Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Zorro

(15,691 posts)
Sat Aug 8, 2020, 11:17 PM Aug 2020

Unwanted Truths: Inside Trump's Battles With U.S. Intelligence Agencies

Last year, intelligence officials gathered to write a classified report on Russia’s interest in the 2020 election. An investigation from the magazine uncovered what happened next.

In early July of last year, the first draft of a classified document known as a National Intelligence Estimate circulated among key members of the agencies making up the U.S. intelligence community. N.I.E.s are intended to be that community’s most authoritative class of top-secret document, reflecting its consensus judgment on national-security matters ranging from Iran’s nuclear capabilities to global terrorism. The draft of the July 2019 N.I.E. ran to about 15 pages, with another 10 pages of appendices and source notes.

According to multiple officials who saw it, the document discussed Russia’s ongoing efforts to influence U.S. elections: the 2020 presidential contest and 2024’s as well. It was compiled by a working group consisting of about a dozen senior analysts, led by Christopher Bort, a veteran national intelligence officer with nearly four decades of experience, principally focused on Russia and Eurasia. The N.I.E. began by enumerating the authors’ “key judgments.” Key Judgment 2 was that in the 2020 election, Russia favored the current president: Donald Trump.

The intelligence provided to the N.I.E.’s authors indicated that in the lead-up to 2020, Russia worked in support of the Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as well. But Bort explained to his colleagues, according to notes taken by one participant in the process, that this reflected not a genuine preference for Sanders but rather an effort “to weaken that party and ultimately help the current U.S. president.” To allay any speculation that Putin’s interest in Trump had cooled, Key Judgment 2 was substantiated by current information from a highly sensitive foreign source described by someone who read the N.I.E. as “100 percent reliable.”

On its face, Key Judgment 2 was not a contentious assertion. In 2017, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the umbrella entity supervising the 16 other U.S. intelligence agencies, released a report drawing on intelligence from the C.I.A., the F.B.I. and the National Security Agency that found Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election and aspired to help Trump. At a news conference with Trump in Helsinki in July 2018, President Vladimir Putin of Russia denied interfering in the election. But when asked by a reporter if he had wanted Trump to win, he replied bluntly: “Yes, I did.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/magazine/us-russia-intelligence.html
4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Unwanted Truths: Inside Trump's Battles With U.S. Intelligence Agencies (Original Post) Zorro Aug 2020 OP
whenever i recall seeing this meeting dweller Aug 2020 #1
Thank you. BComplex Aug 2020 #2
yes, yes it does dweller Aug 2020 #3
Recommended Dennis Donovan Aug 2020 #4

dweller

(23,562 posts)
1. whenever i recall seeing this meeting
Sat Aug 8, 2020, 11:46 PM
Aug 2020

and the videos of it, i recall the question asked ...
When Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked if he wanted Trump to win the US presidential election or if he directed any officials to help him do that, Putin responded, "Yes, I did." CNN's Jim Acosta reacts.Source: CNN"

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/07/16/putin-yes-trump-election-acosta-reax-vpx.cnn

put in full context, 😡

✌🏼

dweller

(23,562 posts)
3. yes, yes it does
Sun Aug 9, 2020, 12:19 AM
Aug 2020

and as i recall watching the meeting, it was a 2 part question ..
and Putin's response delivered through translator was

"Yes" -- to the ? if he wanted fatnixon to win,
followed by
"Yes i did" to the 2nd ? ...

the transcripts don't reflect that, but i remember it, and wondered why it wasn't
pointed out


✌🏼

Dennis Donovan

(18,770 posts)
4. Recommended
Sun Aug 9, 2020, 06:24 AM
Aug 2020

It's astonishing, *if* you believe Trump has no connections to the Kremlin.

If you believe he does, well, it's Sunday.

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Editorials & Other Articles»Unwanted Truths: Inside T...