Top Trump aide sure Russia tried to sway U.S. vote
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S own national security adviser thinks there’s “incontrovertible” evidence of Russian efforts to undermine American democracy.
H.R. McMaster’s blunt assessment Saturday — following an indictment charging more than a dozen Russians with illegal activity in the 2016 election — counters Trump’s claims that allegations of foreign efforts to sway the public in his favor were false.
“As you can see with the FBI indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain,” McMaster told a Russian delegate at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
Russian officials, meanwhile, dismissed the indictment as “just blabber.”
The country’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, brushed off charges from special counsel Robert Mueller that a troll farm with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to unlawfully influence the election.
“Until we see the facts, everything else is just blabber — I’m sorry for this expression,” Lavrov said.
The Justice Department unsealed the indictment from Mueller against 13 Russians and a trio of companies Friday, accusing them of a sophisticated effort to spread disinformation via fake social media accounts and other online platforms.
The social media scammers were charged with conspiracy, fraud, identity theft and other crimes.
The indictment laid bare the extent of the interference allegedly perpetrated by Russia in its efforts to meddle in America’s democratic process, sow discord and get Trump elected.
The 37-page court document outlines an online campaign of chaos beginning in 2014 that included fake Facebook groups, trolling Twitter bots and the enlisting of unwitting Americans in an effort to boost Trump over Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival.
The group also goaded Americans into taking to the streets after the election, organizing simultaneous pro- and antiTrump rallies.
Despite the evidence, Trump has spent the first 121/2 months of his presidency dismissing Russian efforts to influence the election as fake news and a hoax.
He has accused the FBI and the special counsel of conducting a witch hunt.
Earlier last week, the country’s leading intelligence officials issued a dire warning — telling lawmakers that Russia has every intention of interfering in the upcoming midtern elections.
“There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations,” Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, said during testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
His grave concerns were echoed by his contemporaries at the CIA, FBI and other agencies.
McMaster on Saturday said the U.S is becoming “more and more adept at tracing the origins