Senators Accuse Russia Of Disrupting US Election (washingtonpost.com)

An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes The Washington Post: Two senior Democratic lawmakers with access to classified intelligence on Thursday accused Russia of "making a serious and concerted effort to influence the U.S. election," a charge that appeared aimed at putting pressure on the Obama administration to confront Moscow... "At the least, this effort is intended to sow doubt about the security of our election and may well be intended to influence the outcomes," the statement said. "We believe that orders for the Russian intelligence agencies to conduct such actions could come only from very senior levels of the Russian government..."

White House officials have repeatedly insisted that they are awaiting the outcome of a formal FBI investigation, even though U.S. intelligence are said to have concluded with "high confidence" that Russia was responsible for the DNC breach and other attacks. The White House hesitation has become a source of frustration to critics, including senior members of Congress.
Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence officials are reportedly investigating whether Donald Trump's foreign policy adviser "opened up private communications with senior Russian officials -- including talks about the possible lifting of economic sanctions if the Republican nominee becomes president."

Comments

Re:What's wrong with this?

[Richard_at_work]

If there is any, and I mean *any*, evidence that Trumps communications to said senior Russian officials came with a "wink and a nod", or indeed anything more specific, then there is every reason for the FBI to get involved....

Re: After the election

[Anonymous Coward]

Pol Pot was Cambodian, doofus.

Senator. Singular.

[MacDork]

FTFA: "Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam B. Schiff"

Schiff is in the House, not the Senate. Furthermore, where did they get this rock solid information from?

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., cited a long history of Russian efforts to influence elections abroad, and said that âoeit shouldnâ(TM)t come as a big shock to peopleâ that Moscow might seek to use cyber capabilities for that purpose.

Clapper, the guy that lied to congress about intelligence activities.

I think that says it all.

Re:What's wrong with this?

[DaHat]

So... because she's no longer SoS... the donations and apparent quid-pro-quos while she was in office don't matter any longer?

Sorry, plenty of foreign money came in WHILE she was SoS: https://www.washingtonpost.com...

Re:I for one thank them

[DaHat]

If they are behind the release of the fact Obama used a pseudonym to email hillary, despite the fact he denied having any knowledge of her private email. That's good to know too.

This I have not heard of.

It was part of a Friday document dump... you weren't supposed to hear about it: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

Teddy Kennedy - 1984

[HBI]

Ted Kennedy enlists Soviet aid against Reagan in 1984

The whiners today can shove this right up their collective asses. It's just repeating past Democratic behavior.

Democrats Desperate to Hide Clinton-Putin Ties

[Nova Express]

One of which is the fact that Tony Podesta, a big Hillary bundler and brother of John Podesta, her campaign manager, is registered lobbyist for Putin's bank:

The revelations of the so-called Panama Papers that are roiling the world’s political and financial elites this week include important facts about Team Clinton. This unprecedented trove of documents purloined from a shady Panama law firm that arranged tax havens, and perhaps money laundering, for the globe’s super-rich includes juicy insights into how Russia’s elite hides its ill-gotten wealth.

        Almost lost among the many revelations is the fact that Russia’s biggest bank uses The Podesta Group as its lobbyist in Washington, D.C. Though hardly a household name, this firm is well known inside the Beltway, not least because its CEO is Tony Podesta, one of the best-connected Democratic machers in the country. He founded the firm in 1998 with his brother John, formerly chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, then counselor to President Barack Obama, Mr. Podesta is the very definition of a Democratic insider. Outsiders engage the Podestas and their well-connected lobbying firm to improve their image and get access to Democratic bigwigs.

        Which is exactly what Sberbank, Russia’s biggest financial institution, did this spring. As reported at the end of March, the Podesta Group registered with the U.S. Government as a lobbyist for Sberbank, as required by law, naming three Podesta Group staffers: Tony Podesta plus Stephen Rademaker and David Adams, the last two former assistant secretaries of state. It should be noted that Tony Podesta is a big-money bundler for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign while his brother John is the chairman of that campaign, the chief architect of her plans to take the White House this November.

        Sberbank (Savings Bank in Russian) engaged the Podesta Group to help its public image—leading Moscow financial institutions not exactly being known for their propriety and wholesomeness—and specifically to help lift some of the pain of sanctions placed on Russia in the aftermath of the Kremlin’s aggression against Ukraine, which has caused real pain to the country’s hard-hit financial sector.

        It’s hardly surprising that Sberbank sought the help of Democratic insiders like the Podesta Group to aid them in this difficult hour, since they clearly understand how American politics work. The question is why the Podesta Group took Sberbank’s money. That financial institution isn’t exactly hiding in the shadows—it’s the biggest bank in Russia, and its reputation leaves a lot to be desired. Nobody acquainted with Russian finance was surprised that Sberbank wound up in the Panama Papers.

        though Sberbank has its origins in the nineteenth century, it was functionally reborn after the Soviet collapse, and it the 1990s it grew to be the dominant bank in the country, today controlling nearly 30 percent of Russia’s aggregate banking assets and employing a quarter-million people. The majority stockholder in Sberbank is Russia’s Central Bank. In other words, Sberbank is functionally an arm of the Kremlin, although it’s ostensibly a private institution.

Snip.

John and Tony Podesta aren’t fooling anyone with this ruse. They are lobbyists for Vladimir Putin’s personal bank of choice, an arm of his Kremlin and its intelligence services. Since the brothers Podesta are presumably destined for very high-level White House jobs next January if the Democrats triumph in November at the polls, their relationship with Sberbank is something they—and Hillary Clinton—need to explain to the public.

And this is just one of many Clinton ties to Putin...

Re:oh, yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does everyone keep saying Russia works with Trump? I have yet to see anything along those lines other than a couple of comments from Trump about Putin.

However...
Russia bribed Clinton while she was Secretary of State. I think there is more evidence of Russia supporting Clinton than Trump, in ways that should have her in jail.

Re:What's wrong with this?

[Archtech]

It's been said over and over, but apparently some people still don't understand.

Crimea has been an integral part of Russia since before the USA existed as a nation. On at least two occasions, Russians and Soviets sacrificed literally hundreds of thousands of lives to protect Crimea and to win it back after it was conquered by an enemy. More Russian blood has been spilled for Crimea than American blood in the Civil War - and by that, I mean more than 700,000 dead plus many more injured.

Crimea was generously "given" to the Ukrainian SSR by Khrushchev - who, oddly enough, was himself from Ukraine - in an impulsive act which was probably illegal under Soviet law. Then, when the USSR dissolved itself, Ukraine proclaimed itself an independent nation in 1991. Please understand clearly that this was the very first time in the whole of history that a Ukrainian nation had existed. The name "Ukraine", itself, means "borderland" - that is, the borderland of Russia. For many centuries, long before the USA existed, Russians spoke about "Great Russia" (which became modern Russia, based on Moscow), "White Russia" (which is still known as Belarus today), and "Little Russia" (the Eastern part of Ukraine). When Khrushchev transferred Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR he cannot have had the slightest inkling that one day this would involve Russia losing Crimea, which after all was mainly populated by ethnic Russians and Russian speakers.

After the violent, illegal coup d'etat which overthrew the legally elected Ukrainian government in 2014 - of which George Friedman, founder and CEO of Stratfor (https://www.stratfor.com/), said: “It really was the most blatant coup in history" - the Kiev regime instigated extreme violence against Russian-speaking Ukrainians. The population of Crimea voted overwhelmingly to become part of Russia again, and the Russian government agreed.

Putin did NOT "annexe" Crimea. He allowed the people of Crimea to become part of Russia again, after a relatively brief period in which they were subjected to a freshly-created foreign power by a series of administrative freak events.

Re:Looking bad for Hillary now.

[Archtech]

Er, "Americans turning inward..."? According to The Washington Post two weeks ago, “While Americans savored the last moments of summer this Labor Day weekend, the U.S. military was busy overseas as warplanes conducted strikes in six countries in a flurry of attacks". https://www.washingtonpost.com...

Many people around the world devoutly wish that Americans would "turn inward" and occupy themselves with their own business, instead of killing foreigners for their own good.

Re:oh, yes

[CanadianMacFan]

Ssshhh... you aren't supposed to point out the hypocrisy.

Re:tRump is so weak...

[arbiter1]

Yea and Hillary is so weak she needs to have Elections rigged and media protecting her from her crimes 24/7

Re:What's wrong with this?

[Anonymous Coward]

She took bribes from Russia for a uranium deal while Secretary of State. Her only response to it so far is the donations came in while she was not SOS, but a quick lookup shows that she lied and they did come in while she was in office.

If you are basing your argument on her claims, I'm sorry, but Clinton lies A LOT. In fact she lies just about every time she talks, and it has become a joke at this point.