POLITICAL ROUNDUP: Another distraction or was there interference in 2016 election?

Yahoo

10 hours ago

TAHLEQUAH — In July 2018, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment against Russian military intelligence officers for their alleged roles in interfering with the 2016 election in the United States.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 'Most Wanted' site, the individuals indicted should be considered armed and dangerous and an international flight risk.
'The indictment charges 11 defendants, Boris Alekseyevich Antonov, Dmitriy Sergeyevich Badin, Nikolay Yuryevich Kozachek, Aleksey Viktorovich Lukashev, Artem Andreyevich Malyshev, Sergey Aleksandrovich Morgachev, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Osadchuk, Aleksey Aleksandrovich Potemkin, Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov, Pavel Vyacheslavovich Yershov, and Viktor Borisovich Netyksho, with a computer hacking conspiracy involving gaining unauthorized access into the computers of U.S. persons and entities involved in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, stealing documents from those computers, and staging releases of the stolen documents to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election,' states the site.
Other indictments include aggravated identity theft, false registration of a domain name and conspiracy to commit money laundering, the website notes.
'Two defendants, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Osadchuk and Anatoliy Sergeyevich Kovalev, are charged with a separate conspiracy to commit computer crimes, relating to hacking into the computers of U.S. persons and entities responsible for the administration of 2016 U.S. elections, such as state boards of elections, secretaries of state, and U.S. companies that supplied software and other technology related to the administration of U.S. elections,' states the site.
A federal warrant was issued for each of these defendants when the indictment was returned by the grand jury.
This week, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered an investigation into allegations that President Barack Obama's administration made up evidence of interference in the 2016 election
This was reported on CNN in an article titled, 'Pam Bondi has a new probe into the handling of 2016 Russian meddling. John Durham already spent four years investigating it,' published Aug. 11.
During Trump's first term, Attorney General at the time, Bill Barr, said the government was spying on American citizens. Barr had Durham lead a four-year investigation.
'But Durham's lengthy investigation did not lead to any criminal charges — or allegations of significant wrongdoing — related to the CIA and intelligence community's role in concluding that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and wanted to help Trump win,' states the article.
Requests for input on this topic from U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-District 51, U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-District 52, and U.S. Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-District 2, went unanswered for this article by press time.
On the Facebook forum Aug. 9, readers were asked what they believe is behind the investigation, and if they thought there was Russian interference.
Kevin McFarland believes there was no interference.
'I believe it was a concoction from the Clinton camp to distract from her email scandal,' McFarland said.
Susan Feller said all roads lead to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
'This is supported by cold, hard, indisputable facts. What the studies did not find, however, is that Trump personally colluded with the Russians. People around him did,' Feller said.
Darrel Ratliff 'absolutely agrees' there was Russian interference.
'But this investigation will come up with whatever they want it to come up with,' Ratliff said.
Eric Swanson reminded commenters on the forum that multiple investigations have found that Russia interfered in the 2016 election with the goal of helping Trump's campaign and damaging Clinton's.
Swanson said U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's claim about the Obama administration defies common sense.
'If there were evidence of such a conspiracy, why did four investigations fail to uncover it?' Swanson said. 'If the investigation proves that there was a conspiracy, then the perpetrators should be held accountable.'
Swanson suspects this probe is an attempt to please Trump by attacking his political opponents, a clear example of the weaponization of the Department of Justice that 'MAGAs love to complain about.'
Devin Gordon said this current situation is like a game of Monopoly: Someone gets mad and flips the board, or the winner loses when they acquire everything and the remaining players can't pay their rent.
'The housing market is collapsing, giving investment firms that already own every industry in America an opportunity to move in and buy more real estate for pennies on the dollar, closing the door on homeownership for millions of working Americans,' Gordon said. 'The government is quietly federalizing law enforcement, beginning in D.C., which will undoubtedly spread through the rest of our country.'
Gordon said that AI and surveillance are spreading with little to no safeguards or restrictions put in place to protect the public.
'The resources stripped from us for one AI data center is astonishing, and they're popping up everywhere,' Gordon said. 'They sell it under the same old guise of public safety, then watch and laugh at the people as they ignorantly cheer on the things intended to replace and restrict them.'
The people in power aren't Republicans or Democrats, they're friends, working on a common interest for themselves and the people who pay their salaries, which isn't U.S. taxpayers, Gordon said.
'They will be long gone, enjoying all they stole from us, while we're broke, fighting among ourselves, arguing about today's topic, unable to pay rent, unable to buy food, unable to afford life while being tracked and surveilled, wishing we'd have flipped the board a while ago,' Gordon said.
What you said
In a poll on TDP's website, readers were asked: 'Do you believe there was Russian meddling in the 2016 election, and who was behind it?' The answer that got the most votes was, 'Barack Obama and his allies,' with 36.5%; 31.1% answered, 'Putin and Trump and their allies;' 9.5% voted 'Vladimir Putin only;' and 9.5% voted, 'no one; there was no meddling.'
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