James Clapper doubles down on Russians swinging election to Trump — and hints that both used same playbook
On Friday, CNN’s Erin Burnett suggested that there will never be enough evidence to support “spygate,” and asked when President Donald Trump would stop making up a rabbit hole of lies.
“Will there ever be evidence that makes the president stop making these claims?” she asked former director of national intelligence, James Clapper.
“I think this narrative is going to continue regardless of the facts. That’s just — that’s the way things are now,” Clapper said. “I think the president will continue to perpetuate that narrative no matter how much evidence is brought out that’s factual.”
Clapper recently released his new book “Facts and Fear.”
Burnett read an excerpt from his book that said: “Of course, the Russian efforts affected the outcome, surprising even themselves. They swung the election to a Trump win. To conclude otherwise stretches common sense to the breaking point. Less than 80,000 votes in three key states swung the election. I have no doubt that more votes than that were influenced by this massive effort by the Russians.”
“Is this your belief or do you have hard evidence?” Burnett asked.
Clapper then made his point clear by breaking down the Russian involvement into the presidential election.
“To make this as clear as I possibly can, when we rendered our official intelligence community assessment on the sixth of January 2017, which we briefed to then president-elect Trump, we made the point that the intelligence community did not make any attempt to assess the impact on voter decisions or the outcome of the election,” Clapper said.
Clapper continued: “It defies logic and credulity to suggest they didn’t have a huge impact and turn the election towards Donald Trump. Also, I describe in the book the striking parallelism in what the Trump campaign was doing and saying and what the Russians were doing and saying. It was almost like an echo chamber. Particularly with respect to their attacks on Hillary Clinton.”
The New York Times is reporting that the United States is cyber attacking Russia's electric power grid and other targets—and that President Donald Trump is being kept out of the loop.
"The American strategy has shifted more toward offense, officials say, with the placement of potentially crippling malware inside the Russian system at a depth and with an aggressiveness that had never been tried before."
Trump has not been briefed on the operation because of “the possibility that he might countermand it or discuss it with foreign officials.”
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Israel’s Netanyahu just christened a building named after Trump — that doesn’t even exist
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent his Father’s Day dedicating a new Trump Tower-type building that hasn't been built in a town that doesn't exist.
Standing in front of a large sign saying "Trump Heights," Netanyahu, who is being forced back into another election, announced the building before planning even began, Axios reported.
A great day on the Golan. PM Netanyahu and I had the honor to dedicate “Trump Heights” — first time Israel has dedicated a village in honor of a sitting president since Harry Truman (1949). Happy Birthday Mr. President!! @POTUS pic.twitter.com/fdYWzokFLK
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has told her caucus that they can do investigations into the president without impeachment. The difference, however, is that there are fewer legal benefits available to Congress in their oversight role than in impeachment.
Theoretically, it should enable Democrats to do the research they need, but the White House is taking the bold step to defy the oversight the Constitution outlines. The only option open to the Democrats has been to go to court with their case outlining how the White House is breaking the law. Thus far, they've won two lawsuits about their investigations, and they will likely gain more.
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US attacks Russia’s power grid — but Trump was kept in the dark about it
Israel’s Netanyahu just christened a building named after Trump — that doesn’t even exist
This graphic explains why Speaker Pelosi is resistant to impeachment
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