The continuing campaign to discredit President-elect Trump
is increasing in intensity. It is based on allegations that the
Russians interfered in the U.S. election.
It is suggested that Hillary Clinton would have won the election if the
Russians had not interfered. The establishment
media echoes accounts by the administration’s anonymous sources frequently
neglecting to include the word “alleged.” In spite of their damaged credibility they have demonstrated
that they can still be influential.
In addition to anonymous sources the media is relying on academics and
retired intelligence personnel.
The New York Times
has reported, “The assessment by American intelligence agencies that the
Russian government stole and leaked Clinton campaign emails has been accepted
across the political spectrum, with the notable exception of Mr. Trump.” Apparently the Times searched for
people who supported Trump but they were unable to locate them. Trump’s critics are everywhere.
Critics of the President-elect have charged him with
everything but being a KGB agent. Former
acting CIA director Michael
Morell claims Putin has “cleverly recruited Trump as an unwitting agent of
the Russian Federation.” Michael
V. Hayden, former director of the NSA and CIA, says he prefers the term: polezni
durak. “That’s the useful fool, some naif, manipulated by Moscow, secretly held
in contempt, but whose blind support is happily accepted and exploited.” Senator Harry
Reid wrote to FBI Director James Comey, “It has become clear that you
possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald
Trump, his top advisers, and the Russian government — a foreign interest openly
hostile to the United States, which Trump praises at every opportunity.” The New York
Post quotes a CIA official, “It’s pretty horrifying to me that he’s siding
with Assange over the intelligence agencies.”
Academics have weighed in. Joshua
Rovner of Southern Methodist University declared, “By ignoring
intelligence, Trump risks policy tunnel vision.” Rovner is an “expert” and the
John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair of International Politics and National
Security so he must know what he is talking about. CNN contributor and former CIA official, Bob Baer
another “expert” claimed, “Assange going on about a 14 year-old being able to
hack Podesta is nonsense.” Of
course Assange was exaggerating which made his claim “nonsense.” He should have said 15 year-old. John McAfee has pointed out that
the Chinese stole every record that the FBI had; and in February, “a 15 year old
boy hacked the FBI and published 30 thousand records including undercover
agents of every agent within the FBI organization.” The teenage
hacking group, "Cracka with Attitude," has also hacked into the email
accounts of CIA director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence
James Clapper.
On October 07, 2016 the Director of National Intelligence
issued a Joint
Statement from the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the
Director of National Intelligence on Election Security. In it they
claimed the hacked e-mails, “are consistent with the methods and motivations of
Russian-directed efforts.” They added, “we are not now in a position to
attribute this activity to the Russian Government.” This was enough for Rep. Elijah
Cummings to claim, "experts agree that there is overwhelming evidence
that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election.” California Rep. Eric
Swalwell claimed Trump’s denials are ridiculous. "He (Trump) is
denying that the sun sets in the West."
Senator McCain
called Russia's hacking "an unprecedented attack on our democracy,” and
suggested it would be an act of war had Moscow's action’s affected the results
of the election.
People who disagree with the establishment narrative are
unpatriotic. When Tucker Carlson
asked Rep. Adam
Schiff for evidence to support his allegation that Putin ordered the
hacking of Podesta’s emails, Schiff’s response was that Carlson was carrying water
for Vladimir Putin and was an “apologist for the Kremlin.” Senator Claire McCaskill
declared, “The notion that the soon elected leader of this country would put
Julian Assange on a pedestal compared to the men and women of the intelligence
community. . . I think it should bring about a hue and cry.” Senator Blumenthal
added, “I want to explore a little bit why these very demeaning and dismissive
comments about our intelligent community are so dangerous.”
Trump is having trouble with the leadership of the intelligence
community. He may have wide
support among the rank and file.
The leadership of the intelligence community has been politicized. Information is frequently
distorted. 50
intel analysts have made a formal complaint about their reports on ISIS be
altered. Rep. Peter King
claimed CIA Director John Brennan was orchestrating a “hit job.”
He stated, “We have John Brennan—supposedly John
Brennan—leaking to The Washington Post, to a biased newspaper like The New York
Times, findings and conclusions that he’s not telling the intelligence
committee…” The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper may have
committed perjury and definitely misled Congress in his testimony in 2013 on
NSA data collection.
All modern governments collect information on other
governments, allied and enemy.
Ordinarily they do not divulge what they know because they do not want
to jeopardize their sources. It is
no secret that the United States has used information it has gained to
influence events in other countries.
There is no question that Russia “hacked” various U.S. databases. The question is: did they use this
information to influence the U.S. election. U.S. intelligence cannot answer that question convincingly. Only the Russians know for sure. U.S. intelligence contends that the
Russians did not attempt to attack U.S. the voter registration database. However, attacks may have taken
place. Georgia’s Secretary
of State Brian
Kemp claimed local authorities tracked down the origin of a hacker attack
on his voter registration database after the election. “The attack was traced to an IP address
of the Department of Homeland Security.”
WSB-TV
in Atlanta reported, “two more states, West Virginia and Kentucky, confirmed
that the same IP address accessed their election system.”
The establishment narrative is that Trump is a tool of Putin. How can this tool of the Russians be
sworn in while tensions with Russia are increasing at such a rapid rate? The Russians are being used as a tool
to attack Trump. His critics will
oppose him on every issue. Some of
his harshest critics are within his own party. Senators McCain and Graham would have been more comfortable
working with a President Hillary Clinton than with Donald Trump.
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