Russia influences election

[Remus West]

if it doesn't say what he wants it to.

There is zero chance it will not say what he wants it to say. Neither he nor tRump will be disappointed by the report. How could they be. When writing a fictional story designed to please one man (and by proxy the other) the report writers are certain to deliver.

[malchior]

There is a slight chance here because Durham is supposedly a straight shooter. It doesn't mean that Barr won't selectively edit it.

Apropos - "escapes". Jeez folks.

[Defiant]

In a thousand-page bipartisan report released Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee said the Trump administration obstructed its investigation with "novel claims" of executive privilege. It painted a portrait of a Trump campaign eager to accept help from a foreign power in 2016.

The Senate report, the most detailed account to date of the Trump campaign's embrace of Russian election interference, also asserted that the allegations that Ukraine interfered in the election — which President Donald Trump perpetuated — originated with Russian intelligence agencies.

The report highlighted some never-before-seen evidence about Trump and Russia, including three allegations of potentially compromising material relating to Trump's private trips to Russia that were unconnected to the dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/nation ... p-n1237002

[Holman]

Thread here:



Big findings include confirmation of everything present in Mueller, going even further towards collusion.

--Manafort close ally Konstantin Kilimnick was determined to be an active Russian intelligence officer.
--Evidence exists (much redacted here) that Manafort and Kilimnick were involved in the DNC email hacks.
--The Trump campaign had prior knowledge of the Wikileaks dump, with Stone as the contact.
--Administration lies to investigators and claims of privilege intentionally obstructed the investigation.
--There is no evidence of Ukrainian involvement in the DNC hacks (a Trumpian counter-claim).
--Trump openly spoke of pardons to Cohen and others.
--Trump was in business negotiations with Russian oligarchs (and thus Putin) all through the campaign.

[malchior]

Cool. Now that we confirmed he stole the first election can we get the GOP senators onto the preventing it again train? I'll hold my breath.

[Roman]

"Separate from Steele's memos, which the Committee did not use for support, the Committee became aware of three general sets of allegations" involving women, the report said, two of which described a tape. No such allegations were confirmed, but the finding lent new credence to at least one claim in the widely discredited Steele dossier.

Pee Pee tape?

[Paingod]

The more I see what Trump gets away with, the less inclined I am to think that (if it exists) that tape has any power over him. He'd call it a fake, claim urine is sterile anyway, admit he paid for the women but didn't know what they were going to do, then announce he was going to go play golf.

... and his base would cheer.

[malchior]

The release of this report has me scratching my head. We know there are no objective facts in the GOP sphere anymore but still some group there bothered to compile a damning nearly 1000-page report that confirmed that Manafort coordinated with the Russians. And then the GOP Senators all ran off to Fox to say it didn't prove it even though they signed off on it. It would have been far easier to bury it and lie about the contents. I just can't wrap my head around it.

[Holman]

The release of this report has me scratching my head. We know there are no objective facts in the GOP sphere anymore but still some group there bothered to compile a damning nearly 1000-page report that confirmed that Manafort coordinated with the Russians. And then the GOP Senators all ran off to Fox to say it didn't prove it even though they signed off on it. It would have been far easier to bury it and lie about the contents. I just can't wrap my head around it.

GOP Sen Richard Burr chaired the Senate Intel Committee until mid-year, when insider-trading allegations conveniently forced him (and him alone) to step aside

All through the Trump administration Burr has taken allegations of Trump collusion and obstruction more seriously than you might expect, to the point where Trump was openly treating him as an enemy. Even so, he played along with the party line when necessary, but ordering the release of this report was his last act as committee chair.

[malchior]

The release of this report has me scratching my head. We know there are no objective facts in the GOP sphere anymore but still some group there bothered to compile a damning nearly 1000-page report that confirmed that Manafort coordinated with the Russians. And then the GOP Senators all ran off to Fox to say it didn't prove it even though they signed off on it. It would have been far easier to bury it and lie about the contents. I just can't wrap my head around it.

GOP Sen Richard Burr chaired the Senate Intel Committee until mid-year, when insider-trading allegations conveniently forced him (and him alone) to step aside

All through the Trump administration Burr has taken allegations of Trump collusion and obstruction more seriously than almost any other Republican, to the point where Trump was openly treating him as an enemy. Ordering the release of this report was his last act as committee chair.

Right but he has been gone for months (edit: since mid-May). It still doesn't really answer the question for me. Even if he ordered it just before he left...these guys aren't known for 'ethics'.

[Holman]

The release of this report has me scratching my head. We know there are no objective facts in the GOP sphere anymore but still some group there bothered to compile a damning nearly 1000-page report that confirmed that Manafort coordinated with the Russians. And then the GOP Senators all ran off to Fox to say it didn't prove it even though they signed off on it. It would have been far easier to bury it and lie about the contents. I just can't wrap my head around it.

GOP Sen Richard Burr chaired the Senate Intel Committee until mid-year, when insider-trading allegations conveniently forced him (and him alone) to step aside

All through the Trump administration Burr has taken allegations of Trump collusion and obstruction more seriously than almost any other Republican, to the point where Trump was openly treating him as an enemy. Ordering the release of this report was his last act as committee chair.

Right but he has been gone for months. It still doesn't really answer the question for me. Even if he ordered it just before he left...these guys aren't known for 'ethics'.

I assume that it was somehow impossible for the current committee to halt the release, or else they would have done so.

Possibly the order for release would have cleared the way for Democratic members to do it on their own, and the GOP hope was that more time would somehow just make it go away like Covid-19?

Regardless, there's little sign that the final product was massaged or watered down. It's very damning even with the redactions that are still in place. It's a strong reminder that we all misread the Mueller Report the way Barr wanted us too.

[Carpet_pissr]

Also remember that increasingly, the new Trumpians are decrying the "GOP Establishment". Eating their own, as it were. You're either on board with Trump as the crazed engineer, or you are an enemy. I'm not talking about the never Trump R's that were pushed or voted out already. I'm talking about the few holdouts that remain in office as of today. Targets are beginning to be painted on their backs for not being Trump enough.

As for the elections, who do we call to have the UN come in and observe?

[Defiant]

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is unconscious in hospital suffering from suspected poisoning, his spokeswoman has said.

The anti-corruption campaigner fell ill during a flight and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Kira Yarmysh said, adding that they suspected something had been mixed into his tea.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53844958

[Paingod]

Also remember that increasingly, the new Trumpians are decrying the "GOP Establishment". Eating their own, as it were. You're either on board with Trump as the crazed engineer, or you are an enemy. I'm not talking about the never Trump R's that were pushed or voted out already. I'm talking about the few holdouts that remain in office as of today. Targets are beginning to be painted on their backs for not being Trump enough.

I used to think that in Batman the Joker's minions we loyal to the point of impossibility. I mean, who would follow an insane clown that delighted in ripping apart his own people.

Hollywood isn't so far-fetched anymore.

Trump has set the "believable villain" bar so low now that it'll be interesting to see what they come up with to make it look like fiction again.

[Brian]

I mean, who would follow an insane clown that delighted in ripping apart his own people.

They'd have to be some sort of...Insane Clown Posse.

[malchior]

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is unconscious in hospital suffering from suspected poisoning, his spokeswoman has said.

The anti-corruption campaigner fell ill during a flight and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Kira Yarmysh said, adding that they suspected something had been mixed into his tea.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53844958

I saw that. Polonium again?

[$iljanus]

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is unconscious in hospital suffering from suspected poisoning, his spokeswoman has said.

The anti-corruption campaigner fell ill during a flight and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Kira Yarmysh said, adding that they suspected something had been mixed into his tea.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53844958

I saw that. Polonium again?

Russia has it's own straightforward way of influencing domestic politics...

A certain orange fella in the White House is probably asking, "Can we do that?"

[Paingod]

A certain orange fella in the White House is probably asking, "Can we do that?"

He never asks if he can. He just does. I'm just glad that the secret service doesn't put out hits on people for the president.

[Carpet_pissr]

I mean, who would follow an insane clown that delighted in ripping apart his own people.

They'd have to be some sort of...Insane Clown Posse.

[Fretmute]

I mean, who would follow an insane clown that delighted in ripping apart his own people.

They'd have to be some sort of...Insane Clown Posse.

+1 Faygo

[malchior]

JFC. This is banana republic stuff here.

Rosenstein undermined Russia counter-intel investigation

The Justice Department secretly took steps in 2017 to narrow the investigation into Russian election interference and any links to the Trump campaign, according to former law enforcement officials, keeping investigators from completing an examination of President Trump’s decades-long personal and business ties to Russia.

The special counsel who finished the investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, secured three dozen indictments and convictions of some top Trump advisers, and he produced a report that outlined Russia’s wide-ranging operations to help get Mr. Trump elected and the president’s efforts to impede the inquiry.

But law enforcement officials never fully investigated Mr. Trump’s own relationship with Russia, even though some career F.B.I. counterintelligence investigators thought his ties posed such a national security threat that they took the extraordinary step of opening an inquiry into them. Within days, the former deputy attorney general Rod J. Rosenstein curtailed the investigation without telling the bureau, all but ensuring it would go nowhere.

...

Installing Mr. Mueller as special counsel in May 2017, Mr. Rosenstein ordered him to examine “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government” and the Trump campaign. Many Democrats embraced the appointment as a sign that law enforcement would complete a full accounting of Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia.

But privately, Mr. Rosenstein instructed Mr. Mueller to conduct only a criminal investigation into whether anyone broke the law in connection with Russia’s 2016 election interference, former law enforcement officials said.

“I love Ken Starr,” Mr. Rosenstein told Mr. Mueller, according to a new book by the journalist Jeffrey Toobin that first reported the conversation. “But his investigation was a fishing expedition. Don’t do that. This is a criminal investigation. Do your job, and then shut it down.”

[LawBeefaroni]

And now this:

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has told the House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence that it will no longer give in-person briefings about election security and foreign election interference.

The committees will still have access to written finished intelligence reports, but will not be able to question officials in-person about the reports, a change that may stem from previous intelligence leaks following briefings to Congress.


...


Ratcliffe is a Trump loyalist and former House Republican who defended the president against former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. He was first nominated for intelligence chief last year after the resignation of Dan Coats, who repeatedly clashed with Trump on national security issues.

Ratcliffe subsequently withdrew his nomination amid allegations that he misrepresented parts of his resume. Trump renominated him for the job this year and he was confirmed by the Republican held Senate in May.

[malchior]

And now this:

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has told the House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence that it will no longer give in-person briefings about election security and foreign election interference.

The committees will still have access to written finished intelligence reports, but will not be able to question officials in-person about the reports, a change that may stem from previous intelligence leaks following briefings to Congress.


...


Ratcliffe is a Trump loyalist and former House Republican who defended the president against former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. He was first nominated for intelligence chief last year after the resignation of Dan Coats, who repeatedly clashed with Trump on national security issues.

Ratcliffe subsequently withdrew his nomination amid allegations that he misrepresented parts of his resume. Trump renominated him for the job this year and he was confirmed by the Republican held Senate in May.

Ratcliffe's defense is 'Congress leaks'. He claims they leaked classified information. Oh really? I don't believe you. Last time McConnell blocked the Russian interference revelations in 2016 and no one said a word. This would be comical if this wasn't an authoritarian takeover.

[El Guapo]

Also - isn't the possibility of a leak an argument *for* in-person oral briefings? Anything you send in writing is much easier to leak in specific detail.

Of course, what he's really saying is that they're going to stop providing any material information at all.

[Holman]

Also - isn't the possibility of a leak an argument *for* in-person oral briefings? Anything you send in writing is much easier to leak in specific detail.

Of course, what he's really saying is that they're going to stop providing any material information at all.

Right. Written reports can soften the edges and avoid tough details, and they never have to take questions.

[Holman]

Yesterday, the Treasury Department officially labeled Andriy Derkach “an active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services.” The only person who even claims to find this remotely surprising is Rudy Giuliani, who has been working hand in glove with Derkach for months.

There is an old Simpsons episode in which Homer Simpson, watching a spy movie, blurts out, “I think that guy’s a spy!” His irritated wife whispers back, “Of course he’s a spy. You just saw him go through spy school!” This exchange is worth bearing in mind as you read Giuliani’s response to the “revelation.”

Reached by the New York Times, Giuliani pleads ignorance:

Mr. Giuliani said in an interview Thursday night that he “felt comfortable” meeting with Mr. Derkach “because there were no sanctions against him” at the time. While he acknowledged that he “didn’t do much investigation” of Mr. Derkach, Mr. Giuliani said: “I have no reason to believe he is a Russian agent. There is nothing I saw that said he was a Russian agent. There is nothing he gave me that seemed to come from Russia at all.” But he added, “How the hell would I know?”

Giuliani’s reason for not suspecting Derkach as a Russian agent is that he didn’t tell him he was a Russian agent.

[malchior]

Very few people raise their hand to declare they are indeed a 'useful idiot'. Bravo Rudy.

[Kasey Chang]

Makes me wonder how many Russians trolls are spreading nonsense online, like "antifa are conducting arson in the West and we have to stop them" to rally self-styled vigilantes to "patrol" and flash guns at any strangers they see.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/w ... e-n1239881

[Smoove_B]

I guess we can finally close this thread to speculation, having it confirmed:

In comments posted by the press service of his Concord catering firm on Russia's Facebook equivalent VKontakte, Prigozhin said: "We have interfered (in U.S. elections), we are interfering and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do."

The remark by the close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin was posted on the eve of the U.S. midterm elections in response to a request for comment from a Russian news site.

Unless this is just 4D chess making comments ahead of the election to further undermine American democracy. If so,

[Carpet_pissr]

He said it sarcastically, but it’s actually true, so…

[Pyperkub]

Sorry but this thread may need to be reopened, if this claim is correct, there could be a LOT more info coming soon

https://www.reuters.com/world/ukrainian ... 023-04-11/

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

[GreenGoo]

Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press

[malchior]

This hack is potentially interesting but I'm not going to hold much hope he was sitting on emails that prove much more than the organizational data we already knew.

[Smoove_B]

This crosses like 4 different topics here in R&P, but I think it fits best in this one because they're clearly trying again.

The claim that RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard were spreading in Twitter Spaces — about the US having biolabs in Ukraine with bioweapons meant to target certain ethnicities — is a very specific disinformation narrative that originated in Russia and echoes decades of Russian propaganda.

These are just a small subset of examples of Russia accusing the US of developing bioweapons to target certain ethnicities. It’s one of the most common Russian disinformation narratives in this area, and now Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. are spreading it.

China has also started echoing Russian disinformation about ethnically-targeted bioweapons. These claims are not without consequences. They’ve been used by Russia as pretext for biological attacks, and they risk undermining crucial research on vaccines & pandemic prevention.

Should also be noted that the US is the only one of those countries that is not currently engaged in genocide, so perhaps they should lay off the “ethnically-targeted bioweapons” accusations…

As so many have predicted, seeing how the vaccination issue and "lab leak" nonsense played out here in the U.S. during the early days of the pandemic, it's no surprise Russia is going to use that as way to manipulate voters heading into 2024.

Now you can add Musk facilitating the dissemination of propaganda.

[malchior]

Sure looks like Russia is readying their election interfering apparatus.

NY Times

Here is some of what the Russian leader said:

Donald J. Trump: Mr. Putin said the criminal cases against the former U.S. president show “the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.” The Russian leader said the cases amount to “persecution of one’s political rival for political motives” and lay bare “who is fighting us.” Mr. Trump has continued to express his admiration for Mr. Putin after leaving office, and called the Russian leader’s decision to invade Ukraine “pretty smart.”

...

Elon Musk: The billionaire entrepreneur is an “active, talented businessman,” Mr. Putin said, noting that all around the world Mr. Musk is recognized as an “outstanding” person in private business. The description resembled the way the Russian leader first described Mr. Trump as a “brilliant and talented” individual when he launched his U.S. presidential run in 2015. Last week, Mr. Musk acknowledged that he had thwarted a Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet in 2022 by refusing to let the Ukrainian military use his satellite network, Starlink, to guide its drones.

[LawBeefaroni]

Twitter and Truth Social gonna be lit.