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   From: clelncvs@grok.grok   
      
   World Net Daily EXCLUSIVE!!!   
      
   Senate Russia report proves Trump collusion was very real. But do voters   
   care?   
   Trump and Biden's contrasting positions on Russian interference in American   
   elections are clear. Whether voters care about these differences, however,   
   is not as obvious.   
      
   Aug. 22, 2020, 4:30 AM EDT   
   By Michael McFaul   
      
   The Senate Intelligence Committee should be applauded for releasing the   
   fifth and final volume of its investigation into Russian interference in   
   the 2016 U.S. presidential election.   
      
   With over 200 witness interviews and roughly 1 million documents reviewed,   
   the nearly 1,000-page report documents in detail the comprehensive campaign   
   conducted by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his proxies to seek   
   influence within President Donald Trump's campaign, help Trump win the 2016   
   presidential election and amplify polarization and division within American   
   society.   
      
   Far from a hoax, as the president so often claimed, the report reveals how   
   the Trump campaign willingly engaged with Russian operatives implementing   
   the influence effort.   
      
   Far from a hoax, as the president so often claimed, the report reveals how   
   the Trump campaign willingly engaged with Russian operatives implementing   
   the influence effort. For instance, the report exposes interactions and   
   information exchanged between Russian intelligence officer Konstantin   
   Kilimnik and then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. According to the   
   report, campaign figures “presented attractive targets for foreign   
   influence, creating notable counterintelligence vulnerabilities.” (Manafort   
   was later convicted of tax and bank fraud.)   
      
      
   Concluding one of the highest-profile congressional investigations in   
   recent memory, the report also uncovers abuses within the U.S. government’s   
   investigation of this operation. These methods require review and reform.   
      
   The bipartisan tone of the majority of the report, released by a committee   
   chaired by Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, should be welcomed by all   
   Americans who want our elected leaders to protect American sovereignty.   
   National security should never be a partisan issue.   
      
      
   Tragically, however, some of the most egregious practices from the 2016   
   presidential campaign documented by the Senate investigation are repeating   
   themselves in the 2020 presidential campaign. Once again, Putin wants Trump   
   to win and appears to be seeking to undermine the legitimacy of our   
   election. Just like in 2016, Putin has deployed his conventional media, his   
   social media operations and his intelligence assets to pursue these   
   objectives.   
      
   Most shockingly, Trump and his allies have decided to — again — play right   
   along. Because waiting for criminal investigations or more congressional   
   hearings will be too late, it will be up to American voters to decide when   
   and how cooperation with foreign actors during a presidential election   
   crosses the line. Trump's activities to date are not appropriate.   
      
   On Aug. 7, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned about   
   foreign interference in the 2020 election: “We assess that Russia is using   
   a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and   
   what it sees as an anti-Russia ‘establishment.’” The ODNI report noted that   
   pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is spreading false   
   claims about Joe Biden as part of this effort. “Some Kremlin-linked actors   
   are also seeking to boost President Trump’s candidacy on social media and   
   Russian television,” it observed.   
      
      
   Instead of criticizing this behavior, however, Trump and his allies are   
   amplifying and promoting Russian disinformation online. Perhaps most   
   amazingly, Trump is circulating to his 85 million Twitter followers   
   material provided by foreign actors designed to discredit Biden. Derkach —   
   the pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarch — is reportedly providing these   
   slanderous materials to Republicans, including Sen. Ron Johnson of   
   Wisconsin and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.   
      
   Johnson and Grassley have also defended the use of material from former   
   Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Telizhenko, who is working with Rudy Giuliani to   
   spread a discrediting anti-Biden narrative. In fact, Johnson commented   
   directly in an interview about his new investigation of U.S. intelligence   
   activities during the Obama era: “I would think it would certainly help   
   Donald Trump win re-election and certainly be pretty good … evidence about   
   not voting for Vice President Biden.”   
      
   Following public pressure and increasing tensions, the senators released a   
   public statement denying participating in the Russian disinformation   
   campaign. Yet, it all feels like a replay of Natalia Veselnitskaya’s   
   mission to Trump headquarters in the summer of 2016 to provide “dirt” on   
   then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton — only now, all in the open.   
      
   Trump camp cooperation with Russia explicated in new Senate intel report   
   03:11   
      
   Amid a patchwork of responses from the U.S. government and social media   
   companies, many analysts and nongovernmental organizations have become more   
   skillful in tracking and aggressively countering disinformation operations.   
   But exposure alone does not deter adversaries, nor does it stop the   
   evolution of their tactics.   
      
   Furthermore, divisions on race, religion and immigration in the United   
   States have only deepened in the past year. With China, Iran and Venezuela   
   now in the disinformation game, our current presidential election is, in   
   some ways, already more chaotic than 2016.   
      
   After revelations about Russian interference in 2016, including the   
   targeting of elections systems in all 50 states, American leaders concerned   
   with defending our sovereignty and protecting our national security should   
   have established a bipartisan commission — as they did after Sept. 11, 2001   
   — to investigate all dimensions of external influence, including the Obama   
   administration’s response. Trump opposed such a commission.   
      
   Subsequently, Robert Mueller’s team at the Department of Justice was given   
   the narrower assignment of investigating criminal activity, which they   
   discovered along with at least 140 contacts between the Trump campaign and   
   Russian nationals. Both Russians and Americans were indicted, some of whom   
   are in jail today. But Mueller’s focus on criminal activity ignored   
   counterintelligence threats that developed during 2016.   
      
   This final volume from the Senate Intelligence Committee has documented in   
   greater detail the counterintelligence threats at stake. Now, the American   
   voters must decide what is fair and honorable in political competition —   
   and what is not.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)