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

Posted by EditorDavid on from the voters-for-Vladimir dept.

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."

7 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. oh, yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As if the US never tries to influence elections in many many countries. Oh, wait .. they don't matter. They are not the US.

    1. Re: oh, yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not only that, but we KNOW - thanks to these hacks - that the DNC was attempting to (and arguably succeeded in) subverting the will of the people.

      Basically, they're not mad that people can subvert US elections (if they were, they'd be supporting Voter ID laws), they're mad that THEY got caught subverting the democratic process, and are now trying to deflect attention to Russia to avoid having to answer to their own crimes.

      If anything, Russia has provided a service to the US in strengthening our democratic process.

  2. What's wrong with this? by Bruce66423 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "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."

    WTF? There's no reason for the 'intelligence officials' to get involved with this, it's perfectly legal behaviour for a candidate. That it is being sprayed about is a measure of desperation of some people to stop Trump. Whilst I have sympathy with their purpose, their behaviour is deeply wrong.

    1. Re:What's wrong with this? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Informative

      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....

    2. Re:What's wrong with this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > So Obama should have been investigated by his own FBI over this?

      A sitting president telling a foreign leader that he will have more political manuevering room after an election is not even remotely like a candidate for president negotiating with a foreign leader against american interests.

      You want comparisons of people who got "a pass?"
      Reagan trying to delay Iran's hostage release to deny Carter the credit.
      Nixon trying to delay the end of the vietnam war to deny LBJ the credit.

      It is completely within the realm of the possible that Trump is conspiring with Putin to fuck over american efforts to defeat ISIS in order to deny credit to the democrats. And if he is doing that, we all deserve to know.

  3. I for one thank them by Crashmarik · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they are behind the leaks of the DNC emails that showed Sanders was never going to be allowed to run that's something every registered Democrat had a right to know.

    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.

    Then there is the price list for all the government posts that were handed out.

    At the very least they have done us one hell of a favor.

  4. Senator. Singular. by MacDork · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.