Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House

[Working Poor]

I doubt it will end up spoiling the election, unless there is money involved.

There is a lot of bribery money involved given to Clinton so she could win the election and give favors to Saudia Arabia and the EU. Pay to play...

[CPUd]

There is a lot of bribery money involved given to Clinton so she could win the election and give favors to Saudia Arabia and the EU. Pay to play...

Yes, they are both dirty like that. Which is why neither of them should have been anywhere close to their party nominations.

[staerker]

There is a lot of bribery money involved given to Clinton so she could win the election and give favors to Saudia Arabia and the EU. Pay to play...

Yeah, a lot of money was involved, children are expensive to buy and traffick.

[CPUd]

A house divided
The alarming response to Russian meddling in American democracy

The CIA believes that Russia was trying to help get Donald Trump elected. That news has been met with partisanship, not patriotism

WHY is it unsettling to see Republicans and Democrats squabbling, afresh, about Russian meddling in last month’s presidential election? After all, the basic allegation being debated has been out there for months: namely, that in 2015 and again in 2016 at least two groups of hackers with known links to Russian intelligence broke into the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee, as that party’s national headquarters is known, and into the private e-mail system of such figures as John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, then released a slew of embarrassing e-mails to Wikileaks. Before the election a joint public statement by the director of national intelligence and secretary of homeland security saying that intelligence agencies are “confident” that the Russian government directed the hacking—a statement that did little to sway supporters of Donald Trump, who heard their candidate cast doubt on that intelligence finding, and instead revel in the contents of the stolen e-mails as they hit the press. This, Mr Trump, was just more evidence that his opponent deserved the soubriquet “Crooked Hillary”.

All that has changed materially in recent days is that—thanks to reporting by the Washington Post and New York Times—we now know that the CIA briefed senior members of Congress before and after the election that, in the consensus view of intelligence analysts, the Russians’ motive was not just to undermine confidence in American democracy generally, but actively to seek Mrs Clinton’s defeat. These latest revelations have probably not changed any minds at all. Republicans who hate Mrs Clinton are still delighted that she was defeated. Democrats who loathe and fear Mr Trump have one more reason to dislike him. Outside Washington, red-blooded Americans who mostly rather dislike President Vladimir Putin (pictured), according to polls, seem to be shrugging off the latest allegations: President-elect Trump was loudly cheered by spectators when he turned up in Baltimore on December 10th to watch the Army-Navy football game, an annual pageant of patriotism.

And that is what is, or should be, so unsettling. Russian interference in elections across the Western world is like a nasty virus, attacking the body politic. Normally, America is protected by powerful, bipartisan immune responses against such a menace. It also boasts some of the world’s most sophisticated intelligence and cyber-defences, and when spooks tell the Republicans and Democrats who lead Congress and sit on the House and Senate intelligence committees of hostile acts by a foreign power, love of country generates a unified response. That immune response is not kicking in this time.
...

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democ...ican_democracy

[Jamesiv1]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democ...ican_democracy

CIA = fake news

[CPUd]

https://twitter.com/WIRED/status/808086193992794112

[GunnyFreedom]

Russia is taking down Merkel next?

Um.

Go Russia?

[Danke]

Damn ruskies!

[CPUd]

Russia's role in this year's presidential election, explained by a media historian

The Kremlin’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election became apparent during the Democratic National Convention this summer. WikiLeaks, which now operates as a de facto Russian front, released a trove of stolen emails from the server of the Democratic National Committee. The leak served two purposes: to raise doubts about the legitimacy of Clinton’s nomination and to give a subtle boost to her Republican rival, Donald Trump.

We’ve since learned, thanks in part to this report by BuzzFeed, that senior members of Clinton’s campaign staff had their email accounts hacked by a group known as Fancy Bear (among many other names). The internal dynamics of the group aren’t well understood. What we know is that the White House and various American intelligence agencies believe strongly that Fancy Bear is working at the behest of the Russian government.

In addition to penetrating email accounts, Russia is also involved in the more insidious business of propagating “fake news” stories in order to sow doubt and distort public opinion. Much of the fake news problems it the result of ideologues and internet entrepreneurs, but there is compelling evidence that suggests Russia is an active participant in this stream of misinformation.

As CNN reported last week, Russian hackers (an unknown number of which were state-sponsored) have worked to disrupt America’s electoral process via botnets and a network of websites and social media accounts, all of which exist in order to pump false or inflammatory narratives into the media ecosystem.

Often the stories are conspiratorial in nature or intended to add to the white noise floating around the web. While much of the “fake news” seems to have targeted Hillary Clinton (i.e., the recklessly speculative stories about her declining health), the more subversive result was to produce a more polarized electorate.

The goal, as Clint Watts, a fellow at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University, told CNN, “is to erode trust in mainstream media, public figures, government institutions — everything that holds the unity of the Republic together."

This kind of subterfuge isn’t new. Nearly every major power engages in some form of cyberwarfare. Putin’s encroachments, however, represent an unusually direct attempt to influence the internal politics of other countries’ elections.

Indeed, the Obama administration publicly condemned Russia in October for attempting to interfere in our electoral process. Vice President Joe Biden went a step further, acknowledging Russia’s role and overtly warning that “we have the capacity” to respond at a “time of our choosing.”

To better understand Russia’s ambitions, I spoke with Vasily Gatov, a Russian-born mass media analyst and a Visiting Fellow at USC’s Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism.

A specialist in Russian media history, Gatov is currently working on a book about the re-emergence of totalitarian censorship in Putin’s Russia. He has reported extensively in Russia for more than two decades and, more recently, has focused on the political and technological implications of mass media.

His perspective on Russia’s propaganda campaign is more measured than most. While he doesn’t deny Russia’s involvement or subversive intent, he believes their impact has been wildly overstated. Russia benefits from the surplus of fake news, Gatov concedes, but often they don’t create it so much as amplify it. By inflating Russia’s role, he told me, we “create the impression that they’re more powerful than they are.”

...

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politi...opaganda-media

[enhanced_deficit]

Damn ruskies!

Looks like drama is over:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...=1#post6381841

Did not see this coming.


Score:
Trump: 22 , Obama: 0

[Danke]

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politi...opaganda-media

Vox

[CPUd]

Gap on Russia hacking conclusions between intelligence, FBI

Is Trump Russia's choice for president?

(CNN)The disagreement between some Republicans and Democrats on Russia's intentions in hacking the election rests partially on the lack of agreement between intelligence agencies and the FBI about the conclusiveness of the evidence, officials explained this weekend.

The US intelligence community is increasingly confident that Russian meddling in the American election was intended to steer the election toward Donald Trump, multiple sources have said. That revelation, first reported by CNN a week ago, went beyond the October statement by the 17 intelligence agencies that only said that Russia was seeking to undermine the election, but did not go as far as to say it was to benefit Trump.

The New York Times reported this weekend that part of the reason for the change is that the CIA believes the Russians hacked not only Democratic organizations but Republican groups too, but that they only published documents from Democrats.

Motives unclear
The FBI hasn't concluded that the RNC itself was directly breached, a law enforcement official said Sunday. FBI investigators did find that a breach of a third-party entity that held data belonging to the RNC. But the data appears to have been outdated and of little value to the hackers. The FBI also found that some conservative groups and pundits were hacked. The FBI also hasn't found conclusive evidence to show that it was done to help Trump.

"At this point, there appears to have been a combination of motivations," one US law enforcement official said. "They wanted to sow discord and undermine our systems. It's clear not even the Russians thought he would win."

Officials familiar with the briefings given to Congress say the CIA assessment wasn't as definitive as has been portrayed in news reports this weekend. The agency developed new information in recent weeks, based on intelligence sources, which prompted a new assessment of the Russian hack. That assessment "leans" toward the view that the Russians were trying to hurt Clinton and help Trump. But the CIA assessment wasn't definitive, the officials said.

Part of the issue is the nature of the CIA and FBI roles in the investigation. The CIA produces raw intelligence, the FBI moves more slowly to reach conclusions based on the intelligence and other investigative work.

Partisan differences
And then there's the partisan views of members of Congress who have been briefed. "Some people in that briefing heard what they wanted to hear. We just gave them the facts and it's up to the policy makers to do what they want with it," a US intelligence official said.

That disagreement was evident when members of Congress were briefed on the latest intelligence findings recently and the FBI officials did not concur, according to the Washington Post.

CNN is told there was at least one high-level briefing by multiple agencies in the past few weeks since the election. In that meeting, CIA informed members of its changed information.

Democrats emerged wanting a more public airing of the information. That led to the letter two weeks ago from Intelligence committee Democrats pressing the President to declassify the information.
Republicans who heard the same information were insistent that it was not so clear-cut.

Some continued to make that argument this weekend.

"The certainty with which it is being portrayed that the intelligence community fingered Russia and revealed multiple attacks -- those are being overblown and put forward with a certainty that doesn't exist," said one Republican congressional aide familiar with discussion among top leadership and committee members.

"Absolute work of fiction by whoever is leaking this information to the press."

Incoming Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday that lack of agreement among agencies is more reason for further scrutiny.

"The fact the CIA and FBI disagree shows the need for a bipartisan investigation to get to the bottom of this. The investigation should be tough, strong, bipartisan and have access to all materials, classified and not," Schumer said.

Congressional pushback
Back in September, at a briefing of congressional leadership, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell was among those who pushed back at a meeting when presented with intelligence that Russia was trying to steer the elections to Trump, according to a source briefed on the meeting.

Also in September, multiple intelligence agencies briefed House and Senate intelligence committees about information they had gathered showing that Russia was interfering with the elections, according to a congressional source close to the process. The briefers did not explicitly say that Russian hackers were trying to help Trump, but it was a clear from the evidence that they presented that Russia was meddling in the elections -- and Trump was benefiting.

"There was no way that any one could have walked out of there with that the evidence and conclude that the Russian government was not behind this," this source said.

That is different briefing than the one McConnell was at where he reportedly pushed back on the intelligence linking Russia hacks to helping Trump.

But other Republicans, notably some key senators that disagree with Donald Trump's friendlier approach to Russia, are now backing a bipartisan review of the hacking that will coincide with the White House review of election-related hacking going back to 2008.

Senator Lindsey Graham told CNN this week that Republicans need to recognize that this is a bipartisan impact even if it was aimed only the Democratic presidential candidate this time.
"It's pretty clear to me that WikiLeaks was designed to hurt Clinton and it could be us tomorrow, to my Republican friends," said the South Carolina Republican. "What if the Iranians hack into Trump's emails, because they don't like him being tough? As a nation, this is not a partisan issue," Graham said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan has also decried foreign intervention in the election.

"All year, the Intelligence Community, law enforcement, and state and local election officials have been working to ensure that this election was conducted consistent with our long history of free and fair elections. The speaker can not comment on or characterize the content of classified briefings but he rejects any politicization of intelligence matters," said AshLee Strong, Ryan's spokeswoman.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/11/politi...-donald-trump/

[Danke]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/11/politi...-donald-trump/

CNN...and no names, again.

[CPUd]

https://twitter.com/WalshFreedom/sta...03919069630464

[Danke]

Joe Walsh?



"No. Not even close. Trump doesn't represent my world view." Joe Walsh

[enhanced_deficit]

https://twitter.com/WalshFreedom/sta...03919069630464

His tweets tend to be overly emotional.

[CPUd]

Russia Says It Was In Touch With Trump Campaign During The Election
“There were contacts,” Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.
11/10/2016 08:35 am ET | Updated Nov 10, 2016
32k

MOSCOW, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The Russian government was in touch with members of President-elect Donald Trump’s political team during the U.S. election campaign and knows most of his entourage, one of Russia’s most senior diplomats told the Interfax news agency on Thursday.

Accused by defeated Democratic contender Hillary Clinton of being a puppet of President Vladimir Putin after praising the Russian leader, Trump has dismissed suggestions he had anything to do with the Russian government during the campaign.

But in comments that could prove politically awkward for the president-elect, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said there had indeed been some communications.

“There were contacts,” Interfax cited Ryabkov as saying. “We are doing this and have been doing this during the election campaign.”

Such contacts would continue, he added, saying the Russian government knew and had been in touch with many of Trump’s closest allies. He did not name names.

“Obviously, we know most of the people from his (Trump’s) entourage. Those people have always been in the limelight in the United States and have occupied high-ranking positions,” he said.

“I cannot say that all of them, but quite a few have been staying in touch with Russian representatives.”

Moscow was just beginning to consider how to go about setting up more formal channels to communicate with the future Trump administration, said Ryabkov.

A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b0d9ce6fc0e5f4

[Danke]

Hillary campaign chief linked to money-laundering in Russia
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/10/hillary-c...LSY2uba02J3.99

[Danke]

Hillary Clinton's Campaign Against Russia - Counterpunch

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/...gainst-russia/

[Danke]

Hillary's Russia Connection

http://www.weeklystandard.com/hillar...rticle/2004790

[CPUd]

[Danke]

Wikileaks Mocks Clinton Campaign’s Russia Conspiracy


http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/

[Danke]

McCain, Schumer, Graham and Reed!? Seriously, on RPFs?

[CPUd]

[enhanced_deficit]

Why fellow AIPAC funded neocon Joe Lieberman's name is not cited... is he still in Iraq searching for WMDs?


2003: McCain: We Will Find Weapons Of Mass Destruction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuAd0YjIfOY


Can you come up with some quality spam to post here. Maybe something from other Iraq war lobbies tools like Colin Powell or Paul Wolfowitz besides discredited low energy Johnny "bomb bomb Iran" McCain.





Claim: John McCain and Lindsey Graham with the leader of the Libyan branch of ISIS.

[Danke]

These tyrants are antithesis of anything Ron Paul has stood for and has said. These politicians are anti-liberty and have a attacked Ron Paul continuously. What we have here on our hands is a troll.

[Danke]

Troll tries to deflect with a ridiculous post, again.

[CPUd]

How Russian Hackers Can Blackmail Donald Trump—and the GOP
If it is true that the Russians hacked the Republican National Committee as well as the DNC, then their power over POTUS potentially knows few bounds.
Michael Weiss
Kimberly Dozier
12.10.16 2:50 PM ET

Former and current U.S. national security officials and experts say that if it is true that the Russian government possesses documents belonging to the Republican National Committee, Donald Trump’s incoming administration may be the most compromised in U.S. history.

A senior U.S. administration official confirmed to The Daily Beast that the CIA believes the Russians hacked the RNC. He spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

On Friday, Dec. 9, The New York Times reported that hackers connected to two separate Russian security services allegedly broke into the computer systems of the RNC, but chose not to disclose the digital contents of those systems, in marked contrast to the gradual release, via WikiLeaks, of emails belonging to the Democratic National Committee throughout the spring and summer.

As a result, the report said U.S. intelligence agencies concluded with “high confidence” that the Kremlin’s motive in these cyberattacks was to get Trump elected, not just do harm to his rival Hillary Clinton or undermine American democracy, as the agencies had previously concluded with only “confidence,” when they announced concerns over Russian interference in October. One senior U.S. official told the Washington Post for its own story on the matter, “It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected.”

“There’s a real revolt going on,” said a former intelligence officer of the CIA leaks, citing discussions with former colleagues. “They don’t like [National Security Adviser nominee Michael] Flynn and they hate Trump’s guts. This is their whole life’s work being thrown out the door. They feel like the whole intelligence committee is on probation.” The ex-spy spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss the agency’s internal anguish publicly.

The DNC hacks, it is widely believed, were perpetrated by two independent organs of Russian intelligence. First, COZY BEAR, a hacker working for the FSB, the domestic intelligence arm, broke into the Committee’s servers in mid-2015. Around the same time FANCY BEAR, a hacker affiliated with the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, also penetrated the servers. To drum up plausible deniability, the haul from these hacks was then sent to WikiLeaks and uploaded by two suspected cut-outs of Moscow, “Guccifer 2.0” and a newish website called DCLeaks.com.

The White House and Congress were informed by the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency that the Russian officials responsible for both the RNC and DNC breaches were identified, according to the Times, although their names have not been publicized.

“[CIA director] John Brennan does believe the Russians are behind it,” said ret. Col. Tony Shaffer, who briefed Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn this past week at Trump Tower. “He did brief the senate on his belief that the Russians were involved, but he did not provide any specific evidence. My understanding is the data provided was only of opinion in nature, not details of specific attacks. The American people are owed an answer, but my understanding is they are never going to get an answer because there’s no basic data to back up the allegation,” said Shaffer, who is a member of the New York-based London Center for Policy Research where Flynn is a fellow.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul told Politico during the election he’d informed Trump that Russia was attempting to influence the elections.

“Now he hasn’t had the briefing I had, but I made it clear that in my judgment it was a nation-state,” McCaul said in October. His office declined to comment on the matter Saturday.

The CIA also declined to comment Saturday.
...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...d-the-gop.html

[Danke]

Troll tries to deflect with a ridiculous post, again.

What happen to to the cats or dancing poddles?

[CPUd]