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World Net Daily EXCLUSIVE!!!

Senate Russia report proves Trump collusion was very real. But do voters
care?
Trump and Biden's contrasting positions on Russian interference in American elections are clear. Whether voters care about these differences, however,
is not as obvious.

Aug. 22, 2020, 4:30 AM EDT
By Michael McFaul

The Senate Intelligence Committee should be applauded for releasing the
fifth and final volume of its investigation into Russian interference in
the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

With over 200 witness interviews and roughly 1 million documents reviewed,
the nearly 1,000-page report documents in detail the comprehensive campaign conducted by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his proxies to seek influence within President Donald Trump's campaign, help Trump win the 2016 presidential election and amplify polarization and division within American society.

Far from a hoax, as the president so often claimed, the report reveals how
the Trump campaign willingly engaged with Russian operatives implementing
the influence effort.

Far from a hoax, as the president so often claimed, the report reveals how
the Trump campaign willingly engaged with Russian operatives implementing
the influence effort. For instance, the report exposes interactions and information exchanged between Russian intelligence officer Konstantin
Kilimnik and then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. According to the report, campaign figures opresented attractive targets for foreign
influence, creating notable counterintelligence vulnerabilities.o (Manafort was later convicted of tax and bank fraud.)


Concluding one of the highest-profile congressional investigations in
recent memory, the report also uncovers abuses within the U.S. governmentAs investigation of this operation. These methods require review and reform.

The bipartisan tone of the majority of the report, released by a committee chaired by Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, should be welcomed by all Americans who want our elected leaders to protect American sovereignty. National security should never be a partisan issue.


Tragically, however, some of the most egregious practices from the 2016 presidential campaign documented by the Senate investigation are repeating themselves in the 2020 presidential campaign. Once again, Putin wants Trump
to win and appears to be seeking to undermine the legitimacy of our
election. Just like in 2016, Putin has deployed his conventional media, his social media operations and his intelligence assets to pursue these objectives.

Most shockingly, Trump and his allies have decided to u again u play right along. Because waiting for criminal investigations or more congressional hearings will be too late, it will be up to American voters to decide when
and how cooperation with foreign actors during a presidential election
crosses the line. Trump's activities to date are not appropriate.

On Aug. 7, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned about foreign interference in the 2020 election: oWe assess that Russia is using
a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia aestablishment.Ao The ODNI report noted that pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is spreading false
claims about Joe Biden as part of this effort. oSome Kremlin-linked actors
are also seeking to boost President TrumpAs candidacy on social media and Russian television,o it observed.


Instead of criticizing this behavior, however, Trump and his allies are amplifying and promoting Russian disinformation online. Perhaps most amazingly, Trump is circulating to his 85 million Twitter followers
material provided by foreign actors designed to discredit Biden. Derkach u
the pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarch u is reportedly providing these
slanderous materials to Republicans, including Sen. Ron Johnson of
Wisconsin and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

Johnson and Grassley have also defended the use of material from former Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Telizhenko, who is working with Rudy Giuliani to spread a discrediting anti-Biden narrative. In fact, Johnson commented directly in an interview about his new investigation of U.S. intelligence activities during the Obama era: oI would think it would certainly help
Donald Trump win re-election and certainly be pretty good a evidence about
not voting for Vice President Biden.o

Following public pressure and increasing tensions, the senators released a public statement denying participating in the Russian disinformation
campaign. Yet, it all feels like a replay of Natalia VeselnitskayaAs
mission to Trump headquarters in the summer of 2016 to provide odirto on then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton u only now, all in the open.

Trump camp cooperation with Russia explicated in new Senate intel report
03:11

Amid a patchwork of responses from the U.S. government and social media companies, many analysts and nongovernmental organizations have become more skillful in tracking and aggressively countering disinformation operations. But exposure alone does not deter adversaries, nor does it stop the
evolution of their tactics.

Furthermore, divisions on race, religion and immigration in the United
States have only deepened in the past year. With China, Iran and Venezuela
now in the disinformation game, our current presidential election is, in
some ways, already more chaotic than 2016.

After revelations about Russian interference in 2016, including the
targeting of elections systems in all 50 states, American leaders concerned with defending our sovereignty and protecting our national security should have established a bipartisan commission u as they did after Sept. 11, 2001
u to investigate all dimensions of external influence, including the Obama administrationAs response. Trump opposed such a commission.

Subsequently, Robert MuellerAs team at the Department of Justice was given
the narrower assignment of investigating criminal activity, which they discovered along with at least 140 contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian nationals. Both Russians and Americans were indicted, some of whom
are in jail today. But MuellerAs focus on criminal activity ignored counterintelligence threats that developed during 2016.

This final volume from the Senate Intelligence Committee has documented in greater detail the counterintelligence threats at stake. Now, the American voters must decide what is fair and honorable in political competition u
and what is not.

It is wrong to solicit, let alone use, help from a foreign government to
win an election. It is especially wrong to seek such assistance from an adversary like Russia and to do so in a presidential election. We donAt
need PutinAs help in choosing our president. We, the American voters, can
do that on our own.

TrumpAs campaign encouraged PutinAs help in 2016 and celebrated that assistance when it arrived, especially materials that were stolen by
Russian intelligence officers and published by WikiLeaks. Putin violated American sovereignty: stealing private property and then using it to help Trump and hurt Clinton.

When asked about these facts at a July 2018 press conference in Helsinki
while standing next to Putin, Trump denied the findings of his u of our u
own intelligence community and instead defended the Russian autocrat.

Trump has since remained loyal to Putin, not once criticizing him in public and often undermining policies from his own administration to contain and deter PutinAs belligerent behavior abroad. Trump has refused to pledge that
he will not accept foreign help this fall. When asked last year about accepting dirt from a foreign government on his electoral opponents, Trump bluntly stated: oI think I'd take it."


In contrast, Biden has affirmed that his campaign will not use information
or accept assistance provided by foreign actors, an act that our Stanford research team urged all presidential candidates take in our 2019 report on
the integrity of U.S. elections. In addition, Biden has assured Americans
that he would retaliate in response to any foreign interference.

Trump and BidenAs contrasting positions on Russian interference in American elections are clear. Whether voters care about these differences, however,
is not as obvious. On Election Day, we will find out.

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