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Thursday, Jul 6 2017

12 Top U.S. Officials Who Debunked Trump's "Could Be Russia" Lies

Jul 06, 2017

It’s been nearly 8 months since Election Day 2016, but despite an overwhelming consensus among U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials, the President of the United States still won’t admit that Russia and Vladimir Putin were behind the cyberespionage and misinformation campaign that was launched to get him elected president.

Trump’s latest denial came this morning, when he claimed, “I think it very well could be Russia but I think it could very well have been other countries,” but “nobody really knows for sure.”

For the record, here’s a list of the at least 12 top current and former U.S. officials who do know for sure and have testified to Congress that Vladimir Putin launched a concerted effort to get Trump elected president:

  • Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats
  • CIA Director Mike Pompeo
  • Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe
  • NSA Director Mike Rogers
  • National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Director Robert Cardillo
  • Bill Priestap, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division
    Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
  • Former CIA Director John Brennan
  • Former FBI Director James Comey
  • Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson
  • Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates
  • Nicholas Burns, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and Greece 

CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, NSA Director Mike Rogers, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Robert Cardillo: “Yes,” we believe that the intelligence community correctly assessed that Russia was responsible for the 2016 election hacks.

  • CIA Director Mike Pompeo: “It’s pretty clear about what took place here, about Russian involvement in efforts to hack information, and to have an impact on American democracy. I’m very clear-eyed about what that intelligence report says.”
  • CIA Director Mike Pompeo: “I’ve seen nothing to cast any doubt on the findings in the [intelligence community’s] report.”

James Comey, former FBI Director: “The Intelligence Community with high confidence concluded it was Russia. In many circumstances, it’s hard to do attribution of a hack, but sometimes the intelligence is there. We have high confidence…that the Russians did the hacking of the DNC and the other organizations.”

  • James Comey, former FBI Director: It was “a fairly easy judgment” for the intelligence community to discern Russia and Vladimir Putin’s preference for Trump.

Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of Homeland Security: “I do recall that, looking at the intelligence, it was a pretty clear case, perhaps beyond a reasonable doubt, Mr. Gowdy, that the Russian government was behind the hacks into the DNC, based on everything I was seeing.”

James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence: “[The intelligence community] found that the Russian government pursued a multifaceted influence campaign in the run-up to the election, including aggressive use of cyber capabilities.”

Bill Priestap, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division: “Russia used information to try to undermine the legitimacy of our election process. Russia sought to do this in a simple manner: they collected information via computer intrusions and via their intelligence officers, and they selectively disseminated emails they hoped would disparage certain political figures and shed unflattering light on political processes.”

John Brennan, former CIA Director: “I was convinced in the summer that the Russians were trying to interfere in the election. And they were very aggressive; it was a multifaceted effort.”

Sally Yates, former Acting Attorney General: “The efforts by a foreign adversary to interfere and undermine our Democratic processes and — and those of our allies pose a serious threat to all Americans…As the intelligence community assessed in its January of 2017 report, Russia will continue to develop capabilities to use against the United States and we need to be ready to meet those threats.”

Nicholas Burns, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and Greece under President George W. Bush; Janis Sarts, Director, NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence; Vesko Garcevic, former Montenegrin Ambassador to NATO; and Constanze Stelzenmüller, Robert Bosch Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center on the United States and Europe, Brookings Institution: There’s “no doubt” Putin ordered the Russian hacks and attempts to influence the 2016 election.


Published: Jul 6, 2017

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