Jeh Johnson: Media focused on 'Access Hollywood' tape instead of Russian meddling ahead of election

[DonViejo]

BY BRETT SAMUELS - 03/21/18 12:14 PM EDT

Link to tweet

Former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson said Wednesday that warnings about Russian interference in the 2016 election went unnoticed because of the “Access Hollywood” tape.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asked Johnson during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on election security why his department did not alert the American people leading up to the 2016 election that Russians were attempting to meddle in the process.

“Well, senator, the American people were told,” said Johnson, who led DHS from 2013 until the end of the Obama administration.

He noted that he and then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued a statement on Oct. 7, 2016, that stated the intelligence community was confident the Russian government was behind efforts to interfere in the upcoming election.

more
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/379520-jeh-johnson-media-focused-on-access-hollywood-tape-instead-of-russian

[bearsfootball516]

1. Some have speculated that the Trump campaign leaked the Access Hollywood tape.

I don't think there's any actual evidence of that, but I've heard it quite a bit.

[dawnie51]

2. I can believe this....

they knew the base would love Dump all the more, and it would keep the pesky media from getting too interested in all the BS that was going down with the Russians. And that's exactly what happened. All Access Hollywood all the time, while Putin store the election.

[EffieBlack]

3. This is a VERY important point!

And it should be made EVERY TIME a reporter presses an Obama Administration official about "why didn't you do more to alert the public."

They DID alert the public, and if the media had been doing their jobs, they would have helped to get the message out and started asking the right questions. But instead, they obsessed over the Access Hollywood tape and, of course, Hillary's emails.

Throw it right back in their faces!