After the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack referred four criminal charges against Donald Trump to the Dept. of Justice, the disgraced ex-president attacked the FBI, claiming it suppressed information about Hunter Biden’s laptop that, he says, would have swung the election in his favor – while insisting he won anyway.
Over the course of more than 14 hours Trump did not once appear to understand that it was his FBI, under the direction of Chris Wray, the director he installed after firing Jim Comey, that told social media platforms a New York Post article was based on Russian disinformation.
There had been massive failures by the Dept. of Homeland Security and Dept. of Justice during the course of the 2016 election that allowed Russia to spread disinformation favoring the election of Donald Trump, facts confirmed by the DOJ’s Mueller Report, and later, in a 2019 report from the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, which at the time was headed by a Republican.
“The FBI was caught flat-footed by Russia’s disinformation campaign in 2016, a new bipartisan report issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee has found,” CNN reported in October of 2019. “While social media companies have borne the brunt of criticism for allowing Russia to run amok on their platforms in 2016, the committee criticized the FBI for using a contractor to monitor foreign influence operations.”
One year earlier, in 2018, The New Yorker’s award-winning investigative reporter Jane Mayer wrote: “How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump,” saying Russian “hackers and trolls were decisive” in helping Trump win.
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“A meticulous analysis of online activity during the 2016 campaign makes a powerful case that targeted cyberattacks by hackers and trolls were decisive,” the article reads.
It’s not surprising that the FBI would have learned from its past mistakes, and worked to minimize Russia disinformation in the 2020 election.
Russia did not stop using social media to influence public opinion in the U.S. after its success in 2016.
“President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia authorized extensive efforts to hurt the candidacy of Joseph R. Biden Jr. during the election last year,” The New York Times reported in March of 2021, “including by mounting covert operations to influence people close to President Donald J. Trump, according to a declassified intelligence report.”
“Russia’s Information War Is Being Waged on Social Media Platforms,” Scientific American reported in March of 2022, noting, “tech companies and governments are fighting back.”
Trump apparently was oblivious that the FBI, his FBI, and other federal government agencies were doing their jobs during his tenure as president, by combatting Russian disinformation.
And he went ballistic on Monday and Tuesday.
8:32 AM Tuesday: Donald Trump insists the FBI suppressed information from Hunter Biden’s laptop, “information, if allowed to be revealed, would have alone, without even counting the many other forms of cheating by the Democrats that took place, changed the Election Result by Millions and Millions of Votes in favor of the Republicans, and me,” he claimed on his Truth Social platform.
So, he just admitted that he lost the 2020 election.
8:01 AM Tuesday, just minutes earlier: Trump claims the FBI made a “demand” to “top Twitter executives” to “not use” Hunter Biden’s laptop (which is not how social media companies work.)
“It was not a request, but a demand,” Trump stated on his Truth Social account. “Whether [tech companies including Twitter] believed it or not, they had an excuse not to use it against Biden, who would have lost millions of votes and the RIGGED & STOLEN Election!”
So, Trump again has admitted that he lost the election.
1:48 PM Monday: Trump links to a Fox News article on Hunter Biden’s business dealings, and writes: “This would have easily changed the Presidential Election outcome without even discussing all of the other illegal things they did.”
So, Trump again has admitted he lost the election.
Monday, 5:47 PM: Trump attacks House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, and says he “convincingly” won the election.
“The Fake charges made by the highly partisan Unselect Committee of January 6th have already been submitted, prosecuted, and tried in the form of Impeachment Hoax # 2. I won convincingly. Double Jeopardy anyone!” (“won” was written in all-caps.)
Monday, 5:49 PM: Trump attacks the FBI, calls it “the Democratic Bureau of Investigation,” despite it still being run by his hand-picked FBI Director.
“The people understand that the Democratic Bureau of Investigation, the DBI, are out to keep me from running for president because they know I’ll win and that this whole business of prosecuting me is just like impeachment was — a partisan attempt to sideline me and the Republican Party.”
Monday, 5:49 PM (seconds later): Trump issues “Statement on Jan 6 Committee Referral,” (also in all-caps,) a referral that includes four criminal charges against him.
“These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. Americans know that I pushed for 20,000 troops to prevent violence on Jan 6, and that I went on television and told everyone to go home.”
“I pushed for 20,000 troops to prevent violence on Jan 6,” is a lie. It was a lie on Monday when he claimed he “recommended” 10,000 troops.
Tuesday, 9:01 AM: Trump continues attacks on FBI and Select Committee, claims he never thought he lost the election, despite previous claims hours earlier.
“I see where the Unselect Committee, using the Democrats favorite weapon, DISINFORMATION, is trying to make the case that I didn’t really believe I won the Election. This is a total LIE. I never thought, for even a moment, that the Presidential Election of 2020 was not Rigged & Stolen, and my conviction became even stronger as time went by. Now, with all of the massive evidence that has come to light, including recently with the FBI suppression of Election changing information, I was 100% RIGHT!”