Russia Backs Trump's Re-election, and He Fears Democrats Will Exploit Its Support

[demmiblue]

Source: NYT

WASHINGTON -- Intelligence officials warned House lawmakers last week that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected, five people familiar with the matter said, in a disclosure that angered Mr. Trump, who complained that Democrats would use it against him.

The day after the Feb. 13 briefing to lawmakers, Mr. Trump berated Joseph Maguire, the outgoing acting director of national intelligence, for allowing it to take place, people familiar with the exchange said. Mr. Trump cited the presence in the briefing of Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who led the impeachment proceedings against him, as a particular irritant.

During the briefing to the House Intelligence Committee, Mr. Trump's allies challenged the conclusions, arguing that Mr. Trump has been tough on Russia and strengthened European security. Some intelligence officials viewed the briefing as a tactical error, saying that had the official who delivered the conclusion spoken less pointedly or left it out, they would have avoided angering the Republicans.

That intelligence official, Shelby Pierson, is an aide to Mr. Maguire who has a reputation of delivering intelligence in somewhat blunt terms. The president announced on Wednesday that he was replacing Mr. Maguire with Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany and long an aggressively vocal Trump supporter.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/us/politics/russian-interference-trump-democrats.html

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Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[abqtommy]

1. Y'mean like we did in 2016? sarcasm

[Laelth]

2. So, let me get this straight.

The absolute best intelligence network in the world (CIA, FBI, NSA, and the intelligence agencies connected to each of the American armed forces) tells the President that Russia is interfering, once again, in our democratic processes, and the response of the Narcissist-in-Chief is to whine about the fact that Democrats (like the real American patriots that they are) might use this against him in the upcoming election, and then the Narcissist-in-Chief fires the person who was responsible for bringing this information to his attention.

Seriously? Did I get that right? Is this Nazi Germany?

I am so sick of this man (and I use that term loosely).



-Laelth

[rickyhall]

8. No. If it were Nazi Germany he would be shot not fired

[Laelth]

12. Great. Trump's NOT QUITE as bad as Hitler.

I feel better already.

-Laelth

[hedda_foil]

15. YET!! He's not as bad as Hitler yet. If he's re-elected ......

[dchill]

23. He WANTS to be!

[Laelth]

29. I hear you.

As the late, great Molly Ivins occasionally reminded us, "Things can always get worse."



-Laelth

[BigmanPigman]

3. My, my...such behavior from the stable genius.

I am shocked!

[marble falls]

4. "Worries"? What's the matter with Donnie Two Scoops? Isn't the fix in, yet?

[lonely bird]

5. If the Dems did this?

Armageddon would follow.

[Evolve Dammit]

6. It is Twilight Zone stuff for sure. Congress needs to follow this Assange pardon crap.

[Raftergirl]

7. I'm Shocked, SHOCKED To Find There's Gambling Going On In Here!

[MissMillie]

24. That was exactly

my first thought when I heard this news.

[Brainfodder]

9. DUH!

So still giving it to him, eh?

[ffr]

10. Pence was able to greet his boss, Vlad, in Jerusalem last month

Probably finalizing rePutican strategy to get more rePuticans elected this November.

TRAITOR!

[gembaby1]

11. Well boo fucking hoo

[GeorgeGist]

13. May his worst fears come true.

[dalton99a]

14. Kick

[Ponietz]

16. At what point do we enlist our overwhelming number of allies around the world for assistance?

[liberalmediaaddict]

17. Haven't we seen this movie before?

Trump is consistent on this issue. He doesn't want to hear about Russian interference in our elections. Also he won't do anything to stop or prevent it. And he fires anyone that brings it up. Bottom line is he's compromising the security of our elections because he won't stand up to Putin. And we all have a pretty good idea why.

[DeminPennswoods]

18. Trump can rant and rave and move his political chess pieces

around or off the board, but now the truth is out and everyone knows it.

[dalton99a]

19. Kick

The Russians have been preparing — and experimenting — for the 2020 election, undeterred by American efforts to thwart them but aware that they needed a new playbook of as-yet-undetectable methods, United States officials said.

They have made more creative use of Facebook and other social media. Rather than impersonating Americans as they did in 2016, Russian operatives are working to get Americans to repeat disinformation, the officials said. That strategy gets around social media companies’ rules that prohibit “inauthentic speech.”

And the Russians are working from servers in the United States, rather than abroad, knowing that American intelligence agencies are prohibited from operating inside the country. (The F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security are allowed to do so with aid from the intelligence agencies.)

Russian hackers have also infiltrated Iran’s cyberwarfare unit, perhaps with the intent of launching attacks that would look like they were coming from Tehran, the National Security Agency has warned.

Some officials believe that foreign powers, possibly including Russia, could use ransomware attacks, like those that have debilitated some local governments, to damage or interfere with voting systems or registration databases.

Still, much of the Russian aim is similar to its 2016 interference, officials said: search for issues that stir controversy in the United States and use various methods to stoke division.

One of Moscow’s main goals is to undermine confidence in American election systems, intelligence officials have told lawmakers, seeking to sow doubts over close elections and recounts. American officials have said they want to maintain confidence in the country’s voting systems, so confronting those Russian efforts is difficult.

Although the intelligence conclusion that Russia is trying to interfere in the 2020 Democratic primaries is new, in the 2019 report of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, there is a reference to Russian desires to help Mr. Sanders in his presidential primary campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016. The report quoted internal documents from the Internet Research Agency, a troll factory sponsored by Russian intelligence, in an order to its operatives: “Use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest except for Sanders and Trump — we support them.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/us/politics/russian-interference-trump-democrats.html

[SergeStorms]

20. How DARE Americans expect free and fair elections....

not swayed by foreign enemy nations, with no voter purging, and every vote being counted with a paper trail.

Trump and his fellow republiCAN'Ts won't stand for it!

[ElementaryPenguin]

21. Impeach the deranged orange fucker again!!

[MissMillie]

25. Yeah, that's my thinking... and though it sounds crazy

He's been found in contempt of court... which is a CRIME. There's no way a legal team can argue against that.

[bucolic_frolic]

22. Right, because Trump is here to win for Putin

meanwhile, Putin's trying to squeeze out the historically strong American political middle by weakening it from the left and the right.

This is a power geopolitical game orchestrated by oligarchs. We live in dangerous times.

[MissMillie]

26. Mitch!!! Oh Mitch????!!!!!

Aren't there election security bills on your desk?

Are you too busy colluding with 45 to get those bills passed?

[Iliyah]

27. Where are our patriotic Republicans? . . . .

[LenaBaby61]

28. Where are our patriotic Republicans?

All but Romney are the Party of tRump & Putin, and of stealing elections.