Trump officials have dismissed suspicions that Russia has interfered in elections again
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So, the National security advisor, said he had no knowledge of intelligence agency warnings that Russia is trying once again to help Trump by interfering in the 2020 campaign. Aides have tries to downplayed this.
Vice Adm. Joseph Maguire has retired as acting director of national intelligence claimed to be unrelated to Trump’s unhappiness over this briefing to lawmakers about Russian attempts at election interference.
The president presses ahead with his reelection bid and the Democratic contest for the nomination to oppose him gathers pace. So, Trump’s backers suggested that Ukraine — not Russia — interfered with the 2016 campaign. However, the U.S. intelligence community concluded Moscow sought to do so in 2016.
National security advisor Robert C. O’Brien said he was not aware of any effort by Russia to try to bolster Trump’s 2020 prospects. In addition, news outlets have said lawmakers were told last week that the Kremlin is seeking to aid Trump, and also looking to help Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont secure the Democratic nomination, which Sanders acknowledged.
Trump seems eager for a matchup with Sanders, and the president Sunday congratulated the Vermont senator for his “great win” in Saturday’s Nevada caucuses. He believes be can win and suggested anew that Democratic Party leaders might seek to deprive him of the nomination. There is concern from Democratic establishment fears that Sanders might be to extreme to win.
Should these intelligence findings on Russia’s activities be controlled by the White House in the months between now and the November vote? The fear is that the administration controlling intelligence, and classified information, and leaking it out to the press when it advantages Republicans.
Senior Trump aides, meanwhile, appeared on the defensive over last week’s replacement of Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, with a staunch Trump partisan, Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany. Grenell is not subject to Senate confirmation and could serve until March 11, unless Trump nominates a permanent replacement before then, in which case Grenell could continue to serve as acting director until his replacement is confirmed.
Grenell was a regular contributor on Fox News’s Tucker Carlson Tonight during the first few months of his Ambassadorship in Germany. In November 2018 he made an appearance where he repeated his criticism of Angela Merkel’s immigration policies and compared her unfavorably to the recently elected Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz, who — he claimed — “won in a very big way” because of his strict stance on immigration.
Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, denied in an interview on “Fox News Sunday” that Maguire’s departure was prompted by Trump’s displeasure over a briefing to members of Congress given by one of Maguire’s deputies.
Pence’s chief of staff also depicted Maguire’s departure as in line with the scheduled end of his tenure by March 12, since he was serving in an acting capacity. “It’s not firing,” he said.
Trump’s own remarks, though, suggested he was upset about what transpired in the briefing. He suggested that Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) was behind news reports about Kremlin efforts to influence the election outcome.
“They ought to investigate Adam Schiff for leaking that intelligence,” Trump said in brief remarks before leaving for India. He did not provide any evidence for holding Schiff responsible. A number of lawmakers, both Republican and Democratic, were present for the briefing.
Schiff, who chairs the Intelligence Committee, has long been a target of Trump’s ire over impeachment and the Russia investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, which wrapped up last year. The Mueller Report, officially titled Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election, is the official report documenting the findings and conclusions of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 United States presidential election.
Volume I of the report concludes that the investigation did not find sufficient evidence that the campaign “coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its election-interference activities”. Investigators ultimately had an incomplete picture of what happened due to communications.
However, the report stated that Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was illegal and occurred “in sweeping and systematic fashion”
And, senior law enforcement and intelligence officials have repeatedly issued public warnings about Russian activity surrounding the 2020 vote.
This month, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told the House Judiciary Committee that Moscow’s disinformation efforts are continuing. “It never stopped. It happened in 2016, and it’s been continuing ever since then,” Wray told the committee on Feb. 5. “It is a 24/7, 365-days-a-year threat.”
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