Other views: Until there are facts, all else is ‘blather’
Sergey Lavrov, Russian foreign minister:
“We see how accusations, statements, statements are multiplying. Until we see facts, everything else will be just blather.”
Scott Shane, The New York Times:
“The CIA helped overthrow elected leaders in Iran and Guatemala in the
1950s and backed violent coups in several other countries in the 1960s. It plotted assassinations and supported brutal anti-Communist governments in Latin America, Africa and Asia. ... It illuminates the larger currents of history that drove American electoral interventions during the Cold War and motivate Russia’s actions today. ... At least once, the hand of the United States reached boldly into a Russian election. American fears that Boris Yeltsin would be defeated for re-election as president in
1996 by an old-fashioned Communist led to an overt and covert effort to help him, urged on by President Clinton. It included an American push for a $10 billion International Monetary Fund loan to Russia four months before the voting and a team of American political consultants (though some Russians scoffed when they took credit for the Yeltsin win). ... In recent decades, the most visible American presence in foreign politics has been taxpayer-funded groups (that) do not support candidates but teach basic campaign skills, build democratic institutions, and train election monitors. Most Americans view such efforts as benign. ... But Vladimir Putin sees them as hostile.”
Jonathan Turley, The Hill:
“Lewis Carroll once wrote in praise of adjectives, saying ‘adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs.’ ... For the White House, the entire report comes down to a single adjective. ... The Russian defendants ‘communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign.’ ... That adjective could well stand out as the turning point in the Russian investigation. The remaining question could be whether President Trump wittingly obstructed an investigation into unwitting contacts with the Russians.”