CIA Director Mike Pompeo:
At the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, Pompeo was asked whether he supports the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
“Of course,” he replied. “And the one before that, and the one before that.”
Later in the question-and-answer session with New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, Pompeo was asked whether he was downplaying Russia’s meddling in 2016 by also mentioning the Kremlin’s behavior in previous years.
“I am confident that the Russians meddled in this election, as is the entire intelligence community,” Pompeo said, appearing agitated at the skepticism towards his previous answer. “I hope I didn’t stop at 2008 [for when he says Russian began interfering in U.S. elections]. You can go back to the 70s. My point was simply this: This threat is real. The U.S. government, including the Central Intelligence Agency, has to figure out a way to fight back against it and defeat it. And we’re intent upon doing that.”
Of course the Democrats were aghast at this line of talk. This is SOOOO much bigger THIS time! Bullshit.
Romney warned of the danger posed by Russia during the 2012 election and was ridiculed.
Now the Democrats see a Russian around every corner.
The only reason? Because their candidate didn’t win.
See author page
The Democrats don’t see a problem with interference as long as they win (sort of like voter fraud). Like all of their “principles”, they ebb and flow depending on the political gain available.
Exactly. In 2012, does anyone remember the MSM reporting on it day in and day out (or at all for that matter)? No. Does anyone remember dems calling it an act of war? No. Does anyone recall people like Paul Begala calling for the bombing of the KGB? No. And to add to this, remember how the dems always took Putin’s side when he got into squabbles with GWB? He was like a hero to them. The dems are hypocritical frauds trying to overturn an election. They are also using this to cover up for the crimes and abuses of power committed by the Obama administration which were more extensive than first thought. Hence the need for such a big “scandal”.
So, what are the details of all that Russian meddling in previous U.S. presidential elections?
There was nothing in past U.S. elections even remotely comparable to what the Russians attempted in 2016, in terms either extent or effect. This was a first. Their actions may well have put Donald Trump in office. That was certainly their intention. And people in the Trump campaign may well have knowingly cooperated with that effort. That’s why we’re having investigations—which the Trump administration is attempting to discredit.
@Greg: I realize I am falling for troll bait, but to suggest that the Russians put Trump in office is off the charts stupid. Hillary was a much better dupe for the Russians than Trump. If you recall, Ted Kennedy wrote to the Russian government, asking for help in defeating Ronald Reagan. But leftists like Greg don’t care about that. As long as leftists win elections, the left doesn’t care how it was done. The ends always justify the means to the left. Creating incredible lies about Trump is just another means to an end.
All you Trumpists—Let it play out.
@Greg:
Always asking the questions, never answering the questions. Why is that, Greg?
What are the details of all that Russian meddling in 2016? What was done? What was the effect? What did it change? And, most importantly, why did Obama, knowing it was happening, do NOTHING to block it?
How about Chinese interference when Clinton was President? They gave him millions of dollars and he gave them satellite and missile technology.
How about Obama telling Medvedev, basically, once the next election was done, he would be free to screw the American people without political repercussions? Was that interference or simply Obama’s trademark fetal position before other world leaders?
Same old unanswered questions, Greg. Over and over and over….
@Angel Artiste, #4:
What planet have you been living on for the past 9 or 10 years? Vladimir Putin detests Hillary Clinton, and has ever since she served as Obama’s Secretary of State. There’s no way in hell he would have wanted her to win the 2016 election. Clinton is hated equally by Putin’s witting or unwitting tool, Julian Assange. Suggesting either of them would have lifted a finger to see her elected is absurd. Both viewed her as an enemy and a threat.
This stunningly clueless meme—that Putin would have been happier with Clinton—was very recently injected by Trump himself, down at a level where there’s not much critical thinking by anyone who’s supposed to be watching the door. It will spread from there.
President Trump to CBN’s Pat Robertson: Putin Would Have Been Happier With Clinton
@Bill… Deplorable Me, #6:
How would I know? The point of the multiple investigations that are currently underway is to answer each of those question.
Mueller is now looking into the business dealings of Kushner, Manafort, and Trump. Following the money often takes you to the answers you’re looking for. In this case, they’re almost certainly going to lead to Russia. That’s where all connected dots appear to lead.
Those involved in the investigation know far more than the public is aware of.
The many unearthed interactions between Trump-world and Russia, documented
@Greg:
Two words for you, Greggie Gullible: JEREMY BIRD
@Greg: So, you think Putin would rather have someone that is going to threaten is one and only source of income simply because he, like everyone else, found Hillary disgusting? There is no doubt he would have preferred Hillary. She was proven incompetent, corrupt and easy going with classified information. Hillary was a blackmail magnet and fiercely protective of her persona. It is beyond question that Putin could make good use of all of Hillary’s failures.
Hmmm…. when the open and obvious criminal dealings of the Clinton’s is in question, we must wait for review, investigation and conclusions but….
… when hollow accusations against Trump and his team are discussed, even when repeated investigations and revelations show all accusations are baseless and vindictive in nature, innocence is not assume and guilt is a foregone conclusion.
You and the rest of the liberal mob are more than happy to ignore a Clinton history of collusion, influence peddling, bribes and payoffs while making false accusations against a sitting President in order to damage his leadership and governing capabilities. This is a threat to national security for the sake solely of being sore losers. Pretty damn disgusting.
The Trump administration and its supporters could serve as an excellent illustrative example of the Dunning-Kruger Effect in action.
@Greg:
Let’s discuss Jeremy Bird.
Jeremy Bird? The CEO of the 270 political consulting firm? Feel free.
@Greg:
Yea, that Jeremy Bird. But Bird’s resume includes much, much more, such as being Obama’s national field director and his [Obama ordered] involvement with V15.
The Russians can’t hold a candle to Ted Kennedy and Jeremy Bird.
@Greg:
Ready? On 3 we’ll all laugh together. Putin had Hillary by the short hairs. He had already bought her and paid for her. Check the deposit’s to the Clinton Foundation while she was SOS.
And Russia interfered in US eleciton every cycle just as we interfered with their elections every cycle. Just as Obozo interfered with Israel’s elections every cycle and France’s. etc. Ready? 1 2 3 !
Ok Greg, you’ve admitted knowing of Jeremy Bird, tell us a little of what you know about him?
Perhaps you could explain how Jeremy Bird openly providing services as a professional political consultant is the equivalent of Trump’s people secretly colluding with representatives of a hostile foreign power to turn a presidential election.
You must have something in mind that can be clearly communicated in the English language.
@Greg:
That answer implies you don’t have a clue who Jeremy Bird is. Surely you’ve heard of google.
@Greg:
When will someone provide the first (FIRST) shred of evidence to that effect? What you wish had happened (rather than the realization that Hillary was a despicable and incompetent candidate) has no semblance to reality. The reality is that if collusion bothers you, you should be accusing Obama and Hillary.
But it doesn’t bother you. What bothers you is losing the election your corrupt media promised you were winning. Perhaps the media was lying to you, Greg… just as they are lying about Trump.
5 Habits of Stupid People that Smart People Don’t Have
How many apply to the man in the White House? By my count, we’re five for five. Yeah, I know—he’s a billionaire. And an idiot savant might be an amazing piano player. That doesn’t mean he or she should be president.
@Greg:
Well Greg, I’d say you are at least 5 for 5 out of those.
Stupid people very seldom turn 250 million dollars into 4 or 5 billion. How many billion have you earned?
@Bill… Deplorable Me:
What? wait Bill, you think the media might be lying? Greg won’t grasp that concept.
Notice how he’s trying to skip answering the question about Jeremy Bird.
@Greg:
What is the discussion here, Greggie Goebbels? It is the [illegal] interference of a foreign nation into the elections of another nation. Shall we talk about Ted Kennedy’s attempted collusion with the Russians trying to prevent Ronald Reagan from winning? Oh, that’s right, you don’t want to go there, now do you?
Calling Jeremy Bird “a professional political consultant” equates to calling Goebbels, Hess and Himmler “professional political consultants.” FYI, Jeremy Bird was Obama’s National Field Director and was upper echelon of the Obama campaign team.
I do, but unfortunately, you don’t have the intellect to understand anything clearly communicated in the English language. Your brain is a sponge that only absorbs left wing talking points.
@Greg:
Chuckle.
@Redteam:
Greggie Goebbels doesn’t want to address either Ted Kennedy, or Jeremy Bird. Greggie Goebbels ignores the proven dirty tricks of the Socialist Party (because that is what the Democrats are now) while repeating the talking points of the left pointing fingers at Republicans.
Heck, Greggie Goebbels is so stupid he continues to come here, day after day, only to get his a$$ handed to him.
@retire05:
There’s only one reason for him to endure that punishment each day and it’s not a strong belief that he’s ‘right’. Probably financial and likely from someone trying to interfere with US elections.
@Redteam:
In the 2008 election cycle, there was a shadow group called Organizing for Obama, a brilliant scheme designed by David Axelrod. It morphed into Organizing for America once Obama was elected. One of it’s purposes was to hire pajama clad basement dwellers to get on conservative sites and argue against the Republican candidate and for Obama. That too, morphed as the purpose then became to argue against the Republicans and for Obama’s agenda. It is now known as Organizing for Action.
Jeremy Bird was the Deputy Director for Organizing for America.
@retire05, #23:
There’s nowhere to go. The particulars of the two situations are not remotely comparable—unless maybe your capacity for critical analysis has been damaged by prolonged exposure to right-wing bullshit.
It’s getting hard to keep track of all the various angles the right is now working in an effort to detract and distract. None of which are going to stop the investigation from eventually uncovering and revealing the truth.
You keep calling me stupid, but I’m smart enough to figure out what Trump is. So what’s your problem?
@Greg:
Seems as if Obama’s boy was involved in trying to influence foreign elections? Isn’t that against your belief’s Greggie Can you legitimately argue that the defeat of Netanyahu would be good for America?
@Redteam, #21:
That would be a predictable response, as is evidenced by the fact that I actually did predict it. This required no Magic 8 Ball. The right views the accumulation of money as evidence of many things that it is simply not really evidence of. Money seems to inspire awe. Combine that with braggadocio and a mirror reflecting populace ignorance and anger, and you’ve got a presidential candidate.
@Greg:
Are you’re saying you’re not inspired by George? Name one person (leave Trump out of it) stupid person you can think of that made several billion dollars.
I rest my case.
@Greg: Your case was rested long ago
@Greg:
You don’t appear to have figured out that, already, Trump is 10 times the leader Obama ever was during his 8 year reign.
WHO is detracting and distracting? Who invented the bogus “Russian collusion” distraction? Who pursued impeachment immediately, then began working on trying to create the justification?
May it rest in peace; it’s dead.
Silly and weak, Greg. Very silly and very weak. Just like the Democrat party.
There was nothing illegal about V15, nothing illegal about them hiring Bird, and nothing illegal about Bird working for them. There was nothing the least bit covert about any of it. It was reported in the newspapers.
V15 – Look Who is Behind the New US Democratic-Style Campaign in Israel
So, how does that compare with illegal Russian hacking of the DNC, of the voters registration databases of more than one half of the states in the United States, and of the calculated public release of stolen classified material through Wikileaks?
Did you always go totally blank on those “compare and contrast” questions back in school? It wasn’t just a tricky sort of test question; it had something to do with teaching students a fundamental thinking skill.
As for Trump’s election, there’s a bottom-line explanation that takes the form of a pithy quote: “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” Trump’s opponents did so, one after the other, all the way to the White House. Now we’ve got a shyster as President—a shyster being the one thing he’s eminently qualified to be.
@Greg:
Hacking? See Seth Rich.
The truly stupid people, ideologically blinded, voted for Hillary, the most corrupt, dishonest, lying and incompetent candidate ever to run for the office.
@Bill… Deplorable Me: Still thry to commit necrophilia Oh Deplorable One.
Go get yourself a Steely Dan and use it on yourself.
@Greg:
So you want us to believe that it’s ok for the US to interfere in foreign elections, even if it’s some socialists trying to put in a government that is an enemy of the US, or to put in a Muslim government. But it’s NOT okay for the US to work with a foreign government to put in a government in the US that is beneficial to the US? Do you ever think before you open your mouth? There is no law in the US that says that it is illegal for anyone to work for the election of someone they support in a foreign country. So if you’re going to continue to act an ass, you might want to find an issue that is worth looking like an ass for.
I especially like the way you refer to Dimocrats in your statement:
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”
@Greg:
Illegal? No. Nefarious, considering that when Bird went to Israel he was still attached at the hip to the Obama administration. Yes. But then, I guess you think that when you are that connected, and work for an administration either salaried or volunteer, the President doesn’t know that you are going to a foreign nation to try to influence an election against an adversary, right?
Did you read the article you posted? It was not very complimentary to your boy, Bird, or any of the other shady characters he’s associated with.
Why didn’t Obama address that problem? He was still President. Surely you’re not stupid enough to claim he didn’t know his own Party was hacked. But then, maybe you are.
News flash, Greggie Goebbels, your voter registration information is public information. I have the name, address, birth date, date of registration, what elections they voted in (not how they voted unless a partisan primary) for every one in my county. Oh, wait, you didn’t know that is public information? Shall we call you Mr. Clueless?
I have no doubt if WikiLeaks had released documents detrimental to Trump you would have approved of the release. You’re such a hypocrite.
Your juvenile comments show you were a failure in school so don’t be slamming someone else.
You clearly were looking in the mirror when you typed that.
You’re searching for a reason to find Trump guilty of something, anything, so you fill your head with left wing nothingness. But address the fact that Ted Kennedy, as a sitting U.S. Senator, tried to collude with the Russians to unseat a sitting president in a national election? Of course, in your delusional mind you think you can defend that. Chappaquiddick Ted was a Democrat, don’t you know?
You’re still an idiot with no possibility of changing.
@retire05, #38:
Do you think the Russians hacked multiple voter registration computers solely for the purpose of obtaining publicly available information? That would be stupid and pointless, wouldn’t it? But they did so. Obviously they had something more than collecting publicly available information in mind.
Leaked NSA Report Says Russian Hackers Targeted Voter Registration Officials in November 2016
Yeah, right. That’s why there are multiple investigations underway by multiple bipartisan Congressional committees, and an investigation being conducted by an independent counsel that Trump and his lawyers are frantically looking for ways to discredit or shut down.
They’re not collectively smart enough to pull it off. Just enough information has leaked to guarantee that they won’t be able to get away with it. The investigation will proceed until the facts are known.
@PhullofMarlowe: PHULLOF, they decided to spring for you to be back for another day. I guess they just love to put ignorance on display. Well, you’re a good demo. I’m waiting anxiously for another display….
@Greg:
Well, No. No they didn’t . Because there is nothing confidential on the voter registration lists. Try again, Greggie. You might even want to provide any evidence that you have that they hacked anything at all.
the only ‘frantic’ people i’ve seen are dumbocraps, frantically scurrying around hoping to find anything.
@Greg: Greggie, got any proof of your accusations?? Oh right, I forgot, you haven’t ever proven crap when called out for your BS!!
Russians penetrated U.S. voter systems, says top U.S. official
The point, of course, wouldn’t be alteration; it would be the collection of information for the purpose of social media targeting. That databases were inspected without being altered raises doubt about “an exceptionally small number” of successful penetrations, since total success would leave no trace that an intrusion even occurred.
@Greg: So the idea of collusion is not a part of the facts of Russian interference. What did Obola do to stop this interference for the past 8 years prior?? Still got NO proof of the accusation do you Greggie!! Please show proof that any votes where changed by the Russians, who where they changed from and to, what state did this vote change occur, and you sources not being identified versus thin air that the demoncraps try!! BTW, Obola lied about not interfering with FBI investigation of hilldabeast as we found out today!!
@Greg: Remember telling us Obama isn’t President anymore? Well, the 2016 campaign isn’t going on anymore, either. Obama stood aside because he knew Hillary was going to win and didn’t want to do anything to get in the way of that. If he thought for a millisecond that the Russians had the capability to alter the election to the point that it would affect Hillary’s chances, you can be damn sure he would have done much more than just issue another one of his “red line” threats which have worked so well in the past.
Maybe the Russians deleted all the dead votes that usually go for corrupt Democrats.
@Common Sense, #45:
What they changed were the thoughts in voters’ heads. People didn’t even know their buttons were being systematically punched. The same thing is about to happen again, and they still don’t understand. Nor is any effort being made to prevent it.
Can you figure out why?
@Greg: How did they change any minds? The supposed Facebook ads YOU YOURSELF provide was not only divided between pro-Trump and pro-Hillary, but the pro-Trump ads merely stated already known facts about Hillary’s incompetence and corruption. And then there’s this:
http://thefederalist.com/2018/01/18/house-intel-committee-democrats-started-false-russia-facebook-story/#.WmYXHfWPr8g.facebook
How do you know this? What thoughts did they have prior to your alleged Russian ads? How many changed their minds? You are clinging to Hillary’s straws. How do people who have no thoughts of their own determine anyone else’s thoughts changed?
How do I know? Here’s what’s know about Russian election meddling:
2016 Presidential Campaign Hacking Fast Facts
Basically, anyone who knows the facts but concludes nothing of serious happened has got to be a frickin’ idiot. We’re being warned that it’s happening again. Yet nothing is being done to prevent it. In fact, efforts are being made to deny that anything unacceptable happened to begin with.
Think about that until the meaning of it sinks in. Consider it in the context of the Trump administration’s efforts to discredit and stop the Mueller investigation.
@Greg: I know you are convinced Trump colluded with Russia to steal the election from Clinton. Nothing will get you away from that.
But why would Russia prefer Trump over Clinton?
HRC would basically continue the Obama path with Russia. The “reset” the “more flexibility” the 500k Bill Clinton got for a speech in Russia. Obama canceled the planned missile defense shield in Poland at Russia’s bidding.
Trump is building up the military. Russia would not like this. Trump is opening more oil exploration and export. Neither of which would Russia like. Russia depends on the sale of oil to exist.
That’s just for starters. It’s clear Russia would prefer Clinton over Trump. But that does not fit the MSM narrative.
Oh, by the way the 80’s called and it wanted it’s foreign policy back. When did that statement expire? It was all the rage on the left just a short time ago.