Former GOP House intel chairman: Russian election hacking was 'wildly successful'

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters



03 MAY 2017 AT 09:04 ET

Russia succeeded in its goals of sowing discord in U.S. politics by meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which will likely inspire similar future efforts, two top former U.S. voices on intelligence said on Tuesday.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers agreed at a panel at Harvard University that Russia likely believed it had achieved its goals and could attempt to repeat its performance in elections in other countries.

“Their purpose was to sew discontent and mistrust in our elections they wanted us to be at each others’ throat when it was over,” Rogers said at the panel at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. “It’s influencing, I would say, legislative process today. That’s wildly successful.”

Congressional committees have been investigating the issue since U.S. intelligence agencies in January concluded Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered hacking of Democratic political groups to sway the election toward Republican Donald Trump. Moscow has denied any such meddling and Trump has been dismissive of the intelligence suggesting Russian involvement.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN17Y2ON?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5909650204d3016e88e9ba3a&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. "Their purpose was to sew discontent and mistrust in our elections...."

http://biblehub.com/galatians/6-7.htm

King James Bible:

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

On the other hand:

[Xipe Totec]

2. Whatever man seweth, that shall also be ripped? nt

[northoftheborder]

3. .

[PatSeg]

4. I got a weird visual when I read that sentence

One with a needle and thread stitching together yards of discontent and mistrust.

[NoMoreRepugs]

5. Sound bite Americans don't need much

to be led by the nose.

[DK504]

12. And now we have Betsy DeVos

to turn our kids little brains to mush.

[Botany]

6. But what about Hillary's emails?

[not fooled]

7. When he says

that the legislative process today is being influenced, I hope he's not attempting to conflate legitimate resistance to dump's repulsive agenda with Russky actions.

[That Guy 888]

14. You're probably right, they really want to normalize Trump.

They whip up the tea-baggers, then try and pacify regular Americans when they push their corporate personhood Ayn Rand financial policies twinned with their anti-abortion Taliban-like fundy social agenda.

[Mr. Ected]

8. Yes, the Russians influenced the election

But they acted in concert with the Trump campaign. Make no mistake about it.

[iluvtennis]

11. +++ agree

[UCmeNdc]

9. The main problem is GOP politicians are supporting Putin

Do they also actually like Putin's help? Did Mitch McConnell also let Putin in the backdoor? There are people high up in the US government indirectly supporting Putin's US spy network.

[Grins]

10. But they couldn't do that without help!

“Their purpose was to sew discontent and mistrust in our elections they wanted us to be at each others’ throat when it was over." - Mike Rogers.

But they couldn't do that without help! They couldn't do it without the Reich-wing's army of reliably and forever-angry, paranoid racists who generously give money, time and effort to "the cause" for 40+ years. Every day for 40+ years Reich-wing conservatives suckled at the teats of delusion, rage, and paranoia to get the war they wanted, the tax cuts they wanted, the president they wanted, the deregulatory idiocy they wanted, the distrust of "big government" they wanted; and when it all went to shit they blamed the Negro. They are Stalin's most perfect “polyezniy idiots*”

* “Useful idiot”

[DK504]

13. As Malcolm Nance has written, the Intel agencies were watching in real time

as the hacking's were occurring....How I wish this could be de-classified.

[FigTree]

15. It is way worse than that.

Because the whole US political system has been ridiculed and its pretence at superiority seriously discredited. Putin can now use that to better justify its antidemocratic regime. At best, the barycentre of democracy will move somewhere, hopefully Europe.

[JudyM]

17. And if so much $ wasn't completely wasted on fighting for/against destructive Rethug ideology and

initiatives, we'd have plenty to build best in class cyber security and voting equipment infrastructure.

Just imagine what could be achieved if they were collaborative for the public interest. We need a new law that demands good faith engagement by everyone in all 3 branches of government... a requirement to demonstrate actions are in the public interest.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

16. We would have been at each others' throats anyhow. We were already at that point. n/t