Politico: Bernie blames Hillary for allowing Russian interference

[ehrnst]

The senator and his top political adviser also denied Mueller's assertion that Russian actors backed his campaign.

Bernie Sanders on Wednesday blamed Hillary Clinton for not doing more to stop the Russian attack on the last presidential election. Then his 2016 campaign manager, in an interview with POLITICO, said he’s seen no evidence to support special counsel Robert Mueller's assertion in an indictment last week that the Russian operation had backed Sanders' campaign.

The remarks showed Sanders, running for a third term and currently considered a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, deeply defensive in response to questions posed to him about what was laid out in the indictment. He attempted to thread a response that blasts Donald Trump for refusing to acknowledge that Russians helped his campaign — but then holds himself harmless for a nearly identical denial.

.....................................................................

The Sanders statement issued late Wednesday attributed to “an aide to Sen. Sanders” added “he was using the word ‘campaign’ expansively to include not only the formal, institutional campaign, but also the broader network of volunteers and supporters of Bernie 2016 across the country.”

Sanders went on to indicate that he was at least vaguely aware of the operation that Mueller detailed in his indictment of 13 Russian nationals last week: “What Mueller reported, he had more specificity than we’d seen before. Not exactly new.”

A former Clinton campaign staffer said it was nonsense that Sanders' campaign had reached out to Clinton's about potential Russian interference. "No one from the Sanders campaign ever contacted us about this”—not in September, and not in “April and May.” Sanders said in the radio interview that he noticed "lots of strange things" during those months in 2016.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/21/bernie-sanders-trump-russia-interference-420528

[Cha]

1. He also.. Politico - Bernie mimics Trump defense on Russian interference

Bernie Sanders on Wednesday blamed Hillary Clinton for not doing more to stop the Russian attack on the last presidential election. Then his 2016 campaign manager, in an interview with POLITICO, said he’s seen no evidence to support Special Counsel Bob Mueller's assertion in an indictment last week that the Russian operation had backed Sanders'

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210269740

BS wants to take the subject off him and right on to Hillary. How's he doing?



https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=10263076

OH WOW.. What the Hell is this?...

"A former Clinton campaign staffer said it was nonsense that Sanders' campaign had reached out to Clinton's about potential Russian interference. "No one from the Sanders campaign ever contacted us about this”—not in September, and not in “April and May.” Sanders said in the radio interview that he noticed "lots of strange things" during those months in 2016".

[spooky3]

9. That is interesting. Wonder if a specific name and date

Re the “strange things” report will ever emerge.

[Cha]

15. Dunno, Spooky.. but I believe Hillary's

staffer.

[Exotica]

22. Sanders said in the radio interview that he noticed "lots of strange things"....... He forgot the ER

[Cha]

29. "ER"?

sorry, don't know what you mean.

"..noticed a lot of strange things.. " Oh really? lol

[unc70]

2. Politico trying to stir something up

Remember Politico is not our friend. This is one of their obvious hit pieces trying to stir up divisions between Dems. A couple of DUers have already taken the bait and attacked Bernie. While I know that is certainly tempting for those that have never liked Bernie, using RW attacks against Sanders is against DU rules.

[ehrnst]

6. Politico is RW? I wasn't aware of that. Oh right

How could i have forgotten?

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/04/how-we-found-tom-prices-private-jets-215680

[yardwork]

10. What in this column is incorrect, in your opinion?

[Adrahil]

23. These are not "right wing attacks."

Politico is not always our friend, but it's not exactly Breitbart either.


Bernie and some of his supporters (not all... not even most) did plenty to stir up division on their own. Bernie's defensiveness on this issue is not helping his case, IMO.

[Weed Man]

3. Another hit piece against Bernie.

[ehrnst]

5. OK. Tell us what is not true in the article.

It will be good to hear alternate sources.

Was this as bad as the clearly fictional "hit piece" they did on Tom Price gouging taxpayers by taking private planes?


https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/04/how-we-found-tom-prices-private-jets-215680

[Cha]

7. It's BS' and his manager's own words.

[nini]

19. How are his own words a hit piece?

???

[Weed Man]

32. See this.

http://digital.vpr.net/post/sen-bernie-sanders-gun-control-russian-meddling-and-congressional-dysfunction#stream/0

[Wounded Bear]

8. Maybe next time around...

Bernie will show us HIS financials.

[yardwork]

11. I have a question.

Why didn't Sanders' campaign tell everybody that they had evidence that a foreign nation was interfering in our election?

[TheSmarterDog]

12. Because - just like the Trump campaign - they were benefiting from it.

Obvious

[yardwork]

16. It looks that way.

[DURHAM D]

13. Tad told them not to. nt

[yardwork]

17. Even in September 2016? Hillary was the nominee by then.

This looks really bad for Bernie Sanders. He admitted today that his campaign already knew - back in 2016 - what Mueller has discovered.

Sanders had an obligation to tell us. Why didn't he?

And where are his tax returns?

[DURHAM D]

20. He is just following Trump's lead.

No tax returns.
Family creates fake universities.
Election is rigged.
Hillary should have done something about Russian interference.

[karynnj]

27. That is NOT what he said -- he does not say that he knew Russia was interfering, he knew that there

were posters putting up ugly things. It is very likely that they assumed that these were people who were on the right -- just as the Republicans used supporters of Nader and others in the past.

[yardwork]

28. Sanders is quoted as saying that they aren't surprised by Mueller's "report."

There are quotes of Sanders saying this all over tonight. He says that they knew this back in 2016.

[progressoid]

36. In August, US intelligence told the presidential candidates about Russian interference.

She already knew.

[yardwork]

37. I don't recall that.

[progressoid]

40. This was long before Dotard's comment about the 400 pound hacker.

A senior U.S. intelligence official assured NBC News that cybersecurity and the Russian government’s attempts to interfere in the 2016 election have been briefed to, and discussed extensively with, both parties’ candidates, surrogates and leadership, since mid-August. "To profess not to know at this point is willful misrepresentation,” said the official. “The intelligence community has walked a very thin line in not taking sides, but both candidates have all the information they need to be crystal clear."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-was-told-russia-was-blame-hacks-long-debate-n663686

[yardwork]

42. But that wasn't about bots and social media.

We all understood that intelligence to involve attempts to hack into campaign servers, etc.

The information about bots and fake accounts on FB and twitter came much later. Yet Bernie said today that Mueller's "report" - and what report, anyway? - was not a surprise to his campaign.

[hueymahl]

18. Horseshit

Blaming Bernie for the loss is lazy thinking and intellectually dishonest. But you can not stand Bernie, so it fits with your world view to blame him.

[hueymahl]

25. Believe what you want

All I see are a bunch of Bernie haters seizing on any flimsy excuse to bash him. The primary is over. Everyone lost.

[Adrahil]

26. Some of them will never admit their hero is wrong....

reminds me of someone else's supporters...

[nini]

33. It's a tough time for them

I'm sending lots of thoughts and prayers for them

[hueymahl]

35. I know

So many refuse to admit their preferred candidate has any faults or ran a poor campaign.

[Adrahil]

39. Case in point...

DEFLECT, DEFLECT.

HILLARY'S FAULT!!!

Russia is a made up excuse for Hillary's terrible campaign.


Sounds familiar.

[nini]

41. LOL

yea..more talking points. You seem to have them all down quite well

[Mike Nelson]

30. Huh...

"...considered a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination..."? He's not a Democrat anymore. He left the party, after joining and losing in 2016. He won't be back in - and would probably run as a third party candidate.

[GusBob]

31. Hillary hate was such a pervasive and encompassing phenomenon

I have been wondering for sometime now just why Putin hated her so much? (I like to think he was afraid of her)

What was the source and when did it start? I assume it goes back to her SoS days. She must have had some goods on him and his cronies that would have stymied whatever plans they had.

Which begs the follow-up question: was she aware of his bitter animosity towards her going back to way before the election?

I mean, did it ever maybe cross her mind that Putin and the KGB would do whatever it takes to stop her?

I still say if she had been elected in 2008 none of this ever would have happened, if she was on to Putin even as SoS she could have stopped him as POTUS

[Nederland]

34. 2020 Front Runner?

He will be 79 on election day 2020.

[IluvPitties]

38. Now we know the extent of the Russian operation...