack on the US. Also, according to recent public statements by a number of US officials, the Russian government is currently engaged in adversarial cyber, influence and other operations against the US, other countries and important Western Establishment alliances, like NATO. (emptywheel.net and trumprussiablog.wordpress.com are useful resources for insights and keeping track)

I contacted the press offices of all six senators by email. After giving a shorter summary of the above events, I asked:

1) Does Sen. [X] have a comment on the leak of this draft bill, the text of which is currently not available through any US government source?

2) Is the Senate investigating the leak of this bill?

3) Has Sen. [X] requested that any federal agencies investigate the leak of this bill for possible criminal violations, such as insider trading, espionage, etc.?

Kevin Bishop, Comm. Dir. for Sen. Graham, responded in the following way [screenshots]:

Mr. Bishop also helpfully sent me a copy of the draft bill, which appears to be the same one published by Kommersant. I replied, “Were the reporters who requested it asked not to publish the text of the bill?”

I then asked if sending the bill out like this was standard practice, or an ‘authorized leak’, to which he replied:

I emailed again with a question about how widely the bill would have been distributed in the federal government following introduction — e.g. are bills automatically circulated to every member of Congress, the White House, agencies with equities, etc. This was not relevant to the Kommersant publication, as they’d received a copy from Sen. Graham’s office. However, I was curious about the process, and I wanted to see what Bishop would say:

I replied late afternoon on Aug 13 that I was seeking information about a matter of interest to Americans, not alleging a conspiracy, and asked if Kommersant was one of the bill-requesting members of the media. The morning of Aug 14 I emailed again, to follow up.

As of this posting, Bishop has not responded. Of more importance is how the American People, and the People of Earth, will respond to the capture of state power, governments, economies and social functions by unnaccountable elites who are subverting the will of the People and the public interest.