RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN 2016 US ELECTION & SPIN-OFF INVESTIGATIONS

[HairOfTheDog]

A bipartisan US Senate report says the 2017 intel assessment about Russian interference in the 2016 US election was accurate. “The Committee found no reason to dispute the Intelligence Community’s conclusions."

Just had a chance to catch up on the news -- the Republican-driven bi-partisan Senate's findings were not surprising to me, but it's good to see U.S. Intelligence agencies being validated yet again. 

I think we need them now more than ever and hope the Trump Administration's attempts to discredit them hasn't undermined their abilities too much.

The report released yesterday was the fourth of five reports from the Senate Intelligence Committee's examination of 2016 Russian interference.  The fifth and final report (which will include focus on Trump campaign interactions with Russian operatives) has reportedly been postponed a bit due to the committee's need to work remotely.  

The fourth report confirmed that Russia, under the direction of President Putin, actively worked to sow divisions in the U.S.'s democratic election process and sway the American public against Hillary Clinton and towards their preferred candidate, Donald Trump.

As far as I can tell, the Senate Intelligence Committee is not chartered to determine whether any interference was successful, but rather to investigate the U.S. intelligence agencies' methods and findings.  So far, the Senate has determined that the intelligence agencies' methodology and conclusions were proper and not politically-influenced.

Ref:  https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/21...016-198171