The Russians are Coming!

Rick Adamson 02.23.2020

            

          The New York Times reported that the House Intelligence Committee [Adam Schiff's committee] received a Feb. 13 briefing that Russia planned to interfere in the 2020 elections, including the Democratic primaries, and favored Trump.

       "Intelligence agencies were telling Congress that President Vladimir Putin is presumably striving to get President Trump re-elected..." -NYT
            
          "Russia is looking to help Trump win in 2020, an election security official told lawmakers," -CNN
          
          John Ratcliff (R-TX), who was in the meeting/briefing, said today (02.23.2020) the reporting by NYT [and by association CNN] is inaccurate.
          
           Here they go again:

Schiff-
            
          "The President's misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box, for we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly won." -Adam Schiff
            
          In response to his comments and leaks, "Adam Schiff is the one helping Vladimir Putin destabilize US democracy." -CNN

Pelosi-
           
          "All Members of Congress should condemn the president's reported efforts to dismiss threats to the integrity of our democracy & to politicize our intel community," -Pelosi tweeted Thursday night.
            
          Really, it seems that the intel community politicized itself by leaking classified information.
          
          Also note: "Intelligence reports are as much art as science, a mixture of informants, intercepted conversations and intuition, as analysts in the nation's 17 intelligence agencies try to get into the heads of foreign leaders," according to some intelligence officials. Intelligence is hardly a perfect process, as Americans learned when the nation went to war in Iraq based in part on an estimate that Saddam Hussein was once again in search of a nuclear weapon.
          
          As a result, the leaking of such reports or briefings is of benefit to no one except those (politicos and reporters) who want to use it to smear someone or to sow dissension in the American electorate.
           
          Few, if any, doubt that Russia (and probably others) interfered in the 2016 election or that they fully intend to do the same this year. After all, Russia's goal is/was to instill distrust in our elections and to sow dissension in the American electorate.
          
          ("Some analysts believe the Kremlin's goal is to cause maximum disruption within the United States and that it throws the support of its hackers and trolls behind candidates based on that goal, not any particular affinity for the people running."-Washington Post)
          
           I think this description is most likely the case. Putin even said in a TV interview that he "did not care who won the 2016 election." I tend to believe him because foreign policy toward Russia has not changed much in decades, whether under Democratic or Republican administrations. So, it probably does not matter much to Putin which personality occupies the White House.
           
           Everyone knows that interested parties try to affect elections. That’s not new. We just need to understand what the foreigners did, how they did it, and STOP them.
           
           And That's that!