—
… Especially considering how the GOP and The Donald are actively working to become Putin’s latest and greatest BFF’s.
Funny how this bi-partisan Committee Findings haven’t gotten even half the fanfare, that the Nunes “protect-the-president at all costs” Memos charades did … Oh well, it must be the liberal-bias Media at work again. No doubt, they like the rest of us, are becoming to ‘too outraged, to bother’ anymore ...
The committee said operation was ordered by Vladimir Putin
by Andrew Buncombe New York, independent.co.uk — 16 May 2018
A powerful Senate committee has concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Donald Trump, breaking with the conclusion of a similar House probe.
“There is no doubt that Russia undertook an unprecedented effort to interfere with our 2016 elections,” said Senator Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a statement issued with Mark Warner, its most senior Democrat.
[...]
“After a thorough review, our staff concluded that the ICA [Intelligence Community Assessment] conclusions were accurate and on point,” Mr Warner said.
“The Russian effort was extensive, sophisticated, and ordered by President Putin himself for the purpose of helping Donald Trump and hurting Hillary Clinton.”
[...]
Yesterday on July 3rd, the Senate Intelligence Committee released their BI-PARTISAN Summary Report — which concludes that the findings of the Intelligence Community Assessment report about Russian interference in 2016 Election, were accurate, factually-based, and NOT politically coerced.
Here’s the link to that latest bi-partisan Senate Intelligence report. It stands in stark contrast to the House one-sided, foregone conclusions Nunes report.
Here are some of the report highlights [with emphasis added]:
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
July 3, 2018
[pg 2]
The Intelligence Community Assessment: Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections
Summary of Initial Findings
The Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) released in January 2017 assessed that Russian activities in the run‑up to the 2016 presidential election represented a significant escalation in a long history of Russian attempts to interfere in U.S. domestic politics. This escalation was made possible by cyber‑espionage and cyber‑driven covert influence operations, conducted as part of a broader "active measures" campaign that included overt messaging through Russian‑controlled propaganda platforms. The ICA revealed key elements of a comprehensive and multifaceted Russian campaign against the United States as it was understood by the U.S. Intelligence Community at the end of 2016.
President Obama in early December 2016 tasked the Intelligence Community with writing an assessment that would capture the existing intelligence on Russian interference in U.S. elections. By early January, the CIA, NSA, and FBI produced a joint assessment under the auspices of the ODNI, titled Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections, which included both classified and unclassified versions. Only three agencies were represented in the drafting process because of the extreme sensitivity of the sources and methods involved.
Initial Findings
Summary
The Committee finds that the Intelligence Community met President Obama’s tasking and that the ICA is a sound intelligence product. While the Committee had to rely on agencies that the sensitive information and accesses had been accurately reported, as part of our inquiry the Committee reviewed analytic procedures, interviewed senior intelligence officers well‑versed with the information, and based our findings on the entire body of intelligence reporting included in the ICA.
[pg 3]
The Committee finds the difference in confidence levels between the NSA and the CIA and FBI on the assessment that "Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President‑elect Trump's election chances" appropriately represents analytic differences and was reached in a professional and transparent manner.
In all the interviews of those who drafted and prepared the ICA, the Committee heard consistently that analysts were under no politically motivated pressure to reach any conclusions. All analysts expressed that they were free to debate, object to content, and assess confidence levels, as is normal and proper for the analytic process.
As the inquiry has progressed since January 2017, the Committee has seen additional examples of Russia's attempts to sow discord, undermine democratic institutions, and interfere in U.S. elections and those of our allies.
[…]
[pg 4]
Russian Leadership Intentions
The ICA states that:
We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election. Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President‑elect Trump[2]. [sic]
• The Committee found that the ICA provided a range of all‑source reporting to support these assessments.
• The Committee concurs with intelligence and open‑source assessments that this influence campaign was approved by President Putin.
• Further, a body of reporting, to include different intelligence disciplines, open source reporting on Russian leadership policy preferences, and Russian media content, showed that Moscow sought to denigrate Secretary Clinton.
[...]
[Apologies for any errors in transcription, as once again the Senate cloud doc and pdf reports could not be directly copied, but required significant clean-up, in order to get these highlighted quotes. Hopefully they will motivate some folks to read the report for themselves. It is only 7 pages. Just long enough for a relaxing cup of chai tea.]
— —
The Vox.com article on this topic, states this about the Senate Committee findings on collusion:
This report doesn’t address the question of whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to interfere with the election. Special counsel Robert Mueller is continuing to investigate that possibility.
According to this Independent.co.uk article from today, the Senate investigation into collusion is on-going:
The committee is still investigating any possible collusion, interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence, officials said.
So Trey Gowdy is just going have to cool his “obstruction-oriented” jets, until Robert Mueller has a chance to pay him a lawyerly visit.
— —
Here’s is the Senate Intelligence Committee’s earlier more detailed report:
In stark contrast to the House look-the-other way efforts, there is definitely “something to see here” in the Senate’s bi-partisan investigation. Hopefully more Americans will finally get a chance to see it.
Including Trey and Devin, aka Trump’s errand boys — they just might want to read what a “grown-up” Committee has done.
— — —