Russians Were All Over Trump's 2016 Presidential Campaign
"These and other revelations in the report suffice to establish that Donald Trump poses a counterintelligence threat to the United States" --Bipartisan Senate report volume 5 on counterintelligence.
Someday in the future, a historian will gain access to the archives of the 21st century’s super powers. Provided that there is a future, of course. Or that archives exist. Or that historians exist.
With protecting “sources and methods” out of the picture and the political entities of the subsequent era no longer needing protection from their predecessors' sins, the remaining populace will have the opportunity to learn the totality of what happened in the run up to the 2016 presidential election.
The United States Senate Intelligence Committee has released its findings relating to foreign interference in that election. The facts, such as they are, are not the basis for partisan disagreement; analysis of their meaning and importance are.
There are morsels of information contained in the 1000 pages of that report not found in the House of Representatives version of events as detailed by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Not in dispute is the conclusion that the Trump campaign benefited from Russian influence operations. Whether they welcomed or solicited such help depends on the interpretation of hundreds of contacts between individuals connected with the campaign and entities linked to the oligarchy headed by Vladimir Putin.
It is established that Trump’s campaign chairman (Paul Manafort) provided a Russian intelligence officer with internal polling data and strategy used, including what states they were targeting in the campaign, all while talking about a plan for Russia to control eastern Ukraine.
NOTE: This occurred on the same day the Obama administration put out its first major warning that Russia was trying to influence the election.
The Senate report also concludes that WikiLeaks played a key role in Russia’s effort to influence the 2016 election in favor of now President Donald Trump and likely knew it was assisting Russian intelligence.
There is pervasive evidence of individuals acting to prevent government investigators from obtaining evidence and testimony. The convictions of various Trump campaign associates are related to perjury and witness tampering.
There is not enough available evidence --given the current political reality-- to charge persons with acts related to the central tenet of the investigation, which is a testament to the sheer pervasiveness of criminality within our so-called legal checks and balances.
Charged, convicted, or sentenced in the Russian probe were: Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Konstantin Kilimnik, Sam Patten, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, Michael Flynn, 13 Russian Nationals, 3 Russian companies, Richard Pinedo, Alex van der Zwaan, 12 Russian Intel officers.
From NBC News:
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee made criminal referrals of Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, Erik Prince and Sam Clovis to federal prosecutors in 2019, passing along their suspicions that the men may have misled the committee during their testimony, an official familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The official confirmed reports in the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, which reported on the matter last week. A criminal referral to the Justice Department means Congress believes a matter warrants investigation for potential violation of the law.
The committee detailed its concerns in a letter to the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., in June 2019, the official said.
The combination of witnesses refusing to testify, outright lying, and the use of technology to hide evidence amounts to a victory for Team Trump.
While conservative Bush speechwriter David Frum took to Twitter after release of the report to describe it as being “everything but a signed and notarized confession” from Trump, the White House noise machine will continue to claim no foul and fantasize about conspiracies within the deep state.
For now, this evidence and the analysis that should flow from it, are little more than a footnote.
The Great White Savior (Or SuperReporter, Or Mr Smith on the floor of Congress) view of history exists only in fiction. So, save that thought about how bad the Trump campaign was/is for some future date when it can get a fair hearing.
President Trump’s failures as a leader will have to suffice for campaign fodder for now. The devastated economy, the healthcare crisis, the destruction of trust, and the overall lack of competency will have to suffice.
https://twitter.com/AliNouriPhD/status/1295758638401847304?s=20
The cure for what ails us is simple: an overwhelming and thorough defeat at the polls in the general election. This isn’t about electing Joe Biden. It’s about throwing the entire cabal and its enablers to the curb. THAT is something we can control.
If Trump opts to go ballistic after losing, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
***
I gotta give the Dem 2020 convention credit for this closing video.
https://twitter.com/DemConvention/status/1295558907293769728?s=20
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Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com