(Cartoon image is by Darrin Bell at darrinbell.com.)We have known that Russia was responsible for hacking into American political party files for a while now. That has been substantiated by the CIA, and even worse, they did it to help Donald Trump win the presidency (which is not surprising considering Trump's stands on NATO, the Ukraine, and Syria). Putin sees an ally in Trump.
From The Washington Post:
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.”. . . Though Russia has long conducted cyberspying on U.S. agencies, companies and organizations, this presidential campaign marks the first time Moscow has attempted through cyber-means to interfere in, if not actively influence, the outcome of an election, the officials said. What makes this whole situation even worse is that U.S. government officials knew this well before the election -- and kept it a secret from the American people. The President, at least 12 congressional leaders from both political parties, and FBI director James Comey all were notified of the Russian hacking on behalf of Donald Trump, and none of them did anything.
The President, and other Democrats that knew, were afraid of being accused of political tricks if they notified citizens. Frankly that disgusts me. I am tired of the timidity of elected Democratic officials. You can bet if Putin had been trying to help Clinton instead of Trump, the Republicans wouldn't have hesitated to broadcast it far and wide. When are the Democrats going to learn to play the same kind of political hardball that the Republicans play?
For their part, the Republicans that knew denied that it was true. Facts don't mean much to them anymore, and they choose to believe what they want. For them, the CIA is right only when they give facts corresponding to the GOP agenda. They should be ashamed, but they have no shame.
Perhaps the worst of the lot is FBI director James Comey. He was quick to release a statement that inferred that Hillary Clinton had done something wrong with her e-mails (even though it wasn't true, and wasn't even her e-mails or sent on her server). But when faced with facts regarding Trump getting help from the Russians (a far more serious thing), he chose to keep that a secret (because it might hurt his favorite candidate). Comey used the FBI to influence the U.S. presidential election -- and for that, he should resign. The American people can no longer trust him.
A foreign power intentionally trying to effect the presidential election for a particular candidate is an extremely serious thing, and the people should have been told about it. The U.S. government let its citizens down.
