Trump Was Shown Evidence That Putin Ordered Cyber Attacks On The US And Still Denied It

A New York Times report demonstrates that the President has been knowingly attempting to cover up Russia's crimes against the United States. Crimes his 2016 campaign may be complicit in...
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by: Ahmed Baba on July 19, 2018

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017. (Jorge Silva/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017. (Jorge Silva/Pool Photo via AP)

The Rantt Rundown: Wednesday, July 18 – Day 545 of the Trump presidency

Donald Trump has denied the fact Russia attacked America’s democracy since before he took the oath of office. Many thought once he became President, that would change. It didn’t. And this week President Trump sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a foreign adversary who personally ordered the attacks on America’s 2016 election, over the U.S. Intelligence Community on the world stage. Now, we have a report from The New York Times that indicates not only was President Trump briefed on Russian interference before his inauguration; he was briefed on raw evidence that showed Putin ordered the attack. The NYT report was sourced by nearly a dozen people who attended the meeting or were briefed on it.

Two weeks before his inauguration, Donald J. Trump was shown highly classified intelligence indicating that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had personally ordered complex cyberattacks to sway the 2016 American election.

The evidence included texts and emails from Russian military officers and information gleaned from a top-secret source close to Mr. Putin, who had described to the C.I.A. how the Kremlin decided to execute its campaign of hacking and disinformation.

The January 6, 2017 intelligence briefing took place at Trump Tower and included the top brass of the U.S. Intelligence Community. In attendance was then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, then-Director of National Security Agency and commander of United States Cyber Command Adm. Michael Rogers, and then-FBI Director James Comey.

They briefed Donald Trump on intelligence that outlined the complex operation that Putin ordered against the 2016 election. Aside from the emails and texts, there were reportedly several human sources referenced – including one that was so sensitive Brennan didn’t even use the name when briefing President Obama on the intelligence.

After reviewing this concrete evidence from the most powerful intelligence apparatus on the planet, President Trump immediately began to cast doubt on it…that same day.

Trump continued the following day, and the rest is history.

As we know, President Trump has consistently tried to cast doubt on Russia’s interference, pushed various conspiracy theories, and called the Russia investigation a witch hunt. This all culminated this week when President Trump stood shoulder to shoulder with President Putin and said “I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia, claimed the idea of Russian interference is an excuse Democrats came up with for losing the election, called the Russia investigation a witch hunt, and panned the U.S. as “foolish.”

Even when President Trump tried to “walk-back” one of these statements the following day, Trump couldn’t help himself from adding a caveat: “I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. A lot of people out there.”

Then, on Wednesday, when President Trump was asked if Russia is still interfering in America’s democracy, Trump contradicted his own Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and said “no.” Which the White House, of course, tried to walk back.

With The New York Times’ latest reporting, we have a situation where the President of the United States was shown definitive evidence that proved not only the fact Russia interfered in American democracy but that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered the attack…and he still denies that this is the case.

This should startle every American because it goes beyond the President simply wanting to have a good relationship with an authoritarian leader because he “admires strongmen.” This report demonstrates that the President has been knowingly attempting to cover up Russia’s crimes against the United States. Crimes his 2016 campaign may be complicit in…

Needless to say, the world will be awaiting Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on potential collusion (which there is evidence of) between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government and his obstruction of justice report. In the meantime, the evidence of compromising material has been in front of us all along.

In other news…

Rundown // Donald Trump / News / Russia / Vladimir Putin
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by: Ahmed Baba

Ahmed Baba is the Co-Founder and President of Rantt. Writer of Unpresidented, Ahmed documented and analyzed every day of the Trump presidency. He's also a columnist at The Independent and his work has been cited in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, Rolling Stone, BuzzFeed, The New York Post, The Huffington Post, Yahoo News, Blavity, Newsweek, The Telegraph, and more. He can be reached at [email protected] or found on Twitter @AhmedBaba_.

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