CIA Director Mike Pompeo: Russia Will Try To Interfere With 2018 Elections

[UCmeNdc]

CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Russia will target U.S. mid-term elections later this year as part of the Kremlin’s attempt to influence domestic politics across the West, and warned the world had to do more to push back against Chinese meddling.

Russia has been accused of meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the allegations, which Moscow denies, and whether there was any collusion involving President Donald Trump’s associates.

In an interview with the BBC aired on Tuesday, U.S. intelligence chief Pompeo said Russia had a long history of information campaigns and said its threat would not go away.

Asked if Russia would try to influence the mid-term elections, he said: “Of course. I have every expectation that they will continue to try and do that.



https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mike-pompeo-russia-election-interference_us_5a702963e4b00d0de223638a?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

[blueinredohio]

1. Then they should start taking steps to prevent it

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. White House: "we refuse to implement Congress's sanctions on Russia, since they're already deterred"

The Trump administration said on Monday it would not immediately impose additional sanctions on Russia, despite a new law designed to punish Moscow’s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, insisting the measure was already hitting Russian companies.

“Today, we have informed Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defense sales,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. “Since the enactment of the ... legislation, we estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defense acquisitions.”

Seeking to press President Donald Trump to clamp down on Russia, the U.S. Congress voted nearly unanimously last year to pass a law setting sweeping new sanctions on Moscow.
...
But citing long time frames associated with major defense deals, Nauert said it was better to wait to impose those sanctions.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions/trump-administration-holds-off-on-new-russia-sanctions-despite-law-idUSKBN1FI2V7

So the CIA head says Russia is pressing ahead with interference, and Trump says "they're doing nothing wrong". This really is skirting with treason. He's opposing Congress, and his own Republican appointee to the CIA.

[Iggo]

3. Seriously, why wouldn't they?