PBS NewsHour full episode Dec. 14, 2016 - YouTube
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Published on Dec 14, 2016
Wednesday on the NewsHour, President-elect Donald Trump talks jobs with the nation’s tech leaders. Also: Reconstructing the Russian hacks leading up to the election, the man behind the rise of neo-Nazi ideology, a second interest rate hike since the Great Recession, a conversation with the outgoing agriculture secretary and a telescope being built on sacred lands.
Published on Dec 15, 2016
Reaction to new Fox News Polls
With denialist Democrats blaming anyone and everyone else for Hillary Clinton’s stunning defeat, we feel compelled to point out that the real fault lay close to home: She ran a terrible campaign — fat, dumb and arrogant.
It wasn’t just the Clinton Camp’s failure to ever settle on a message. Beyond the insipid “I’m with her” and “Stronger together” is the candidate’s failure to push any actual issues. Even her much-vaunted “ground game” was a disaster.
Just consider how she lost Michigan: In a detailed analysis, Politico reports that Clinton’s top aides — wedded to their computer data — angrily rebuffed local supporters who warned she was falling behind. “They believed they were smarter, which they weren’t,” noted one Democratic veteran.
As late as Election Day morning, Team Clinton was convinced she had a commanding 5-point lead in the state — which she lost by 10,000 votes.
Ignoring human intelligence in favor of “data” far from the scene: Sound familiar? It was Clinton’s approach to the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack. (It’s also a sign of how a President Hillary would’ve governed.)
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In fact, Team Clinton did everything wrong in Michigan. It refused to give volunteers lawn signs or literature, saying neither was a “scientifically” significant way of increasing the vote.
And what little data did exist from those few canvassers who’d actually spoken with voters — and who reported yuge support for Trump among white male union members — got tossed in the garbage.
And get this: Clinton’s people worried that she’d win the electoral vote but lose the popular count, so they spent millions late in the game to drive up her vote in cities like Chicago and New Orleans — which were irrelevant to carrying any states.
So she wound up carrying the popular vote but getting slammed in the Electoral College. As one Michigan union leader said, they executed their plan well — but it was the wrong plan.
The desperate efforts to blame fake news or Russian hacking for Donald Trump’s victory ignore the simple truth: The real “rigger” of Hillary Clinton’s defeat was her own campaign team.
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ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Earlier this week, leaders of the Democratic National Committee and former officials of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign made the startling allegation that the Russian government hacked into the email accounts of Mrs. Clinton’s colleagues to tilt the presidential election toward Donald Trump. They even pointed to statements made by CIA officials backing their allegations.
President-elect Trump has characterized these claims as “ridiculous” and just an “excuse” to justify the Clinton defeat, saying they’re also intended to undermine the legitimacy of his election. He pointed to FBI conclusions that the CIA is wrong. Who’s right?
Here is the back story.
The American intelligence community rarely speaks with one voice. The members of its 17 publicly known intelligence agencies — God only knows the number of secret agencies — have the same biases, prejudices, jealousies, intellectual shortcomings and ideological underpinnings as the public at large.
The raw data these agencies examine is the same. Today America’s spies rarely do their own spying; rather, they rely on the work done by the National Security Agency (NSA). We know that from the Edward Snowden revelations. We also know from Mr. Snowden that the NSA can monitor and identify all digital communications within the United States, coming into the United States and leaving the United States. Hence, it would be foolhardy and wasteful to duplicate that work. There is quite simply no fiber-optic cable anywhere in the country transmitting digital data to which the NSA does not have full-time and unfettered access.
I have often argued that this is profoundly unconstitutional because the Fourth Amendment requires a judicially issued search warrant specifically describing the place to be searched or the thing to be seized before the government may lawfully invade privacy, and these warrants must be based on probable cause of criminal behavior on the part of the person whose privacy the government seeks to invade.
Instead of these probable cause-based, judicially issued search warrants, the government obtains what the Fourth Amendment was written to prohibit — general warrants. General warrants are not based on evidence of probable cause of criminal behavior; rather, they are based on government “need.” This is an unconstitutional and absurd standard because the government will always claim that what it wants, it needs.
General warrants do not specifically describe the place to be searched or the thing to be seized; rather, they authorize the bearer to search where he wishes and seize whatever he finds. This is the mindset of the NSA — search everyone, all the time, everywhere — whose data forms the basis for analysis by the other agencies in the intelligence community.
In the case at hand, the CIA and the FBI looked at the same NSA-generated raw data and came to opposite conclusions. Needless to say, I have not seen this data, but I have spoken to those who have, and they are of the view that though there is evidence of leaking, there is no evidence whatsoever of hacking.
Leaking is the theft of private data and its revelation to those not entitled or intended to see it. Hacking is remotely accessing an operational system and altering its contents — for example, removing money from a bank account or contact information from an address book or vote totals from a candidate’s tally. When Mr. Trump characterized the CIA claim that the Russians hacked the DNC and Clinton campaign emails intending to affect the outcome of the election as ridiculous, this is what he meant: There is no evidence of anyone’s altering the contents of operational systems, but there is evidence — plenty of it — of leaking.
If hackers wanted to affect the outcome of the election, they would have needed to alter the operational systems of those who register voters and count votes, not those who seek votes.
During the final five weeks of the presidential campaign, WikiLeaks released tens of thousands of DNC and Clinton campaign emails to the public. WikiLeaks denies that its source was the Russian government, yet for the purposes of the DNC and Clinton campaign claims, that is irrelevant because whoever accessed these emails did not alter the operational systems of any of the targets; the accessor just exposed what was found.
We do not know what data the president-elect examined. Yet in six weeks, he will be the chief intelligence officer of the United States, and he’ll be able to assimilate data as he wishes and reveal what he wants. He should be given the benefit of the doubt because constitutionally, the intelligence community works for him — not for Congress or the American people.
Who did the leaking to WikiLeaks? Who had an incentive to defeat Mrs. Clinton? Whose agents’ safety and lives did she jeopardize when she was extremely careless — as the FBI stated — with many state secrets, including the identity and whereabouts of U.S. intelligence agents and resources?
The answer is obvious: It was the same intelligence community that cannot agree on the meaning of the raw data it has analyzed.
Someone leaked the Democrats’ and the Clinton campaign’s private work, and the government has a duty to find the person or entity that did so, even if it was one of the government’s own. Though the truthful revelation of private facts may have altered some voters’ attitudes, there is no evidence that it altered ballot totals. The law guarantees fair elections, not perfect ones.
Did the Russians hack Hillary Clinton? No. No one did. But some American intelligence agents helped WikiLeaks to expose much dirty laundry.
• Andrew P. Napolitano, a former judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, is a contributor to The Washington Times. He is the author of seven books on the U.S. Constitution.
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posted at 9:31 pm on December 14, 2016 by Ed Morrissey
“The knives are out in Clintonworld,” Vanity Fair’s William Cohan writes, and they may take aim at a surprising target. Allahpundit touched on this earlier today, but it’s worth highlighting as part of the Democrats’ attempts to avoid blaming the one woman who really did lose the election.
Few have been as close to Hillary Clinton as Huma Abedin over the last 25 years, or as quietly dedicated to protecting her boss. Now that Hillary has blown a winnable election, Cohan writes, critics have focused the blame on her inner circle for keeping her too protected — and no one’s more an insider than Abedin:
“Maybe I’m just pissed off, but I really don’t give a shit about what happens to Huma to be honest with you,” one close adviser to Hillary Clinton told me recently. He was irked, in particular, at Abedin’s seemingly superfluous breach of decorum during a post-election event. On the day after Hillary Clinton’s stunning loss to Donald Trump, this person said, Abedin appeared within the rope line while Clinton greeted her morose and woebegone supporters. “You’re staff, O.K.?” this adviser continued. “Staff is staff. You’re not a principal.” …But amid Clinton’s stunning post-election hangover, some inside the inner circle wonder if Abedin became overwhelmed by the attention, and shut too many people out. “She was enjoying the red carpet and enjoying the photo spreads much too much in my opinion,” one Clinton insider told me. “She enjoyed being a celebrity too much.” The close Clinton adviser elaborated that Abedin and the other tight-knit circle of people may have suffocated Clinton, preventing the campaign from taking in outside counsel. “The real anger is toward Hillary’s inner circle,” the Clinton insider told me. “They reinforced all the bad habits.” For instance, the suggestion had been made that Clinton should show her gregarious side, by, for instance, appearing more often on The View. (She appeared once, but Bernie Sanders, her rival for the nomination, appeared a handful of times.)According to this person, however, the inner circle nixed that idea. It seemed, this person elaborated, that even minor suggestions about changing the narrative fell on deaf ears. “Right away,” this person continued, “it was either regarded as an intrusion or a naïve suggestion or maybe someone has an agenda. And so people just stopped bothering. Where in most presidential campaigns the circle grows broader and broader, hers grew smaller and smaller.”
There may be an argument to be made that Abedin cost Hillary the election in one practical way. Had it not been for Abedin’s careless handling of her e-mail connections, she would not have left thousands of messages on Anthony Weiner’s laptop for the FBI to discover while they investigated his alleged sexting with an underage girl. That prompted James Comey to inform Congress that the FBI found new evidence in the e-mail scandal investigation, which Democrats are blaming for turning last-minute deciders away from Hillary.
However, that argument has to rely on a particularly uncomfortable fact: Hillary Clinton created the e-mail scandal in the first place. In fact, her refusal to use the official State Department e-mail system required her inner circle at State to use the home-brew system that intended to keep Congress and the courts from finding Hillary’s communications as Secretary of State. Democrats could argue that Abedin should have been more circumspect in choosing which device to use while accessing it, but that’s like complaining about how the staff arranged the deck chairs on the Titanic while it steamed into an iceberg. Hillary’s the author of all that followed in regard to the e-mails.
Otherwise, Abedin makes a poor target for the knives. The slap at Abedin’s love of celebrity is laughable; she barely exists in the media except for her pictures standing by Hillary’s side. She did more when Weiner ran for mayor, but not a whole lot more, and mostly stopped after his second sexting scandal emerged. Apart from that, Abedin has never been a Svengali to Hillary — the authority dynamic runs in the other direction.
In fact, that suggestion and the broader accusation that Hillary failed because of a palace guard that insulated her from reality seems almost … sexist. Wasn’t Hillary the “chief executive” of her own campaign? Wasn’t she supposed to be the “most qualified candidate ever,” as Barack Obama and other Democrats claimed? Hillary was “a workhorse, not a show horse,” determinedly superior in judgment and executive ability, her supporters claimed — and accused her critics of misogyny for questioning those claims. (In fact, Hillary’s supporters are still making those accusations.) Now the explanation for the loss is that Hillary couldn’t see past her own administrative assistant or unbox herself from the team she put together.
This is just another embarrassing example of denial from Democrats. They nominated an unlikable and incompetent candidate with too much scandal baggage of her own creation, and then alienated even more voters by calling them bigots for noticing. Abedin makes a handy scapegoat for those unwilling to face reality.
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New scapegoat for Hillary Clinton loss: Huma Abedin?
Hot Air - 11 hours ago
“The knives are out in Clintonworld,” Vanity Fair's William Cohan writes, and they may take aim at a surprising target. Allahpundit touched on this earlier today, but it's worth highlighting as part of the Democrats' attempts to avoid blaming the one ...
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<a href="http://TheBlaze.com" rel="nofollow">TheBlaze.com</a> - 15 hours ago
Close Clinton adviser goes off on Huma Abedin: 'I'm just pissed off Huma Abedin, aide to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, looks on during a news conference at the New Yorker Hotel in New York City on Nov. 9. (Justin Sullivan/Getty ...
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The post-election dustup over charges that Russia was behind the email hacks of Democratic Party officials and a top aide to Hillary Clinton only seemed to expand on Wednesday, as a GOP Senator said his campaign email had been hacked, and allies of President-Elect Trump feuded with the U.S. Intelligence Community over what is really known about the Russian operation.
I have had a lot of people in recent days ask questions about the rumblings over possible Russian interference in the 2016 elections, what has been proven, what has not, and what sort of evidence is out there and more.
So, let’s run through a little more about this story.
1. This is not about the Russians hacking the election results. Let’s get one thing out of the way at the start – this is not about hackers going after voting machines or state and local elections software, voting numbers, or anything like that. The Russians did not change the vote totals from Election Day. What U.S. Intelligence has believed – since before November 8 – is that the Russians were involved in the email disclosures by Wikileaks, which centered on officials at the Democratic National Committee and top Clinton aide John Podesta. Here is the statement that was issued by the Director of National Intelligence just over a month before Election Day:
2. But what about the evidence? Where is the evidence? As usual, U.S. Intelligence does not hand out press releases to reporters with a handy-dandy rundown of why their analysis points at Moscow. So, the statement above is the most public item there is at this point. James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, was asked about the assessment at a post-election hearing of the House Intelligence Committee. “We gave considerable thought to diming out Russia with that statement,” Clapper told lawmakers, as he said there was “forensic” and other intelligence that implicated the Russians.
3. US Intel sees links between Russia and Wikileaks. The charge that Wikileaks worked hand-in-hand with Russian Intelligence has brought strong denials from the internet freedom group, which has sternly and repeatedly denied any such link. Publicly, U.S. officials have not made a hard and fast connection between Wikileaks and the Russians, but recent reports about Russian actions indicate that some in the Intelligence Community – but maybe not all – have connected those dots. You can find ex-intelligence veterans who will say that it’s not true, and you can find others who think it’s been a badly kept secret.
4. But wait – wasn’t Podesta hacked by spear-phishing? Yes, John Podesta was the victim of a regular type of phishing attack, where he (and others inside the Clinton campaign apparatus) were fooled by a fake message from Google, telling Podesta to re-set his password. For many, that evidence shows this could not have been Russian Intelligence, as they argue Moscow would have used much more advanced means to crack into the emails of the Clinton Campaign. But a report by an internet security firm based in Atlanta found several hundred similar phishing attacks against people working for Clinton, whether via their <a href="http://gmail.com" rel="nofollow">gmail.com</a> or <a href="http://hillaryclinton.com" rel="nofollow">hillaryclinton.com</a> email addresses. The assessment from June was that those phishing attacks were “gathering intelligence on behalf of the Russian government.”
5. What will the Congress do on this matter? While Democrats have been pushing for an independent commission or a special committee to investigate any Russian interference, Republicans have said they will let existing committees in the House and Senate review the evidence. Not surprisingly, Democrats charge the GOP is trying to avoid getting answers – but Republicans on Wednesday night were aiming their barbs at the Intelligence Community, accusing the IC of not revealing what it knows to the Congress, by refusing to brief the House Intelligence Committee. “It is unacceptable that the Intelligence Community directors would not fulfill the House Intelligence Committee’s request to be briefed tomorrow on the cyber-attacks that occurred during the presidential campaign,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), considered a close ally of President-Elect Trump. Here is the full Nunes statement:
And here is the response from the Director of National Intelligence:
6. The CIA gets kicked around like a political football After President-Elect Trump publicly criticized the U.S. Intelligence Community last week over reports on Russian interference in the elections, some former intelligence operatives speculated that there would be retaliation against Trump by the CIA or other agencies – retaliation in the sense of pushing back with leaks against Trump on the question of Russia’s actions. Some think those type of leaks have been going on in recent days, as news stories about Russian hacks on the DNC and the Clinton campaign have been greeted with social media heckling by conservatives.
7. The White House pushes Trump on Russia. While some are giving the U.S. Intelligence Community hell, the White House has been slowly edging its way into a more confrontational mode on this matter with President-Elect Trump. The Obama White House wants some kind of review done before Mr. Trump takes office – critics contend that will be a biased reading of what the Intelligence Community really knows about Russian efforts. Here was the read of White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest from Wednesday at the daily briefing:
8. It was more than just Democrats who were hacked. With reports this week that there were hacks of emails at the Republican National Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told CNN on Wednesday that his campaign email account was hacked by Russia, saying the FBI told him in August that the hack had occurred in June. “They’re trying to destabilize democracy all over the world,” Graham said of the Russians.
9. But what about the FBI and CIA disagreement on this? What the FBI and CIA disagree on is important – but don’t forget the basics. As was stated above on October 7, the U.S. Intelligence Community believes that the Russians were involved in the hacking of emails from the DNC, Podesta, and according to reports this week, maybe the RNC as well. The dispute between the FBI and CIA centers on the next step – can you categorically say that the Russians were trying to get Donald Trump elected? Or were the Russians just trying to screw with the elections.
Stay tuned on this Russia issue – it’s not going away anytime soon.
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Published on Dec 14, 2016
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest states that President-elect Donald Trump was "obviously aware" that Russia meddled in the US election to benefit his own campaign.
Uploaded on Dec 12, 2016
In October, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, told Congress that U.S. intelligence had the sufficient forensic and other intelligence evidence that showed Russia was behind hacks related to the US elections.
Report: Putin 'personally involved' in undermining U.S. election
By Jessie Hellmann - 12/14/16 07:08 PM EST 2,653
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If Putin Was Personally Involved in Election Meddling, How Can the U.S. Respond?
New York Magazine - 33 minutes ago
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James Comey has been called a "Boy Scout" by those who seem to think that he is above reproach. Maybe the Boy Scout thing refers to his self-righteous TV persona or it could just be that haircut.
In any case, I find his behavior more closely aligned with Girl Scouts than with Boy Scouts and I hope that doesn't sound too gender stereotypical.
It's possible that FBI Director James Comey has done more to tarnish the image of the FBI than J. Edgar Hoover's collection of cocktail dresses and slingback pumps.
He may even have caused Efram Zimbalist, Jr. to roll over in his grave.
When Comey announced the results of the email investigation back in July, he could have sent out a memo saying that after a thorough investigation of thousands of emails, the FBI found no evidence of criminal or prosecutable activity.
Instead, he chose to thrust himself into the spotlight with a long and confusing recounting of mind-numbing details. It was like being forced to watch a video of sausage making instead of getting the hot dog you really want.
Even more perplexing was Comey's interjection of random opinions, speculation and conjecture. It was like a radiologist sending a doctor his report saying that he found no broken bones, but the patient had bad teeth and mustard stains on his shirt.
Republicans thought that Comey let Hillary Clinton off the hook, but the truth is that while he found no evidence worth sending to a prosecutor, he excoriated her in a bad report card.
Most puzzling was Comey's pronouncement that Clinton's server was probably hacked because they found no evidence that it was hacked. You can, if so inclined read the transcripts of Comey's remarks HERE.
When Comey sent his message to congressional committees on Friday he said that he didn't want to give voters the wrong impression and yet, that's exactly what he did.
A person in Comey's position might have known that the stock market would react adversely to the news, which it did. The S&P dropped 20 points.
A person in Comey's position might have known that Donald Trump would do what he always does, take a smidgen of truth and twist it into a mountain of lies. Which he did.
A person in Comey's position should understand that there is a good reason for the FBI's policy of not releasing this kind of information within 60 days of a national election. Apparently, he does not.
Since when does the FBI share information with the public about ongoing investigations? Why would the FBI director make himself the focal point of an investigation and why aren't those techs tracking down ISIS emails and shutting down their websites?
None of this should be about FBI Director James Comey. He should spend less time worrying about what he said to Congress and about covering his six.
The truth is that James Comey has no idea what those emails say. At the time Comey sent that letter, the FBI didn't even have a warrant to read those emails.
The truth is that during their investigation of Anthony Weiner they ran across emails that may or may not be pertinent to their previous investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails.
One has to ask one's self why James Comey would proffer such conjecture, contrary to FBI policy and procedure at such an inauspicious time.
A number of theories might pop into a fertile, cynical mind.
Was someone's account in the Cayman Islands holding a large short position in S&P options?
Did Paul Manafort find a way to influence the head of the FBI, either through intimidation or financial reward?
-You remember Paul Manafort, don't you? He was Trump's campaign manager until it leaked out that he was in bed with Russian oligarchs and mass murdering tyrants.
I don't believe that James Comey is a Boy Scout, but I also don't believe that his actions on Friday were criminally motivated. We may never know. It could be just as simple as a man caught in a bad spot making a bad choice.
One thing is sure, James Comey is going to be answering questions well into the foreseeable future.
That's going to be it for me for a while. A non-nondescript sedan just pulled into my driveway and four men in dark suits and sunglasses are getting out.
I'd like to get the door before they ring the bell and wake up the dogs.
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According to sources who were briefed on conversations that FBI Director James Comey had with President-elect Donald Trump, Comey told Trump that there was no credible evidence to suggest that the Russian government played any part in the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, or the hacked emails of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Townhall reported late Wednesday that during the same phone conversation, Comey told Trump that National Intelligence Director James Clapper agreed with the FBI’s stance that there was no evidence to suggest Russian influence in the election.
Comey allegedly told Trump that there was only one U.S. intelligence official who was convinced the Russians were behind the hacked emails, and that was CIA Director John Brennan. Comey also added, “And Brennan takes his marching orders from President Obama.”
The sources also stated that Comey told Trump he saw the recent leaks to the Washington Post and New York Times as an attempt by the Democratic party to diminish Trump’s victory in the election by alleging he had outside help from the Russian government.
Comey added that the FBI had already been on the lookout for Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election for the past year, and that the connection between the Russian government and the email hacking was still an “open question.” In fact, Comey said it was equally as likely that the email hackers had no connections to Russian government whatsoever.
Time to fire FBI Director James Comey
By William W. Keller, contributor - 12/14/16 12:40 PM EST 233
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Reuters CHARLESTON, S.C. Dylann Roof visited Charleston, South Carolina, at least six times in the months before he shot and killed nine people in a historic black church there in June 2015, anFBI agent told jurors at Roof's federal death penalty trial on ... The Latest: FBI Agent: Roof Took Backroads After ShootingABC News FBI agent details the pursuit of Dylann RoofWCBD News 2 Trial reveals Roof's gun purchase went unchallenged by store ownerUSA TODAY all 376 news articles » |
Beshear: Drug epidemic should be top legislative issue
State-Journal.com Joseph Fischer, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. But Beshear's effort to pass legislation this year could be thwarted by his toxic relationship with Bevin. Beshear has sued Bevin three times so far, seeking to block Bevin's ... and more » |
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 Fortune |
Google Shows How FBI Makes Secret Demands for Gmail Account Info
Fortune The tech industry and the federal government have been in a long-running battle over so-called “National Security Letters,” which the FBI uses to obtain information about Internet customers—while also imposing a gag order that forbids the tech ... Google Publishes Eight Secret FBI RequestsThe Intercept Google begins releasing its secret FBI subpoenasEngadget Google publishes eight secret data requests from the FBIThe Verge RT -Tech Times -Daily Caller -Google all 24 news articles » |
 Washington Times |
Hillary Clinton lost the White House because of these five real reasons
Washington Times Hillary Clinton's team would like you to believe it was FBI Director James B. Comey, Russian hacking, or American racism, xenophobia and bigotry that caused her to lose the White House. In reality, it was campaign malfeasance. Here are five examples, ... How Clinton lost Michigan — and blew the electionPolitico Clinton Campaign Cost: $1.2B. Result: PricelessDaily Caller all 944 news articles » |
The Hill (blog) |
Time to fire FBI Director James Comey
The Hill (blog) The FBI has a long and dishonorable record of political interference and malfeasance, often associated with its first director, J. Edgar Hoover. He placed his agents on the staffs of the most powerful committees of Congress. He turned the FBI into a ... VICE News sues FBI for info on Trump, the Clintons, and Breitbart NewsVICE News FBI sued for files on election-era probesPolitico (blog) EXCLUSIVE: FBI New York Field Office Told To Continue Clinton Foundation ProbeDaily Caller Newsweek -Reuters -Gothamist all 34 news articles » |
 FOX News Radio (blog) |
EVIDENTLY THE CIA IS SUPER-PO'D AT TRUMP
FOX News Radio (blog) ... impact on the election, while conceding that other factors — Mrs. Clinton's weaknesses as a candidate; her private email server; the public statements of the F.B.I. director, James B.Comey, about her handling of classified information — were ... Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White HouseWashington Post FBI, CIA Can't Get Their Stories Straight About Russian HackingPJ Media White House slams Donald Trump, GOP over probes of Russian hacking in electionWashington Times Salon -AlterNet -New York Times all 3,770 news articles » |
 Newsmax |
EXCLUSIVE: FBI New York Field Office Told To Continue Clinton Foundation Probe
Daily Caller Officials at FBI headquarters instructed its New York field office to continue its corruption investigation into the Clinton Foundation following the election of Republican candidate Donald Trump, according to a former senior law enforcement official. Report: FBI's Clinton Foundation Probe Ongoing Post-ElectionNewsmax all 2 news articles » |
 Mashable |
The FBI wants you to know hacking is bad, fellow kids
Mashable Like everyone else, the FBI has had a tough 2016. Between their court battle with Apple and director James Comey's controversial role in the presidential election, it's been a wild ride — but is that any excuse for lame ass tweets? This week, the ... International Cyber Sweep Nets DDoS AttackersFederal Bureau of Investigation (press release) (blog) FBI Bust Indian Student for Conducting DDoS Attacks a Chat SiteHack Read Europol, FBI arrest dozens over DDoS-related offenses in joint effortDigital Trends Europol all 42 news articles » |
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 The Hill (blog) |
FBI sued over records from campaign
The Hill (blog) Vice News has announced that it is suing the FBI in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit over documents surrounding the 2016 Clinton and Trump campaigns. Vice News said it filed the joint lawsuit Tuesday morning with Ryan Shapiro, a doctoral ... and more » |
Washington Post |
5 things Donald Trump promised he'd do, but hasn't
Washington Post Two weeks ago, President-elect Donald Trump promised to hold a news conference Thursday that would detail how he intends to deal with his business operations while president. There remain huge questions about him handing over control to his children ... Is Trump's Twitter account a national security threat?Politico What Trump Has Said About His Business PlansABC News Critics slam Donald Trump's plan to let his sons run businessesUSA TODAY Wall Street Journal -Washington Times -Vanity Fair -NPR all 145 news articles » |
Mediaite |
'None of This Would Have Happened': RNC Spox Blames Podesta For Russian Hacking
Mediaite sean-spicer-wolfedited During an interview on CNN today, Republican National Committee spokesperson Sean Spicer essentially blamed Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta for Russian's hacking his email, stating that if it weren't for him and others ... How Putin Got His Pet Game Show Host Elected PresidentMother Jones Report: Clinton, Podesta Hack May Have Been Due to a 3-Letter TypoThe Epoch Times Bombshell Report Shows FBI Knew About Russia's DNC Hacking Since 2015PoliticusUSA Daily Caller -TPM -The San Diego Union-Tribune -New York Times all 41 news articles » |
In telephone conversations with Donald Trump, FBI Director James Comey assured the president-elect there was no credible evidence that Russia influenced the outcome of the recent U.S. presidential election by hacking the Democratic National Committee and the e-mails of John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
What’s more, Comey told Trump that James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, agreed with this FBI assessment.
The only member of the U.S. intelligence community who was ready to assert that the Russians sanctioned the hacking was John Brennan, the director of the CIA, according to sources who were briefed on Comey’s conversations with Trump.
“And Brennan takes his marching orders from President Obama,” the sources quoted Comey as saying.
In Comey’s view, the leaks to the New York Times and the Washington Post alleging that the Russians tried—and perhaps even succeeded—in tilting the election to Trump were a Democratic Party effort to delegitimize Trump’s victory.
During their phone conversations, Comey informed Trump that the FBI had been alert for the past year to the danger that the Russians would try to cause mischief during the U.S. presidential election.
However, whether the Russians did so remains an open question, Comey said, adding that it was just as likely that the hacking was done by people who had no direct connection to the Russian government.
“It’s also unclear,” the sources pointed out, “why Putin would have preferred dealing with Donald Trump, who has promised a major military buildup, over Hillary Clinton, who would have continued Barack Obama’s cautious policies toward the Kremlin.”
Craig Murray says source of Hillary Clinton campaign Wikileaks emails a 'disgusted' Democrat
Washington Times - 2 hours ago
“Neither of [the leaks] came from the Russians,” said Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and a close associate of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. “The source had legal access to the information. The documents came from inside leaks ...
White House: Trump 'obviously' knew Russia was hacking in U.S. election
Washington Times - 4 hours ago
FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2015 file photo, President Barack Obama shakes hands with Russian President President Vladimir Putin before a bilateral meeting at United Nations headquarters. Obama has ordered intelligence officials to conduct a broad review ...
WikiLeaks operative: Clinton campaign emails came from 'inside leaks,' not Russian hackers
Washington Examiner (blog) - 2 hours ago
A WikiLeaks operative is claiming "inside leaks," not Russian hackers, are responsible for the release of emails that embarrassed Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee during the presidential race. Craig Murray, who is a ...
Trump should condemn Russian interference
Journal Inquirer - 10 hours ago
We have learned to take President-elect Donald Trump's statements not as gems of truth but as an outlet for his opinions. As his talk of things being “wonderful,” “the best,” and “incredible” faces the realities of time, many will excuse Trump for ...
US Officials: Putin Personally Involved in US Election Hack
<a href="http://NBCNews.com" rel="nofollow">NBCNews.com</a> - 3 hours ago
U.S. intelligence officials now believe with "a high level of confidence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, senior U.S. intelligence officials ...
NBC News: Intelligence officials say Putin personally involved in election hack
USA TODAY - 50 minutes ago
Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in efforts to intervene in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, NBC News reported, citing two unnamed "senior U.S. intelligence officials." New intelligence links Putin directly to the leaks from ...
Putin had a hand in cyber attacks before election: officials
New York Daily News - 1 hour ago
Officials told NBC News that there is “a high level of confidence” that Vladimir Putin had a direct hand in the cyber attacks that influenced the U.S. election. (SERGEI KARPUKHIN/REUTERS). BY Denis Slattery. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. Updated: Wednesday ...
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Page 7
Report Says Putin Was Directly Involved With Russian Interference In U.S. Election
Huffington Post - 1 hour ago
U.S. intelligence officials say they believe Russian President Vladimir Putin was directly involved in efforts to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election, NBC News reported Wednesday. NBC's bombshell story comes days after The Washington Post ...
US Officials: Putin Personally Involved in US Election Hack
<a href="http://NBCNews.com" rel="nofollow">NBCNews.com</a> - 3 hours ago
U.S. intelligence officials now believe with "a high level of confidence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, senior U.S. intelligence officials ...
Putin had a hand in cyber attacks before election: officials
New York Daily News - 1 hour ago
Officials told NBC News that there is “a high level of confidence” that Vladimir Putin had a direct hand in the cyber attacks that influenced the U.S. election. (SERGEI KARPUKHIN/REUTERS). BY Denis Slattery. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. Updated: Wednesday ...
NBC News: Intelligence officials say Putin personally involved in election hack
USA TODAY - 50 minutes ago
Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in efforts to intervene in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, NBC News reported, citing two unnamed "senior U.S. intelligence officials." New intelligence links Putin directly to the leaks from ...
Read the whole story
· ·
U.S. Intel Directly Links President Putin to Campaign to Disrupt U.S. Election 1:31
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U.S. intelligence officials now believe with "a high level of confidence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News.
Two senior officials with direct access to the information say new intelligence shows that Putin personally directed how hacked material from Democrats was leaked and otherwise used. The intelligence came from diplomatic sources and spies working for U.S. allies, the officials said.
Putin's objectives were multifaceted, a high-level intelligence source told NBC News. What began as a "vendetta" against Hillary Clinton morphed into an effort to show corruption in American politics and to "split off key American allies by creating the image that [other countries] couldn't depend on the U.S. to be a credible global leader anymore," the official said.
Tillerson is 'Gift for Putin,' Former Top Russian Minister Says 1:29
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Ultimately, the CIA has assessed, the Russian government wanted to elect Donald Trump. The FBI and other agencies don't fully endorse that view, but few officials would dispute that the Russian operation was intended to harm Clinton's candidacy by leaking embarrassing emails about Democrats.
The latest intelligence said to show Putin's involvement goes much further than the information the U.S. was relying on in October, when all 17 intelligence agencies signed onto a statement attributing the Democratic National Committee hack to Russia.
The statement said officials believed that "only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities." That was an intelligence judgment based on an understanding of the Russian system of government, which Putin controls with absolute authority.
Now the U.S has solid information tying Putin to the operation, the intelligence officials say. Their use of the term "high confidence" implies that the intelligence is nearly incontrovertible.
"It is most certainly consistent with the Putin that I have watched and used to work with when I was an ambassador and in the government," said Michael McFaul, who was ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014.
"He has had a vendetta against Hillary Clinton, that has been known for a long time because of what she said about his elections back in the parliamentary elections of 2011. He wants to discredit American democracy and make us weaker in terms of leading the liberal democratic order. And most certainly he likes President-elect Trump's views on Russia," McFaul added. Clinton cast doubt on the integrity of Russia's elections.
As part of contingency planning for potential retaliation against Russia, according to officials, U.S. intelligence agencies have stepped up their probing into his personal financial empire.
Clinton: Putin 'a Tough Guy with a Thin Skin' 1:03
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American officials have concluded that Putin's network controls some $85 billion worth of assets, officials told NBC News.
Neither the CIA nor the Office of the Director of National Intelligence would comment.
A former CIA official who worked on Russia told NBC News that it's not clear the U.S. can embarrass Putin, given that many Russians are already familiar with allegations he has grown rich through corruption and has ordered the killings of political adversaries.
But a currently serving U.S. intelligence official said that there are things Putin is sensitive about, including anything that makes him seem weak.
The former CIA official said the Obama administration may feel compelled to respond before it leaves office.
"This whole thing has heated up so much," he said. "I can very easily see them saying, `We can't just say wow, this was terrible and there's nothing we can do.'"
Read the whole story
· · ·
Chron.com |
The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the US
New York Times A filing cabinet broken into in 1972 as part of the Watergate burglary sits beside a computer server that Russian hackers breached during the 2016 presidential campaign at the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in Washington. Credit Justin T. How A Single Typo Led To The Unraveling Of Hillary Clinton's CampaignHuffington Post Why Some People Think a Typo Cost Clinton the ElectionThe Atlantic A simple two-letter typo might have cost Hillary Clinton the entire electionTheBlaze.com The Verge -Daily Caller -TPM -Vox all 10 news articles » |
Bloomberg |
Dow Flirts With 20000 as Stocks Rise, Gold Falls Ahead of Fed
Bloomberg Global stocks advanced, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging toward 20,000 on speculation that the Federal Reserve's expected rate increase is a signal of confidence that the world's largest economy is strengthening. The dollar and ... Dow closes at record high but doesn't top 20000 yetUSA TODAY Wall St. adds to record rally, Dow approaches 20000Reuters Dow closes up triple digits, inching closer to 20000; Fed decision loomsCNBC Fox Business -Nasdaq -BBC News -Business Insider all 228 news articles » |
Huffington Post |
This GOP-Backed Law Forbids Donald Trump From Using Presidency For Personal Profit
Huffington Post President-elect Donald Trump's business empire represents an unprecedented source of conflicts of interest between his presidential duties and the hundreds of private companies he controls, which he has said he will not sell and will leave to his sons ... Government ethics office not involved in Trump's business planThe Hill (blog) Not so funny now for DemocratsFox News Donald Trump's Wealthy Cabinet Picks to Undergo Financial Scrutiny He Didn't FaceNew York Times New York Daily News -International Business Times -U.S. News & World Report -Daily Caller all 111 news articles » |
Washington Post |
Trump taps Montana congressman Ryan Zinke as interior secretary
Washington Post President-elect Trump has tapped GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke, who has represented Montana's at-large congressional seat for one term, to serve as secretary of the Department of the Interior, according to an individual with first-hand knowledge of the decision. Montana congressman is now the favorite to be Interior secretaryLos Angeles Times Trump selects Zinke as interior secretaryPolitico Trump taps Montana congressman for Interior secretaryThe Hill NPR -NBCNews.com -New York Times -Wall Street Journal all 158 news articles » |
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Politico |
Rex Tillerson's 3 am phone call
Politico It was nearly 3 o'clock in the morning when the phone rang in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, an impoverished, war-torn country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Hours earlier, Rex Tillerson, then a young, up-and-coming country manager at Exxon, had ... Putin humiliates Obama, manipulates Trump, motivates McCain to actionThe Hill (blog) Capital Journal Daybreak: The Trump Transition, MoreWall Street Journal (blog) Why Tillerson's Confirmation Won't Be EasyNBCNews.com Reuters -Business Insider -Salt Lake Tribune -New York Times all 691 news articles » |
Washington Post |
Duterte keeps admitting to killing people. His supporters keep shrugging it off.
Washington Post It should have been a shocking admission. On Monday, Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, bragged about killing people. He said that when he was a city mayor, he used to hunt suspects on his motorcycle, shooting people on the spot. The goal ... Philippines president claims he killed criminals himself, popped pillsFox News Philippines' Duterte 'in the pink of health', ministers sayReuters Philippine President Duterte Admitted to Personally Killing PeopleForeign Policy (blog) all 376 news articles » |
Politico |
Priebus floats shakeup for White House press corps
The Hill Priebus raised the possibility of changing the format of the daily press briefing and rearranging the seating chart inside the James Brady Press Briefing Room. “The traditions, while some of them are great, I think it's time to revisit a lot of these ... Trump chief of staff Priebus: White House press briefings could be changedNBC2 News Priebus Tells Hugh Hewitt Trump's First Move In Office, And It's Bad News For You Obamacare Fans [VIDEO]Daily Caller all 40 news articles » |
Washington Post |
Moscow has the world's attention. For Putin, that's a win.
Washington Post MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin is winning. For now. The Russian leader is winning because the post-Cold War order he has railed against has been thrown into chaos, and the Kremlin's fingerprints are widely seen to be all over it. A year ago, Russia ... US Officials: Putin Personally Involved in US Election HackNBCNews.com YouGov poll: Since 2014, Putin's net favorability among Republican rises 56 pointsHot Air Vladimir Putin's Popularity Is Skyrocketing Among RepublicansHuffington Post FiveThirtyEight -The Week Magazine -New York Daily News -MTV.com all 444 news articles » |
Business Insider |
IT HAPPENED AGAIN: Yahoo says a billion user accounts were stolen in possibly the biggest hack of all time
Business Insider Yahoo has announced that "more than one billion user accounts" may have been stolen by hackers during an attack that took place in August 2013, according to a press release. This is a separate hack than the one that Yahoo announced back in September, ... Yahoo Discloses New Breach of 1 Billion User AccountsWall Street Journal Yahoo discloses hack of 1 billion accountsTechCrunch Yahoo hit with another huge personal-data breach, of a billion user accountsThe Mercury News CNBC -VentureBeat -SFGate -CBS Local all 92 news articles » |
(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc warned on Wednesday that it had uncovered yet another massive cyber attack, saying data from more than 1 billion user accounts was compromised in August 2013, making it the largest breach in history.
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