The New York Times reported on Thursday that “intelligence officials warned House lawmakers last week that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected.”
That is not accurate. The Times story is “mischaracterized” according to Jake Tapper, and the White House.
The Problem was Shelby Pierson, Election Security Official
Last week’s briefing, led by Shelby Pierson, the election security official, addressed the overall picture of Russia’s alleged efforts, including hacking, weaponizing social media and attacks on election infrastructure, one of the sources said. Pierson, a Dan Coates appointee, claimed the Russians favor Donald Trump. It was her opinion.
Democrats are running with it. It’s Russia collusion hoax 2.0 and they are counting on Americans falling for it. This is the third major hoax they want voters to believe.
A national security official in the Trump administration told CNN that Pierson mischaracterized the intelligence that Russia has developed a preference for Trump.
“A more reasonable interpretation of the intelligence is not that they have a preference, it’s a step short of that. It’s more that they understand the President is someone they can work with, he’s a dealmaker. But not that they prefer him over (Bernie) Sanders or (Pete) Buttigieg or anyone else. So it may have been mischaracterized by Shelby,” the official said.
The President was infuriated that he was left out of all this and that the DNI and the election official included the lunatic Adam Schiff in the briefing to Congress. Adam Schiff, but not the President??? The President replaced Acting DNI Maguire immediately.
THE DEMOCRATS JUMP ON IT
Clapper
James Clapper, who served as director of national intelligence under President Barack Obama, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” Thursday evening that it is “quite predictable” Russia would again try to interfere in the election.
“This is not a big surprise, but it illustrates the tremendous challenge that the intelligence community has where they’re teeing up facts that our President doesn’t want to hear, and with a result that the messenger got shot in the form of Joe Maguire being asked to leave,” Clapper said.
Brennan
Former Obama CIA Director John Brennan accused President Trump of “abetting a Russian covert operation” to secure his election as he pushed the latest intelligence leak in a new report.
“We are now in a full-blown national security crisis,” Brennan tweeted Thursday, linking to the report in The New York Times.
“By trying to prevent the flow of intelligence to Congress, Trump is abetting a Russian covert operation to keep him in office for Moscow’s interests, not America’s,” Brennan declared.
We are now in a full-blown national security crisis. By trying to prevent the flow of intelligence to Congress, Trump is abetting a Russian covert operation to keep him in office for Moscow’s interests, not America’s. https://t.co/Vj6lUV5ZNu
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) February 21, 2020
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton shamelessly exploited the moment. Calling Trump, “Putin’s Puppet.” She said the President is asking for “Russian help for himself.”
She has absolutely no basis for making comments like this.
Putin’s Puppet is at it again, taking Russian help for himself.
He knows he can’t win without it. And we can’t let it happen. https://t.co/10Z2YIipOI
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 21, 2020
The Others
Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are calling for investigations based on the vague report.
Conspiracy theorist Adam Schiff couldn’t wait to put his worthless opinion out into the Twitterverse:
We count on the intelligence community to inform Congress of any threat of foreign interference in our elections.
If reports are true and the President is interfering with that, he is again jeopardizing our efforts to stop foreign meddling.
Exactly as we warned he would do. https://t.co/viSBlnA1nb
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 21, 2020
CNN HACK EVEN ADMITTED IT WAS ‘MISCHARACTERIZED’
Even Jake Tapper explained that the report was mischaracterized. The intelligence does not say the Russians are helping to get Trump re-elected.
It seems Shelby Pierson interpreted the intelligence in this way. She was the problem.
The only thing the report says is Russians understand they could work with Trump since he’s a dealmaker. But, it’s not that they prefer him to anyone else.
Tapper added that this doesn’t change the fact that the President is putting loyalists in the DNI and Russians want to interfere in the election again.
TAPPER’S TWEETS
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