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Russians Also Reportedly Hacked RNC Computers, But Didn’t Release Data

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Senate Democratic Leader Calls For Congressional Investigation

American intelligence agencies have determined that the Russians hacked the Republican National Committee’s computer systems this spring, but didn’t release the data, according to a report in The New York Times. 

This determination served as the basis for the agencies’ finding, first reported Friday by The Washington Post, that Russia intervened in the election with the goal of helping Donald Trump win.  

People with connections to the Russian government are believed to have provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, which were released in the run-up to Nov. 8.   

“One senior government official, who had been briefed on an F.B.I. investigation into the matter, said that while there were attempts to penetrate the Republican committee’s systems, they were not successful,” the NYT reports. “But the intelligence agencies’ conclusions that the hacking efforts were successful, which have been presented to President Obama and other senior officials, add a complex wrinkle to the question of what the Kremlin’s evolving objectives were in intervening in the American presidential election.” 

A senior official told the NYT that the Obama administration has “high confidence that [the Russians] hacked the D.N.C. and the R.N.C., and conspicuously released no documents” from the RNC.

Obama has ordered a complete review of the cyber attacks targeting the 2016 presidential election, and directed that it be complete before he leaves office. 

Trump’s transition team responded to Friday’s bombshell report by mocking American intelligence officials, calling them “the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” 

On Saturday, incoming Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called for a full bipartisan congressional investigation. 

Schumer said the idea that Russia “could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core.”

“Reports of the CIA’s conclusion that Russia actively sought to help elect Donald Trump are simultaneously stunning and not surprising, given Russia’s disdain for democracy and admiration for autocracy,” Schumer said in a statement. “It’s imperative that our intelligence community turns over any relevant information so that Congress can conduct a full investigation.” 

Meanwhile, a top Republican in the Senate, John Cornyn, downplayed the Russian hacking, saying it “has been going on for years” and is “serious, but hardly news.” 

In a related development, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is now the leading candidate to become Trump’s secretary of state. 

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‘He Is Not in Charge’: Trump Mocked After Asking What’s in His Own Executive Order

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President Donald Trump has signed more than 150 executive orders, often with cameras rolling and staff looking on. The ritual rarely varies: seated at the desk in the Oval Office, the President listens as someone—typically the White House Staff Secretary—reads a brief summary of the order. On occasion, Trump interjects with a question, prompting speculation that he may not be fully familiar with the contents. He is seldom seen fully reading the orders themselves, which can span anywhere from a few pages to nearly 70.

On Friday, President Trump signed several executive orders, but according to The Daily Beast, one particularly revealing moment suggested he may not have known what he was signing—describing it as “a telling moment” that implied the president hadn’t read the order.

“Are we doing something about the regulatory in here?” Trump asked a business person attending the event.

READ MORE: ‘There Is No Tariff’: Trump Denies Policy Shift After Calling for 50% EU Tariff

“Several business leaders standing around him were quick to chime in that his order did address the regulations while Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also responded, ‘You are, sir,'” The Daily Beast also reported.

At the end, Trump asked, “Is that it?” and one of the attendees replied, “That’s all we have for you now, sir.”

Then, rather than asking if there were any questions for him about the executive orders, Trump asked if anyone had any questions for the guests in the room, whom he called “brilliant.”

READ MORE: ‘This Is Extortion’: Former Harvard President Blasts Trump’s Act of ‘Madness’

Critics blasted the President.

Fred Wellman is a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School, an Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours, and a political consultant.

“He is not in charge,” Wellman alleged.

MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen snarked, “It’s almost as if Trump has cognitive deficiencies, which from what I hear on CNN is a major scandal.”

“’Is that it?’ while signing orders he doesn’t understand, parroting talking points he didn’t write, and pretending it’s leadership,” wrote investment banker Evaristus Odinikaeze. “Peak performative confusion.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: Franklin Graham Scores Pentagon Christian Prayer Services Invitation

 

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‘There Is No Tariff’: Trump Denies Policy Shift After Calling for 50% EU Tariff

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Just hours after President Donald Trump called for a 50% tariff on products from the European Union starting June 1, he told reporters “There is no tariff,” and “I’m not looking for a deal.”

“The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at 7:43 AM. “Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable.”

“Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

READ MORE: ‘This Is Extortion’: Former Harvard President Blasts Trump’s Act of ‘Madness’

While signing executive orders in the Oval Office on Friday, a reporter said to Trump, “You are deal maker, deal breaker—what are you hoping to achieve with a 50% tariff?”

“Well, I think this is—there is no tariff because what they’ll do is they’ll send their companies into the U.S. and build their plant,” the President responded. “You know, we have, I guess, over $12 trillion practically committed. You look at other presidents, haven’t had a trillion dollars for a year, two years, for three years.”

“We have numbers. Nobody’s ever seen numbers like we have. And if they build their plant here, then they have no tariff at all.”

READ MORE: ‘Cut, Rip, Gut, Kill, Cruel’: Top Republican Lashes Out Over Dems Using These Words

“Are you looking for a deal in nine days? Will you be able to do that, sir?” the reporter asked.

“I’m not looking for a deal. I mean, we’ve set the deal. It’s at 50%, but again, there is no tariff if they build their plant here.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Franklin Graham Scores Pentagon Christian Prayer Services Invitation

 

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‘This Is Extortion’: Former Harvard President Blasts Trump’s Act of ‘Madness’

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Former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers delivered sharp criticism of President Donald Trump and his administration for barring the nation’s oldest university from admitting foreign students—part of the President’s ongoing feud with several Ivy League institutions.

Harvard quickly sued the Trump administration. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against Trump’s efforts to revoke Harvard’s ability to admit foreign students, which comprise about one-quarter of the school’s total enrolled population.

“U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs’ order provides temporary relief to the thousands of international students who were faced with being forced to transfer under a policy that the Ivy League school called part of the administration’s broader effort to retaliate against it for refusing to ‘surrender its academic independence,'” Reuters reported.

READ MORE: White House Scrambles to Clean Up Trump’s Walmart ‘Rage Tweeting’ Amid Upcoming ‘Standoff’

Summers, who not only helmed the nearly-four-century-old Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution, but also served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, took to social media to blast Trump and praise the school for fighting back.

“Harvard University is doing just the right thing,” Summers wrote. “This is extortion. It’s a vendetta using all powers of the government because of a political argument with Harvard. It is violating the First Amendment. It is also violating all the laws we have regarding administrative procedures.”

“The consequences are real,” he continued, “whether it’s students who are dissidents from tyrannies who are going to be sent home and possibly be imprisoned, whether it’s labs that are fighting cancer or diabetes, that are going to lose key people, whether it’s 7,000 people, some small fraction of whom are going to go on to be Prime Ministers of countries who’ve now been turned into enemies of the United States, whether it is the way in which America [is] seen when it expels people whose dream it was to come to Harvard to study, this is madness.”

And he criticized the move as a “gift” to enemy nations.

READ MORE: ‘Shameless Liar and Insane Conspiracy Theorist’: RFK Jr. Slammed by Democratic Senator

“I cannot imagine a greater strategic gift that we could be giving to China and Russia, the enemies of freedom around the world,” Summers wrote. “If this lawsuit is allowed to stand, it is going to be incredibly damaging to Harvard. But that is the least of it. It is much more profound in how damaging this will be to the standing, the role and the position of the U.S. We used to be a beacon to the world. We’re now becoming a negative example. I imagine there must be great joy in Beijing and Moscow, seeing us implode with these kinds of policies.”

Current Harvard University President Alan Garber in a letter wrote: “For those international students and scholars affected by yesterday’s action, know that you are vital members of our community. You are our classmates and friends, our colleagues and mentors, our partners in the work of this great institution. Thanks to you, we know more and understand more, and our country and our world are more enlightened and more resilient. We will support you as we do our utmost to ensure that Harvard remains open to the world.”

Others weighed in as well.

“America cannot long remain free, nor first among nations, if it becomes the kind of place where universities are dismantled because they don’t align politically with the current head of the government,” wrote former Biden Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

“When Trump and [DHS Secretary Kristi] Noem say that they are cutting off visas for Harvard students because of ‘DEI’ concerns, they mean that Harvard admits non white males and has non white male faculty. DEI is just now code for white male supremacy,” declared U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT).

“The letter Noem sent to Harvard cites no law violated, no regulation broken, no policy ignored,” noted attorney and immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, “just a threat to punish Harvard for their refusal to hand over FIVE YEARS of video of every student protest at the university, among other things. THAT is weaponization of government.”

READ MORE: ‘Cut, Rip, Gut, Kill, Cruel’: Top Republican Lashes Out Over Dems Using These Words

 

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