Kremlin did aid Donald, duh
A TOP SENATE panel agreed Wednesday with the intelligence community that Russia sought to sway the 2016 presidential election in President Trump’s favor.
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s assessment contradicts the findings of House Republicans, who said last month that officials did not use “proper analytic tradecraft” in asserting that the Kremlin’s intention was to assist Trump.
“Our staff concluded that the (intelligence community’s) conclusions were accurate and on point,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the panel’s vice chairman, said in a joint statement with Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the chairman of the committee.
“The Russian effort was extensive, sophisticated, and ordered by President (Vladimir) Putin himself for the purpose of helping Donald Trump and hurting Hillary Clinton,” Warner added.
That mirrors what U.S. intelligence leaders said in their January 2017 assessment.
The CIA, FBI and NSA concluded that Putin ordered an “influence campaign” intended to help Trump’s “election chances when possible by discrediting” Clinton and “publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him.”
House Republicans have argued that Russia simply wanted to sow discord and undermine the election and that the investigation into the meddling was marred by political bias.
Burr countered that belief, saying that his staff has spent 14 months “reviewing the sources, tradecraft, and analytic work, and we see no reason to dispute the conclusions.”