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CIA Captured Putin's 'Specific Instructions' To Hack the 2016 Election, Says Report (thedailybeast.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Daily Beast: When Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., CIA Director John Brennan and FBI Director James B. Comey all went to see Donald Trump together during the presidential transition, they told him conclusively that they had "captured Putin's specific instructions on the operation" to hack the 2016 presidential election, according to a report in The Washington Post. The intel bosses were worried that he would explode but Trump remained calm during the carefully choreographed meeting. "He was affable, courteous, complimentary," Clapper told the Post. Comey stayed behind afterward to tell the president-elect about the controversial Steele dossier, however, and that private meeting may have been responsible for the animosity that would eventually lead to Trump firing the director of the FBI.

35 of 535 comments (clear)

  1. horse-shoe by TimothyHollins · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If your boss explodes when reality does not conform to his wishes, he just might be a snowflake.

  2. Another round of nothing by Baron_Yam · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you show the average person evidence that someone is doing something bad, they might ask questions about the reliability of the evidence.

    If his own spy agency shows Trump evidence that Russia is doing something bad, he denounces them and has an off-the-record chat with Putin.

    I wouldn't trust a spy agency as a general rule - their whole existence is about getting what they want by deception - but I'd hardly trust the Russians when it comes to a domestic agency's claims against them.

    This immediately leads to questions about why a president might trust a foreign power over his own agencies. And more questions when there are records of his team attempting to work with that same power to scuttle an opponent's election bid, that have been consistently lied about in an obvious cover-up.

    But this is Trump, so this will amount to another round of Twitter outrage and blow over.

    1. Re:Another round of nothing by Baron_Yam · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >Such an obvious cover up that no evidence has been found.

      Just lie after lie uncovered about meeting with Russians. Just that.

      But if you repeat your lie - "no evidence has been found" often enough, something like 30-50% of the USA will either believe it or pretend to believe it in order to keep your team in power.

      Party over country, all the way down!

    2. Re:Another round of nothing by Baron_Yam · · Score: 2, Insightful

      >No no... there's no evidence at all

      There you go, you're getting it! Keep repeating your lies!

      That stuff that was in the news? The changing stories from those involved as their lies were exposed? FAKE NEWS!!!

      Posting as AC, though... weak. You lack the courage of your convictions.

    3. Re:Another round of nothing by ReeceTarbert · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This immediately leads to questions about why a president might trust a foreign power over his own agencies.

      No, the real question and, as far as I know a question that no one is asking, is: if the elections have really been hacked, why not void them and have a do over?

      Of course that's a rhetorical question, since putting the blame one someone else is easier than admit that enough people voted for the man, so you now have to deal with it. Trouble is, so does the rest of the world.

      RT.

    4. Re: Another round of nothing by guruevi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Itâ(TM)s not about trust but about keeping the peace and politics. Trump may or may not personally believe what the NSA and CIA told him (which has its own agenda) but to accuse or retaliate on Russia could start another Cold War.

      In the end, Russia used propaganda to influence an election just like the US does in Russia. They didnâ(TM)t hack it, they didnâ(TM)t make people vote or stop voting at gun point, they got some advertising on a Facebook - voters influenced by that are morons and are spread out evenly across the population so itâ(TM)s unlikely to have had a great effect other than being demoralizing.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    5. Re:Another round of nothing by nine-times · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Just lie after lie uncovered about meeting with Russians. Just that.

      Well, there are the lies about all the various meetings that people had with Russians. And then there's the fact that many of them improper and some arguably illegal. Donald Trump Jr. met with a representative of the Russian government to discuss the Russians helping with the election in exchange for dropping Russian sanctions. The Russians did help the Trump campaign, and then Flynn promised the Russians that they would drop sanctions. Trump went on TV and asked the Russians to release Clinton's emails if they had it. Trump's campaign manager was laundering money that Putin's friends had paid him.

      There's tons of evidence of various shapes and sizes. We now have a couple of criminal convictions, even. There's just no direct evidence that Trump was aware of a particular crime being committed by his campaign. But... that's the evidence available to the public. We know crimes were committed and the Trump campaign solicited aid from the Russian government just with the evidence that has become public. We don't know what evidence Mueller has.

    6. Re:Another round of nothing by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Insightful

      if the elections have really been hacked, why not void them and have a do over?

      Because "elections have been hacked" can mean anything including:

      1. Polling machines programmatically hacked (which nobody, so far as I can tell, is alleging.)
      2. Infrastructure around polling, such as voter registrations, and tools to make available voter IDs, being hacked to suppress turnout (there were rumors the Russians might have at one point been considering doing this, but nobody has alleged they actually have done this.)
      3. The pollution of information sources to ensure voters are given believable false information

      Thus far, the allegations concerning the Russians have focused on (3). There's pretty much no constitutional basis for overturning an election on the basis that voters were mislead. Voters are mislead all the time, it's just usually the lies come from fellow Americans, and to some extent there's some balance. On top of that, if the election were reheld today, how many people would go to the polls saying "Well, I've since learned that Clinton was actually the victim of a 25 year long smear campaign and it's highly improbable that 90% of the bad things I've heard about her actually have any basis in reality. I was duped, and will change my vote"?

      Any? Nobody willingly admits they were duped over something that basic.

      At this point, the only mechanism we have for "correcting" the mistake is to elect an opposition party to power in Congress in 2018. If we consider Trump continuing to be President dangerous (and I do), we also have to hope that party also recognizes that Trump has already broken the law and should be impeached. But that's the extent of it. You can't request a do-over because voters were lied to and manipulated, that'd invalidate almost every Presidential election we've ever had. The fact it's a foreign government that did so means we need to address our relations with that government, not invalidate our own elections.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    7. Re: Another round of nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Pollution of information sources isn't hacking, it's good old fashioned propaganda.

      But it makes Liberals feel better to think the nation was duped into voting Trump. Then they can avoid facing the reality which is that a) people are generally sick of their bullshit and b) Clinton is a crook and Sanders is a moron.

    8. Re: Another round of nothing by e3m4n · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I do find it ironic that out of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent in advertising in this election, so many people are willing to believe that just $3000 in well placed Facebook ads is all it took to 'steal' an election. Does anyone besides Facebook have anything to gain by perpetuation this rumor? I mean that's totally amazing Advertisement for Facebook. "Ads placed on Facebook are 10,000 times more likely to be viewed than traditional media. A 2016 study showed that every dollar spent in ads on Facebook had more impact than $10,000 spent with our competitors" ... then they go about feeding those who are so anti-trump they will latch onto anything, and suddenly half the country believes that Facebook is the ultimate advertisement platform.

    9. Re:Another round of nothing by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Well, there are the lies about all the various meetings that people had with Russians. And then there's the fact that many of them improper and some arguably illegal.

      One of the issues we are not hearing much about today is the attempt to use Russian crypto equipment to bypass normal communications.

      I suspect the people who attempted to do that are praying they get offered a plea deal.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    10. Re:Another round of nothing by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Even if people don't admit that they were duped, just knowing that will make them more careful next time

      uhm, have you ever BEEN to the deep south and spoken with our, uhm, fellow americans?

      they are beyond hope. nothing will convert them. look at alabama. half of the fucking state STILL thought the child molester was better than having a clean guy with a D next to his name.

      no, just under half of this country is beyond hope. no way to change their minds. this election was proof of that, if you ever needed any.

      reason and logic and the R party? are you fucking kidding me??

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    11. Re:Another round of nothing by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What facts? 3rd hand information that someone somewhere saw something they interpreted as Putin giving an order? That's a fact to you?

      Show me the actual intercept, then it's a fact. And of course, they won't, because it's completely made up. They'll hide forever behind not revealing their capabilities.... as if the CIA has a tap on Putin's phone they don't want him to know about.... Do you really think that's even plausible?

      You don't think the CIA would make shit up to effect an election? They guys flying single engine planes under the radar to bring cocaine into this country wouldn't possibly do something bad like lie to the American public. Nope.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    12. Re: Another round of nothing by king+neckbeard · · Score: 3, Insightful

      We don't need troll factories. We have the world's largest propaganda machine.

      --
      This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
    13. Re:Another round of nothing by WalksOnDirt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Have you forgotten Schwarzenegger already?

      --
      a,e,i,o,u and sometimes w and y (at be if of up cwm by)
  3. Re:Intredasting by Baron_Yam · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >When you require careful and concerted choreography to explain simple concepts to your president

    If you want Trump to believe something, it's best to get Fox News to do a short and aggressive segment on it in which they flatter Trump a lot. Maybe include a short phrase that looks good with a hash tag.

  4. Cool... by Zurkeyon3733 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Publish them... SHOW us all this "Evidence" I want to SEE it. Not hear about it. I can hear lies from ALL directions. SHOW ME THE TRUTH!

  5. Re:Intredasting by houghi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Too much work. Just say that Obama wanted the opposite.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  6. Publish them... SHOW us all this "Evidence" by bradley13 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Exactly.

    The media has been pounding on the Russian drum for over a year now. So far, it's a big nothing-burger. A few alleged Facebook ads, not even a molecule in a drop in a bucket. Otherwise, endless allegations, but a stunning lack of actual proof.

    Really, it's like the media are trying to distract from something. Like, maybe, Trump isn't doing such a bad job after all?

    --
    Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
    1. Re:Publish them... SHOW us all this "Evidence" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >big nothing-burger

      Except for the guilty pleas...

      You're in for a shock if you think this is all made up. Time will tell.

    2. Re: Publish them... SHOW us all this "Evidence" by Gilgaron · · Score: 1, Insightful

      When you plea deal you don't plea guilty to the worst of the charges, otherwise why would you deal?

    3. Re:Publish them... SHOW us all this "Evidence" by liquid_schwartz · · Score: 1, Insightful

      This is the problem by giving the Clinton's a free pass. It hurts your ability to look impartial in the future. So what's a Red state person to see - that Clinton skates free from *many* violations while R's get punished. Looks uneven and partisan. It stokes notions of the Deep State. It would be much cleaner to prosecute all who break the law, no exceptions. This is the reason why people distrust government.

  7. Wonder why he distrusts the FBI by DeplorableCodeMonkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Turns out the entire FBI leadership was, and mostly still is, a rat's nest of opposition to him filled with unethical bureaucrats who think it's their right to have "insurance policies against the President" among other things.

    If this were happening in 2009, the Democrats would have been giving Obama--rightly--carte blanch to purge the entire agency's leadership above the level of GS15. It doesn't matter what you think of Trump or Obama. Neither of them were Hitler or Stalin or anything like that. The only proper response from the federal civil service to their every lawful order is "yes, sir." Anything else is insubordination; this is approaching mutiny.

  8. Nobody says that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    He continued and expanded W. Bush's policies so much, that we, outside of the usVSthem brainwashing call him Bush 3.0 (because W was 2.0).

    If you manage to look at the actual actions and results, it is one continous progress since at least Nixon. Parties don't mean fuck-all. Which is obvious, given that they are staffed with 100% lobbyists (which used to be a crime, treated as treason, punished with a maximum sentence).

  9. Evidence or STFU by richrz · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Can we move on? Hillary lost Trump won.

  10. Re:Typical WP - lots of words little substance by Baron_Yam · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >Up to this point it still appears that Russia bought some ads to try to sway the vote.

    Well... more than that. There's also the bot net deployed to make certain opinions look vastly more popular than they were.

    But how upset are you supposed to get about that when your own country has a history of funding outright revolutions and installing puppet regimes?

    >There is no evidence that they hacked any voting machines.

    I really don't understand why Americans tolerate their current voting system. Computer-tallied paper ballots and pencils with ballot boxes and any manual counting observed by the candidate's representatives is pretty solid.

    Computer kiosks with known flaws, with the electronic records purged ASAP looks an awful lot like the dream system of someone who wants to generate whatever result they like and should offend (and terrify) the average voter.

  11. Re:Unbelievable... by LifesABeach · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Actually, the public record shows that Putin is playing Trump like a banjo.

  12. james clapper by NynexNinja · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is the same James Clapper who lied under oath in proceedings in Congress. Not sure he can be trusted to make any comments at this point.

  13. It doesn't matter by Karmashock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hillary didn't lose because of Russia. Trump didn't win because of Russia.

    Ignore Russia for five seconds if you can... Hillary was a weak candidate and so was pretty much the entire republican field.

    Jeb Bush for example carried 3 percent of the republican vote. Hillary is generally disliked by most of her own party. Trump naturally is one of the most disliked presidents in US history. But he didn't win the election because people liked him. He won because for whatever reason... he said he was going to do things and people believed him.

    Pretending that the current political circumstances are the result of the Russians is deranged. This is the same sort of blind spot that lead to Al Gore losing the election against Bush 43. Anyone that studied the gore vs bush election knows that Gore made a lot of mistakes. If you tell yourself you lose because of the Russians or because the Supreme Court robbed you... then you're going to keep losing and you'll deserve to lose.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
    1. Re: It doesn't matter by Graymalkin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Holy shit your oversimplification of the situation is amazingly intellectually bankrupt. The actual reality of the situation is nowhere near as binary as youâ(TM)re trying to suggest.

      The Presidential election is really hundreds of district elections for electors which then cast the votes for the President. Illegally influencing Presidential elections does not require all of the winning partyâ(TM)s voters to be âoesheepâ. It doesnâ(TM)t even need a majority to be âoesheepâ.

      Swinging an election through illegal influence can be done by targeting a relatively small number of swing districts in swing states. This effect has been amplified with ridiculous gerrymandering of the last century (thanks so much Reapportionment Act of 1929) and disenfranchisement campaigns.

      The allegations against Russia include not just the hacking of the DNCâ(TM)s e-mail but an astroturfing and advertising campaign to help Trump and damage Clinton. Literally fake news articles written by content farms and actual Russian intelligence agents/contractors were pushed by thousands of social media bots and fake accounts. A great many of these have been found to be based in Russia. The same patterns have been seen in several recent elections in Europe as well.

      The actual fake news articles used mastheads and site themes aping legitimate news organizations. Facebook and Twitter were gamed to make these sites look like they were widely read and highly regarded. Some people influenced by that misinformation campaign were indeed sheep. It certainly helped Trump in that he routinely decried the mainstream media as collectively untrustworthy. To even the less sheep-like voters the tide of real looking articles confirming their preconceived beliefs put them in a bubble insulated from reality or rationality. Trump campaign officials and Trump himself even amplified these literally fake news stories during the campaign.

      Which goes back to swing districts and states. If a few thousand people in a relatively small number of districts were influenced by that PSYOPS campaign to 1) vote Trump 2) vote third party or 3) stay home because Clinton either âoehas it in the bagâ or is a master criminal then the state will go Trump. If you go back to the vote counts in swing states youâ(TM)ll see a lot of districts went Trump by small margins that tended to go contrary to historical voting patterns. Just like regular product advertising you donâ(TM)t need to influence everyone just enough to profit.

      --
      I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
  14. Re:Intredasting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    So, it had nothing to do with his policies, how he enacted those polices, his attitude toward the opposition, his repeated mishaps (Fast and Furious as example), his moneyed ties to Wallstreet, his repeated power grabs at various government agencies, his cozy relationship with MSM, his continuation of Bush policy, or his lackluster foreign policy. No, it comes down to muh racism. Even when he was first elected 'muh racism and muh racists' was trotted out. I distinctly remember on CNN the day after in 2008 "We found out last night that there were not enough racists to beat president-elect Obama.". Because only a racist would oppose the perfect 2nd Coming of Christ Obama, amirite? ...

    In reality, he was just a crappy president. His agenda being undone by the "pen and phone" is the bed he made. The only legacy he will have is the ACA and the cost he placed on poor people forcing them to buy an expensive service. Congrats to him that his presidency still needs white knight protection from muh racists.

  15. Re: Intredasting by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Putin did that, not Trump.

    --
    "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
  16. Re: Intredasting by iMadeGhostzilla · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe it helped that the new administration didn't introduce the "no fly zone" over Syria that Clinton had wanted to put in place.

  17. Re:Intredasting by smooth+wombat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's take this tripe one by one.

    it had nothing to do with his policies

    This one is true. Obama told everyone what he wanted to accomplish which then allowed Republicans to state unequivocally their top priority, make him a one-term president. And thus they became the party of No, obstructing everything, even if the people wanted it.

    how he enacted those polices

    Not sure what you mean by this one. Oh wait. You mean those executive orders and signing statements, don't you? The same ones George Bush and every single president has done since George Washington. Yeah, I can see how that would be an issue. After all, if you do the exact same thing as your predecessor, only you are in the wrong. Not the guy who came after you and does the exact same thing.

    his attitude toward the opposition

    You mean like reaching out and trying to find common ground? How horrible!

    his repeated mishaps (Fast and Furious as example)

    You claim multiple mishaps yet cite only one. I'm guessing those 3,000 dead that happened when George Bush ignored months of daily warnings of an impending attack doesn't come close this one issue, right? Nor the financial collapse which was the worst in 80 years. Nor the invasion of Iraq which cost us over 4,000 soldiers and over $4 trillion in costs. How about handing over $700 billion of taxpayer money to Wall Street and banks so they could pay out their bonuses? Forcing phone companies to install illegal wiretaps? Does any of this ring a bell?

    his moneyed ties to Wallstreet

    You mean unlike the current administration who as as his Treasury chief a person who came from Goldman Sachs, right? Or that he had, until recently, Carl Icahn who is lousy with connections to Wall Street. Here's a list of the Goldman Sachs employees the con artist has in his administration. This is only Goldman Sachs employees. This doesn't include all the other firms people have come from.

    This article talks about how the con artist doesn't want to enforce rules against Wall Street and the banks. Instead, he wants them to "self report" whenever they commit a crime. This of course is in no way a sign the con artist has moneyed ties to Wall Street or is doing their bidding. None whatsoever.

    his repeated power grabs at various government agencies

    Like signing statements above, the same as previous administrations. Were you whining when Bush did this? How about Reagan?

    his cozy relationship with MSM

    Non sequitor. MSM is a nonsense name, a fake name if you will, made up by those trying to claim the high ground because they have nothing to offer. If you think Breitbart and the Fox tabloid are somehow better news sources than the New York Times, BBC or CNN, it's quite clear facts don't enter into your daily life.

    his continuation of Bush policy

    Isn't this a good thing? Everyone knows how great things were under Bush what with the financial markets collapsing, the worst recession in 80 years, 14 million people losing their jobs, millions losing their homes. This doesn't even take into account the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history which occurred on Bush's watch. Make up your mind. You criticize Obama for doing his own thing, and you criticize him for doing the exact same thing Bush did. You can't have it both ways.

    his lackluster foreign policy

    This is the only legitimate issue and is a continuation of your first comment. Obama was lackluster when it came

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  18. Re: Intredasting by tbannist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, it was literally GWB's policies that helped to create ISIS. The invasion of Iraq set the stage for the rise of ISIS and the Bush policies on torture allowed their future leader to be imprisoned by American troops, tortured and then released. That experience pushed him towards a path to religious fanaticism and mass murder. So if you want to blame an American president for ISIS, the facts say Bush would get the blame.

    --
    Fanatically anti-fanatical