Americans have had fairly stable energy prices for the past few years, and fairly low ones, in part due to the tremendous increase in energy production in the United States – both natural gas and oil. In 2018,  the U.S. produced <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/">95% of its domestic energy requirements</a>, the largest share since 1967. Stability is also owed to a mainly-steady oil supply emanating from OPEC countries and Russia, making up for decreased supplies from Iran and Venezuela. Gas prices, the marker Americans watch almost to the exclusion of everything else, <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=42435">averaged $2.60/gal in 2019 </a>, 4% lower than in 2018.
But while much of American energy is domestic, oil is a commodity with a single world-wide market. The choices other countries make ultimately affect our industry. In December 2016, Russia concluded an agreement with OPEC to balance output and stabilize price at an agreed-upon level – then at about <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/russia-and-saudi-arabia-new-oil-bromance">$60/bbl</a>. As expected, everybody cheated a little bit, but by the end of 2017, stability emerged. Saudi King Salmon paid his first ever state visit to Russia, where Russian President Vladimir Putin talked about major investments in the kingdom. In June of last year, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/30/russia-saudi-arabia-extend-deal-opec-oil-output">the deal was extended</a> for six to nine months. “Demand is softening a little bit, but I think it’s still healthy,” said Saudi energy minister, Khalid al-Falih.
But then came coronavirus.
Saudi Arabia called an emergency meeting of OPEC and Russia, planning to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/3/9/21171406/coronavirus-saudi-arabia-russia-oil-war-explained">cut production to keep the price stable</a> as world economies faltered. But Russia, having a very large budgetary reserve, decided to keep pumping and let prices fall. For Americans, conditioned by the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74 and the 1980 Iranian Revolution embargo to think lower prices are good, the outcome of the meeting was something of a shock as we find ourselves in the middle of a Saudi-Russian energy war.
The Russians weren’t trying to help us with gasoline prices. Furious over American opposition to the Nord Stream II pipeline connecting Russian natural gas to European markets, Putin’s hope is to bankrupt the relatively new American oil industry and drive the U.S. from the market. Oh, and by the way, end up with more market share later. Putin is prepared to spend his reserve rubles propping up the Russian economy in the meantime.
Saudi Arabia’s fight is not with the United States, so the kingdom’s objective was not American industry. But the Sunni Saudis and the Iranian-supporting Russians are adversaries – over energy and more – so the Saudi government changed its mind and INCREASED production to FURTHER sink prices, hoping to damage the Russian economy more than Putting was prepared to tolerate.
And, indeed, there was a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/09/russia-saudi-arabia-squabble-over-oil-strategy-but-the-real-battle-is-with-the-us.html">massive price decline</a> last week – <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/03/14/the-oil-shock-of-2020-appears-to-be-here-and-the-pain-could-be-wide-and-deep_partner/">30% in less than a week and 50% since January</a>. It was, according to some experts, the worst week for the oil industry since 2008. Other analysts estimated that annual <a href="https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-To-Buy-77-Million-Barrels-Of-Crude-For-Strategic-Petroleum-Reserve.html">oil demand</a> could decline by more than the 2.65 million barrels per day recorded in 1980 after the Iranian revolution.
For the United States, the oil and natural gas industries are on the block. Not state-owned like those of Russia and Saudi Arabia, American energy producers are supposed to make their money on the market. But when the market rises or falls by collusion, where do they turn? CEO of Continental Resources, Harold Hamm, called the Saudi-Russian moves <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/oil-market-gets-white-knight-after-worst-week-since-2008">illegal</a>. But it isn’t clear that there is a legal remedy.
So, President Donald Trump <a href="https://link.axios.com/click/19735483.35298/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2hpdGVob3VzZS5nb3YvYnJpZWZpbmdzLXN0YXRlbWVudHMvcmVtYXJrcy1wcmVzaWRlbnQtdHJ1bXAtdmljZS1wcmVzaWRlbnQtcGVuY2UtbWVtYmVycy1jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy10YXNrLWZvcmNlLXByZXNzLWNvbmZlcmVuY2UtMy8_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXJfYXhpb3NnZW5lcmF0ZSZzdHJlYW09dG9w/5d8a19e2fbd297461c3ce0b1B488ff973">announced</a> the government would purchase enough crude oil to fill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve &#8220;right up to the top.&#8221; The tab would be about <a href="https://www.axios.com/trump-oil-purchase-strategic-petroleum-reserve-c6c016ba-2f20-4e55-89f3-4259d6a275a3.html">$2.6 billion</a> at last Friday’s prices for 77 million barrels of crude.
We still have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
Although there<a href="https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/The-Strategic-Petroleum-Reserve-Is-Slowly-Dying.html"> were discussions about dismantling it</a> a few years ago, the Reserve remains the largest emergency oil supply in the world. Designed to prevent the disruptions seen in the aftermath of the 1973-74 embargo, it has a capacity of 727 million barrels and presently holds about 635 million. It can be opened by the government to prevent economic dislocation in the face of overseas contingencies.
Within about two weeks, the President’s purchases may start showing up at the Reserve.
It may not work. Prices may rise and then fall again under longer-term economic pressures engendered by COVID-19. And there is still the question of paying for it – as Congress would have to appropriate the funds. &#8220;We continue to see political headwinds,&#8221; analysts with ClearView Energy Partners <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/oil/031520-with-questionable-long-term-market-impact-trumps-spr-plan-faces-uncertain-path-in-congress?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgenerate&amp;stream=top">said Saturday</a>, calling it &#8220;problematic&#8221; for the Democratic-led House to approve a plan the President has said will “save” an industry.
The President has other options for funding, but it would be a sorry day if the House of Representatives abetted Russia and Saudi Arabia in price fixing to cause long-term damage to the American oil industry.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly

President Trump

BRYEN: Trump Fills The Reserve

Donald Trump

Oil and Gas

Russia

Saudi Arabia

The Intelligence Community (IC) debunked claims on Tuesday that were reported last month in The Washington Post and The New York Times which stated that Russia was aiming to help President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in the upcoming 2020 elections.
A top administration official told The Daily Wire that the conclusions reached by the IC, which is comprised of 17 federal organizations, are the exact same conclusions that lawmakers were presented with last month.
&#8220;Russian social media and state media messaging has taken aim at some of the candidates from both parties, in part to signal Russia’s unhappiness with policy statements or choices,&#8221; the IC said in a fact sheet that was provided to lawmakers and journalists. &#8220;The IC has not concluded that the Kremlin is directly aiding any candidate’s reelection or any other candidates’ election. Nor have we concluded that the Russians will definitely choose to try to do so in 2020.&#8221;
The IC left hundreds of copies of the fact sheet for lawmakers and journalists to have so that false information would not be anonymously pumped into the media for political reasons.
On February 20, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/us/politics/russian-interference-trump-democrats.html">reported</a> that Russia was interfering in the election to &#8220;get President Trump re-elected,&#8221; a claim that is false.
The next day, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/bernie-sanders-briefed-by-us-officials-that-russia-is-trying-to-help-his-presidential-campaign/2020/02/21/5ad396a6-54bd-11ea-929a-64efa7482a77_story.html">reported</a> that U.S. officials had told Sanders that &#8220;Russia is attempting to help his presidential campaign as part of an effort to interfere with the Democratic contest,&#8221; a claim that is false.
The Washington Post also falsely <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/richard-grenell-trump-intelligence-election-security/2020/03/10/6504cc36-62d6-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html">reported</a> on Tuesday that Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Richard Grenell was skipping the briefing because he was not prepared and did not want to upset Trump with &#8220;sensitive subjects.&#8221;
Election security is being led by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) so there was no need for Grenell to be there.
The IC supports DHS, FBI, and other federal, state, and local partners to secure elections from interference. The Office of the DNI serves as a coordinating authority for the IC and acts as a facilitator of information between foreign collection activities and domestic actions to secure the elections. ODNI makes sure that all threat information is properly and consistently communicated across the board.
Again, as noted by the IC, there is no indication that Russia is trying to boost any particular candidate and that their general goal is to sow discord between Americans and to damage voter&#8217;s confidence in America&#8217;s democratic elections.
ODNI put out a statement debunking the report, writing, &#8220;Several media outlets are erroneously reporting that Acting DNI Grenell backed out of participating in today’s Congressional briefings on election security. ODNI did not communicate to Congress at any point that Acting DNI Grenell would participate in election security briefings.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Several media outlets are erroneously reporting that Acting DNI Grenell backed out of participating in today’s Congressional briefings on election security. ODNI did not communicate to Congress at any point that Acting DNI Grenell would participate in election security briefings.
&mdash; Office of the DNI (@ODNIgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/ODNIgov/status/1237407044325564417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;FBI and DHS are the lead in charge of securing our elections, and the IC is participating in today’s briefings in support of that mission. The IC is focused on detecting and countering foreign election-related threats. ODNI will be represented by NCSC Director Bill Evanina,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;As part of its counterintelligence mission, NCSC has contributed to the federal government’s election security efforts for years and works closely with the Election Threats Executive, FBI, DHS, and other partners.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
As part of its counterintelligence mission, NCSC has contributed to the federal government’s election security efforts for years and works closely with the Election Threats Executive, FBI, DHS, and other partners.
&mdash; Office of the DNI (@ODNIgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/ODNIgov/status/1237407046213021697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The fact sheet also highlighted that other nations are looking to meddle in U.S. elections:
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>This is not a Russia-only problem. China, Iran, other countries like North Korea and Cuba, and non-state actors all have the opportunity, means, and potential motive to interfere in the 2020 elections as a way to achieve their goals. Some are trying to influence the public debate largely on social media in order to stoke discord in the United States, with the hope of swaying U.S. voters’ preferences and perspectives, shift U.S. policies, and undermine the American people’s confidence in our democratic process.</li>
<li>Beijing continues to promote policies that are in line with China’s interests.</li>
<li>China may consider more aggressive or expansive activity if bilateral relations significantly worsen.</li>
<li>We must not underestimate Iran, which maintains a robust cyber program, and is intent on countering the U.S. maximum pressure campaign.</li>
<li>In addition, non-state actors, such as criminals or terrorist groups, have access to tools like ransomware that in principle could be used to attack election operations.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>

Visit to Germany by US Secretary of State Pompeo

Intel Community Debunks False Media Claims On 2020 Election Interference

2020 Election

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia ratcheted up its oil war with Russia, announcing it would raise its crude supply to a record high in April. <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabia-russia-raise-stakes-123106547.html">Yahoo Finance</a> reported, “Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco said the oil giant would increase supply to 12.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in April for customers inside the kingdom and abroad. That&#8217;s 300,000 bpd above its maximum production capacity, indicating Aramco may also free up crude from storage.” The two countries had initiated a price war because of weak demand triggered by the impact of the coronavirus.
The 12.3 million bpd figure is a huge jump from previous months, in which the Saudis have pumped roughly 9.7 million bpd.
Russia has been trying to negotiate with the Saudis; Russian energy minister Alexander Novak indicated that Russia wanted to speak with OPEC but Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told Reuters, &#8220;I fail to see the wisdom for holding meetings in May-June that would only demonstrate our failure in attending to what we should have done in a crisis like this and taking the necessary measures.”
OPEC and a group of oil producers headed by Russia had been in talks, but they collapsed; Yahoo Finance noted, “Three years of cooperation among OPEC+ producers ended in acrimony on Friday after Moscow refused to support deeper production cuts to support prices hit by the coronavirus outbreak.”
WorldOil.com <a href="https://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/3/9/mnuchin-wants-orderly-oil-markets-in-talk-with-russian-ambassador">noted</a>, “Russia has sought to increase production to punish American shale drillers. Russia has sought to increase production to punish American shale drillers. Saudi Arabia’s state energy company Saudi Aramco responded by offering unprecedented discounts on Saturday to customers in Asia, Europe and the U.S. Rosneft plans to pump significantly more oil next month, when the OPEC+ arrangement formally ends, and Novak said the country’s share of oil export markets will be preserved.”
OPEC reacted to the collapse of talks by eliminating limits on oil production, which triggered the downward spiral of oil prices. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will start producing oil from the “Neutral Zone,” which would be in addition to the Saudis’ 12 million bpd.
On Monday, the Department of Energy issued a <a href="https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-responds-recent-oil-market-activity">statement</a> that read:
<blockquote>
The Trump Administration is closely monitoring the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19), and the fallout from last week’s OPEC+ meeting on global oil markets. These attempts by state actors to manipulate and shock oil markets reinforce the importance of the role of the United States as a reliable energy supplier to partners and allies around the world. The United States, as the world’s largest producer of oil and gas, can and will withstand this volatility.
The growth of the unconventional oil and gas industry in the United States has led to a more secure, resilient and flexible market. Thanks to President Trump’s pro-growth policies, America will remain the number one energy producer in the world. By prioritizing pro-growth reforms to tax, labor, regulation, energy, and healthcare policy the U.S. economy is more resilient than ever.
</blockquote>
&nbsp;

Exclusive: Inside Look At The Saudi Aramco Oil Company

Saudi Arabia Throws Down Gauntlet To Russia. Raises Crude Oil Supply To Record High.

The Soviet Union reportedly viewed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as a person that they could exploit to promote their propaganda because of his political views and his positive views of the communist nation.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/world/europe/bernie-sanders-soviet-russia.html">reported</a> on Thursday night that newly discovered documents from Russia showed that Soviet officials sought to &#8220;exploit Mr. Sanders’ antiwar agenda for their own propaganda purposes.&#8221;
The Times noted that the Russian communists sought to exploit Sanders while he was the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, after he wrote that he wanted the U.S. and the U.S.S.R to “live together as friends.”
&#8220;They also show how the Kremlin viewed these sister city relationships as vehicles to sway American public opinion about the Soviet Union,&#8221; the Times reported. &#8220;Nothing in the documents suggests that Mr. Sanders was the only local American official targeted for propaganda, or even that he was particularly receptive to it, though they do describe him as a socialist. But the documents do show the Soviets’ intensive preparation to use Mr. Sanders’ interest in their country to their advantage.&#8221;
A Soviet Foreign Ministry document discovered by the Times stated: “One of the most useful channels, in practice, for actively carrying out information-propaganda efforts has proved to be sister-city contact.”
The Times noted that Sanders aggressively sought out the sister-city program with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Sanders even led a Burlington delegation to Yaroslavl to try to establish the basis for the sister-city relationship.
&#8220;But the trip wasn’t enough to cinch the sister-city relationship,&#8221; the Times added. &#8220;Mr. Sanders still had to convince Soviet officials in Moscow to grant their approval and allow Yaroslavl representatives to travel to Burlington. He offered glowing reviews in public and ratcheted up his lobbying effort in private.&#8221;
Sanders, still aggressively pursuing the program, wrote a glowing review about the communist nation, saying, “People there seemed reasonably happy and content. I didn’t notice much deprivation.”
Soviet officials coordinated all their responses to Sanders with Soviet officials in Moscow.
The Times reported that the Soviets created a seven-point “plan for information-propaganda work” for their trip to Burlington.
The document said, &#8220;When carrying out propaganda measures abroad, the forms and methods of the information-propaganda work and its concrete contents must be approved by the Soviet Embassy and take into account the Soviet Union’s relationship with the given country.”
Last Month, The Washington Post reported that the Russians were reportedly engaged in trying to boost Sanders&#8217; campaign.
Top officials “have repeatedly warned that Russia has ongoing plans to interfere in U.S. elections and foster divisions among Americans, part of a strategic goal to undermine U.S. standing in the world,” The Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/bernie-sanders-briefed-by-us-officials-that-russia-is-trying-to-help-his-presidential-campaign/2020/02/21/5ad396a6-54bd-11ea-929a-64efa7482a77_story.html">reported</a>. “Some analysts believe that the Kremlin’s goal is to cause the maximum disruption within the United States, and it throws the support of its hackers and trolls behind candidates based on that goal, not any particular affinity for the persons running.”
The Post highlighted Sanders&#8217; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/03/bernie-sanderss-foreign-policy-is-risk-democrats-against-trump/">connections</a> to Russia early last month:
<blockquote>One issue involves Sanders’s stance toward the former Soviet Union, a record that could undercut Democrats’ ability to criticize Trump for being too close to Russia today.
The documents from the Sanders archives include a letter from Soviet Embassy First Secretary Vadim Kuznetsov in March 1983, congratulating Sanders on his reelection as mayor and thanking Sanders for receiving him in Sanders’s office. Kuznetsov had been in Burlington to attend a conference on nuclear disarmament at the University of Vermont a few days earlier. Neither Sanders nor conference organizers appear to have read a 1976 Time magazine article that identified Kuznetsov as a member of a “Soviet intelligence squad” posing as diplomats to infiltrate U.S. politics.
In 1988, Sanders traveled to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and forged a “sister city” cooperation program there. Many believe he gave a rosy depiction of conditions there just a few years before the communist system collapsed.</blockquote>

Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Holds Super Tuesday Night Rally In Vermont

USSR Viewed ‘Socialist’ Bernie As Someone They Could ‘Exploit’ To Push ‘Propaganda,’ Report Says

Bernie Sanders

Communism

socialist

On Wednesday evening, author and political commentator Molly Hemingway shut down popular Democratic Party narratives surrounding the years-long Russian collusion hoax and socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders&#8217; (I-VT) talking point about billionaires buying elections.
Appearing on Fox News&#8217; &#8220;Special Report,&#8221; Hemingway commented on billionaire and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg dropping out of the presidential race on Wednesday, despite <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/billionaire-bloomberg-paid-12-2-million-per-delegate-then-dropped-out-of-2020-race">spending</a> a stunning $550-plus million on his campaign (which averaged out to an estimated $12.2 million per delegate).
&#8220;I also think it is interesting that Bloomberg is out,&#8221; Hemingway told &#8220;Special Report&#8221; host Bret Baier. &#8220;We had years where people were saying a couple hundred thousand dollars and barely literate Facebook ads from Russians caused Donald Trump to win. Here you had a guy spend nearly $1 billion and he went nowhere. It&#8217;s a humiliating defeat for Michael Bloomberg.&#8221;
&#8220;That is a great point,&#8221; the Fox host chimed in. &#8220;So, Russians influenced the election with $200,000, $300,000 in Facebook ads.&#8221;
Hemingway interjected, &#8220;If that.&#8221;
&#8220;And Mike Bloomberg couldn&#8217;t get more than 50 delegates with $600 million,&#8221; added Baier.
Bloomberg&#8217;s defeat also hits Sanders&#8217; economic message, Hemingway noted, pinpointing the &#8220;establishment&#8221; and the mainstream media as the real power in national politics.
&#8220;And that hurts Bernie Sanders&#8217; message, too,&#8221; the commentator outlined. &#8220;He likes to say the billionaires control everything. Well, here, clearly, Bloomberg having all this money didn&#8217;t do as much for him, as Biden having the media and establishment behind him.&#8221;
As reported by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/billionaire-bloomberg-paid-12-2-million-per-delegate-then-dropped-out-of-2020-race">The Daily Wire</a> on Wednesday, Bloomberg &#8220;dropped at least $550 million of his massive fortune into his pursuit of the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination&#8221; and won just 45 delegates, averaging out to more than $12.2 million per delegate.
The former mayor shelled out $54 million in advertising in California alone, the reported noted, where Bloomberg won just eight delegates, averaging out to $6.75 million per delegate.
As reported by The Daily Wire last year, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/opinion/russia-2016-election-influence-trump.html">echoed</a> <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/new-study-shows-russian-propaganda-may-really-have-helped-trump-n1025306">claims</a> that Russian &#8220;trolls&#8221; on social media helped Trump win the 2016 have been widely debunked.
&#8220;The claim has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/39447/nate-silver-dismantles-russian-disinformation-james-barrett">already debunked</a> – by FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver – but now The Washington Post’s Philip Bump <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/01/no-russian-twitter-trolls-didnt-demonstrably-push-trumps-poll-numbers-higher/">is calling out the claim</a>,&#8221; The Daily Wire&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/russian-social-media-trolls-did-not-get-trump-ashe-schow">Ashe Schow</a> outlined in July. &#8220;For reference, the Post has also pushed the narrative that Russian social media trolls influenced the election to such a degree that Trump illegitimately won.&#8221;
&#8220;[T]here’s very little evidence that Russia effectively targeted American voters with messages that powered Trump’s victory,&#8221; Bump wrote at the Post. &#8220;Russia paid for a lot of Facebook ads in the populous states of New York and Texas in the last five weeks of the campaign, but its ads targeting the three states that handed Trump the election — Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — were seen by only 1,000 people. There’s no evidence at all that Russia used Twitter to target people in particular places or demographic groups, targeting that would have left fingerprints in the form of receipts for payment.&#8221;
Moreover, Bumped dismantled a study pushed by the likes of NBC News that claimed &#8220;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/new-study-shows-russian-propaganda-may-really-have-helped-trump-n1025306">Russian propaganda may really have helped Trump</a>.&#8221;
&#8220;As Bump noted, the study is yet another example of correlation versus causation. For example, the study found that Trump’s support jumped to 44% &#8216;when IRA tweets were at their most successful,&#8217; but Bump pointed out that Trump’s support was similarly high in late 2015 when the IRA tweets were not successful,&#8221; Schow outlined.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/MZHemingway?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MZHemingway</a>: &quot;I think it is interesting that Bloomberg is out. We had years where people were saying a couple hundred thousand dollars and barely literate Facebook ads from Russians caused Donald Trump to win. Here you had a guy spend nearly $1 billion and he went nowhere.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/jW6Q8Bo5Wp">pic.twitter.com/jW6Q8Bo5Wp</a>
&mdash; The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1235354162105286657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Adam Schiff

WATCH: Russian Collusion Hoax, Bernie’s Billionaire Narrative Shut Down In 45 Seconds Flat

Michael Bloomberg

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, filed a $250 million lawsuit against The Washington Post and national security reporter Shane Harris on Monday for what the suit describes as a Russia-themed &#8220;hit piece&#8221; that was &#8220;manufactured out of whole cloth.&#8221;
The <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/449816497/Nunes-WaPo-Lawsuit#from_embed">lawsuit</a>, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday, claims $250,350,000 in damages over what the complaint portrays as billionaire Jeff Bezos&#8217; use of the paper to target political figures in order to &#8220;influence Federal elections.&#8221;
&#8220;Billionaire, Jeff Bezos (&#8216;Bezos&#8217;), purchased WaPo in 2013 for the  purpose of using WaPo’s mighty pen to influence Federal elections,&#8221; Nunes&#8217; lawsuit states. &#8220;Bezos failed to defeat the GOP in 2016, in spite of WaPo’s notoriously libelous reporting. Bezos’ WaPo heavily promoted the Russian &#8216;collusion&#8217; hoax between 2017 and 2019, in spite of the fact that there was no evidence that any member of the Trump campaign colluded with any &#8216;Russian&#8217; to influence the 2016 Presidential Election. This is 2020. As this case illustrates, Bezos and his printing press remain desperate to defame the President of the United States and his allies in Congress. This defamation must end.&#8221;
The particular &#8220;hit piece&#8221; for which Nunes is suing the Post was published on Feb. 20 and claimed that intelligence community elections threats executive Shelby Pierson told members of Congress during a classified intelligence briefing the week before that Russia was attempting to help Donald Trump in the 2020 election. The article, titled &#8220;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200221213025/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/after-a-congressional-briefing-on-election-threats-trump-soured-on-acting-spy-chief/2020/02/20/1ed2b4ec-53f1-11ea-b119-4faabac6674f_story.html">Senior intelligence official told lawmakers that Russia wants to see Trump reelected</a>,&#8221; begins:
<div>
<blockquote>
A senior U.S. intelligence official told lawmakers last week that Russia wants to see President Trump reelected, viewing his administration as more favorable to the Kremlin’s interests, according to people who were briefed on the comments.
</blockquote>
</div>
<div>
<blockquote>
After learning of that analysis, which was provided to House lawmakers in a classified hearing, Trump grew angry at his acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, in the Oval Office, seeing Maguire and his staff as disloyal for speaking to Congress about Russia’s perceived preference. The intelligence official’s analysis and Trump’s furious response ­ruined Maguire’s chances of becoming the permanent intelligence chief, according to people familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
</blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;The defamatory gist of the WaPo Hit Piece is that Plaintiff lied to and deceived the President of the United States, which caused the President to become &#8216;angry at his acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, in the Oval Office, seeing Maguire and his staff as disloyal for speaking to Congress about Russia’s perceived  preference&#8217;, which &#8216;furious response&#8217; &#8216;ruined Maguire’s chances of becoming the permanent intelligence chief&#8217;,&#8221; the complaint states. 
The Post&#8217;s publication of the &#8220;hit piece&#8221; amounts to criminal conduct because of its &#8220;dishonesty, deceit, sharp and unethical practices, and independently actionable tortious acts, all of which severely impugns Plaintiff’s integrity and prejudices him in the performance of his duties as a United States Congressman.&#8221;
The report also &#8220;falsely represents that the anonymous sources of its misrepresentations are &#8216;people familiar with the matter&#8217; and/or &#8216;one person familiar the matter&#8217; and/or a &#8216;committee official&#8217;,&#8221; the lawsuit alleges. &#8220;In truth, as WaPo and Harris knew full well, the only source of the falsehoods about Plaintiff was the House Democrats and their agents. Acting in concert with House Democrats, WaPo and Harris republished false statements in order to impugn Plaintiff’s reputation and undermine his relationship with the President.&#8221;
As reported by the <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/hit-piece-devin-nunes-sues-washington-post-for-250m-over-russia-intelligence-briefing-story">Washington Examiner&#8217;</a>s Jerry Dunleavy, the Post&#8217;s Vice President of Communications Kris Coratti Kelly responded to the lawsuit Monday. “The Post stands behind the reporting of Shane Harris and his colleagues,” Kelly told the Examiner. &#8220;We will vigorously defend our work against the claims made in Rep. Nunes’s lawsuit.&#8221;
Dunleavy notes that the claims in the Post&#8217;s Feb. 20 story have since been undermined by on-the-record statements from intelligence and administration officials, including in reports by The New York Times and the Examiner. (<a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/449816497/Nunes-WaPo-Lawsuit#from_embed">Read the full lawsuit here</a>.)
The lawsuit follows two separate lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign over the last week against <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-campaign-files-lawsuit-against-new-york-times-times-responds">The New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-campaign-sues-washington-post-for-libel-over-false-defamatory-statements">The Washington Post</a> for promoting debunked Russian &#8220;collusion&#8221; claims in their stories.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-campaign-files-lawsuit-against-new-york-times-times-responds">Trump Campaign Files Lawsuit Against New York Times; Times Responds</a>

Devin Nunes

Congressman Sues Washington Post For Russia-Themed ‘Hit Piece’; Post Responds

Washington Post

Everything is a mess surrounding last week’s “bombshell” from The New York Times alleging Russia is interfering in the U.S. elections to help President Donald Trump.
After the initial report from anonymous intelligence sources leaking a private briefing to a major media outlet, it was reported that Russia was (also?) trying to help Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) become president. Whether any of the information was true or not, the media did Russia’s bidding by sowing fears that our elections were being interfered with by a foreign government.
Now, more anonymous intelligence officials have <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-intel-officials-worry-their-latest-findings-about-russian-n1142821">told</a> NBC that, actually, Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee – who received the briefing on February 13 – “misinterpreted” the information and that there is more nuance to what was reported.
“Current and former officials who spoke to NBC News this week say the misinformation and controversy surrounding that briefing have left them on the defensive, and worried that the public is not getting a full appreciation of the threat of foreign election interference in 2020,” NBC reported Tuesday evening.
As for the claim from the Times “that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected,&#8221; NBC reported it “was an overstatement, fueled, they believe, by a misinterpretation by some Democratic lawmakers on the committee.”
The briefing was given by Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community’s top election security official. NBC is now reporting that “Pierson did not tell lawmakers that intelligence showed Russia was actively working to help the president&#8217;s re-election campaign.”
Instead, Pierson said that Russians were interfering with the U.S. elections by providing disinformation, which they and other countries do every election. Pierson also told lawmakers that Russians prefer Trump, but Pierson never told them that Russians were actively working to get Trump re-elected.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded in 2019 that Russians did seek to interfere in the U.S. elections and that they boosted Trump and Sanders in an effort to sow chaos. Later, during the general election, the nation began actively helping Trump win, although despite media claims that Russia somehow helped Trump win, the country actually spent relatively little on the Facebook ads that allegedly swung the election, and there is no evidence people who saw the ads decided to change their vote or vote when they weren’t planning to previously.
NBC naturally downplayed what the Trump has done against Russia while making Sanders seem to be tougher on the country. To date, Sanders has voted against Trump sanctions against Russia, but after he was told the country wanted to help him win the election, he said “My message to Putin is clear: Stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do,&#8221; so NBC is sold. Never mind the fact that Sanders spent his honeymoon in the USSR and praised it when he returned and also defends murderous dictators, he said he would be tough and that’s all NBC needs.
Trump, on the other hand, was portrayed as being soft on Russia after he was told the country wanted to help him win the election.
“In contrast, Trump and his national security adviser, Robert O&#8217;Brien, have sidestepped questions about how they would respond to foreign election interference, and have instead put the focus on the Democrats. By doing so, they have also played politics with intelligence and national security, current and former officials say,” NBC reported.
Just a reminder, Trump has enacted <a href="https://www.gop.com/trump-admins-tough-actions-against-russia-rsr/">numerous sanctions</a> against Russia and its oligarchs for offenses including election interference. But Trump focused on Democrat leakers on the intelligence committee such as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), so NBC faulted him.

Trump

Intelligence Officials Now Say Democrats ‘Misinterpreted’ Briefing On Russian Interference In 2020 Election

President Trump on Sunday accused longtime gadfly Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and other Democrats of leaking information that Russia is seeking to help Sen. Bernie Sanders win the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
The president also said that he was not informed before reports emerged about the alleged Russian interference.
&#8220;I read where Russia is helping Bernie Sanders. Nobody said it to me at all. Nobody briefed me about that at all,&#8221; Trump told reporters Sunday at the White House as he prepared to leave for a two-day trip to India.
&#8220;They leaked it, Adam Schiff and his group, they leaked it to the papers and, as usual, they ought to investigate Adam Schiff for leaking that information. He should not be leaking information out of intelligence. They ought to investigate Adam Schiff.&#8221;
Trump also suggested that Schiff, California Democrat and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, released the information to hurt Sanders’ chances of winning the nomination.
&#8220;What it could be is you know the Democrats are treating Bernie Sanders very unfairly and it sounds to me like a leak from Adam Schiff because they don&#8217;t want Bernie Sanders to represent them. It sounds like it&#8217;s &#8217;16 all over again for Bernie Sanders,&#8221; Trump said.
&#8220;He had a great victory yesterday, but you know what happening, you can see the handwriting on the wall,&#8221; the president added. Asked if Sanders will win the nomination, Trump said: &#8220;I think so, unless they cheat him out of it. Bernie is looking more and more like he&#8217;ll be the nominee unless they cheat him out of it. A lot of people thought he was going to be nominee last time but it didn&#8217;t work out. I think they&#8217;re watching it very closely.&#8221;
Sanders blew away the field in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, pulling in 46% of the vote. His next closest rival, former vice president Joe Biden, got just 19.6% of the vote, with former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg coming in third with 15.3%.
In a classified briefing last week, intelligence officials informed members of the House Intelligence Committee that Russia was again interfering in American politics ahead of November’s election. U.S. intelligence agencies have said that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
Said Sanders: “I don’t care, frankly, who [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wants to be president. My message to Putin is clear: Stay out of American elections, and as president, I will make sure that you do.”
Trump immediately targeted Democrats for the leak.
“Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa. Hoax number 7!” he wrote in Twitter on Friday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa. Hoax number 7!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1230879049460764672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Schiff, who served as the lead prosecutor in Trump’s impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate, denied Trump&#8217;s accusations, writing on Twitter that &#8220;Americans decide American elections.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Mr. President, I didn’t say that. But if you wish to quote me, quote this:
”The only thing Americans despise more than foreign actors trying to affect the vote is a president unwilling to do anything to stop it.”
Americans decide American elections. <a href="https://t.co/LEbVzb39Jf">https://t.co/LEbVzb39Jf</a>
&mdash; Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/1231268977558654976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Trump, in a tweet on Saturday night, complained that he was never informed.
“The Kremlin is reportedly backing Bernie Sanders bid to win the White House.” Jon Scott @FoxNews Why didn’t somebody tell me this?” Trump tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“The Kremlin is reportedly backing Bernie Sanders bid to win the White House.” Jon Scott <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a> Why didn’t somebody tell me this?
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1231372451893972993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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“Just another Shifty Schiff leak. Isn’t there a law about this stuff?” Trump tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Just another Shifty Schiff leak. Isn’t there a law about this stuff? <a href="https://t.co/JWE0oPhiw9">https://t.co/JWE0oPhiw9</a>
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1231397086551314432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The Kremlin on Friday denied that Russia was interfering in the presidential campaign. “These are more paranoid announcements which, to our regret, will multiply as we get closer to the [U.S.] election,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “They have nothing to do with the truth.”

President Trump Departs White House For India

Trump Accuses Democrats Of Leaking Allegation That Russia Is Helping Sanders Because They Want To ‘Cheat Him Out Of’ Nomination

Officials are beginning to push back on a New York Times report from this week that claimed that Russia was attempting to help President Donald Trump get re-elected, arguing that there is no intelligence to support the claim.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/us/politics/russian-interference-trump-democrats.html?smtyp=cur&amp;smid=tw-nytimes">reported</a> on Thursday:
<blockquote>Intelligence officials warned House lawmakers last week that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected, five people familiar with the matter said. &#8230;
Some intelligence officials viewed the briefing as a tactical error, saying the conclusions could have been delivered in a less pointed manner or left out entirely&#8230;</blockquote>
During an interview that is set to air on Sunday, National Security Advisor Robert O&#8217;Brien said that he had not seen any intelligence supporting the allegation that Russia was attempting to help Trump get re-elected, and added that members of Congress told him that there was no evidence behind the claims.
O&#8217;Brien also noted that the leak came out of the House Intelligence Committee, whose chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), has long been accused of selectively leaking information out of the Committee to advance the narratives of the Democrat Party.
&#8220;As the national security adviser to the president, have you assured the president that this U.S. intelligence finding is real?&#8221; CBS News&#8217; Margaret Brennan asked O&#8217;Brien.
&#8220;Well, I have not seen the findings,&#8221; O&#8217;Brien said. &#8220;I think what he&#8217;s referring to and what folks are talking about is a briefing that took place last week at the House Intelligence Committee that was leaked to the press, and I have not seen that report, and from what I understand about the report is that there was no, and again, I get this second hand, but from Republican Congressmen that were in the Committee, there was no intelligence behind it.&#8221;
&#8220;I haven&#8217;t seen any intelligence to support the reports that were leaked out of the House, but it’s just hard to comment on that because again, I wasn&#8217;t there, and these were leaks that were coming from a House Intel Committee hearing,&#8221; O&#8217;Brien continued. &#8220;I haven&#8217;t seen any intelligence that would back up what I&#8217;m reading in the papers.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WATCH: NSA Robert O&#39;Brien tells <a href="https://twitter.com/margbrennan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@margbrennan</a> that there&#39;s &quot;no intelligence behind&quot; claims of Russian effort to re-elect President Trump: &quot;I haven&#39;t seen any intelligence to support the reports that were leaked out.&quot; 
Tune in Sunday to see more: <a href="https://t.co/gNkiSV2iGp">https://t.co/gNkiSV2iGp</a> <a href="https://t.co/N4OABzs9qy">pic.twitter.com/N4OABzs9qy</a>
&mdash; Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1231335345771417600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2020</a></blockquote>
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CBS News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge reported on Friday: &#8220;Source familiar w/house briefing @CBSNews says briefers pressed for evidence to back up claims Russia &#8216;trying to help POTUS in 2020.&#8217; Asked if there was signals intelligence &#8211; such as phone intercepts or &#8216;SIGINT&#8217; &#8211; to back up claims, source said briefers had none to offer #DNI.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Source familiar w/house briefing <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBSNews</a> says briefers pressed for evidence to back up claims Russia “trying to help POTUS in 2020.” Asked if there was signals intelligence &#8211; such as phone intercepts or “SIGINT” &#8211; to back up claims, source said briefers had none to offer <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DNI?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DNI</a>
&mdash; Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1230901347035353088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Trump responded to Herridge&#8217;s tweet late on Saturday night, writing, &#8220;Just another Shifty Schiff leak. Isn’t there a law about this stuff?&#8221;
The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-feds-notify-bernie-sanders-russia-is-trying-to-help-his-campaign">highlighted</a> this week just a few of the actions that Trump has taken against Russia:
<ul>
<li>Trump has repeatedly <a href="https://www.gop.com/trump-admins-tough-actions-against-russia-rsr/">enacted</a> tough sanctions against Russia and Russian oligarchs for a wide range of offenses ranging from election interference to supporting destabilizing actions in Ukraine.</li>
<li>Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-boots-60-russians-over-british-assassination-emily-zanotti">expelled</a> over 60 Russian diplomats from the U.S. after Russia engaged in an assassination attempt in the U.K.</li>
<li>Trump played a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/01/27/nato-chief-credits-trump/2695799002/">significant role</a> in securing an extra $100 billion in funding for NATO, which serves to counter Russian aggression.</li>
<li>The Trump administration <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/defense/382864-pompeo-defending-trumps-russia-policy-confirms-a-couple-hundred-russians">killed</a> hundreds of Russian mercenaries in Syria.</li>
<li>Trump has aggressively tried to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50875935">prevent</a> Russia from expanding its influence in the energy sector in Europe.</li>
<li>Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-administration-has-a-new-plan-for-greenland">proposed</a> buying Greenland last year in an apparent attempt to counter increasing Russian aggression and influence in the arctic.</li>
<li>Trump has repeatedly gone after Russia’s top allies, including China, Iran, and North Korea.</li>
</ul>

Russian President Vladimir Putin Meets A Group On The Constitution&#8217;s Changes

Officials Push Back On Claim That Russia Trying To Help Trump Win: ‘No Intelligence Behind It’

Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) responded to the news that Russia was helping his presidential campaign by suggesting that there was a conspiracy plotted against him to sabotage him ahead of the Nevada caucuses this weekend.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that U.S. federal officials had contacted the Sanders campaign and notified them that Russia was attempting to boost his campaign in an effort to meddle with the outcome of the Democratic presidential nomination.
&#8220;The classified FBI briefing wasn’t of the type routinely given to presidential campaigns about election security, those people said,&#8221; The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/bernie-sanders-was-warned-russia-is-trying-to-boost-his-presidential-campaign-11582330668">reported</a>. &#8220;It was given in reaction to intelligence considered compelling enough that Mr. Sanders needed to be alerted, one of the people said.&#8221;
A CNN reporter asked Sanders why he thought the report came out today given Sanders&#8217; claim that he had the briefing a month ago.
&#8220;Well, I&#8217;ll let you guess,&#8221; Sanders responded. &#8220;One day before the Nevada caucus. Why do you think it came out?&#8221;
&#8220;It was The Washington Post – good friends,&#8221; Sanders said sarcastically.
Sanders also appeared to tell CNN that he was briefed that other countries were also trying to get involved in his campaign, saying, &#8220;We were told that Russia, maybe other countries, are going to get involved in this campaign.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Bernie Sanders: “Here is the message to Russia: Stay out of American elections. … That is what they did in 2016 and that is the ugliest thing they are doing, is they are trying to cause chaos, they are trying to cause hatred in America” <a href="https://t.co/QNDlQR05Si">https://t.co/QNDlQR05Si</a> <a href="https://t.co/YY4T1Ey0Et">pic.twitter.com/YY4T1Ey0Et</a>
&mdash; CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1230982474358034433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The notion that the Sanders campaign is being targeted by some sort of coordinated media effort with the apparent intent to damage his campaign, of which there is no proof, was quickly challenged online.
Journalist Yashar Ali <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1230969320190042112">tweeted</a>: &#8220;I thought some of the language Sanders used in the debate around Russia and Russian interference was unusual for him. Now it makes sense&#8230;he had been briefed about their attempts.&#8221;
Ali&#8217;s tweet referenced Sanders&#8217; remarks during the debate about how Russians may be trying to pose as his followers online.
Sanders was not asked about Russia when he brought up the subject, and a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/full-transcript-ninth-democratic-debate-las-vegas-n1139546">review</a> of the NBC transcript showed that it was the only time during the debate that Russia was even brought up.
&#8220;And let me say something else about this, not being too paranoid,&#8221; Sanders said. &#8220;All of us remember 2016, and what we remember is efforts by Russians and others to try to interfere in our election and divide us up. I&#8217;m not saying that&#8217;s happening, but it would not shock me.&#8221;
&#8220;I saw some of those tweets regarding the Culinary Workers Union,&#8221; Sanders continued. &#8220;I have a 30-year 100% pro-union voting record. Do you think I would support, or anybody who supports me, would be attacking union leaders? It&#8217;s not thinkable.&#8221;
CNN media reporter Nathan McDermott also pushed back on Sanders&#8217; conspiracy theory, <a href="https://twitter.com/natemcdermott/status/1231001307357556736">writing</a>, &#8220;I dunno, if I were a newspaper plotting to do a bombshell story on a candidate, I’d probably do it before the debate and not less than a day before voting began.&#8221;
The fact that Sanders voluntarily brought up Russia in the debate likely led to The Washington Post report that the Sanders campaign had been briefed about Russian interference.
This report has been updated to include additional information.

US-POLITICS-VOTE-ELECTION

Bernie Responds To News That Russia Is Boosting His Campaign By Promoting Conspiracy Theory

President Trump responded Friday to a series of breathlessly promoted reports by mainstream media outlets about a recent closed-door intelligence briefing on the potential threat of Russian election meddling which has prompted Democratic accusations of Trump supposedly &#8220;interfering&#8221; with the intelligence process for political purposes. The latest Democrat-hyped &#8220;bombshell,&#8221; Trump suggested, is yet another Russia-themed &#8220;hoax.&#8221;
&#8220;Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa,&#8221; Trump tweeted Friday. &#8220;Hoax number 7!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa. Hoax number 7!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1230879049460764672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
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All the &#8220;misinformation&#8221; buzz began Thursday amid reports by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/us/politics/russian-interference-trump-democrats.html">The New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/after-a-congressional-briefing-on-election-threats-trump-soured-on-acting-spy-chief/2020/02/20/1ed2b4ec-53f1-11ea-b119-4faabac6674f_story.html">The Washington Post</a> about a congressional intelligence briefing last week concerning Russia&#8217;s potential attempt to influence the 2020 election via the promotion of disinformation and discord, as the intelligence community concluded that Russia attempted to do in 2016.
&#8220;Lawmakers Are Warned That Russia Is Meddling to Re-elect Trump,&#8221; the headline of the Times report on the briefing declared Thursday. The report begins:
<blockquote>
Intelligence officials warned House lawmakers last week that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected, five people familiar with the matter said, a disclosure to Congress that angered Mr. Trump, who complained that Democrats would use it against him.
The day after the Feb. 13 briefing to lawmakers, the president berated Joseph Maguire, the outgoing acting director of national intelligence, for allowing it to take place, people familiar with the exchange said. Mr. Trump was particularly irritated that Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and the leader of the impeachment proceedings, was at the briefing.
During the briefing to the House Intelligence Committee, Mr. Trump’s allies challenged the conclusions, arguing that he had been tough on Russia and that he had strengthened European security.
</blockquote>
The Post reported on the briefing in a similar manner, stating that &#8220;senior intelligence official told lawmakers that Russia wants to see Trump reelected.&#8221;
As highlighted by <a href="https://apnews.com/4912baca0c4cbc6cb7a3580f4f3c9b96">The Associated Press</a> in its report on the briefing and its fallout, House Democratic leaders Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Intelligence Committee Chairman Schiff sounded the alarm over Trump&#8217;s alleged response to the briefing.
&#8220;American voters should decide American elections — not Vladimir Putin,&#8221; Pelosi tweeted Thursday. &#8220;All Members of Congress should condemn the President’s reported efforts to dismiss threats to the integrity of our democracy &amp; to politicize our intel community.&#8221;
&#8220;We count on the intelligence community to inform Congress of any threat of foreign interference in our elections,&#8221; Schiff declared online. &#8220;If reports are true and the President is interfering with that, he is again jeopardizing our efforts to stop foreign meddling. Exactly as we warned he would do.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
American voters should decide American elections — not Vladimir Putin. All Members of Congress should condemn the President’s reported efforts to dismiss threats to the integrity of our democracy &amp; to politicize our intel community. <a href="https://t.co/uiAU2lXwrs">https://t.co/uiAU2lXwrs</a>
&mdash; Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1230703876501733377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We count on the intelligence community to inform Congress of any threat of foreign interference in our elections.
If reports are true and the President is interfering with that, he is again jeopardizing our efforts to stop foreign meddling.
Exactly as we warned he would do. <a href="https://t.co/viSBlnA1nb">https://t.co/viSBlnA1nb</a>
&mdash; Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/1230656216025706497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
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But in an update on the story Friday, CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper, citing an unnamed national security official, said there&#8217;s &#8220;more to this particular story&#8221; (h/t <a href="https://hotair.com/archives/allahpundit/2020/02/21/cnn-sources-intel-deputy-overstated-claim-briefing-russia-planning-help-trump-election/">Hot Air</a>).
&#8220;A national security official I know and trust pushes back on the way the briefing/ODNI story is being told, and others with firsthand knowledge agree with his assessment,&#8221; Tapper <a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1230841729391177728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1230841729391177728&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhotair.com%2Farchives%2Fallahpundit%2F2020%2F02%2F21%2Fcnn-sources-intel-deputy-overstated-claim-briefing-russia-planning-help-trump-election%2F">reported</a>.
&#8220;What&#8217;s been articulated in the news is that the intelligence community has concluded that the Russians are trying to help Trump again. But the intelligence doesn&#8217;t say that,&#8221; the official told Tapper. &#8220;The problem is Shelby [Pierson] said they developed a preference for Trump. A more reasonable interpretation of the intelligence is not that they have a preference, it&#8217;s a step short of that. It&#8217;s more that they understand the president is someone they can work with, he&#8217;s a dealmaker. But not that they prefer him over Sanders or Buttigieg or anyone else. So it may have been mischaracterized by Shelby at the House Intel briefing last week.&#8221;
&#8220;And by the way,&#8221; the official added, &#8220;both Democrats and Republicans were challenging this at the briefing.&#8221;
“The President was upset that he had to hear about an intelligence conclusion from a Member of the House Republicans rather than from the intelligence community,&#8221; the source said. &#8220;So he was out of joint with Maguire on that process.&#8221;
&#8220;None of this disputes that Trump desires to replace those who have Intel expertise with partisan loyalists, or dismisses the larger issues and concerns about Russia and how the president seeks help from abroad,&#8221; Tapper added. &#8220;Just that there seems to be more to this particular story.&#8221; (<a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1230841729391177728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1230841729391177728&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhotair.com%2Farchives%2Fallahpundit%2F2020%2F02%2F21%2Fcnn-sources-intel-deputy-overstated-claim-briefing-russia-planning-help-trump-election%2F">Read the full thread here</a>.)
&nbsp;

Trump and Putin masks

‘Hoax Number 7’: Trump Responds To Latest Russia ‘Bombshell’

Nancy Pelosi

Federal officials have notified socialist Bernie Sanders that Russia is trying to boost his presidential campaign in an effort to impact who becomes the Democrats&#8217; presidential nominee.
The Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump and other top lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been informed about Russia&#8217;s efforts to boost Sanders.
Top officials &#8220;have repeatedly warned that Russia has ongoing plans to interfere in U.S. elections and foster divisions among Americans, part of a strategic goal to undermine U.S. standing in the world,&#8221; The Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/bernie-sanders-briefed-by-us-officials-that-russia-is-trying-to-help-his-presidential-campaign/2020/02/21/5ad396a6-54bd-11ea-929a-64efa7482a77_story.html">reported</a>. &#8220;Some analysts believe that the Kremlin’s goal is to cause the maximum disruption within the United States, and it throws the support of its hackers and trolls behind candidates based on that goal, not any particular affinity for the persons running.&#8221;
Sanders has a long history of cozying up to Russia, including when he was the mayor of Burlington.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/03/bernie-sanderss-foreign-policy-is-risk-democrats-against-trump/">reported</a> earlier this month:
<blockquote>One issue involves Sanders’s stance toward the former Soviet Union, a record that could undercut Democrats’ ability to criticize Trump for being too close to Russia today.
The documents from the Sanders archives include a letter from Soviet Embassy First Secretary Vadim Kuznetsov in March 1983, congratulating Sanders on his reelection as mayor and thanking Sanders for receiving him in Sanders’s office. Kuznetsov had been in Burlington to attend a conference on nuclear disarmament at the University of Vermont a few days earlier. Neither Sanders nor conference organizers appear to have read a 1976 Time magazine article that identified Kuznetsov as a member of a “Soviet intelligence squad” posing as diplomats to infiltrate U.S. politics.
In 1988, Sanders traveled to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and forged a “sister city” cooperation program there. Many believe he gave a rosy depiction of conditions there just a few years before the communist system collapsed.</blockquote>
One potential reason Russia may be seeking to boost Sanders is that he has a history of being highly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/16/bernie-sanders-deficit-hawks-once-again-show-their-hypocrisy-military-spending/">critical</a> of U.S. military and defense spending, suggesting that drastic cuts need to be made in order to fund his far-left socialist programs.
Cuts to the U.S. defense spending would make it harder for the U.S. to counter increasing aggression from Russia.
By contrast, Trump has been harder on Russia than any president in recent memory.
Here are some of the following actions that Trump has taken against Russia:
<ul>
<li>Trump has repeatedly <a href="https://www.gop.com/trump-admins-tough-actions-against-russia-rsr/">enacted</a> tough sanctions against Russia and Russian oligarchs for a wide range of offense ranging from election interference to supporting destabilizing actions in Ukraine.</li>
<li>Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-boots-60-russians-over-british-assassination-emily-zanotti">expelled</a> over 60 Russian diplomats from the U.S. after Russia engaged in an assassination attempt in the U.K.</li>
<li>Trump played a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/01/27/nato-chief-credits-trump/2695799002/">significant role</a> in securing an extra $100 billion in funding for NATO, which serves to counter Russian aggression.</li>
<li>The Trump administration <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/defense/382864-pompeo-defending-trumps-russia-policy-confirms-a-couple-hundred-russians">killed</a> hundreds of Russian mercenaries in Syria.</li>
<li>Trump has aggressively tried to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50875935">prevent</a> Russia from expanding its influence in the energy sector in Europe.</li>
<li>Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-administration-has-a-new-plan-for-greenland">proposed</a> buying Greenland last year in an apparent attempt to counter increasing Russian aggression and influence in the arctic.</li>
<li>Trump has repeatedly gone after Russia&#8217;s top allies, including China, Iran, and North Korea.</li>
</ul>
This report has been updated to include additional information.

Feds Notify Bernie Sanders That Russia Is Trying To Help His Campaign

A man using a synthetic drug known as Spice allegedly has sawed off his own leg.
The Daily Star <a href="https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/man-high-zombie-drug-spice-21547603">reported</a> Friday that the unnamed man reportedly took the “zombie drug” in Prokopyevsk, a city in western Russia, and then proceeded to cut his own leg off, leaving behind a bloody stump. (You can view the picture on the Star. Warning: graphic content.)
“Shocking pictures appear to show the man with a tourniquet wrapped around a bloody stump after he reportedly cut his left leg off above the knee,” the outlet reported. “Pictures shared shared [sic] on media show the man as he lies on a hospital gurney after doctors apparently battled to stem the blood and save his life. According to the reports, the man carried out the self-amputation after consuming Spice along with a cocktail of painkillers.”
The man somehow managed to get himself to the hospital. The Star reported that local Russian outlets said the man was taken to intensive care, but the images being shared on social media were from when he was being moved to a general ward.
The National Institutes of Health <a href="https://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/spice">describes</a> Spice as “a mix of herbs (shredded plant material) and laboratory-made chemicals with mind-altering effects. It is often called ‘synthetic marijuana’ or ‘fake weed’ because some of the chemicals in it are similar to ones in marijuana.”
The effects of the drug, however, can be vastly different. While Spice does yield some of the same results as marijuana – relaxation, elevated mood, altered perception, or feeling detached from reality – bad reactions can result in:
<ul>
<li>fast heart rate</li>
<li>throwing up</li>
<li>extreme anxiety or nervousness</li>
<li>hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t there)</li>
<li>feeling confused</li>
<li>violent behavior</li>
<li>suicidal thoughts</li>
</ul>
“Because the chemicals used in Spice have a high potential for abuse and no medical benefit, the Drug Enforcement Administration has made many of the active chemicals found in Spice illegal. However, the people who make these products try to avoid these laws by using different chemicals in their mixtures,” the NIH stated. “Spice is most often labeled ‘not for human consumption’ and disguised as incense. Sellers of the drug try to lead people to believe it is ‘natural’ and therefore harmless, but it is neither. In fact, the actual effects of spice can be unpredictable and, in some cases, severe or cause death.”
NIH also said Spice works differently on the brain than the THC in marijuana.
“What is known is that the chemicals found in Spice attach to the same nerve cell receptors as THC, the main mind-altering ingredient in marijuana. Some of the chemicals in Spice, however, attach to those receptors more strongly than THC, which could lead to much stronger effects,” NIH reported. “The resulting health effects can be unpredictable and dangerous. Additionally, there are many chemicals that remain unidentified in products sold as Spice and it is therefore not clear how they may affect the user.”
Spice has been said to leave users in a “zombie-like” state, but so far it doesn’t appear others have done anything as drastic as cutting off their own legs. It can be suspected the man might have been on something other than just Spice. The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8029323/Russian-man-saws-leg-high-zombie-drug-spice.html">reported</a> that the man had taken Spice and “a cocktail of painkillers.”
Some commenters pointed out that the man would now qualify for disability benefits from the Russian government even though his wound was self-inflicted.

Synthetic Marijuana

Man Saws Off Own Leg While High On Drugs

Drugs

President Trump responded Tuesday to federal prosecutors&#8217; recommendation that his longtime associate Roger Stone, 67, face up to nine years in prison, decrying the whole situation as a &#8220;miscarriage of justice.&#8221;
&#8220;This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!&#8221; Trump tweeted in response to a report by The Daily Caller&#8217;s Chuck Ross.
&#8220;Prosecutors recommend up to NINE YEARS in prison for Roger Stone,&#8221; Ross wrote in a post retweeted by Trump. &#8220;They call foreign election interference a &#8216;deadly adversary&#8217; even though Stone was never accused of working with Russians or WikiLeaks.&#8221;
Ahead of his &#8220;miscarriage of justice&#8221; tweet, Trump retweeted Ross&#8217;s follow-up post. &#8220;Prosecutors disregard [government] witness Randy Credico&#8217;s plea for no jail time for Stone on the grounds that he didn&#8217;t take Stone&#8217;s threats seriously,&#8221; Ross reported.
&#8220;It is the threat itself, not the likelihood of carrying out the threat, that triggers the enhancement,&#8221; said prosecutors.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice! <a href="https://t.co/rHPfYX6Vbv">https://t.co/rHPfYX6Vbv</a>
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227122206783811585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Prosecutors disregard gov&#39;t witness Randy Credico&#39;s plea for no jail time for Stone on the grounds that he didn&#39;t take Stone&#39;s threats seriously.
&quot;It is the threat itself, not the likelihood of carrying out the threat, that triggers the enhancement.&quot;<a href="https://t.co/F1VoGEYmfU">https://t.co/F1VoGEYmfU</a>
&mdash; Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChuckRossDC/status/1227017413927096320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Stone was convicted in November on seven so-called &#8220;process charges,&#8221; including lying to Congress and witness tampering during the congressional investigation involving alleged &#8220;collusion&#8221; between the Trump campaign and Russia, of which Special Counsel Robert Mueller&#8217;s two-year, wide-ranging investigation ultimately found no evidence.
&#8220;Roger Stone obstructed Congress’ investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, lied under oath, and tampered with a witness. And when his crimes were revealed by the indictment in this case, he displayed contempt for this Court and the rule of law. For that, he should be punished in accord with the advisory Guidelines,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memo on Monday.
The primary rationale for investigating Stone was based on a claim that ultimately collapsed. As Ross reported in the <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2020/02/10/prosecutors-nine-years-prison-roger-stone/">report</a> promoted by Trump, Stone “was never charged with working with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Instead, the charges against Stone involved his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee about his interactions with associates regarding the topic of WikiLeaks, which released emails hacked from Democrats in 2016. Prosecutors said that Stone lied when he denied speaking with anyone on the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks.&#8221;
As The Daily Wire&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/prosecutors-recommend-non-violent-criminal-roger-stone-get">Ashe Schow</a> underscored, &#8220;special counsel investigators found no evidence that Stone or any other Trump associate had direct contact with anyone at Wikileaks involved in obtaining and releasing Democrat emails, which ended up hurting then-candidate Hillary Clinton.&#8221;
The recommendations of the federal prosecutors of seven to ten years behind bars are far more severe than those recommended by Stone&#8217;s attorneys, who say 15 to 21 months in prison would be more in line with the types of crimes he committed.
&#8220;In the end, the investigations yielded no evidence of the involvement of any American with the Russian government or any agent operating on its behalf to interfere in the 2016 election,&#8221; Stone&#8217;s attorneys asserted. &#8220;It is also undisputed that Roger Stone had nothing to do with obtaining the compromised emails or providing them to WikiLeaks.&#8221;
UPDATE: The Justice Department is reportedly changing its sentencing recommendation for Stone. &#8220;The Department finds seven to nine years extreme, excessive and grossly disproportionate,&#8221; a DOJ source told Fox News. A new recommendation will reportedly be issued soon.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The DOJ is changing its sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, according to a Senior DOJ official. “The Department finds seven to nine years extreme, excessive and grossly disproportionate,&quot; the source said, adding the DOJ will clarify its position on sentencing later today
&mdash; Jake Gibson (@JakeBGibson) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeBGibson/status/1227271189346816000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/prosecutors-recommend-non-violent-criminal-roger-stone-get">Prosecutors Recommend Non-Violent Criminal Roger Stone Get Up To 9 Years In Prison</a>

‘Miscarriage Of Justice’: Trump Responds To Prosecutors’ Demand For Lengthy Prison Sentence For Stone

Roger Stone

WikiLeaks

Bernie Sanders.

WHITTLE: This Land Is His Land

Josef Stalin

Socialism

The following is satirical.
The two sides are making their closing arguments in the impeachment of Donald Trump for whatever the hell they’re accusing him of this time.
Acting for the prosecution, Congressman Adam Schiff told the Senate that if Trump were not removed from office, &#8220;he could offer Alaska to the Russians in exchange for support in the next election or decide to move to Mar-a-Lago permanently and leave Jared Kushner to run the country, delegating to him the decision whether they go to war.&#8221;
Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Oh, Klavan you rambunctious, irrepressible dispenser of delight and hilarity, where do you come up with your zany satirical ideas? And how do you keep your skin so soft and beautiful?”
But no, the truth is: those are actually Adam Schiff’s exact words. He actually said if Trump wasn’t convicted, he might give Alaska to the Russians.
As Schiff’s words spread around the country, patriots rushed to the Alaskan border to defend the state from being handed over to Putin. These were just brave, ordinary Alaskans, including a guy who moved up there to escape the upcoming invasion of Earth by the planet Kleptar, a Japanese soldier from World War II who hadn’t heard the big news about Hiroshima and a black bear who thought Adam Schiff said Trump would be giving away salmon because, being only a bear, he couldn’t imagine someone would say anything as idiotic as what Schiff actually said.
Embarrassed to be called out by one of the lower mammals, Schiff later admitted he had meant to say that if Trump was not removed from office he might give Putin a Baked Alaska in return for support in the next election, although Schiff acknowledged Trump might not need Russian support in the next election given all the new jobs and stuff.
Meanwhile, Jared Kushner, hearing Schiff’s remarks, did in fact declare war on Mar-a-Lago but his invasion was turned back when a volley of golf balls dented his Lincoln Town Car.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-bump-presidents-approval-rating-rockets-to-personal-best-amid-impeachment">Trump Bump! President’s Approval Rating Rockets To Personal Best Amid Impeachment</a>

Brown Bear

Two Lunatics And A Bear Rush To Defend Alaska After Schiff Says Trump Might Give The State To Putin [Satire]

Satire

Vladimir Putin

With impeachment dominating everything from news headlines to dinner conversations to the halls of Congress, America’s most vital international relationships are easily lost in the shuffle.
It starts with Ukraine, the foreign country at the center of the scandal. The impeachment proceedings place U.S. ties with Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky — a man elected by the Ukrainian people to help solve the country’s deadly conflict with Russia and to deliver what some call a “revolution of dignity” — in a perilous position.
The much-discussed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/official-readout-president-trump-s-july-25-phone-call-with-ukraine-s-volodymyr-zelensky/4b228f51-17e7-45bc-b16c-3b2643f3fbe0/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/official-readout-president-trump-s-july-25-phone-call-with-ukraine-s-volodymyr-zelensky/4b228f51-17e7-45bc-b16c-3b2643f3fbe0/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579801320101000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFeiE-OAXVQlo6ZbKlHaqiHwHpBOQ">call</a> between President Donald Trump and Zelensky has become famous not for the world leaders’ conversation on a diplomatic roadmap featuring defense and energy collaboration, but rather on the alleged quid pro quo that sparked the impeachment inquiry.
For Ukraine, the allegations are harmful, at best, and disastrous, at worst. The young post-Soviet state depends on a $400 million annual aid package from the U.S. in order to defend itself against Russia, which in 2014 annexed Crimea in defiance of international law. Yet at this time, when Ukraine remains highly vulnerable to Russian intervention, Kiev’s allies in Washington are engulfed by the continued fallout of the Trump-Zelensky call.
In fact, American support for Ukraine is part of a longer-term strategy. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the U.S. has supplied foreign aid to Ukraine in hopes of fostering pro-Western political and military ties — and it has worked. When Russia annexed Crimea, the U.S. swiftly sanctioned Russia and increased its military backing of Ukraine.
Now, American assistance to Ukraine has transformed into a political football. Trump initially withheld military aid funds, for example, ahead of his call with Zelensky — though they have long since been delivered. Ultimately, any threat to these bilateral relations could simultaneously erode Ukraine’s independence and undercut Washington’s strategic objectives in its ongoing rivalry with Moscow. On the latter issue, one of the most vital aspects of American-Ukrainian diplomatic relations is energy independence. Ukraine and another U.S. ally in the region, Azerbaijan, are studying the possible expansion of the Azerbaijani-led Southern Gas Corridor initiative, which bypasses Russia and promises to diversify the gas supplies available to Europe.
“Ukraine supports the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project,” <a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/ukrayina-ta-azerbajdzhan-aktivizuyut-spivpracyu-u-sferi-mizh-58929" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/ukrayina-ta-azerbajdzhan-aktivizuyut-spivpracyu-u-sferi-mizh-58929&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579801320101000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGLAmXztou5dUS8jcg0c0MdmQfL7w">Zelensky told the press</a> following a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku last month. “We have agreed to consider its expansion. This is an important factor in the diversification of the gas supply to European consumers.”
America’s strategic ties in the region also bring to light the moral compass of U.S. foreign policy. In particular, it is incumbent upon the U.S. to be consistent in its treatment of post-Soviet separatist conflicts, as well as to respect the territorial integrity of all post-Soviet states and regions. This priority spans from Ukraine to Azerbaijan and from Crimea to Nagorno-Karabakh, the territory which is the source of the decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia carries out an ongoing, illegal occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other adjacent regions of Azerbaijan — in violation of several U.N. resolutions as well as the <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rt/snec/c7560.htm" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eur/rt/snec/c7560.htm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579801320101000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF0tsytOIeYg8_8enkV7h2pxJ5V2A">U.S. State Department policy</a> that “supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.”
At the same time, some of the most vocal congressional advocates for impeachment over the Ukraine allegations — Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), and Brad Sherman (D-CA) — are <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/miller-impeachment-focused-house-democrats-should-clean-their-own-house" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/miller-impeachment-focused-house-democrats-should-clean-their-own-house&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579801320101000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFB5b7y0glonStMlfNCnQCaG1laPA">among Capitol Hill’s leading backers of the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh</a>.
Ukraine and Azerbaijan have also consistently supported one another on the issues of restoring sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders.
“Our relations withstood the tests of time,” Zelensky <a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/ukrayina-ta-azerbajdzhan-demonstruyut-blizki-poziciyi-z-baga-58921" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/ukrayina-ta-azerbajdzhan-demonstruyut-blizki-poziciyi-z-baga-58921&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1579801320101000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGzkKbiPeneZTVepBme61R-N2CoYA">said in a separate statement</a> to the media last month. “We have always helped one another in difficult moments, very difficult moments of modern history. So, Azerbaijan has been, is and will be a reliable friend for Ukraine, and I am sure that it will be a strategic partner.”
Russia and Armenia — the respective occupiers of internationally recognized Ukrainian and Azerbaijani territories — also have their own foundational strategic relationships. Yet they maintain those alliances with a number of adversaries of the U.S. and rogue states, such as Iran, Nicaragua, Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela.
As a world power, America has a responsibility to stand up not only for its own strategic interests, but also for the broad principles of sovereignty and respect for nations&#8217; internationally recognized lands. All-consuming episodes likes impeachment, however, threaten to disrupt the balance and direction of U.S. policy. Rather than succumbing to its domestic polarization, America must prioritize the strategic relationships that will outlive the Trump era.
&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.jpost.com/Author/Maayan-Jaffe-Hoffman">Maayan Hoffman</a> is news editor and head of online content and strategy at The Jerusalem Post. She has been an American-Israeli international journalist for more than two decades.

U.S. President Trump At The World Economic Forum (WEF)

HOFFMAN: Impeachment Threatens America’s Strategy Toward Post-Soviet States

Armenians

Foreign Policy

Impeachment

Soviet Union

Ukraine

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) suggested Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is under the sway of Russian interests because he won&#8217;t bend to Democrats&#8217; demands to include witnesses in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial.
Despite having no evidence to back up her claims, Pelosi reportedly suggested that McConnell has &#8220;Russian connections&#8221; during discussions with fellow Democrats ahead of Wednesday&#8217;s House vote to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate, according to sources that spoke to CNN. She made similar claims during interviews over the weekend.
The <a href="https://freebeacon.com/politics/pelosi-floats-russia-conspiracy-theory-about-mcconnell/">Washington Free Beacon reports</a> that Pelosi floated the Russian conspiracy theory about McConnell during closed-door sessions with her caucus over the weekend as a way of explaining away her and Sen. Chuck Schumer&#8217;s (D-NY) failure to force McConnell to the bargaining table.
Pelosi &#8220;mused that sometimes she wonders whether McConnell has Russian connections,&#8221; CNN said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Pelosi told her colleagues in private that Mitch McConnell is acting like a rogue Senate leader, as she’s said before. She mused that sometimes she wonders whether McConnell has Russian connections, per attendees. <a href="https://t.co/vy2mHHLSlW">https://t.co/vy2mHHLSlW</a>
&mdash; Manu Raju (@mkraju) <a href="https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1217116932228423680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Pelosi&#8217;s reference to &#8220;Burisma&#8221; is a call back to an incident that came to light last week. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/us/politics/russian-hackers-burisma-ukraine.html">According to the New York Times</a>, evidence has surfaced that Russians hacked the Ukrainian oil and gas company, most famous for putting Hunter Biden on its board, perhaps at the behest of then-Vice President Joe Biden. There is, of course, no evidence linking Trump, the White House, or Mitch McConnell to the hack, and, as the NYT notes, its not even clear what the hackers were after (though given the timing, its likely they were looking for information damaging to the Bidens).
On Sunday, Pelosi told ABC&#8217;s George Stephanopolous that she believes Russians may try to hack the elections a second time in 2020, adding that she believes President Donald Trump is in “complete denial” over Vladimir Putin&#8217;s efforts to influence American democracy.
But after lighting into Trump, Pelosi again repeated allegations that McConnell is under some sort of Russian influence.
“Sometimes I wonder about Mitch McConnell too,” Pelosi told Stephanopolous. “What’s he — why is he an accomplice to all of that? He has resisted sources going in a manner commensurate with the threat for state agencies, whichever they are in a state, could be the secretary of state or whatever, to protect our infrastructure, our critical infrastructure of elections.”
Despite labeling McConnell &#8220;Moscow Mitch,&#8221; there&#8217;s been little actual evidence presented that McConnell is somehow laboring under instructions from superiors in the Kremlin, and a report, submitted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, comissioned by Democrats, found no evidence that any Trump campaign or transition official actively collaborated with the Russians to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. McConnell isn&#8217;t even mentioned in that report.
McConnell responded to the &#8220;Moscow Mitch&#8221; moniker when it first appeared over the summer, likening the allegations that he is in league with Putin to accusations of treason.
Pelosi will finally hold a vote Wednesday to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial, but noted even Wednesday morning, in a press conference held to announce the &#8220;impeachment managers&#8221; &#8212; the prosecutorial team that will present the case against President Trump for the House Democrats &#8212; that it was McConnell who was being unreasonable in not submitting to Democrats&#8217; demands that the Senate trial include witness testimony, not House Democrats who hold no sway over the Senate process.
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Nancy Pelosi Suggests Mitch McConnell Under Russian Control, Says Senate Leader Has ‘Russian Connections’

Mitch McConnell

On Wednesday morning, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the entire government resigned as President Vladimir Putin proposed constitutional changes to potentially extend his rule.
&#8220;Russian President Putin on Wednesday proposed a nationwide vote on sweeping constitutional changes that would shift power from the presidency to parliament and the prime minister, a move that could allow him to extend his rule after leaving the Kremlin, Reuters reports,&#8221; NBC News reported.
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BREAKING: Russian President Putin on Wednesday proposed a nationwide vote on sweeping constitutional changes that would shift power from the presidency to parliament and the prime minister, a move that could allow him to extend his rule after leaving the Kremlin, Reuters reports.
&mdash; NBC News (@NBCNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1217445574116630529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Following the breaking news, Tass state news agency reported that Medvedev submitted his resignation to Putin. &#8220;Russian news agencies said Putin thanked Medvedev for his service, but added that the prime minister’s Cabinet failed to fulfill all the objectives set for it,&#8221; noted NBC News.
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BREAKING: Tass state news agency reports that Russian PM Medvedev has submitted his resignation to President Putin.
Russian news agencies said Putin thanked Medvedev for his service, but added that the prime minister’s Cabinet failed to fulfill all the objectives set for it.
&mdash; NBC News (@NBCNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1217446166243299328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Of course these are very serious changes to the political system,&#8221; Putin said during his annual state-of-the-union address.
&#8220;It would increase the role and significance of the country&#8217;s Parliament &#8230; of parliamentary parties, and the independence and responsibility of the prime minister,&#8221; the Russian president said, adding a proposal for a nationwide vote on such changes.
According to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-prime-minister-medvedev-cabinet-submit-resignation-11579095839?mod=e2tw">The Wall Street Journal</a>, &#8220;Mr. Medvedev will stay on as prime minister until the new government is formed, Mr. Putin said on state television. He added that Mr. Medvedev would be offered the newly created post of deputy chairman of Russia’s security council.&#8221;
&#8220;The prime minister and government’s approval ratings have fallen steadily over the past five years, during which Mr. Putin took credit for most foreign policy decisions and the government was responsible for domestic policy. Over the same period, Russians’ living standards have fallen and <a class="icon none" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/putin-blames-sanctions-energy-prices-for-declining-russian-incomes-11561035133?mod=article_inline">economic growth has slowed</a>,&#8221; the outlet noted.
&#8220;What’s happening here? Putin appears to be changing the constitution, including shifting powers to PM, to allow him to continue to rule Russia after term limit as president is up,&#8221; CNN&#8217;s Jim Sciutto reacted to the news.
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What’s happening here? Putin appears to be changing the constitution, including shifting powers to PM, to allow him to continue to rule Russia after term limit as president is up. <a href="https://t.co/YaYseaBLh9">https://t.co/YaYseaBLh9</a>
&mdash; Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) <a href="https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1217456415343771648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Putin has been president or prime minister for nearly two decades, noted NBC. The Russian leader &#8220;was due to finish his fourth presidential term in 2024, after which the constitution would bar him from immediately running for president again.&#8221;
Putin&#8217;s latest announcement confirms speculation from Russian media outlets that the president would try to stay in power past 2024.
“The main point of Putin’s message: what kind of idiots (and/or crooks) are all those who said Putin will leave in 2024,&#8221; posted anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny in response to the news. &#8220;Remaining the sole leader for life, taking ownership of an entire country, and appropriating wealth to himself and his friends is the only goal of Putin and his regime.&#8221;
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Главный итог послания Путина: какие же олухи (и/или жулики) все те, кто говорил, что Путин уйдёт в 2024 году. Оставаться пожизненным единоличным лидером, захватив в собственность целую страну, присвоив себе и своим друзьям её богатства &#8211; единственная цель Путина и его режима.
&mdash; Alexey Navalny (@navalny) <a href="https://twitter.com/navalny/status/1217401962175459328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2020</a></blockquote>
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi&#8217;s daughter tied the developments to President Donald Trump.
&#8220;Putin dissolved Russia’s government to keep himself in power. Jealous as you may be [President of the United States], you can’t do this here,&#8221; wrote Christine Pelosi via Twitter. 
&#8220;You are <a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" role="link" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ImpeachedForLife?src=hashtag_click" data-focusable="true">#ImpeachedForLife</a>,&#8221; she added, &#8220;and will be voted out of office within a year &#8211; one way or anothe[r].&#8221; 
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Putin dissolved Russia’s government to keep himself in power. Jealous as you may be <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>, you can’t do this here. You are <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ImpeachedForLife?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ImpeachedForLife</a> and will be voted out of office within a year &#8211; one way or anothe <a href="https://t.co/duS3w0Pu8P">https://t.co/duS3w0Pu8P</a>
&mdash; Christine Pelosi (@sfpelosi) <a href="https://twitter.com/sfpelosi/status/1217455638659252225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Speaker Pelosi has long accused President Trump and the GOP of having nefariously ties to Putin and Russia. On Tuesday, Pelosi &#8220;continued to play up claims that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) is beholden to Russian interests during a caucus meeting,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/pelosi-continues-to-suggest-russians-hold-sway-over-mcconnell/">National Review</a> noted.
&#8220;Pelosi told her colleagues in private that Mitch McConnell is acting like a rogue Senate leader, as she’s said before. She mused that sometimes she wonders whether McConnell has Russian connections, per attendees,&#8221; reported CNN’s Manu Raju.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Entire Russian Government Resigns As Putin Moves To Extend His Rule. Pelosi’s Daughter Takes Trump Jab.

&#8220;In the Soviet Union, the important thing was to overcome the fear.&#8221; That is what former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky told me over tea in a Jerusalem cafe.
In the totalitarian, atheist Soviet Union, Jewish identity was forcibly submerged. &#8220;The only Jewish thing that was in my life,&#8221; Sharansky says, &#8220;was anti-Semitism!&#8221; That was until 1967. Israel&#8217;s victory in the Six-Day War, Sharansky says, changed the way the Soviets viewed Jews, and changed the way Soviet Jews viewed themselves. They were now, to friend and foe alike, part of something larger than themselves, connected to the Jewish state and to Jews the world over. With this knowledge, Soviet Jewish dissidents were no longer afraid and had the courage to confront the Evil Empire.
Sharansky has told this story many times before, but faced with the rising tide of anti-Semitic attacks and libels against Jews worldwide, I asked him about an often forgotten aspect of the crusade for human rights in the Soviet Union. There were many dissident groups with different goals, but the group that was best organized and had the most reliable contacts with the outside world were the Jewish “Refuseniks” (Soviet Jews who were denied the right to emigrate to Israel).
Sharansky, their spokesperson, was happy to help others. And that included many, many persecuted Christians.
Reports about the abuses suffered by Christians in the Soviet Union made their way through Sharansky&#8217;s network to the Western press and human rights groups. With each new revelation, demands on the Soviets to respect freedom of religion increased.
The importance of this channel wasn&#8217;t lost on Christians. &#8220;A group that I helped to establish their first contacts to reach the foreign press and to speak to the world were Pentecostals. I was very pleased later to find out that when I was arrested, there were tens of thousands of Pentecostals in Siberia who were fasting in solidarity with me.&#8221;
When the Soviets arrested Sharansky and sent him to the Gulag, his communist tormentors thought they might break him by placing him in a cell with a Christian activist. A religious Jew and a religious Christian would surely tear each other apart, they thought. But it did not turn out that way.
&#8220;You discover in prison [that] you can never know who is an informer and who is not. (That&#8217;s what you discover in general in Soviet life.) But what you discover is that with people with strong identities, there is less chance that they will be informers. Because, exactly as you have other values than physical survival — you have your identity you want to be a part of — they also have their own identities.&#8221; Strong identities give people values worth fighting for. &#8220;And that&#8217;s why if he was [an] activist, like Pentecostal or Christian activist, you knew that the chance that he [was] KGB [was] much less.&#8221;
Sharansky&#8217;s closest friend in the Gulag was a Christian activist named Vladimir Poresh. &#8220;I describe in this book,&#8221; he says, pointing to my copy of his 1988 memoir Fear No Evil, &#8220;ecumenical readings of the Bible, which we called &#8216;Reagan&#8217;s readings.&#8217; Because in 1983 it was in the Soviet press that Reagan called it the &#8216;Year of the Bible.'&#8221;
I recalled that in Fear No Evil, he describes going on a hunger strike so his friend can get back his Christian Bible. &#8220;Oh yeah! It was a very long hunger strike!&#8221; he said. When I expressed my amazement at this, he said that the fact that they were of different faiths was not an issue. &#8220;It was all about our rights to be free people and live in accordance with our conscience. And then you feel at this critical moment that, after all, we all have one God.&#8221;
The Soviet Union was a regime that depended on fear and control. When people found the courage to speak out, control would slip a little more, and more people would then find their courage. It was a death spiral, and the strain became too much for the regime to bear.
Here in the United States, the land of the free, Jews should not have to live in fear of being attacked. Christians must stand with them. The bonds of brotherhood between Jews and Gentiles should not require the Gulag to bring to the surface.

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