Trump rehashes years-old grievances on Russia investigation after new intelligence report
WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump rehashed longstanding grievances over the Russia analysis that shadowed much of his first term lashing out Tuesday following a new statement from his intelligence director aimed at casting doubt on long-established findings about Moscow s interference in the polling It s time to go after people Trump declared from the Oval Office as he repeated a baseless claim that former President Barack Obama and other authorities had engaged in treason Trump was not making his maintains for the first time but he delivered them when administration administrators are harnessing the machinery of the federal establishment to investigate the targets of Trump s derision including key administrators responsible for scrutinizing Russia s attempts to intervene on Trump s behalf in The backward-looking inquiries are taking place even as the Republican administration s national safeguard agencies are confronting global threats But they have served as a rallying cry for Trump who is trying to unify a political base at odds over the Jeffrey Epstein development with a few allies pushing to disclose more information despite the president s push to turn the page Gabbard s new summary on the Russia scrutiny Trump s tirade a detour from his official business as he hosted the leader of the Philippines unfolded against the backdrop of a new description from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that represented his administration s latest attempt to rewrite the history of the Russia analysis which has infuriated him for years The document disclosed Friday downplayed the extent of Russian interference in the voting by highlighting Obama administration emails showing officers had concluded before and after the presidential race that Moscow had not hacked state voting systems to manipulate votes in Trump s favor But Obama s Democratic administration never suggested otherwise even as it exposed other means by which Russia interfered in the voting process including through a massive hack-and-leak operation of Democratic emails by intelligence operatives working with WikiLeaks Also a covert foreign influence campaign aimed at swaying society opinion and sowing discord through fake social media posts Gabbard s assessment appears to suggest the absence of manipulation of state electoral contest systems is a basis to call into question more general Russian interference Democrats swiftly decried the account as factually flawed and politically motivated It is sadly not surprising that DNI Gabbard who promised to depoliticize the intelligence neighborhood is once again weaponizing her position to amplify the president s vote conspiracy theories wrote Sen Mark Warner the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee Several investigations ascertained Russian interference in Russia s broad interference in has been established through a series of investigations including special counsel Robert Mueller s research and a thorough Senate Intelligence Committee description That assessment was completed when the panel was led by Republican Sen Marco Rubio who s now Trump s secretary of state A different special counsel appointed by the Trump Justice Department to hunt for problems in the origins of the Russia analysis John Durham did find flaws but not related to what Gabbard sought to highlight in her review Limited episodes in our nation s history have been investigated as thoroughly as the Intelligence Region s warning in that Russia was interfering in the electoral contest announced Rep Jim Himes the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee He added that every legitimate examination including the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee probe discovered no evidence of politicization and endorsed the findings of the Intelligence District Assessment Gabbard s document was distributed weeks after a CIA statement that reexamined a intelligence area assessment on Russian interference That new review ordered by CIA Director John Ratcliffe did not dispute Russia had interfered but suggested agents were rushed in the intelligence assessment they produced Seeking investigations of former authorities Ratcliffe has since referred former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey to the Justice Department for assessment The department appeared to acknowledge an open analysis into both former personnel in an unique announcement earlier this month but the status or contours of such inquiries are unclear Besides Obama Trump on Tuesday rattled off a list of people he accused of acting criminally at the highest level including Comey his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and former national intelligence director James Clapper He accused Obama without evidence of being the ringleader of a conspiracy to get him Obama has never been accused of any wrongdoing as part of the Russia examination and in any event a landmark Supreme Court opinion from last year shields former presidents from prosecution for official acts conducted in office Trump launched his tirade when demanded about the Justice Department s effort to speak with Ghislaine Maxwell the former girlfriend of Epstein who was convicted of helping the financier sexually abuse underage girls I don t really follow that too much he commented It s sort of a witch hunt a continuation of the witch hunt Trump is under pressure from conspiracy-minded segments of his political base to release more about the Epstein event Democrats say Trump is resisting because of his past association with Epstein Trump has denied knowledge of or involvement with Epstein s crimes and announced he ended their friendship years ago Source
