Trump Knew Kremlin Spy Said Putin Interfered. Still Failed to Condemn.

1. 82

   Don Wposted 4 years ago

   "The Moscow informant was instrumental to the C.I.A.’s most explosive conclusion about Russia’s interference campaign: that President Vladimir V. Putin ordered and orchestrated it himself. As the American government’s best insight into the thinking of and orders from Mr. Putin, the source was also key to the C.I.A.’s assessment that he affirmatively favored Donald J. Trump’s election and personally ordered the hacking of the Democratic National Committee."
   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/us/p … ussia.html
   
   When did Trump know about this informant and the intelligence he provided?
   
   "Two weeks before his inauguration, Donald J. Trump was shown highly classified intelligence indicating that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had personally ordered complex cyberattacks to sway the 2016 American election.
   
   The evidence included texts and emails from Russian military officers and information gleaned from a top-secret source close to Mr. Putin, who had described to the C.I.A. how the Kremlin decided to execute its campaign of hacking and disinformation."
   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/worl … ling-.html
   
   Despite this, in July 2018 at a press conference in Helsinki with Putin, this happened:
   
   Press Pool Reporter: "Just now, President Putin denied having anything to do with election interference in 2016. Every U.S. intelligence agency concluded Russia did. My first question for you, sir, is who do you believe?"
   
   Trump: "Dan Coates came to me and some others. They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be. . .  I have great confidence in my intelligence people. But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. ".
   
   Note: the majority of Trump's reply was (bizarrely) related to Hillary Clinton's emails. A full transcript is here:
   https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/16/i-hold- … of-tr.html
   
   Press Pool Reporter: "Mr. President, you tweeted this morning that it is U.S. foolishness, stupidity and the Mueller probe that’s responsible for decline in U.S. relations with Russia. Do you hold Russia at all accountable for anything in particular, and if so, what would you consider that they are responsible for?"
   
   Trump: "Yes, I do. I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish...I think that the [Mueller] probe is a disaster for our country. I think it kept us apart; it kept us separated...
   
   Did Trump forget a source inside the Kremlin confirmed Putin personally ordered and orchestrated interference in the 2016 election?
   
   Trump later tried to backtrack, my question is, has Trump ever unequivocally condemned Russia for its interference in the 2016 election? If he has, I can find no record of it.
   
   If he has not, would anyone like to defend this lack of condemnation, especially given the fact we now know Trump was fully aware of the strength of evidence showing that Russia meddling?

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2. 60

   Live to Learnposted 4 years ago

   I would chalk his hesitation up to a clear difference of opinion as to what extent that meddling had on affecting the election. I don't think anyone thinks they weren't actively using social media.  The difference of opinion comes as to, did they influence opinion and cause votes to change? The left acts as if they hacked into voting booths. Which is completely untrue.  I think they just did the same thing we do and attempted to influence. I can't blame them if their actions are no different from ours.
   
   I think they meddled and had negligible effect.  I saw a gentleman who used to work for Google testify  before Congress that Google, low end,  caused Hillary to get 2 million extra votes.  Possibly 10 million. That's never made it to the news outlets.
   
   You have so many on the left swearing the election is invalid, warping information to spin it as negatively as possible against Trump,  he probably feels that's a minefield he'd rather walk the perimeter of.  No meaningful dialogue would result.  The left would just ignore everything but their hatred of Trump.

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