U.S. Intelligence Is Saying That Accusing Ukraine For Interfering In The U.S. 2016 Election Is A Russian Intellgience Operation

President Vladmir V. Putin of Russia has been pushing false theories of Ukrainian interference since early 2017, according to American officials.Credit...Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, via Reuters

New York Times: Charges of Ukrainian Meddling? A Russian Operation, U.S. Intelligence Says

Moscow has run a yearslong operation to blame Ukraine for its own 2016 election interference. Republicans have used similar talking points to defend President Trump in impeachment proceedings.

WASHINGTON — Republicans have sought for weeks amid the impeachment inquiry to shift attention to President Trump’s demands that Ukraine investigate any 2016 election meddling, defending it as a legitimate concern while Democrats accuse Mr. Trump of pursuing fringe theories for his benefit.

The Republican defense of Mr. Trump became central to the impeachment proceedings when Fiona Hill, a respected Russia scholar and former senior White House official, added a harsh critique during testimony on Thursday. She told some of Mr. Trump’s fiercest defenders in Congress that they were repeating “a fictional narrative” — and that it likely came from a disinformation campaign by Russian security services, which themselves propagated it.

In a briefing that closely aligned with Dr. Hill’s testimony, American intelligence officials informed senators and their aides in recent weeks that Russia had engaged in a yearslong campaign to essentially frame Ukraine as responsible for Moscow’s own hacking of the 2016 election, according to three American officials. The briefing came as Republicans stepped up their defenses of Mr. Trump in the Ukraine affair.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: It is interesting that the New York Times is posting only now (from an anonymous source) that reports on Ukraine meddling in the 2016 election is a Russian intelligence operation. Talk about timing, especially with some elements of the media and Ukraine officials and now exposing past links between Ukraine and senior Democrat officials starting with the Bidens. My comment in the previous post also still holds ....

.... This is another example on the disconnect between Washington, its foreign policy establishment, and what may actually be happening out there. President Donald Trump’s former Russia adviser believes that Ukraine meddling is fiction, so what is her explanation on this Politico report from 2017 .... Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire (Politico), or even this story from The Hill earlier this year .... Ukrainian to US prosecutors: Why don't you want our evidence on Democrats? (The Hill). Then there is the Ukraine media and their massive coverage of this story which makes Fiona Hill's assertion yesterday that Ukraine did not meddle in the 2016 Presidential election even more confusing. So who to believe? A former official with enormous government resources behind her who says talk of meddling is fiction, or others who are publicly reporting on this story and providing evidence to back-up their reporting. You tell me.

from War News Updates https://ift.tt/2OuOnAg