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December 10, 2016 09:28 AM UTC

Russia Helped Donald Trump Win White House; Now What?

  • 71 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Image via DailySquat.com

As the Washington Post — and every other major news outlet — reported late Friday:

The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.

Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances.

“It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on an intelligence presentation made to U.S. senators. “That’s the consensus view.”

The Obama administration has been debating for months how to respond to the alleged Russian intrusions, with White House officials concerned about escalating tensions with Moscow and being accused of trying to boost Clinton’s campaign.

The Obama White House reportedly informed a small group of Congressional leaders — including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — about these concerns in September. You can probably guess how President-elect Donald Trump responded to the news on Friday, but his “official response” was still a bit jarring. From CNN:

In a stunning response to widening claims of a Russian espionage operation targeting the presidential race, Trump’s camp risked an early feud with the Intelligence community on which he will rely for top secret assessments of the greatest threats facing the United States.

“These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” the transition said in a terse, unsigned statement.

“The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.'”

The sharp pushback to revelations in The Washington Post, which followed an earlier CNN report on alleged Russian interference in the election, represented a startling rebuke from an incoming White House to the CIA.

The big question, of course, is “now what?” Congressional Republicans really have no good options here, and may just end up repeating Moscow’s line to demonstrate proof of chicanery in order to buy some time.

[mantra-pullquote align=”right” textalign=”right” width=”33%”]“The silence from Wikileaks and others since election day has been deafening. That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core.” — Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer[/mantra-pullquote]

Meanwhile, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for a full investigation, though that won’t take place until next year because Congress has already adjourned for 2016. As Politico explains:

“Senate Democrats will join with our Republican colleagues next year to demand a congressional investigation and hearings to get to the bottom of this. It’s imperative that our intelligence community turns over any relevant information so that Congress can conduct a full investigation,” Schumer said.

Republicans have been largely mum on the matter and many declined comment on Friday night as the Senate took its final votes of the year. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who intends to probe the matter next year, said that everybody he knows says “that the Russians have interfered with this election.”

There’s little chance that this won’t end up as a largely partisan battle, but one way or the other, Americans need to know if another country intentionally subverted our election process.

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71 thoughts on “Russia Helped Donald Trump Win White House; Now What?”

    1. For you to bloviate that Ms. Clinton (the one who is going to win the popular vote by close to 3 million) had sucky ideas tells us all we need to know about the little chickenshit behind the curtain.   Perhaps you missed the polling yesterday that shows Trump with a 41% approval rating?  An all-time low for an incoming candidate? 

      The Dangerous Myth That Hillary Clinton Ignored the Working Class

      What’s more, the evidence that Clinton lost because of the nation’s economic disenchantment is extremely mixed. Some economists found that Trump won in counties affected by trade with China. But among the 52 percent of voters who said economics was the most important issue in the election, Clinton beat Trump by double digits. In the vast majority of swing states, voters said they preferred Clinton on the economy. If the 2016 election had come down to economics exclusively, the working class—which, by any reasonable definition, includes the black, Hispanic, and Asian working classes, too—would have elected Hillary Clinton president.

      Trump’s white voters do support the mommy state, but only so long as it’s mothering them. Most of them don’t seem eager to change Medicare or Social Security, but they’re fine with repealing Obamacare and its more diverse pool of 20 million insured people. They’re happy for the government to pick winners and losers, so long as beleaguered coal and manufacturing companies are in the winner’s circle. Massive deficit-financed spending on infrastructure? Under Obama, that was dangerous government overreach, but under Trump, it’s a jobs plan by a guy they know won’t let Muslims and Mexicans cut in line to get work renovating highways and airports.

      1. I get it mental midget.

        The reason Trump won was because his voters are all racists.

        Obama carried counties that went for Trump and the folks that switched from Obama only recently found out he was a black guy.

        Simply genius analysis.

    2. Hillary Clinton and the Democrats certainly lost the 2016 election but lets see who else was a casualty.

      Republicans have been vociferously in favor of free trade for a very long time.

      Republicans have fought against federal government infrastructure funding for the past thirty years.

      Republicans favor making Medicare into a voucher system.

      Republicans favor investing our Social Security funds with Wall Street.

      But President-elect Trump doesn't support any of those policy positions. Many of the policies that have been the cornerstone of Republican Party principles for decades were not only rejected by Mr. Trump, they were rejected by the people who voted for him. He has a "R" beside his name but from the policy perspective, he certainly isn't a traditional Republican in many ways.

      Majority Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan are wrong if they interpret the election results as a mandate to enact all the traditional Republcan Party principles they've enunciated in the past.

      In many ways, the election of Mr. Trump represents a rejection of both major political parties. Many of the Republican policy preferences from the past are not guideposts to where the electorate wants us to go. Now is moment when the leaders of both parties should step back and reconsider their political assumptions.

       

       

    1. that's the truth right there. 

      And the fact that AC loves Pooty-Poot and cares less about our democracy than his Koch Brother benefactors care about the environment.

  3. “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.'”

    I read this election's Electoral College vote of 306 to 232 (assuming fidelity and no further decay in the margins) will be 46th out of 58 U.S. presidential elections (2 uncontested, but still). Election, winners and their Electoral College votes in my personal voting:

    • 2012 – Obama 332
    • 2008 – Obama 365
    • 2004 – Bush 286
    • 2000 – Bush  271
    • 1996 – Clinton 379
    • 1992 – Clinton 370
    • 1988 – Bush 426
    • 1984 – Reagan 525
    • 1980 – Reagan 489
    • 1976 – Carter 297

    So, better than 3 (2 Bush, 1 Carter), worse than 7. Give Trump all the respect given to the closest result to his: Jimmy Carter.

  4. Now what? This election can't be allowed to stand, that's what. Electors must revolt. Think about it; every decision Trump makes will be tainted by the question of whether he is acting in Russia's interest.

    Certainly, his Secretary of State pick – Exxon's CEO Rex Tillerson, who has held no other job in his adult life, but who does have a sweet deal with Russia's giant O&G firm Rosneft to drill the Arctic, turns that "taint" into the rank stench of corruption.

    1. Exactly.  Trump is the least vetted person to be president.  I still think he has potential criminal tax fraud for taking huge deductions that his own tax attorneys concluded would have little chance of passing IRS muster.  Before casting their ballots, Electors must demand Trump's tax returns and a detailed listing of Trump's indebtedness to foreign governments, at a minimum.

      1. Actually, according to the Washington post, those goofy tax deductions were upheld by the supreme court as meeting the letter of a stupid law.  Congress later changed them, but they were valid when taken.

      2. We allowed George Bush to steal an election..it crippled this country. If we let Trump get away with stealing this election, it will be the end of democracy in the United States of America.

        Prepare for the United Corporations of America, a subsidiary of Mother Russia, Inc.

        1. I've bee thinking same for days. The history of freedom and struggles for freedom will be only that and the focus of the USA will be financial. Not even economics, but business 

  5. A Dem candidate who outspends the opposition 2 to 1 and loses Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania tells me the Dem candidate sucked and her ideas were rejected.

    One of the many reasons Hillary the inevitable lost was the existence of real corruption, not just a taint.  Selling access and speaking fees for Bill in exchange for State Department action did not go over very well.

    2. A fine upstanding, patriotic American such as yourself wants Putin, the dubiously elected dictator of an imperialist state, to be pulling the strings for our President? Really? Go home at Christmas and tell your surviving Cold Warrior relatives about that one. See if they applaud. Your comparison of Clinton foundation access to Trump's putting the architect of a 500 B Exxon – Rosneft deal in charge at State? Weak sauce, AC.

      Both China and Russia are mixed Communist – Capitalist states, with an elite minority in charge, and brutal suppression of freedoms and human rights for their vast populations. Yet our President-elect, his "strategic advisor" / minister of propaganda Bannon, and Bannon's website Breitbart.com, all prefer the Russky style commies and disparage the "Chi-Coms".

      Is it because Russia has offered a better deal? Is it because the Russians are white, and the Chinese are….well, Chinese?

      I have two beautiful nieces who were adopted from Chinese orphanages, and I've had several wonderful Russian immigrant students. I don't have a preference in the China vs. Russia hostilities- but if Trump is modeling his administration on how Putin controls his country, which it seems that he is, starting with suppressing the press and limiting freedom of assembly, then that affects our American way of life and Constitutionally protected rights.

      This election cannot stand. This  "Moscovian" candidate must not be allowed to take office.

       

      1. As a unreconstructed cold warrior, I do have a preference.  Nixon's China Card led to victory over Russian hegemony and broke up the Warsaw Pact.  China is a far better partner than Russia.

    4. Just once, in this case you AC, could you cite to one example where someone, a nation or individual or other entity, made a donation to the Clinton Foundation and because of that received some special favor from the U.S. State Department when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State? I don't want unproven assumptions. I want you to cite evidence that favors from the State Department were traded for donations to the Clinton Foundation. Do you have any evidence?

      1. R36

        Even intellectually-challenged lawyers like Hillary (flunked bar exam 1st go around) and ethically-challenged lawyers like Bill (disbarred for being untruthful) do not confirm their criminal deeds in writing.

        In white collar crime it is about connecting the dots.

        The fact that Bill and Hillary were on the take was known far and wide which is why there are so many examples of coincidences. My favorite involved the opening up of a US immigration office in Abu Dhabi, part of the UAE. The local airline wanted to be able to have their passengers check in in the UAE and not have to go through immigration in the US. It gave them an advantage commercially over the largest airline carrier in the largest airport in the UAE, Emirates in Dubai.

        So guess what happened?

        The government and airline in Abu Dhabi of the UAE applied for the opening of a US visa office in Abu Dhabi while Clinton was secretary of state.

        Many including unions and members of congress objected.

        The State Department supported the opening of the visa office in Abu Dhabi.

        The opening of the visa office was approved.

        It just so happens that Bill Clinton gave a couple speeches in Abu Dhabi while the application was pending and after it was awarded and was paid over 1 million dollars by the government of Abu Dhabi.

        You may choose to believe the receipt of over a million dollars had nothing to do with the State Department support and approval of the visa office.

        Personally, I was born at night, but it was not last night, and I believe that it was a quid pro quo.

        1. Internet bots aren't 'born'.  

          What a wretched story of deceit!  It's generally helpful to embed links to your tales so we can decide whether they're from Alex Jones or something credible? 

          Perhaps you'll next lecture us on Wharton grads who've taken bankruptcy four times? (no link required for that one) and then paid back the man who saved him with a Cabinet position? (the guy who gutted pension plans of coal miners?)

          I'm not sure that anyone here cares what an internet bot personally believes. I know people who personally believe that Trump won the popular vote. And the moon landing was staged. And 9/11 was an inside job. And that the War on Christmas is ‘a thing’.

        2. In other words you don't have any evidence. By the way, I've prosecuted white collar criminals and they do leave a trail of evidence. Of course, they're not going to broadcast it themselves but in the case of the Clintons I haven't found one shred of evidence to support your claims. Repeating it over and over again doesn't make it so.

          Your evidence appears to be "it was known far and wide" by who based on what evidence? I'm sure you can cite some real evidence.

        3. One other item – facts. Bill Clinton was paid $1 million for two speeches he gave in Dubai in 2011. Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State between Jan. 2009 through 2012. During that time both the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security supported opening a customs office in that country. Please keep in mind that U.S. Customs is part of the Department of Homeland Security – not the State Department – and DHS made the final decision. More importantly, the office wan't opened until January 24, 2014, over one year after Hillary Clinton left office as Secretary of State. You're assertion that there is a connection between Bill Clinton's speech fees and the opening of a U.S. Customs office, by an agency other than the State Department, is tenuous at best. 

          Do you have any evidence that you can cite to that establishes Bill Clinton's speech fees in 2011 was a pay off which led to the opening of a U.S. Customs office in Dubai in 2014 by the Department of Homeland Security, an agency Hillary Clinton never ran? 

          2. Trump and AC's Republican Heroes can get rid of those onerous clothing label regs. That would both screw American workers and unions and ensure profitability for DJT and Ivanka. 

      2. A little bedtime reading for you, Pyrus

        Donald Trump Insists That Wages Are ‘Too High’

        In the Fox Business News debate, Mr. Trump said he couldn’t endorse the demand to more than double the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, from $7.25, as candidates such as Senator Bernie Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, have called for. 

        “We are a country that’s being beaten on every front, economically, militarily. There is nothing we do now to win,” said Mr. Trump, adding at another point that “our wages are too high.” 

        In an interview Wednesday morning on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, the co-host Mika Brzezinski raised the topic again, which gave Mr. Trump the chance to clarify his remarks from the debate. She pointed out the current minimum wage, saying, “Donald, nobody can live on that.” 

        Mr. Trump responded: “Our taxes are too high. Our wages are too high. We have to compete with other countries.”

  7. Your right Russia did help Trump win the election by planting all the fake news stories that Hillary was the smartest most qualified person to be president. FAKE NEWS and stupid Democrats bought it.

    2. Sure glad we have straight shooters like Brian Williams, who was fired for making stuff up, and Hillary, under fire in Bosnia – oops you have that on tape, clearing things up for us.

    6. Does it hurt to be that stupid, Pyrus? According to the king of fake news…

      Dude Who Makes $10,000 a Month Writing Fake News Says He Helped Trump Win the Election

      In response to a question about his impact on Trump's campaign specifically, Horner confessed, "I think Trump is in the White House because of me. His followers don’t fact-check anything — they’ll post everything, believe anything." Noting that even Trump's campaign manager shared one of his fake stories about paid protesters, Horner admitted, "I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist."

      So why would he write such a story, knowing it's completely fake? "I just wanted to make fun of that insane belief, but it took off," Horner said. "They actually believed it." And he feels bad about that: "I thought they’d fact-check it, and it’d make them look worse. I mean that’s how this always works: Someone posts something I write, then they find out it’s false, then they look like idiots. But Trump supporters — they just keep running with it! They never fact-check anything! Now he’s in the White House."

  8. Schumer:  "Senate Democrats will join with our Republican colleagues NEXT YEAR to demand a congressional investigation…."

    As was stated on Morning Joy today, why wait till next year?!?  Can you imagine if any of this had involved President-Elect Hillary Clinton?  The GOP would be starting impeachment hearings right now. 

    I'm going to have to agree with Zap and ask for the Dems to grow a freakin' spine and start screaming bloody murder!

    2. The fact Congress isn't in session isn't the point. If Senator McConnell and Speaker Ryan want an investigation or they don't want one, they can certainly announce it now. This is certainly an important enough issue to merit their immediate attention.

      1. OT Dem

        Relax.  Let me help you, Trump won.

        All these attempts to delegitimize that, the recounts, it must be the Russians, etc, etc. are only for one purpose.

        So the Dems don't have to deal with reality. Hillary the inevitable was not so inevitable.

        1. AC. Relax. Let us help you.  Donald has won nothing until the Electoral College speaks on the 19th.  He may well emerge the victor, but until then why don't stop saying 'he won'? 

        2. AC, you of course remember Mr. Trump's statements during the primary campaign about how the Republican primaries and caucuses were rigged, including our Colorado caucus system. AC, you remember, Mr. Trump came to the Western Conservative Summit, here in Denver, in July, one week before the Republican National Convention, and once again said Colorado's delegate selection system was rigged. AC, you remember Mr. Trump's many statements in October, during the general election campaign, where he said over and over again, the election was rigged. And, AC, you remember only a couple of weeks ago when President-elect Trump said, again without any evidence, the popular vote was rigged because of six million illegal votes.

          Who did you say is attempting to delegitmize the 2016 election?  I didn't catch who you're referring to.

          I assume you were referring to Mr. Trump based on his statements. Am I wrong?

  10. So the question becomes, how much did Russian actions actually influence the election?  Is it even quantifiable, and if so, how do we handle it?  There are no legal mechanisms for declaring a presidential election invalid, and for anyone currently in power to try and do so would do further damage to peoples faith in our system for changing leadership.

    You can't impeach someone for the actions of a foreign nation unless it can be proved that they were aware and involved with those actions.  So that's currently off the table.  If people are hoping that this story will somehow upend the results of the election, right now that won't happen.

    1. I hope the few real journalists that are left will keep digging. I would be wholly unsurprised to learn that even if the Screaming Yam wasn't party to it that he knew it was happening. Gee, this seems curiously familiar…

      1. Wait no longer…release the tax returns…all of them.

        The IRS took down Al Capone and Meyer Lansky….they can take down Trump and his entire family.

        Watch for the rats to start scurrying….

  12. It is pretty obvious now that AC is not an American.

    If he is, he is a traitor…if he is not an American, he is quite possibly a Russian, longing to establish a new world order and a re-creation of the Soviet empire.

      AC should be arrested and incarcerated, along with Trump, KellyAnne Conway, Paul Manafort, Cory Gardner, Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions and anyone else who refuses to disavow these treasonous criminals.

    The entire Trump campaign needs to be picked up and locked away until they can be put on trial for treason.

    AC..you are a traitor to this nation. You disgust me.

     

     

    You should consider packing your bags and heading for Moscow (if you are not already there) before you are hunted down and imprisoned.

      1. Yeah, but that actually leaves AC rooming with Moderatus. Gee, you two can share your same echo chamber and check in with Breitbart and El Rushbo 24/7. You can have your own version of Brokeback Mountain, just like the picture at the very top of this thread.

      2. PissAnt..

        You need to leave the country, you traitorous son-of a bitch. Nothing you can say or do will remove the stench of sedition from what you have enabled. 

        Why don't you tell us who you really are, so you can take public pride in your treachery?

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