Russiagate - Images
Pre-emptive "Collusion =/= Crime" deza
![Fox's Gregg Jarrett: "You can collude all you want with a foreign government in an election" Video STAFF May 30, 2017 4:15 PM EDT >> MEDIA MATTERS From the May 30 edition of Fox News' Happening Now: MMFA THE WHITE HOUSE 133 PM ET](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/269/131/cc2.jpg)
![Fox's Gregg Jarrett: "You can collude all you want with a foreign government in an election" Video STAFF May 30, 2017 4:15 PM EDT >> MEDIA MATTERS From the May 30 edition of Fox News' Happening Now: MMFA THE WHITE HOUSE 133 PM ET](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/269/131/cc2.jpg)
Russiagate
Pre-emptive "Collusion =/= Crime" deza
![Fox's Geraldo Rivera Questions Whether Collusion With Russian Government For Political Gain Is Even A Crime Rivera: "if The KGB Chief ls Talking To . IW Paul Manafort What's The Crime?" Video» May 10, 2017 11:19 PM EDT STAFF MEDIA MATTERS](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/269/130/250.jpg)
![Fox's Geraldo Rivera Questions Whether Collusion With Russian Government For Political Gain Is Even A Crime Rivera: "if The KGB Chief ls Talking To . IW Paul Manafort What's The Crime?" Video» May 10, 2017 11:19 PM EDT STAFF MEDIA MATTERS](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/269/130/250.jpg)
Russiagate
Pre-emptive "Collusion =/= Crime" deza
![Sean Hannity: If Trump campaign communicated with and asked Russia to release hacked emails, "is that a crime?" "What was the collusion? That maybe somebody in the Trump campaign talked to somebody in Russia... Is that a crime, to say 'release it?"" Video »» June 23, 2017 4:42 PM EDT STAFF MEDIA MATTERS From the June 23 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show:](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/269/129/b3d.jpg)
![Sean Hannity: If Trump campaign communicated with and asked Russia to release hacked emails, "is that a crime?" "What was the collusion? That maybe somebody in the Trump campaign talked to somebody in Russia... Is that a crime, to say 'release it?"" Video »» June 23, 2017 4:42 PM EDT STAFF MEDIA MATTERS From the June 23 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show:](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/269/129/b3d.jpg)
Russiagate
Pre-emptive "Collusion =/= Crime" deza
![Fox's Brit Hume: Even if the Trump campaign did collude with Russia, "it's not a crime" Hume also joins pro-Trump media in discrediting special counsel Robert Mueller over the lawyers he's hiring for investigation Video» 5 hours 21 min ago» MEDIA MATTERS STAFF From the June 25 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday:](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/269/126/7b6.jpg)
![Fox's Brit Hume: Even if the Trump campaign did collude with Russia, "it's not a crime" Hume also joins pro-Trump media in discrediting special counsel Robert Mueller over the lawyers he's hiring for investigation Video» 5 hours 21 min ago» MEDIA MATTERS STAFF From the June 25 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday:](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/269/126/7b6.jpg)
Russiagate
Quid Pro Quo
!["The Democratic leaders in the room unanimously agreed on the need to take the threat seriously. Republicans, however, were divided, with at least two GOP lawmakers reluctant to accede to the White House requests. According to several officials, McConnell raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics." Some of the Republicans in the briefing also seemed opposed to the idea of going public with such explosive allegations in the final stages of an election, a move that they argued would only rattle public confidence and play into Moscow's hands. McConnell's office did not respond to a request for comment. After the election, Trump chose McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, as his nominee for transportation secretary.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/269/125/032.jpg)
!["The Democratic leaders in the room unanimously agreed on the need to take the threat seriously. Republicans, however, were divided, with at least two GOP lawmakers reluctant to accede to the White House requests. According to several officials, McConnell raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics." Some of the Republicans in the briefing also seemed opposed to the idea of going public with such explosive allegations in the final stages of an election, a move that they argued would only rattle public confidence and play into Moscow's hands. McConnell's office did not respond to a request for comment. After the election, Trump chose McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, as his nominee for transportation secretary.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/269/125/032.jpg)
Russiagate
Information warfare
![More tactics: Trolls and bots are used to create a sense of public opinion so it is picked up by media. Journalists are harassed and intimidated, also by trolls and bots. They exploit volume: "When information volume is low," says RAND, "recipients tend to favor experts, but when information volume is high, recipients tend to favor information from other uses." And they exploit speed: "Russian propaganda has the agility to be first," Rand observes. "It takes less time to make up facts than it does to verify them." And the first impression sets the agenda. 02](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/269/124/053.jpg)
![More tactics: Trolls and bots are used to create a sense of public opinion so it is picked up by media. Journalists are harassed and intimidated, also by trolls and bots. They exploit volume: "When information volume is low," says RAND, "recipients tend to favor experts, but when information volume is high, recipients tend to favor information from other uses." And they exploit speed: "Russian propaganda has the agility to be first," Rand observes. "It takes less time to make up facts than it does to verify them." And the first impression sets the agenda. 02](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/269/124/053.jpg)
Russiagate
We weren't the only ones to notice
![Despite the intelligence the CIA had produced, other agencies were slower to endorse a conclusion that Putin was personally directing the operation and wanted to help Trump. "It was definitely compelling, but it was not definitive," said one senior administration official. "We needed more." Some of the most critical technical intelligence on Russia came from another country, officials said. Because of the source of the material, the NSA was reluctant to view it with high confidence.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/269/122/c09.jpg)
![Despite the intelligence the CIA had produced, other agencies were slower to endorse a conclusion that Putin was personally directing the operation and wanted to help Trump. "It was definitely compelling, but it was not definitive," said one senior administration official. "We needed more." Some of the most critical technical intelligence on Russia came from another country, officials said. Because of the source of the material, the NSA was reluctant to view it with high confidence.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/269/122/c09.jpg)
Russiagate
Direct orders for cyber-warfare
![arly last August, an envelope with extraordinary handling restrictions arrived at the White House. Sent by courier from the CIA, it carried "eyes only" instructions that its contents be shown to just four people: President Barack Obama and three senior aides. Inside was an intelligence bombshell, a report drawn from sourcing deep inside the Russian government that detailed Russian President Vladimir Putin's direct involvement in a cyber campaign to disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race But it went further. The intelligence captured Putin's specific instructions on the operation's audacious objectives - defeat or at least damage the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help elect her opponent, Donald Trump](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/269/121/ea5.jpg)
![arly last August, an envelope with extraordinary handling restrictions arrived at the White House. Sent by courier from the CIA, it carried "eyes only" instructions that its contents be shown to just four people: President Barack Obama and three senior aides. Inside was an intelligence bombshell, a report drawn from sourcing deep inside the Russian government that detailed Russian President Vladimir Putin's direct involvement in a cyber campaign to disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race But it went further. The intelligence captured Putin's specific instructions on the operation's audacious objectives - defeat or at least damage the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help elect her opponent, Donald Trump](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/269/121/ea5.jpg)
Russiagate
Party before Country
![8:32 AM a theguardian.com According to CIA sources who spoke anonymously ..ooo T-Mobile o the Washington Post, Senate majority leader itch McConnell told Obama and leading Democrats that he would regard any effort to release evidence of Russian interference before the election as partisan. In other words, he put his own party's interest in electing Trump and gutting the welfare state ahead of the national interest Neither he, nor House speaker Paul Ryan, nor any other leading Republican seems the slightest bit apologetic about the Republican party's all but open alliance with Putin. Before 2016, it would have been unthinkable that Russia, or any foreign power, could exert this kind of influence on the US political process. That's because no national politician before Trump would ever have been comfortable aligning so shamelessly with a rival government. Trump has obliterated this norm, along with so many others, and his party has gone along with him. The Republicans' contempt for the democratic process and the national interest have created an opening Putin never could have created himself. Besides the Republican party, America's weakness Tweet link](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/269/120/c99.jpg)
![8:32 AM a theguardian.com According to CIA sources who spoke anonymously ..ooo T-Mobile o the Washington Post, Senate majority leader itch McConnell told Obama and leading Democrats that he would regard any effort to release evidence of Russian interference before the election as partisan. In other words, he put his own party's interest in electing Trump and gutting the welfare state ahead of the national interest Neither he, nor House speaker Paul Ryan, nor any other leading Republican seems the slightest bit apologetic about the Republican party's all but open alliance with Putin. Before 2016, it would have been unthinkable that Russia, or any foreign power, could exert this kind of influence on the US political process. That's because no national politician before Trump would ever have been comfortable aligning so shamelessly with a rival government. Trump has obliterated this norm, along with so many others, and his party has gone along with him. The Republicans' contempt for the democratic process and the national interest have created an opening Putin never could have created himself. Besides the Republican party, America's weakness Tweet link](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/269/120/c99.jpg)
Russiagate
Robert Mueller: The Lie Detector
![The Lie Detector Someone's not telling the truth By David Von Drehle Former FBI director and now special counsel Robert Mueller](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/268/060/811.jpg)
![The Lie Detector Someone's not telling the truth By David Von Drehle Former FBI director and now special counsel Robert Mueller](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/268/060/811.jpg)
Russiagate
Sound familiar
![Same thing Comey said Trump told him. Different conclusion reached.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/268/059/a10.jpg)
![Same thing Comey said Trump told him. Different conclusion reached.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/268/059/a10.jpg)
Russiagate
Deny collusion publicly. Sound familiar?
![Intel Chiefs to Mueller: Trump Suggested We Deny Collusion](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/268/057/e23.jpg)
![Intel Chiefs to Mueller: Trump Suggested We Deny Collusion](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/268/057/e23.jpg)
Russiagate
Pompeo owes an explanation
![Time and again, the Trump administration looked the other way in the face of warning signs about Mr. Flynn. Mr. Trump entrusted him with the nation's secrets despite knowing that he faced a Justice Department investigation over his undisclosed foreign lobbying. Evern a personal warning from President Obama did not dissuade him Mr. Pompeo sidestepped questions from senators last month about his handling of the information about Mr. Flynn, declining to say whether he knew about his own agency's concerns. "I can't answer yes or no," he said. "I regret that I'm unable to do so." His words frustrated Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "Either Director Pompeo had no idea what people in the C.I.A. reportedly knew about Michael Flynn, or he knew about the Justice Department's concerns and continued to discuss America's secrets with a man vulnerable to blackmail," Mr. Wyden said in a statement. "I believe Director Pompeo owes the public an explanation."](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/268/056/c15.jpg)
![Time and again, the Trump administration looked the other way in the face of warning signs about Mr. Flynn. Mr. Trump entrusted him with the nation's secrets despite knowing that he faced a Justice Department investigation over his undisclosed foreign lobbying. Evern a personal warning from President Obama did not dissuade him Mr. Pompeo sidestepped questions from senators last month about his handling of the information about Mr. Flynn, declining to say whether he knew about his own agency's concerns. "I can't answer yes or no," he said. "I regret that I'm unable to do so." His words frustrated Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "Either Director Pompeo had no idea what people in the C.I.A. reportedly knew about Michael Flynn, or he knew about the Justice Department's concerns and continued to discuss America's secrets with a man vulnerable to blackmail," Mr. Wyden said in a statement. "I believe Director Pompeo owes the public an explanation."](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/268/056/c15.jpg)
Russiagate
CIA knew Flynn was a problem
![WASHINGTON - Senior officials across the government became convinced in January that the incoming national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, had become vulnerable to Russian blackmail. At the F.B.I., the C.L.A., the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence - agencies responsible for keeping American secrets safe from foreign spies - career officials agreed that Mr. Flynn represented an urgent problem Yet nearly every day for three weeks, the new C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo, sat in the Oval Office and briefed President Trump on the nation's most sensitive intelligence-with Mr. Flynn listening. Mr. Pompeo has not said whether C.I.A. officials left him in the dark about their views of Mr. Flynn, but one administration official said Mr. Pompeo did not share any concerns about Mr. Flynn with the president. The episode highlights another remarkable aspect of Mr. Flynn's stormy 25-day tenure in the White House: He sat atop a national security apparatus that churned ahead, despite its own conclusion that he was at risk of being compromised by a hostile foreign power.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/268/055/3f0.jpg)
![WASHINGTON - Senior officials across the government became convinced in January that the incoming national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, had become vulnerable to Russian blackmail. At the F.B.I., the C.L.A., the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence - agencies responsible for keeping American secrets safe from foreign spies - career officials agreed that Mr. Flynn represented an urgent problem Yet nearly every day for three weeks, the new C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo, sat in the Oval Office and briefed President Trump on the nation's most sensitive intelligence-with Mr. Flynn listening. Mr. Pompeo has not said whether C.I.A. officials left him in the dark about their views of Mr. Flynn, but one administration official said Mr. Pompeo did not share any concerns about Mr. Flynn with the president. The episode highlights another remarkable aspect of Mr. Flynn's stormy 25-day tenure in the White House: He sat atop a national security apparatus that churned ahead, despite its own conclusion that he was at risk of being compromised by a hostile foreign power.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/268/055/3f0.jpg)
Russiagate
Weissman joins the hunt!
![A veteran federal prosecutor recruited onto special counsel Robert Mueller's team is known for a skill that may come in handy in the investigation of potential ties between Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign team: persuading witnesses to turn on friends, colleagues and superiors. Russi S. President Donald T Andrew Weissmann, who headed the U.S. Justice Department's criminal fraud section before joining Mueller's team last month, is best known for two assignments - the investigation of now-defunct energy company Enron and organized crime cases in Brooklyn, New York - that depended heavily on gaining witness cooperation.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/268/053/974.jpg)
![A veteran federal prosecutor recruited onto special counsel Robert Mueller's team is known for a skill that may come in handy in the investigation of potential ties between Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign team: persuading witnesses to turn on friends, colleagues and superiors. Russi S. President Donald T Andrew Weissmann, who headed the U.S. Justice Department's criminal fraud section before joining Mueller's team last month, is best known for two assignments - the investigation of now-defunct energy company Enron and organized crime cases in Brooklyn, New York - that depended heavily on gaining witness cooperation.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/268/053/974.jpg)
Russiagate
Data stolen by Russians
![The hacking of state and local election databases in 2016 was more extensive than previously reported, including at least one successful attempt to alter voter information, and the theft of thousands of voter records that contain private information like partial Social Security numbers, current and former officials tell TIME. In one case, investigators found there had been a manipulation of voter data in a county database but the alterations were discovered and rectified, two sources familiar with the matter tell TIME. Investigators have not identified whether the hackers in that case were Russian agents The fact that private data was stolen from states is separately providing investigators a previously unreported line of inquiry in the probes into Russian attempts to influence the election. In Illinois, more than 90% of the nearly 90,000 records stolen by Russian state actors contained drivers license numbers, and a quarter contained the last four digits of voters' Social Security numbers, according to Ken Menzel, the General Counsel of the State Board of Elections.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/001/268/051/3bb.jpg)
![The hacking of state and local election databases in 2016 was more extensive than previously reported, including at least one successful attempt to alter voter information, and the theft of thousands of voter records that contain private information like partial Social Security numbers, current and former officials tell TIME. In one case, investigators found there had been a manipulation of voter data in a county database but the alterations were discovered and rectified, two sources familiar with the matter tell TIME. Investigators have not identified whether the hackers in that case were Russian agents The fact that private data was stolen from states is separately providing investigators a previously unreported line of inquiry in the probes into Russian attempts to influence the election. In Illinois, more than 90% of the nearly 90,000 records stolen by Russian state actors contained drivers license numbers, and a quarter contained the last four digits of voters' Social Security numbers, according to Ken Menzel, the General Counsel of the State Board of Elections.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/268/051/3bb.jpg)
Russiagate