Here are 13 reasons why statements by @SenJohnKennedy & other GOP lawmakers re Ukraine are fundamentally misleading:
1- Russia interfered in 2016, turbo-charged by cyber means, to a degree no foreign power ever has in a US election.
1- Russia interfered in 2016, turbo-charged by cyber means, to a degree no foreign power ever has in a US election.
2- No one, including US intel, the GOP-led Senate Intel Cmte, & private cyber security firms Crowdstrike & FireEye, express doubts about this. Only Trump and his most loyal allies do.
3- No one, including US intel, the GOP-led Senate intel Cmte, & private cyber security firms Crowdstrike & FireEye, put any other country in the same galaxy as Russia re 2016 interference. Only Trump and his most loyal allies do.
4- Diverting attention to Ukraine originated in a deliberate Kremlin-led disinformation campaign intended to divert attention away from Russia. See Fiona Hill sworn testimony.
5- Two of the 2016 culprits - Russian hacking groups known as Cozy Bear & Fancy Bear - and their tactics were well-known and easily identifiable by US intel.
6- Russian hackers had hacked the State Dept email system in 2014-2015 & followed similar patterns, schedule & coding. As a fmr NSA official told me, in 2016, they didn’t even bother to hide.
7- Russia’s aim was to hurt Clinton & help Trump. See the release of stolen Podesta emails just minutes after the release of the Access Hollywood tape.
8- The DNC server sits in the basement of the DNC HQ, not Ukraine.
The FBI, as per normal, had no need for the physical device. It captured digital copies
The FBI, as per normal, had no need for the physical device. It captured digital copies
9- Trump, Nunes etc have persisted in peddling the conspiracy theories that Ukraine stole the server (& that Crowdstrike is owned by a Ukrainian) as the root of their false Ukrainian interference claim. There are numerous public statements to this effect
10- Despite this, GOP lawmakers, including Kennedy, are now misleadingly claiming things such as a 2016 Op/Ed critical of Trump by a Ukrainian official are the basis of Trump/GOP claims. By doing so they are, in effect, laundering a lie.
11- Russia is already interfering in the 2020 election, including by amplifying GOP repetition of Russian propaganda re Ukraine.
12- To date, Trump has yet to identify preventing such interference as a priority. In fact, fmr DHS Secretary Nielsen & others have said there was a deliberate effort in the WH *not* to even discuss such interference with the president.
13- I’ve asked numerous current & former intel & law enforcement officials and GOP & Democratic lawmakers if the 2020 election is sufficiently safe from interference by Russia & others without the president. All have told me No.
