Punishing Russia for their election assault

It took time for other parts of the intelligence community to endorse the CIA’s view. Only in the administration’s final weeks in office did it tell the public, in a declassified report, what officials had learned from Brennan in August — that Putin was working to elect Trump.

In political terms, Russia’s interference was the crime of the century, an unprecedented and largely successful destabilizing attack on American democracy. It was a case that took almost no time to solve, traced to the Kremlin through cyber-forensics and intelligence on Putin’s involvement. And yet, because of the divergent ways Obama and Trump have handled the matter, Moscow appears unlikely to face proportionate consequences.

But it went further. The intelligence captured Putin’s specific instructions on the operation’s audacious objectives — defeat or at least damage the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help elect her opponent, Donald Trump.

Over that five-month interval, the Obama administration secretly debated dozens of options for deterring or punishing Russia, including cyberattacks on Russian infrastructure, the release of CIA-gathered material that might embarrass Putin and sanctions that officials said could “crater” the Russian economy.

But in the end, in late December, Obama approved a modest package combining measures that had been drawn up to punish Russia for other issues — expulsions of 35 diplomats and the closure of two Russian compounds — with economic sanctions so narrowly targeted that even those who helped design them describe their impact as largely symbolic.

Obama also approved a previously undisclosed covert measure that authorized planting cyber weapons in Russia’s infrastructure, the digital equivalent of bombs that could be detonated if the United States found itself in an escalating exchange with Moscow. The project, which Obama approved in a covert-action finding, was still in its planning stages when Obama left office. It would be up to President Trump to decide whether to use the capability.

Source

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Out-of-order paragraphs (about 1/10 of the entire article) from an amazing piece published by The Washington Post about the Obama administration's attempts to combat obvious Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election.

Read it. Great piece. Only wish Obama had more time, because we know for a fact that Putins man Trump isn't going to do a damned thing about it.

I wish he had done more. I was listening to NPR today, they were discussing this piece, and that was one thing a panelist said that Obama was always a little reserved when it came to foreign affairs. Just like how the article concludes, the Obama administration didn't really start retaliating until after the election was concluded.

A foreign power directly attacked the US electoral system, and the US just thought about how it would respond for months.

“We’re not talking anymore. We’re acting,” she said, according to one participant.

That wasn't until after the election, and the economic sanctions were seen as only being a mild inconvenience.

Obama had many faults.

Will you never let this die?

Are Trump supporters really that sensitive? Geez man, get a grip.

1. Why hasn't Trump acted on this more promptly?

2. LOL at all those people who kept saying this was a farce by the IC. At least we won't have to hear from them anymore. WaPo ftw.

I do think Trump will eventually give support and confidence to the IC to act more swiftly on this. I just hope it is sooner than later.

Not a Trump supporter nor was that a sensitive comment.

@Chutebox: Yet u defend him in every thread lol whatever you say, man. At least be honest.

Hahahaha.......fake news/alternative facts.

Ya, I don't. I've said numerous time's he's an idiot.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I don't think Obama saw the US as the worlds police, but rather a player in the larger game. Plus, at least as it pertains to the Russian meddling issue, he valued the institution of a fair and open elections as an integral part of the American system.

At the end of the day though, I think Obama said "I, as president, cannot open an investigation into known foreign tampering in our elections, especially with how toxic the current political climate is" ...due to all the issues described in the article. But he was the president, he was obligated to respond in a strong and powerful way, which I don't think he did sufficiently.

What's to let die? It is a complete unknown why POTUS will not acknowledge what the entirety of the intelligence community has agreed on for months as well as the Senate (given the recent legislation that passed the Senate 98-2).

Why can't Trump admit the massive problem Russia is?

Um, he did today lol

Saying they "may have" or "probably" did (whichever he said, I can't find the article to check) five months after assuming the presidency after denying it or feigning ignorance multiple times is not nearly enough.

That's all we're going to get out of him lol. It's him admitting it.

Edit: He said probably.

1: Read the OP in a dramatic Kim Kardashian voice. It fits. 2: Frickin war mongering Dems at it again.

And he said all this yesterday, so who knows where he'll be tomorrow:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/trumps-denial-of-russian-interference/531243/

No, because Trump will always be Putin's man in the white house. He wanted him there and he got what he wanted.

Obama knew about the the Russian attempts to interfere in the presidential election in August of 2016 and did nothing about because he did not want to rock the boat as he put it because he felt Hillary had the election in the bag. Hillary lost and now it was Trump clouding with the Russians what a crock.

If you live in a house of glass, you shouldn't be throwing stones ... How about the USA stops interfering with the middle east before they cry about others doing a much smaller thing to them. "In political terms, Russia’s interference was the crime of the century" ... yeah... sure... It's not you guys attacking a country for some cheap oil.

The one you've been denying since October?

I love how you guys quickly flipped the switch on this issue. Partisan Idiots.

ikr, I have been called a Trump supporter quite a few times as was well to my shock of my liberal posting history and the fact I have called him incompetent buffoon on multiple occasions.

No President Obama acted basically the same way as the past presidents in unilateralism, propping up brutal regimes while tearing down others for political and economic gain.. He just used different methods in massive drone campaigns.. And arming extremists.. He couldn't even make a stand on torture and was slimy ass for it in trying to delay the release of the report as long as possible.. President Obama played into the typical game like the presidents before him.. President Obama was as establishment as they came when it went to foreign policies.

Obama knew about the Russian attempts to disrupt the election in August 2016. That is a fact. One thing never proven who the Russians were trying to help in the election.

Obama did not do anything about because he may have wanted Trump to win. You see Obama was Putin's man. The Democrats had more dealings with Russia than Trump which netted them millions of dollars but lest not pay any attention to that because it does not fit the narrative.

You guys denied there was interference period. Flip flop.

WTF are you babbling on about, Trumpkin? Obama expelled some Russian diplomats, signed sanctions against Russia, and gave the green light on an even harsher plan. Hell, Obama crippled the Russian economy a year or two before with the stoke of his pen. Where do you guys get these dopey statements like "Obama didn't do anything!"? Its like you live in a completely different world than normal people. Wow...

JimB may be off base....hell he's not even playing the same sport, but to say, however, that the Russian economy was "crippled" is a bit of an overreach. The Russian economy was more affected by the decrease in oil prices (back however many years ago) than the sanctions the Obama administration levied.

This is a complicated issue that probably comes down to where you lean on presidential reach and authorization -- what the US president is/is not allowed to do and what he should/should not do. This is something I feel the article covers very well.

Obama let the Russians have a free hand in attempting to tamper with the election and did nothing about it until after the election. Fact plain and simple. What world do you live in?

Maybe for the same reason Obama didn´t do anything despite it being a lot more crucial to do something in 2015 before the election.

2. LOL at all the people trying to make this a trump problem solely

And the problem we have here, is that Trump feels that if he admits Russian interference it will make his win false.

And i do see why he has that concern, the democrats are still sore after Clinton loosing out to someone who she thought was beneath her.

1. I already said Obama screwed the pooch on this.

2. See the above.

Obama and the IC screwed up by allowing the interference to happen. Then Trump doubled down on his screw up after the interference was confirmed and the whole IC yelled at the top of his lungs to him. Ignoring it our outright denying it. All IC Chiefs saying, under oath, Trump had not raised any concerns about this issue or demand any more investigation. It actually perplexed them. Just wow.

But he's too concerned about image and politics. Even you admit this in your post. That is sad.

Please stop this witch hunt narrative. Yes, I'm mostly going to raise questions about Trump. As he is the current leader. Obama is out. I think it's time for him to fully embrace the Russia problem and tackle it head on.

This is what I mean. Obama LET? Ahuh.