{"id":602423,"date":"2021-07-26T05:06:06","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T09:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=602423"},"modified":"2021-07-26T05:06:08","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T09:06:08","slug":"biden-mark-kelly-worked-with-intel-firm-hired-to-smear-harvey-weinstein-accuser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-mark-kelly-worked-with-intel-firm-hired-to-smear-harvey-weinstein-accuser\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden, Mark Kelly Worked With Intel Firm Hired To Smear Harvey Weinstein Accuser"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-mark-kelly-worked-with-intel-firm-hired-to-smear-harvey-weinstein-accuser%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=602423&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"29.477178423237\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Disgraced mogul&#8217;s legal team hired K2 Intelligence to discredit rape allegations<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"491\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/2020-02-24T171337Z_2_LYNXNPEG1N1D6_RTROPTP_4_PEOPLE-HARVEY-WEINSTEIN-736x491-1.jpg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/2020-02-24T171337Z_2_LYNXNPEG1N1D6_RTROPTP_4_PEOPLE-HARVEY-WEINSTEIN-e1582565333166.jpg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2020-02-24T171337Z_2_LYNXNPEG1N1D6_RTROPTP_4_PEOPLE-HARVEY-WEINSTEIN-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2020-02-24T171337Z_2_LYNXNPEG1N1D6_RTROPTP_4_PEOPLE-HARVEY-WEINSTEIN-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2020-02-24T171337Z_2_LYNXNPEG1N1D6_RTROPTP_4_PEOPLE-HARVEY-WEINSTEIN-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tHarvey Weinstein \/ Reuters\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/chuck-ross\/\" title=\"Posts by Chuck Ross\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Chuck Ross<\/a> \u2022 July 26, 2021 5:00 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"116.0296234773\">\n<p>The campaigns for President Joe Biden and Sen. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.) hired the private intelligence firm that Harvey Weinstein&#8217;s legal team tapped to investigate and smear a woman who accused the disgraced Hollywood mogul of sexual assault.<\/p>\n<p>Biden&#8217;s campaign paid $7,728 to K2 Intelligence in November and December, according to Federal Election Commission records. Kelly&#8217;s campaign paid K2 more than $314,000 for &#8220;security&#8221; in four installments from December to March of this year, the records show.<\/p>\n<p>The Kelly campaign told the&nbsp;<em>Washington Free Beacon&nbsp;<\/em>that it hired K2 to provide security for Kelly and his wife, former representative Gabby Giffords (D., Ariz.), but that it no longer employs the firm and &#8220;does not go into detail&#8221; regarding the couple&#8217;s &#8220;physical security.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It is not clear from the filings what services K2 provided Biden, but the payments could provide fodder to Republicans given the firm&#8217;s controversial work for Weinstein. Kelly, a former astronaut, faces reelection next year. Organizations like the <em>New York Times<\/em> have cut ties with lawyers who worked for Weinstein to smear his victims. The paper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/new-york-times-terminates-david-boies-law-firm-after-weinstein-revelations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">terminated<\/a> its relationship with Weinstein lawyer and top Democratic lawyer David Boies in November 2017 following revelations that he hired another company, Black Cube, to spy on Weinstein accusers.<\/p>\n<p>Weinstein&#8217;s legal team hired K2 to dig up dirt on Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, an Italian model who said that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 2015. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/news-desk\/harvey-weinsteins-secret-settlements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to the <em>New Yorker<\/em><\/a>, Weinstein&#8217;s lawyers also tasked K2 with ensuring that Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance (D.) did not press charges against Weinstein. The <em>New Yorker<\/em> also reported that K2 gave Vance&#8217;s office information that Gutierrez had worked in the past as a prostitute. Prosecutors confronted Gutierrez with the information, according to the report. The lawyer who oversaw K2&#8217;s work for Weinstein, Elkan Abramowitz, contributed $6,600 to Biden\u2019s campaign and a pro-Biden political committee, election filings show.<\/p>\n<p>K2 has worked for other controversial clients. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/dec\/08\/k2-corporate-spy-infiltrated-anti-asbestos-campaign-court-told\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to the<em>&nbsp;Guardian<\/em><\/a>, spies working for the firm allegedly infiltrated an anti-asbestos group on behalf of a corporate client in the asbestos industry. The K2 operatives posed as documentary filmmakers to gain access to the group.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to its intelligence-gathering operations, K2 provides a host of other services to its clientele.<\/p>\n<p>The group, which has rebranded itself K2 Integrity, says that it is the &#8220;preeminent risk, compliance, investigations, and monitoring firm&#8221; whose mission is to protect &#8220;clients&#8217; operations, reputations, and economic security.&#8221; K2 also provides physical protection, travel intelligence, cybersecurity services, and crisis management, according to its website.<\/p>\n<p>Kelly, who defeated Republican Martha McSally in a special election in November, came under scrutiny during the campaign over his business ties to China. The<em>&nbsp;Free Beacon<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/elections\/for-mark-kelly-attending-forum-hosted-by-ccp-was-the-beginning-of-lucrative-relationship-with-china\/\">reported<\/a> last year that Kelly cashed in on his connections in China after attending a forum in 2003 cohosted by the Chinese People&#8217;s Institute of Foreign Affairs, an affiliate of the Chinese Communist Party.<\/p>\n<p>Kelly cofounded an aerospace company, World View Enterprises, that received funding from Tencent, the Chinese telecom giant that censors Internet access in China. World View <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/elections\/arizona-dems-business-took-ppp-loan-after-he-criticized-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">received<\/a> between $1 million and $2 million in PPP loans last year, even though Kelly criticized the program as a handout to &#8220;big banks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Kelly&#8217;s office, the White House, and K2 did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats Disgraced mogul&#8217;s legal team hired K2 Intelligence to discredit rape allegations  Harvey Weinstein \/ Reuters  Chuck Ross \u2022 July 26, 2021 5:00 am &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-602423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}