A January 2017 report that was approved by all U.S. intelligence agencies working on Russia found that not only Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election, but that Russia did so with the specific intent to help Donald Trump win the White House. Those agencies, Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the FBI, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which has the effect of speaking for the U.S. government’s intelligence community.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen just told reporters she has not seen the report, or its conclusion.
“I do not believe that I’ve seen that conclusion that the specific intent was to help President Trump win,” Nielsen, guardedly said Tuesday morning. “I’m not aware of that,” she said, according to reporters.
NBC News’ Marianna Sotomayor reports “Sec. Nielsen then tried to clarify her answer, saying its unclear that Putin/Russia favored Trump because Russian social media accounts actively rallied US citizens to attend pro-Hillary gatherings as much as pro-Trump ones.”
And while Russian hackers and trolls did instigate both pro-Trump and pro-Clinton rallies, they were done with the intent to sow discord and to further weaken American society.
Nielsen also tried to broaden the issue, diverting the report’s conclusion away from Trump.
“I do believe that Russia did and will continue to try to manipulate Americans’ perspective on a whole variety of issues,” she offered.
That report, an official U.S. government publication, also found that the Russian attack on America was done to harm Hillary Clinton, and to sow discord among Americans. Further, it made clear Russia will do this again.
It’s that last part that makes it so egregious for the Secretary of Homeland Security, whose number one priority is to protect the American “homeland,” to not have read the report, much less to not have acted on it.
The spokesperson for Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner released a statement in response to Nielsen’s remarks, lamenting, “I honestly can’t believe I have to keep doing this (via The Daily Beast’s Andrew Desiderio):
Some on social media called for Nielsen to resign, while others expressed shock and anger.
Hillary Clinton’s former foreign policy spokesperson:
Others:
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