By Tank Murdoch
(TNS) A new ‘bipartisan’ report that has been a long time coming from the Senate Intelligence Committee claims that the Obama administration’s failure to confront Russian meddling in the 2016 elections was due in large part to “paralysis of analysis” — or, basically, studying the problem indefinitely without implementing any real plan of action.
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As reported by POLITICO, the report claims that the Obama administration “was not well-postured to counter Russian election interference activity with a full range of readily-available policy options.â€
The Obama administration issued “high-level warnings of potential retaliation†to Moscow, the report says.
But the Kremlin “continued its cyber activity, to include further public dissemination of stolen emails, clandestine social media-based influence operations, and penetration of state voting infrastructure through Election Day 2016.â€
The Obama White House’s response to the intrusion was also “tempered … over concerns about appearing to act politically on behalf of one candidate, undermining public confidence in the election, and provoking additional Russian actions,†the report said.
POLITICO noted further:
The 54-page, partially redacted report focuses exclusively on the Obama administration’s efforts to deal with Moscow’s interference ahead of Election Day.
It lays out several factors that hamstrung the White House’s ability to coordinate a response, including partisan concerns not only on the campaign trail, but also in Congress.
The report details resistance by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to issuing a bipartisan statement in 2016 about the Russian effort.
Former homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco recalled a conversation with McConnell where he stated, “You security people should be careful that you’re not getting used,” which she interpreted as the GOP leader doubting the intelligence concluding Russia was attempting to interfere.
The report is the third in a five-volume installment of the Senate panel’s probe of 2016 election interference, which is proceeding at a snail’s pace.
“After discovering the existence, if not the full scope, of Russia’s election interference efforts in late-2016, the Obama Administration struggled to determine the appropriate response,†Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said in a statement.
“Frozen by ‘paralysis of analysis,’ hamstrung by constraints both real and perceived, Obama officials debated courses of action without truly taking one.”
The panel’s ranking member, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), said that there “were many flaws with the U.S. response to the 2016 attack, but it’s worth noting that many of those were due to problems with our own system.â€
“I am particularly concerned however, that a legitimate fear raised by the Obama Administration — that warning the public of the Russian attack could backfire politically — is still present in our hyper-partisan environment.â€
In an addendum to the report, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a senior panel member, wrote that not issuing a “bipartisan public acknowledgment of the ongoing attack by Russia†was a mistake, POLITICO reported.
“An acknowledgment of Russian influence operations, particularly operations intended to help Donald Trump, would have reflected poorly on the candidate and his campaign,†he wrote. “But that should not have been a reason for the administration and members of Congress to withhold from the public warning of an ongoing attack by a foreign adversary.â€
In other words, the top Democrats on the panel seem to not only be perpetuating the ‘Trump-Russia collusion’ narrative, but also suggesting that Obama did Trump a favor by not mentioning Moscow was all-in on his behalf.
To begin with, even special counsel Robert Mueller, as tainted as he was by hiring a gaggle of Democratic donors and sympathizers to be his prosecutorial team, concluded officially that there was no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.
But also, in November, investigative reporter Paul Sperry noted that Warner was holding up a Senate Intelligence Committee finding that fully exonerated the president and his 2016 campaign as it pertains to alleged ‘Russian’ influence.
BREAKING: Democrat Sen. Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is holding up release of findings of panel's investigation into allegations of Trump-Russia "collusion." Report, which had been due for release in Sept, is said to fully exonerate Trump,advisers pic.twitter.com/uBGwk5SaW9
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) November 7, 2019
In addition, Warner has been outed as having had extensive contact with a Russian oligarch tied to former British spy and “Russian dossier” author Christopher Steele.
As reported by Fox News:
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who has been leading a congressional investigation into President Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, had extensive contact last year with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch who was offering Warner access to former British spy and dossier author Christopher Steele, according to text messages obtained exclusively by Fox News.
“We have so much to discuss u need to be careful but we can help our country,†Warner texted the lobbyist, Adam Waldman, on March 22, 2017.
“I’m in,†Waldman, whose firm has ties to Hillary Clinton, texted back to Warner.
Steele famously put together the anti-Trump dossier of unverified information that was used by FBI and Justice Department officials in October 2016 to get a warrant to conduct surveillance of former Trump adviser Carter Page. Despite the efforts, Steele has not agreed to an interview with the committee.
As the conservation heated up on March 29, secrecy appeared to be very important to Warner after the lobbyist revealed that Steele was seeking to publish a bipartisan letter from Warner and the committee’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., that invited him to address the intel panel, Fox News‘ Ed Henry reported.
“Throughout the text exchanges, Warner seemed particularly intent on connecting directly with Steele without anyone else on the Senate Intelligence Committee being in the loop — at least initially,†Henry wrote. “In one text to the lobbyist, Warner wrote that he would ‘rather not have a paper trail’ of his messages.â€
Wow! -Senator Mark Warner got caught having extensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch. Warner did not want a “paper trail” on a “private” meeting (in London) he requested with Steele of fraudulent Dossier fame. All tied into Crooked Hillary.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2018
It’s hard to imagine that Burr isn’t aware of Warner’s contacts with Waldman. It’s also not so hard to imagine why he’s slow-walking this report series, given that we’re already well into the next presidential election cycle.
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? COMMENT BELOW
pfffttt stupid, there never was any Russian interference. No more than say – German or UK or ‘ Macedonia lol Hillary you f’in nasty flake ‘ interference.
I’m NOT falling for this ” BULLSHIT ” anymore…not that I did to begin with.
These creeps from the so-called Deep State and FakeNews invent a fake narrative just so the worthless politicos and talking shitheads have something to latch onto because they never had an original thought that mattered to the citizens.
F’ em.
Agree with you 100%…I did NOT ever buy into the “Russian BS, as this was ALL Obama/Brennan/Hillary/lynch/Comey/Clapper/Rice/ Rosenstein/Mueller/etal. as Obama used ALL his Intel Agencies/ Directors/Dirty Agents to do HIS BIDDING in his attempt to “Put in the Fix for Corrupt Hillary to take the Whitehouse, and THUS, COVER UP ALL their Scandals(Many of them), Money Laundering/the Benghazi and Libya Fiascos/etc. Obama and Hillary had a LOT ON EACH OTHER, and She would have ‘Continued to Cover Up ALL their OWN Criminality-He insured her Win, and Hillary would have swept it “ALL UNDER THE WHITEHOUSE RUGS”……It continues to this day… Read more »
The Homobama buttclowns used taxpayer money to meddle in foreign and domestic elections.
Hang them all. They are traitors, pedo-satanists, and murderers.
Burr is a fraud, a deep state agent, a silent part of the coup. He has never investigated anything about the coup. He still has 2 investigations open on Trump! It was predictable that his report would not blame his close allies, the intelligence agencies, for anything. Instead, he clings to the disproven Russian interference lie and blames Obama for it. Burr is complicit in the coup because he has knowledge of it, and failed at his responsibility to investigate it.
Mistake number one, accepting the fake media falsehoods. There can be no “penetration of state voting”. No state uses the internet to vote.
Each county counts ballots by hand and transmits the tally by phone to the state.No Russian anywhere changed a single vote. Taking Politicos lies as gospel is a really stupid move. Politico is run by Obama voters.
” Mistake number one, accepting the fake media falsehoods ”
That – is key to all of the problems this nation faces, Joe Blow
…backtrack to 2016 when Republicans fell hook,line and sinker for the FAKE NARRATIVE – oh gee golly, COLLUSION!…and RUSSIANS! really ??? you have a Fake Face, so it must be true, so WE’RE (GOP) going to get to the bottom of this !…I’m scared !!! (of you)
‘fucking pussies’ they still haven’t got it.
TRUMP is the LONE FIGHTER
Get this straight —no Russian meddling occured. It was an internal leak, and crowdstrike lies that were peddled.
So obvious these traitors are grasping at straws. Hopefully, they will hang themselves on a doorknob with a red scarf.
If dirty cops ran the investigation into the DNC breach, could an argument be made that it was corrupt?
If dirty cops ran the investigation into election interference, could an argument be made that it was corrupt?
If dirty cops ran the investigation into [HRC] private server/email scandal, could an argument be made that it was corrupt?
RUSSIA DID NOT ‘HACK’ [penetrate] THE DNC SERVER.
>internal DL / release
>crowdstrike manipulation of source
RUSSIA DID NOT INTERFERE WITH US ELECTION OF 2016.
>crowdstrike manipulation of source
The truth will be made public.
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