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Russia Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 30, 2017 9 Comments
The Senate Intelligence Committee held its first hearing on possible Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election and its "information warfare." It was revealed that hackers targeted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) during his presidential campaign:
"Former members of my presidential campaign team who had access to the internal information of my presidential campaign were targeted by IP addresses with an unknown location within Russia," Rubio said Thursday. "That effort was unsuccessful. I would also inform the committee within the last 24 hours, at 10:45 a.m. yesterday, a second attempt was made, again, against former members of my presidential campaign team who had access to our internal information -- again targeted from an IP address from an unknown location in Russia. And that effort was also unsuccessful."

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 29, 2017 12 Comments
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike recently revised a report from December that insisted that the group "Fancy Bear," which has ties to Russian intelligence, used malware to hack into Ukrainian artillery. In the same report, the firm said "Fancy Bear" used the same malware to "hack" into the American election. Well, British think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) found that CrowdStrike "erroneously used IISS data as proof of the intrusion." This also calls into question its findings of meddling in our election.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 28, 2017 20 Comments
Tuesday, American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent, April Ryan, asked White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer how the administration was working to "revamp their image" after two and a half months of bad press. The exchange quickly became a heated one. "With all these investigations, questions of what is is, how does this administration try to revamp its image? Two and a half months in -- you've got this Yates story today, you've got other things going on, you've got Russia, you've got wiretapping..." began Ryan.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 23, 2017 4 Comments
A shooter assassinated former Russian lawmaker Denis Voronenkov, who was also a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, outside of a hotel in Kiev, Ukraine. Voronenkov, former member of the Communist Party, fled to Ukraine last fall with his wife when he found out he would face fraud charges "over the alleged misappropriation of a Moscow building in 2011." The Ukrainian government granted him citizenship and he provided evidence against former Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovych, who ran to Russia after parliament ousted him on February 22, 2014.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 23, 2017 25 Comments
Did the Trump White House use the House intel committee chairman to divert attention from the committee's investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russians? That's what Joe Scarborough suggested on today's Morning Joe.  Scarborough said that his reporting suggests that the White House "shoved" committee chairman Devin Nunes in front of the cameras to reveal that communications of President Trump and associates may have been intercepted after the election by intelligence agencies conducting surveillance of foreign targets. Scarborough: "it just looked like, and sounded like from some reporting I did yesterday, that you had the White House desperate to do anything to change headlines this morning, because, again, from the reporting I did yesterday, talking to people in the White House, they were so desperate to change the narrative that it looks like they shoved him out with this information—just any information, anything—to change the headlines. And to blow up the investigation in the House. And it looks like that's exactly what they did."

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 22, 2017 6 Comments
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson received massive backlash when the media reported he planned to skip a formal NATO meeting on April 5-6, but kept his Moscow trip in mid-April. A Secretary of State has only missed a formal meeting twice in the past 21 years. However, the media has buried the fact that Tillerson planned to skip the meeting because he scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jingping in Florida with President Donald Trump on April 6-7. They also casually mention that he will travel to a G7 meeting in Italy between his weekend with Xi and the trip to Russia.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 22, 2017 17 Comments
Conservative author and broadcaster Mark Steyn was on the Tucker Carlson show this week and was asked for his thoughts on the Democratic Party's current obsession with Russia. Steyn explained it quite simply suggesting that Democrats can't accept the fact that they lost the election. It's easier for them to believe it was stolen from them. From the FOX News Insider:
Steyn: Dems Turned Putin Into 'Bond Villain' With 'Drumbeat' Against Russia Author and commentator Mark Steyn said Democrats in Congress effectively made Russian President Vladimir Putin a "Bond villain" by continuing to accuse them of interference and spying.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 21, 2017 9 Comments
As the rest of the Morning Joe panel remained in three-alarm, apocalyptic mode this morning, there was one lonely voice bringing some balance to the discussion. MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin said it was "completely improper" of FBI Director James Comey to have revealed the existence of an ongoing investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Rejecting Mika Brzezinski's suggestion that Comey was "compelled" to make the revelation, Halperin added that Comey "says the standard is, if the public is interested in something, I'll reveal an ongoing probe. I've never heard of this standard. I think it's a dangerous one to set."

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 15, 2017 24 Comments
What in the actual... Yes, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) claimed on the Senate floor that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) now works for Russian President Vladimir Putin because Paul voted against allowing Montenegro into NATO:
McCain tried to call up the treaty and warned that anyone blocking it would be helping Russia maintain its influence over the small country across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. "If there's objection, you are achieving the objectives of Vladimir Putin," McCain warned. "If they object, they are now carrying out the desires and ambitions of Vladimir Putin, and I do not say that lightly."

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 15, 2017 4 Comments
Authorities have charged four men, including two Russians, for hacking into the computer systems at Yahoo and stealing personal information. The two Russians, Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, work for Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor of the KGB. Latvian Alexsey Belan, who is also on the FBI's most wanted list, also received charges along with Karim Baratov, who was born in Kazakhstan and holds Canadian citizenship. Canadian authorities arrested Baratov on Tuesday.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 03, 2017 46 Comments
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal published a report that then-Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) used campaign money to travel to the event where he mingled with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. There's a few problems with this assertion. Sessions used his campaign account to travel to the Republican National Convention...which is a campaign event for all of those politicians.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 02, 2017 24 Comments
The witch hunt against President Donald Trump and his administration continues in the mainstream media. Last night, The Washington Post reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke to the Russian ambassador twice during the campaign, which he did not mention during his confirmation hearing. Thing is, the article disproves the newspaper's thesis. Sen. Patrick Leahy (VT) asked Sessions if he had been in contact with any Russian government officials about the 2016 election. Sessions said no.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 02, 2017 19 Comments
I keep thinking one of these days, politicians will remember the internet exists, and along with it, evidence of almost about everything they've said or done while in office (and often outside of the office, too -- just ask David Wu). Alas... As the Trump cabinet targeting continues, Sen. Claire McCaskill stepped in a huge pile by claiming she never had a meeting or call with a Russian ambassador. Recently confirmed Attorney General and former Senator Jeff Sessions became the target of what appear to be trumped-up charges that he lied about his involvement with Russia during confirmation hearings. The political media set, along with federally elected Democrats are having a heyday, demanding Sessions resign.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 27, 2017 28 Comments
House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes announced there is no evidence of communication between President Donald Trump's team and Russian officials:
“There is no evidence that I’ve been presented [by the intelligence community] of regular contact with anybody in the Trump campaign,” Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) told reporters. “The way it sounds like to me is, it’s been looked into and there’s no evidence of anything there.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 18, 2017 5 Comments
Vice President Mike Pence attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany where he told Europe that America will stand behind its NATO allies. Pence also met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to assure him that America remains committed to Ukraine and that Russia upholds the Minsk Agreement. President Donald Trump rattled some cages on the campaign trail when he stated his beliefs that NATO was obsolete, leading many to believe America will abandon the organization. Pence said that will not happen:

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 16, 2017 2 Comments
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a trip to Germany. Tillerson said the U.S. will only "work with Russia when mutual cooperation is beneficial." He promised to put American interests first, though, if the two countries "do not see eye to eye." At the same time, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis soundly "rejected any kind of military collaboration with Russia." Russian President Vladimir Putin asked for more cooperation between the U.S. and NATO.
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