McConnell Covered Up CIA Reports That Russian Hacks Were Aimed At Electing Trump

[StrictlyRockers]

The Republicans knew about the Russian interference in our election and allowed it. McConnell threatened the White House with a smear campaign if they disclosed the information to the American people.

http://crooksandliars.com/2016/12/mitch-mcconnell-squelched-disclosure

http://crooksandliars.com/

McConnell Covered Up CIA Reports That Russian Hacks Were Aimed At Electing Trump
12/09/16 10:33pm — UPDATED: 12/10/16 12:56am

According to a bombshell report from the Washington Post, the CIA concluded that Russia actively interfered in the election not just to destabilize our political system, but to actively elect Donald Trump.

This conclusion was not something they just pulled out of thin air. Intelligence agencies had arrived at their conclusion in September, and briefed a bipartisan group in the Senate and House about it then, along with President Obama. The President wanted to go forward with a full disclosure of the report, but Mitch McConnell quashed it, threatening to taint any disclosure with the claim that it was being made merely for political gain.

McConnell was willing to let the Russians meddle in the election because his guy was getting the benefit of their work. This is outrageous.

“It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on an intelligence presentation made to U.S. senators. “That’s the consensus view.”

In other words, there was active interference on the part of Russia not simply to destabilize our politics, but to actively elect one candidate over another.

Concerned that a unilateral White House statement would appear as though the administration was tilting the election in favor of Democrats, the White House decided to convene a bipartisan panel of elected officials to review the material in the hopes of issuing a unified statement and warning states about possible compromises to their voting systems.

Instead, officials devised a plan to seek bipartisan support from top lawmakers and set up a secret meeting with the Gang of 12 — a group that includes House and Senate leaders, as well as the chairmen and ranking members of both chambers’ committees on intelligence and homeland security.

Look who they sent to that meeting:

Obama dispatched [Lisa] Monaco, FBI Director James B. Comey and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to make the pitch for a “show of solidarity and bipartisan unity” against Russian interference in the election, according to a senior administration official.

Specifically, the White House wanted congressional leaders to sign off on a bipartisan statement urging state and local officials to take federal help in protecting their voting-registration and balloting machines from Russian cyber-intrusions.

Yes, that's right. James Comey knew in September about the CIA's conclusions and was part of the team asked to make the pitch to elevate this issue to the American people on a bipartisan basis. In September. So, by the way, did Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had a very specific response to the administration's appeal for bipartisanship.

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.

Shall we take a moment to allow that to sink in? Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, sworn to uphold and defend the United States Constitution, chose to threaten the White House with a smear if they disclosed this information to the American people.
...

___________________________________________________________________________________

The whole article is much longer. It ends with, "This is a hair-on-fire moment for all of us."

[Hortensis]

1. McConnell's an extremely powerful man, and very

little goes on that he doesn't make sure he is well informed about. I've always assumed he knows more than will ever come out, no matter how this plays out.

The question for me is, could this giant trumpster fire somehow consume this evil conniver too? Did he do anything illegal that could be proven? Btw, if he's not in prison, the next election for him would be 2020, when he'll be 79.

[Scarsdale]

14. 79?

In human years, or turtle years? He looks so much older. He knew all about the Russians, and he refused to allow hearings for Garland. He said the next president would choose the SC justice. He knew THEN that would be tRump. I hope an investigation takes down the entire corrupt gop "leadership" before it is too late for this country.

[Hortensis]

16. :) He's an amoral man with no principles or goals

beyond accumulation of personal power. Seriously, analysts watching him wondered if he would finally, on taking leadership of the senate, turn himself to building a legacy for the history books. Answer, no. He'll be in the books, all right, as a cautionary tale, nothing to benefit his nation, any more Kentucky has been bettered through his representation.

Fwiw, he just couldn't know it would be The Donald. In the end, the polls were swinging wildly every week and it could so easily have gone the other way. Although he was heavy into planning on suppressing the vote for many, investigations into tampering with actual voting counts turned up nothing. I think we can agree, though, that he was not shocked when Hillary lost.

[ATL Ebony]

25. Agree to a point. This is where Comey stepped up to kill off HRC

11 days before the election. Mind you this was one of Guiliano's public announcement of their surprise. After Comey played his part HRC numbers tanked . . . she was made to seem so toxic that polls were swinging in tRump's favor.

[Hortensis]

47. Yes! It's possible McConnell didn't know, but Comey

had already gone over the line twice, and I literally wouldn't bet a penny they didn't collude just because it'd be stupid to be on the losing side of such a bet.

[LisaM]

52. And yet she still got 3,000,000 more votes.

I agree with whomever said a few weeks ago that sure, we should listen to angry middle America, but the Hillary voters actually have a lot more reason to be pissed. I just don't know who to call. The White House has no comment line. My Senators are Democratic women. My Congresswoman is an absolute novice, so she has no power on committees.

[Hortensis]

58. We ARE also middle America. Conservatives in that

economic range looked for excuses to not vote Democrat.

A national minimum wage, universal affordable healthcare without limits, affordable college, legal protections requiring investment "counselors" to serve the client's interests first, generating our own power on our roofs via a half billion solar panels, raising taxes on the wealthy, and literally dozens of other plans to improve our and our nation's wellbeing WERE NOT REFUSALS TO "TALK TO THEM."

You bet we have more reason to be pissed. Big no to their hypocrisy and irresponsibility.

LisaM, have you checked for a Indivisible groups in your area? Go plug in your zip code and see?

President Obama and the ACLA are just two more who are turning their organizations to developing grass roots action. The ACLU's I believe is already up and running, Obama's gathering names.

[LisaM]

60. No, but I will.

I'm in Seattle, so there are pretty frequent opportunities to engage. My reps are all very liberal.

Updated to read: wow! There's a ton of them. My only worry is that I'll go and have to listen to people blathering on about a rigged primary and Bernie Sanders, which I don't want to hear (yes, I'm probably handicapping myself). I want people rightfully outraged about Hillary.

[Hortensis]

61. Lucky you, you'll to find a good, competent group

and make some friends in the process.

My maternal side is from the PNW, including Seattle. We were supposed to end up back there. If I could have seen into the future, I would have made absolutely sure we did.

I also insist on people rightfully outraged about this election and committed to rescuing democracy. Many among the others you describe helped elect Trump, or flat-out were responsible for that, and will only continue to be part of the problem if they cannot resolve their conflicts and commit to defeating Republicans instead of Democrats. Zero tolerance for il-liberalism.

Enjoy the search. You might keep an eye out for ones showing up in the media also.

[LisaM]

62. Seattle's changed. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

We just got tagged as the 9th expensive city in the world. Gentrification is out of control. Homeless people are everywhere. Downtown storefronts are vacant or full of chain stores. Almost every vestige of character that made it the free-swinging, working-class city it was when I got here is gone. The older buildings are all getting knocked down for glassy towers, it's also getting whiter, and more male (thanks to tech-company demographics). Plus the whole downtown now smells like pot!

[Hortensis]

68. Sad to hear, but not surprising. We once searched across

the water, but I'm sure the areas we looked, with beautiful views close to or on the water, are also greatly changed. We also looked at Bellingham, but didn't make any of it happen.

Even the last time we were on the Olympic Peninsula we accompanied friends to a Whole Foods-type market with sawdust on the floor (for transplants from California) that was just a few doors down from a welfare office with ex- lumber-industry guys in line outside it. Many lumberjacks had refused, and were still refusing, training in new skills, their culture all about what their fathers did and preferring to veg on welfare while they waited for the coal industry--whoops, Georgia-Pacific--to bring "their" jobs back. Then there were all the other cultural clashes over there, commercial fishermen, native fishermen, families from the far east pooling their earnings and driving Mercedes while locals spread theirs among several poor households, etc.

Still much rather be there. Including right in Seattle. Still remember the traffic, and, inevitably, thinking how many bodies a serial killer could dispose of in that incredible foliage just 10 feet from any roadway as soon as you got out of town.

[manicraven]

78. Bellingham rocks!

[Hortensis]

81. Nice to hear. It rocked then. Quietly and wetly. :)

[lagomorph777]

38. He knew Putin would do anything necessary to install Agent Orange.

It had nothing to do with the polls. You think the only things Putin hacked were the DNC's and Hillary's email servers?

The deal was made and Putin kept his side of the bargain.

[Hortensis]

48. There were also some Democratic candidates for state office,

let's not forget them, and wouldn't it be interesting to know just why the Kremlin picked them for hacking? Surgical targeting of state and local races is usually a GOP and dark-money thing.

Russia analysts in and out of our intelligence services do not think Putin believed he could determine the election initially. He was very up front with his machinations up to and into the fall as a way of trying to demoralize and undermine our confidence in our nation. They believe a realization that he might be able to rock the boat, along with Comey and right-wing operatives, until it tipped too far only came later. Toward the end the U.S. was being flooded with not just domestic anti-Hillary lies but Russian.

[Hortensis]

74. You don't know that. More likely any deals were between

Donald's people and Putin and McConnell knew about and used.

As for the polls, they demonstrated how incredibly erratic opinion was among some voters. No one could control them, only try to influence the right direction at the right moment.

Putin's powerful, but recommend not imagining supernatural powers. Wanderers too far down that road end up agreeing with conspiracy theorists on the far right.

[lagomorph777]

84. Hacking isn't magic. It's a crime.

Something Trump and Putin are very experienced with.

Magical thinking is assuming that when polls and voting machines disagree (consistently) the voters must be "erratic." The machines are erratic, in a controlled way.

[Angry Dragon]

66. he does have goals ............. more money for his pockets

and how do you think he got his wife a job in teh Trump Admin??

[joet67]

77. Yep. That smug, corrupt to the core asshole needs to go down too. I pray it is so. He's

the ringleader, and didn't mind one bit playing a "nullification" strategy for 8 long years, all the while grinning and saying stupid shit. Root and branch, my ass. Most likely, the racist bastards intend to do just that, so much so, that the whole Republican Party, along with help from the Koch's and other rat bastards tried to pull off an election theft. They may have won the battle, but I have a feeling the war isn't over.

I'd love for it to come out that he had the contemporaneous knowledge last year, or even better, was complicit.

[brush]

57. He's going down now too. Lesson to trump and repugs: Don't mess with the press...

Newspapers will do the old "drip, drip, drip" on you everyday then the broadcast media with do the follow up and let everybody in the country know.

[triron]

73. Hope it's relentless

[annabanana]

2. McConnell never had a single scruple to call his own.

His best move is the pander, followed closely by his pricetag.

[jberryhill]

54. .

[StrictlyRockers]

3. It just reeks of collusion.

McConnell may have gone too far here. This story has legs and will not go away. He can try to hide things, but he may have already lost control of the narrative and the reins. Things are happening fast. Forces in the intel community are obviously pissed. I expect we may know a lot more next week.

I'm hoping this fire gets big enough that it at least burns him, even if it doesn't completely immolate him.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. The RepublicCONs own the tRump-Russia scandal and must be made to pay at the polls. . . . nt

[StrictlyRockers]

27. That's one of my thoughts.

He's not up for re-election until 2020. Allison Lundergan Grimes gave him a good run last time, in 2014. Maybe this scandal makes him vulnerable. A LOT more is going to come out. Obviously, he played a role in it. People are paying attention like never before. I'm not really that hopeful, but maybe?

[flor-de-jasmim]

4. If when all is said and done we get rid of Trump, Pence, McConnell, Sessions....

I will thank Trump for clearing out at least part of the swamp.

[malaise]

5. And his wife was given a nice cushy position

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Payoff . . . . nt

[ATL Ebony]

26. Really wish that his nominations and policy changes and rolled back when he leaves.

Then history can just skip over him as if he never existed. That's my humble prayer.

[underpants]

6. Thanks for reminding us of this

It's important to remember

[CottonBear]

7. This explains Turtle's snipers on the roof in Kentucky.

He's guilty as hell and scared of his constituents, the general public and the press.

I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison.

[eShirl]

12. what?

[CottonBear]

42. There were armed guards on a rooftop at a McConnell event in KY

during the recent congressional recess.

I'm searching for the twitter picture and link. I'll have to post it later.

[delisen]

8. I find it hard to believe that President Obama would have just accepted McConnell's stonewalling.

there has to be more to this story.

[Chasstev365]

9. I agree with you!

It was said that President Obama was confident Hillary would won, so he did't want to jeopardise anything, but that answer is not satisfing.

[bigbrother05]

28. Until the last Comey smear, HRC was looking like a lock

Obama made the calculation that she would win and maybe pick up the seats to control the Senate. If the WH came out with what the Turtle would denounce as a partisan move, the uproar and endless House hearings would make Benghazi and Monica look like a church social and taint Obama's post-presidency.

Once the last Comey crapfest hit, it was really too late to explain such a complex situation to an already confused and divided electorate. Think he hoped that the Dem ground game was strong enough to pull out a tight win and feared an increase in 3rd party and no-show voters. In hindsight he was off by ~75K votes in 3 states and without either house in Congress, he had no chance to force public testimony to support the evidence.

[uponit7771]

30. Yes, Comrade Comey fucked America royally

[whathehell]

34. This Republican-Russian treachery should have been revealed

whether Hillary won or not... The only way I can find Obama's decision acceptable in this case, is if he believed Hillary would expose it.

[Ligyron]

65. I agree.

Obama, as much as I love the guy, really screwed the pooch on this one.

Expose corrupt GOPers at every opportunity because they just make up shit anyway about Dems.

[KittyWampus]

40. the guy who was traveling with Obama said the exact opposite. That's why Michelle and POTUS

and Joe and Jill went out stumping so hard.

They were not confident at all.

There was a journalist traveling with Obama at the end of his term.

[vlyons]

13. maybe that's part of why Obama left breadcrumbs

[W_HAMILTON]

18. lol

After letting McConnell get away with filibustering just about every Democratic initiative when in the minority and then refuse to even give his Supreme Court nominee a hearing when in the majority, you find it hard to believe that Obama would have accepted McConnell's stonewalling on THIS? lol

[StrictlyRockers]

29. "Really? Why don't YOU go have a beer with Mitch McConnell?" - President Obama

nt

[uponit7771]

31. +1

[VaBchTgerLily]

15. Mcconnell needs to go down!

[FailureToCommunicate]

17. Ok "McConnell chose to threaten the White House with a smear..." So why did Obama blink?

We've heard over and over the White House didn't want to seem to be influencing the election by disclosing any of this treason before November, but by NOT doing it they definitely DID influence the disastrous outcome !! WTF?!?

[Duppers]

20. You raise a very good question and it was my first thought.

This doesn't pass a smell test somehow but I need to listen to all the videos.

[whathehell]

35. Yeah, I get tired of hearing that lame excuse too..

Repugs don't care about "looking partisan", why all the fear on our side?....Politics ain't beanbag...It requires a working spine.

[Vinca]

19. Has Mitch had meetings with Russians??????????? And have they paid him???????

[Raster]

43. Comrade McConnell says: Nyet!

[barbtries]

21. seems like i read about it at the time.

at any rate, i am convinced at this point that trump's election was stolen. sad for the country that he has so many members in his cult and we have by and large a media that is enslaved to the dollar as so much of corporate america is.

my company just underwent a severe contraction resulting in a 67% reduction in head count. this has been the most brutal, longest week of my working life. i can't hardly look at the news any more right now, but stories like this if they get traction, can take out the republicans so i look at it as a ray of hope.

[rtracey]

22. I

I repudiate everyone of the Right wing and their supporters. Including my family who supports these lying pieces of shit. May they ALL rot in hell.

[NewRedDawn]

23. We already

knew this. Not only Trumpski is complicit but the whole fucking Putin Publicans are guilty of treason!

[FakeNoose]

24. Treason

If this is true and can be proven in court, Mitch McConnell is guilty of treason.
Lock him up!

[Stuart G]

32. k and r...nt

[LaydeeBug]

33. Moscow Mitch at his antics again. nt

[BSdetect]

36. Blanket boy McConnell working tirelessly to cover up all crimes

[crazylikafox]

37. There's a reason why Mitch refused to support Donald's "Voter Fraud" investigation.

And it's not that he didn't want to waste taxpayer money, as I think he said.

There's no way he wants ANY light shined into that election. He's dirty & he's complicit.

[JudyM]

39. I'd expect this will be part of what's investigated. McConnell needs to be thrown out on his ass.

[neeksgeek]

41. I'm no prosecutor

But surely this is criminal behavior.

[world wide wally]

44. Their next move will be to say, "This is too big to prosecute"

[crazylikafox]

51. The Republican Party: "too big to fail!"

[ymetca]

45. The real mystery here is Comey...

Is he a compromised Russian operative himself? Being played for a fool? Or is he trying to find the Russian mole(s) within the intelligence community (i.e. "the long game"?) Particularly the one(s) that gave Snowden the data many private sector security experts say there was no way he could have had access to. In other words, Snowden's account of how he acquired the data doesn't pass the smell test.

Why is Comey stonewalling the Intelligence Committee? Is he part of the cover-up? Or actively engaged in trying to catch all the players in the game?

[wordpix]

56. until I read this post, my hypothesis is he's complicit in Trumprussia but

you've got a point that he's trying to catch all the players.

One thing for sure---anyone playing footsie with Russia power players is suspect and that includes Tillerson

[NewRedDawn]

69. No Mystery

He is a PUKE Partisan Hack & possibly in the pocket of Putin. This fucker was the final tipping point of the stolen election & coup!

[ymetca]

71. He sacrificed his "Queen"

in hopes of checkmating the opponent's "King".

A dangerous gambit, risking the entire game, perhaps.

We shall see, if such is the actual case...

[dchill]

46. All of which begs the question:

What is the difference between being a Republican politician and being a Russian agent?

I am hoping that the reason for the seemingly deliberately slow, methodical process of intel leaking is because of the enormous cesspool of treasonous miscreants needing exposure and prosecution. The fate of our democracy very likely depends on it.

[Amaryllis]

49. We knew that in Sept. Remember Harry Reid saying they had explosive info on TRump/Russia

that should be released when Comey released his letter about Hillary emails? And i know Senator Wyden and others wrote a letter demanding it be released to the public. I just wonder why Obama held back. There has to be more than just fear of being accused of being partisan.

[StrictlyRockers]

50. My tweet on this

Link to tweet

[BlueStateLib]

53. Thom hartmann says their is no evidence that the russians hacked anything and this is non story

[itcfish]

59. Tom Hartmann is

now part of the Intelligence Community?

[NewRedDawn]

70. Just another RT Putin Propagandist.

[eShirl]

72. Is that what his TV network, RT, told him?

[wordpix]

55. I've said all along McCONnell as well as Comey are suspect

Neither is coming out and strongly saying Trumprussia needs to be investigated for national security reasons and election integrity. They're foot dragging. Why? My hypothesis is they're complicit.

Trump Dossier Analysis: Corroborating Evidence in the Trump/Russia Dossier

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RbpBxJ3QNyvts_w16UcSSGeH7cSrXK9U3wIq0OOq-Xs/edit

These repugs are melting down but with guys like Turtle and Traitor Comey in the way, it will take awhile to get Orangeman impeached.

[BigDemVoter]

63. Turtle McFuckLips

needs to go down too--preferably in FLAMES.

[raccoon]

64. I'd love to see him impeached, or whatever the correct verb is. nt

[Blue Owl]

67. The Tortoise and The Hairpiece

n/t

[nocalflea]

75. No shit ?

[BobTheSubgenius]

76. O'Connell's conduct was not outrageous.

It was and is way, WAY beyond outrageous. It left outrageous in its rear-view miles ago.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

79. McCONnell.....jeeezus. His banal evil is so extreme. He's like Central Casting picked him

For the role. He looks like such a Coney Island Whitefish. ( heh! Old New Joisey reference. )


Smh...I know it's Un-Serious of me but.....dayum, so many of the GOP scumbuckets look too much like Central Casting picked them to be in some bad campy movie!

[meadowlander]

80. Please, please, please let this take McConnell out.

If I could pick only one of this massive cabal of obstructionist grifters, greedheads and flim-flam artists to be thrown in front of a firing squad it would be McConnell every time.

[world wide wally]

82. Hang him

[Initech]

83. We are witnessing the greatest crime in American history unfolding before our eyes!

Who knows how deep this goes?

[Initech]

85. Our whole damn government has been compromised!

Fuck the republicans! This party needs to be utterly destroyed in 2018!