Chuck Ardo for BuzzFlash: Yes, the Russians Did Meddle in the 2016 Election for Trump (Which He Lost by More that 3 Million Popular Votes)
November 15, 2022
By Chuck Ardo
As Donald Trump threatens a third run for the presidency a review of accusation of Russian interference on his behalf in the 2016 election, which Trump continues to call a “hoax”, is merited. According to what intelligence experts believe to be leaked Kremlin documents reviewed by the Guardian “Vladimir Putinpersonally authorised a secret spy agency operation to support a “mentally unstable” Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election during a closed session of Russia’s national security council.” The evidence is overwhelming.
Just a day before this year’s mid-term election Fortune magazine ran a story titled “Putin’s chef” proudly admits to tampering with U.S. elections: ‘We have interfered, are interfering and will interfere” detailing that “Kremlin-connected entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted...that he had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue to do so — confirming for the first time the accusations that he has rejected for years.” The story goes on to remind readers that” in 2018, Prigozhin and a dozen other Russian nationals and three Russian companies were charged in the U.S. with operating a covert social media campaign “aimed at fomenting discord and dividing American public opinion ahead of the 2016 presidential election won by Republican Donald Trump.”
The Republican-led Senate Select Committee on Intelligence found that ultrasensitive campaign information Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort shared with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian and Ukrainian political consultant and Russian intelligence agent, “identified voter bases in blue-collar, democratic-leaning states which Trump could swing,” including in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. The information was crucial in helping Russia target its pro-Trump, anti-Hillary messages
Prigozin’s admission follows the publication of a lengthy, in-depth article in The New York Times magazine revealing that Russia’s goal in interfering in the 2016 election in support of Donald Trump was part of Vladimir Putin’s scheme for the “creation of an autonomous republic in Ukraine’s east, giving Putin effective control of the country’s industrial heartland, where Kremlin-armed, -funded and -directed ’separatists’ were waging a two-year-old shadow war that had left nearly 10,000 dead. The trade-off was “peace” for a broken and subservient Ukraine. Prigozin’s admission also gives added credence to intelligence collected by the much maligned Robert Steele alleging the “Trump campaign made a secret deal with Russia in which Trump ‘agreed to sideline’ the issue of Russian intervention in Ukraine in return for Russia’s promises to feed emails stolen from prominent Democrats' inboxes to WikiLeaks to damage Hillary Clinton's candidacy.”
The facts speak for themselves and paint a damning picture. Even before taking office the Trump team made a pro Russian change in the Republican Party platform that weakened language supporting U.S. assistance to Ukraine. Trump rejected the findings of multiple investigations that Russia interfered to help him win the 2016 election and falsely blamed Ukraine for having done so. Even after U.S. intelligence determined “with confidence” that Russian allied separatists had fired the missile that brought down a civilian airliner over Ukraine, with 283 passengers, including 80 children and 15 crew members on board,.Trump ignored the factual evidence of Russian responsibility in favor of Kremlin propaganda casting doubt on the conclusion.
While Trump’s Congressional loyalists and the conservative media echo chamber worked tirelessly to create an alternative reality in which it was Ukraine that tampered in the election on Hillary Clinton’s behalf, the known facts belie that version of events. At some point even the most dedicated Trump supporter will be forced to accept the biblical admonition “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
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