In an op-ed at The Hill, Sharyl Attkisson took on the scandal the Obama officials missed and points to ten factors that make the Russia election interference the most enduring scandal of the Obama era. The scandal they try to pin on the President happened under Obama’s watch and the Obama team missed it. They were “so distracted by “political motivations that they lost sight of the very danger they now claim threatens our democracy.”
She called out their “Keystone Cops-type” responses. That’s true. Remember when Obama said he was on top of it and told Putin to “cut it out?” He’s ridiculous.
1. Missed Opportunity
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Despite the FBI discovering that Democratic National Committee computers were hacked in the fall of 2015, they did nothing, as Attkisson pointed out. It was a “missed opportunity” to intervene but the DNC wouldn’t allow FBI access and Comey wouldn’t confiscate the computers.
2. Denial
Obama simplistically denied the problem and mocked anyone who said they were vulnerable, opening the way for more Russian interference.
“There’s no evidence that that has happened in the past or that there are instances in which that will happen this time,” Obama said at the time, which Attkisson noted was “smack dab in the middle of the supposed Russia targeting of our election process.”
3. Inadequate Response
“Actions that President Obama and his top intel officials did take to mitigate Russian interference proved woefully inadequate,” she added, pointing to the “inadequate response” by the administration as another reason for the scandal.
4. Failure to Disclose
Intelligence officials also failed to disclose to the Trump campaign that it was being targeted by Russian spying while secretly passing the information on to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in order to secure a warrant against the then-candidate’s team.
5. Targeting Trump
“Recall the FBI had notified the DNC earlier, after determining it had been targeted by Russians,” Attkisson wrote. “The decision not to likewise loop in the Trump campaign regarding the supposed targeting suggests intel officials were not focused on protecting national security but hoping to entrap Trump campaign officials.”
6. Suspicious Timing
Not only did the Obama officials target Trump and his campaign instead of the Russians who were doing the spying, but the “suspicious timing” of the former president’s actions also raise eyebrows.
7. Sanctions for Trump Not Hillary [Number 7 was left out but we guessed as to what it was]
“Russia’s election interference certainly was not new on election day. Yet only after Trump was elected (instead of Hillary Clinton) did President Obama assign his intel officials to issue a public report about Russia’s scheme. And only then did he pursue punishment, including sanctions and expulsion of some Russian diplomats from the United States,” Attkisson noted.
8. Blame Game
Those same officials who did nothing to block and prevent Russian meddling, including Comey, CIA Director Brennan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, national security adviser Susan Rice and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, then “began a campaign of media leaks and deflection” in a “blame game” aimed at Trump, the piece continued.
9. Ignorance
Another point made in the article was the Obama intel officials’ willful ignorance of the need to investigate sources other than the Russians in the meddling. They also didn’t probe the connection between Russia, the FBI, and Democrats.
10. Russia’s Link to the FBI and the Democrats
The FBI overlooked the apparent, admitted “collusion” between Steele and Kremlin-connected Russians who provided opposition research against Trump — some of it false — for the dossier. Then, the FBI used the Kremlin-connected Russian research, in part, to obtain wiretaps against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Attkisson concluded that Obama’s intelligence officials were “inarguably ineffective” in their efforts – or lack of effort – in dealing with the Russian meddling.
“A great deal of money and effort has been spent to dismiss other scandals along partisan lines. In this case, people in both political parties agree the interference happened — and that it happened on Obama’s watch,” she wrote. “His intel officials appear to have been either distracted, conflicted or asleep at the switch.”
Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume fired off a scathing rebuke of the Washington Post for publishing an op-ed that not only blamed Trump for looking the other way while Moscow interfered with the U.S. election but for ignoring the obvious fact that all of the meddling occurred under Obama’s watch.
“The man who was actually President when the attack occurred is never mentioned in this amazing article,” Hume tweeted, referring to Obama who infamously told Russian President Vladimir Putin to “cut it out” in a warning against interfering with the U.S. presidential election.
The scandal was NEVER Trump’s. It has always been Barack Obama’s scandal, one he manipulated with the help of the media into an attack on President Trump.
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