WashPost View:Stop trying to hush up the truth about election #RussiaHacking

[riversedge]

The fact that Republicans --Mitch McConnell does NOT want a select committee--will not have a Select committee sickens me.



The Post's View
Stop trying to hush up the truth about election hacking

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/stop-trying-to-hush-up-the-truth-about-election-hacking/2017/01/04/bf8c286a-d2ac-11e6-9cb0-54ab630851e8_story.html?utm_term=.c9bf767263cc

President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)
By Editorial Board January 4 at 6:58 PM

SOME REPUBLICANS — including President-elect Donald Trump — appear to be entirely unconcerned about the strong evidence that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign in order to create uncertainty in the presidential race, or tilt it toward Mr. Trump. Either that, or they are determined to bury the story of an unprecedented intrusion into American democracy by a hostile foreign power. There’s no other way to understand a new set of tweets by Mr. Trump, or the sandbagging by Republican leaders of proposals for a thorough investigation.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) led a bipartisan effort by four senators last month to advocate for an independent investigation by a select committee. This is a reasonable proposal; certainly, the hacking is at least as significant as the Benghazi, Libya, affair, which was subject to eight congressional investigations, mostly led by Republicans, including a select committee. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is reported by Politico to be steadfast against a select committee probe and wants to keep the matter in the hands of the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee.

That could have the effect of preventing the release of embarrassing facts about the election of Mr. Trump. An Intelligence Committee probe would likely mean more secret proceedings and less disclosure to the public. Only 525 of the 6,700 pages of the panel’s report on CIA torture have been released, thanks in part to the efforts of its chairman, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), a staunch Trump supporter who was named as one of his national security advisers during the campaign.

Mr. Trump also continues to deny reality. Early Wednesday, he endorsed an obfuscation by Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, the website that disseminated the stolen emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, among others. Mr. Trump tweeted: “Julian Assange said ‘a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta’ — why was DNC so careless?” We have our own questions: Why does Mr. Trump give Mr. Assange more weight than the U.S. intelligence agencies? Why is the president-elect not outraged at the possibility of foreign intervention in the American political process?

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[JayhawkSD]

1. What false information did the Russians release?

Let's assume that Russia did do the hacking and did release the information.

If the Russians had hacked into the DNC computers and then released a memo saying, "We didn't find anything wrong; they are as pure as the driven snow," would Hillary Clinton still have lost the election due to Russian hacking of the DNC computers?

If, on the other hand, they said they found that she committed a crime on Friday June 12th at 4:15pm in Branson MO and she was able to prove that she actually was addressing a crowd of 25,000 people in Washington DC at that very time, and that therefor the Russian hacked information was demonstrably false, would Hillary Clinton still have lost the election due to Russian hacking?

But neither of those conditions prevail. No member of the Democratic party has ever claimed that anything in the "hacked" content was false; they merely complained about Russia releasing it. "Kill the messenger." So whether it was Russia or anyone else, it was not the hacking that defeated Hillary Clinton, it was the material that was released that did so and no one has denied the truthfulness of that material.

Democrats lost the election, in part, because they rigged the primary election, not because Russia (or whoever) let the cat out of the bag about the Democrats rigging the primary election.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

3. Russia good, DNC bad. Got it. nt

[emulatorloo]

4. Yep. Note the similarity to Pro-Trump/Putin right-wing talking points

[Dr Hobbitstein]

6. Yup. nt

[emulatorloo]

5. What specifically did the Dems do to "rig" the primary? What actions did they take?

I keep hearing y'all claim this as 'fact', yet no one can provide specific proof.

Assange's negative spin/framing of innocuous emails doesn't count as proof or fact.

[csziggy]

7. The DNC gave preference to a long time Democratic candidate

And not to someone who had never been a Democrat before the 2016 campaign season and once the election was over returned to his Independent status. Somehow giving that preference is seen as "rigging" the election.

[Bill USA]

8. "they merely complained about Russia releasing it"... the outrage is that a foreign country hacked

one party's headquarters ...... in an attempt to affect on the outcome of the election. I think most Americans would consider this an outrage.


you stated:

Democrats lost the election, in part, because they rigged the primary election, not because Russia (or whoever) let the cat out of the bag about the Democrats rigging the primary election.

First.....

"Democrats ... rigged the primary election"

... You are attempting to make it sound as if your statement is a fact. This is an assertion without proof.


... And

"not because Russia (or whoever) let the cat out of the bag about the Democrats rigging the primary election."

.. again, not a fact, as you insinuate, but an assertion without proof.


For the Last Time: Here’s Proof the Democratic Primary Wasn’t Rigged Against Bernie Sanders

[triron]

2. Perhaps because he is complicit in the hacking himself (McConnell)

as well as deliberate collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.
Quite likely there was also vote tabulation corruption as well.