Nielsen calls out Putin for election interference

[riversedge]

Source: CNN



Tal Kopan

By Tal Kopan, CNN

Updated 10:50 AM ET, Wed September 5, 2018

Washington (CNN)Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Wednesday called out Russian President Vladimir Putin by name for interfering in the 2016 US election, calling it a "direct attack" on US democracy.

"At Vladimir Putin's direction, Moscow launched a brazen, multi-faceted influence campaign to undermine public faith in our democratic process and to distort our presidential election," Nielsen said at George Washington University in Washington. "Although no actual ballots were altered by this campaign, make no mistake: This was a direct attack on our democracy."

Nielsen continued that the administration "will not tolerate" such interference nor "let it happen again."

Nielsen has spoken out repeatedly on election interference but has faltered when asked directly whether the interference was designed to help President Donald Trump get elected. Nielsen has said she "agree(s) with the intel community's assessment, full stop," an assessment that concluded the interference was done with the intention of bolstering Trump and harming his opponent, Hillary Clinton, politically............................

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/05/politics/kirstjen-nielsen-russian-election-interference/index.html

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I think Trump had to know she was going to do this.



Also posted in GD: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211095265

Link to tweet

Myles F Standish
? @f_standish
2h2 hours ago
Replying to @CNNPolitics

Her boss is gonna be pissed!
0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes

Ghost
? @bigfatkatt
1h1 hour ago

Replying to @CNNPolitics

She needs to resign for denying it and supporting corruption
0 replies 0 retweets 1 like

airforcevet43
? @airforcevet43
2h2 hours ago

Replying to @CNNPolitics

Proving that

IGNORANCE is an affliction that can be overcome w/Education
... Although Wilfull IGNORANCE, not so much!
0 replies 1 retweet 0 likes

RosieG
? @gstuebi
2h2 hours ago

Replying to @CNNPolitics

Finally.
0 replies 0 retweets 1 like

Adryan
? @AdryanSalmon
13m13 minutes ago

Replying to @CNNPolitics

Whenever a Trump appointee contradicts him, I can't help but think its a play get fired in order to end the misery.

[bettyellen]

1. Didn't she say she knew nothing of this just 5-6 weeks ago?

[riversedge]

14. She has dramatically changed her tune. What's up?? I do not know.

[sandensea]

2. "Putin interfered!"

"Can we go again?!"

[atreides1]

3. It's an act

She's putting on a show to take some of the heat off of her boss(Putin) and his puppet in the White House!!!

I wouldn't believe her if she told me the sky was blue!!!!

[saidsimplesimon]

4. Sounds like the

cry of those abandoned in the cold waters of the sinking Titanic.

[old guy]

5. Trying to do a little damage control before the midterms.

[Honeycombe8]

6. "Although no actual ballots were altered by this campaign...." The evidence doesn't say this.

As I understand it, the evidence shows certain things, including what was called hacking of some election systems. But the evidence did not say that actual ballots were or were not altered...at least not as told to we the people. Even if it did say that, which it does not, the govt would not tell us. Both sides of the aisle, and civil servants, seem determined that the we the people not know the full depth and reach of the election interference.

And I have to point out the obvious: You don't NEED to change ballots to change election results. Some ballots can go missing or not be counted (this happened in 2000 - Ohio was a hotbed of fraud in the Gore v Bush election, as I recall). And machines can be tampered with so that some don't get counted by the computer. And do we need a reminder that America no longer uses "actual ballots"? We punch in things on a computer that tallies the votes. It's easier to hack that than to alter real ballots.

I wonder if this signals a change in argument by the W.H. "Okay, so the Russians interfered in various ways. But they did not actually alter ballots & therefore Trump's Presidency is legitimate. And we've been aboard all along with agreeing that Russia/Putin did a bad thing, once we were apprised of the evidence."

It's either that, or she'l be fired soon. She's a Trump loyalist, so this must be a new WH talking point.

[debsy]

10. I completely agree! I was going to post the same thing. :)

My husband said "it is true: they didn't change the actual ballot, though they may have changed the vote after the ballot was cast." Semantics. These messages are all very carefully worded to be very misleading without lying. The problem is, there is no way to prove actual tampering either way - that we know of - when there is no paper trail (though I'm sure someone, somewhere has the capability to make that determination).

[lagomorph777]

11. +1 That's the standard GOP/MSM talking point.

And even if true, doesn't say that Putin didn't successfully change the outcome through voter registry manipulation, tabulator manipulation, and of course social manipulation.

[lagomorph777]

12. Some of America does get to use actual ballots (I vote on paper), many are not so lucky.

[Honeycombe8]

15. Oh, yes, for sure. That was the case in 2000, when ballots were "lost," later found ...

having been tossed out by a clerk.

I personally think a couple of districts in PA were tampered with by the Russians. It'd be interesting to know if they're electronic. And of course the rust belt of Michael Moore...is that Michigan & Wisconson? I forget. Some parts of one or more of those would have been targeted since the blue collar workers there were upset over trade agreements and lost jobs, so the districts were swing.

[Still In Wisconsin]

7. More Keystone Kops from the Dump administration

Intelligence community: "The Russians interfered in the election."

Dump: "It might have been a 400 lb kid in his basement."

Kelly: "The Russians meddled in the election."

Nielsen: "Theoretically it could have been the Russians, but it probably wasn't."

Intelligence community: "No, it was the Russians."

Dump: "Putin said he didn't do it and he's my bro so it wasn't the Russians."

Intelligence community: "Seriously, the Russians meddled in the election. We're sure."

Alex Jones: "It was Hillary and Bill's pedophile ring meddling in the election on behalf of Hillary in order to hurt Trump!"

Dubya: "Ummm... it were the Russians what meddled in our election"

Nielsen: "Okaaayyy it turns out it was the Russians. But they didn't change any votes."

Dump: "Pbbbhtttth! Crooked Hillary! 12 angry Dems! Rigged witch hunt!!! Jeff Sessions!
Glarrrrbgh!!!"

Intelligence community: " It was... oh, fuck it, nevermind. We quit. Good luck..."

[Honeycombe8]

16. That's about right. You need to stick China in there somewhere.

I remember him saying that it could've been anybody...probably China (pronounced JINA).

[Achilleaze]

8. If it weren't for putin this republican wanker would not have a job

[avebury]

9. Trying to distract from Woodward's book perhaps? nt

[C Moon]

13. They are setting up to let the fox guard the hen house.

These people are so pathetic. Do they think we have no memory?