Eric Chenoweth

A good question. Asked and answered by Judge Luttig. A worthwhile read.

And so, it is essential for Trump & MAGA to muddy the water, memory hole the truth & prevent an actual investigation and assessment. We will need to have such an investigation and assessment to come out of this period. 7/7

& finally to legitimize Trump's MAGA movement as fully "authentic" & not a product of foreign influence. BTW, MAGA is an authentic movement based on distinct American characteristics (particularly US racism). But it was never fully organic. A full investigation & assessment would show that. 6/

i.e. to assert power lawlessly and get away with it; (2) to create a "stab in the back" (or origination) myth for establishing an authoritarian state; (3) to memory hole Russia's attack on US elections to prepare normalization of relations with Russia; 5/

Which begs the question why did Trump task Gabbard to release records that don't prove a conspiracy yet use them for referring criminal referrals to the DOJ. The aims are several: (1) to target opponents for the purpose of consolidating power;.../ 4/

Russia expected to affect the election campaign w/ its actions. It did. The documentation is clear. What is unclear was its effect. And nothing in the assessment claims a definitive effect. 3/

The aim is to make this assessment "political" and to memory hole the exhaustive investigations that confirmed the assessment and documented Russia's actual intervention in the U.S. 2016 presidential election with the aim of benefitting Trump. 2/

This is satire but of course we must worry that SCOTUS could override its presidential immunity ruling if there is a case brought against Obama.

Note tho' that the real aim is to delegitimize the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment of Russian Actions and Intentions in Recent US Elections. 1/

A good article by @olgalautman.bsky.social on Gabbard's meritless charges. Note: Gabbard's aim is to delegitimize the idea that Russia did help Trump win election & also that Trump solicited, welcomed & used that help---something incontrovertibly proven in 2 exhaustive reports.

This is bad journalism, tho' not unexpected. The headline expresses the spin, not the news. Gabbard declassified documents not to cast doubt but to concoct a conspiracy of treason (her word) for criminal referral to the prosecutorial arm of the government. (The docs cast no doubt on the assessment.)

Exactly. The newer idea really is fully funding public education.

Truly, we forget a lot of our past that we shouldn't.
Thanks to History Bluesky for reminding us (@jmitchellnews.bsky.social is someone to follow for daily reminders).

The head of the government's intelligence service is drumming up a conspiracy for referral to the head of the prosecutorial arm of the government to repress government opponents in potential show trials. All to consolidate the leader's power. (Yes, we are there. Up is Down. Ignorance is Strength.)

If you aren't on other sites (understandable), it is hard to fathom how much they are going w/ "Obama committed treason" by ordering an assessment of (an actual) foreign attack on US democracy. Yes they want to distract but they also want to cement the falsehood that Trump won w/out Russian support.

An important question. Of course, we know the general answer intuitively, but it would be useful to know the detailed answer definitively.

If you didn’t read my popular Democracy essay on whiteness, today is a good day as so many of us are grappling with how to respond to the rapid loss of freedom and decency in our nation.

Finding solutions has much to with facing the constructed use of “whiteness” to divide and conquer us all.

Intelligence services asserting (easily refutable) falsehoods & concocting non-existent conspiracies against the leader for criminal referrals investigated by the government's prosecutorial arm is what happens under dictatorships. Each day, there is evidence that it is happening here. 3/3

The IC's "Assessing Russian Actions & Intentions in Recent US Elections" released on Jan. 6, 2017 stated exactly what Gabbard claims was hidden from the public: that Russia hacked election infrastructure but was not able to alter vote tallies. Nothing was hidden. 2/ (www.dni.gov/files/docume...

Note that Republicans (even the less cultish ones) make Gabbard's propaganda into a "coup attempt." The aim: (1) to make us forget what an actual coup attempt looks like, namely Jan. 6, 2021; (2) to construct a conspiracy by falsifying what the Intelligence Community stated in its assessment. 1/

There are many human rights abuses in US history. But we are witnessing something new---not just the return to a reactionary past but the adoption of some of the worst practices of current dictatorships. Trump tests us every day: What will the US citizenry accept. Do not accept this.

I wouldn't dismiss this so cavalierly (or expect too much from the Epstein files). Gabbard has been working to weaponize ODNI for political/propaganda purposes. With these referrals, we are likely to see DOJ weaponized for show trials. bsky.app/profile/eric...

Indeed, Gabbard's actions show that Russia's active measures have a continued influence on U.S. politics. We are all in danger as a result.

(BTW, for an examination of the Mueller & SSCI reports, see:

www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/mouse-g...

and

www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/putin-w...

12/12

Half the country believes Trump is a victim due to the Russia investigations & that some "hoax" was perpetrated on the American people. (See, e.g., posts on Twitter/X.) But it is Trump & Putin, w/ Gabbard as their faithful adjutant in propagating Russian disinformation, who perpetrate the hoax. 11/

General media downplay this story. As if Trump's years-long effort to change facts & create his own reality with claims of a "Russia hoax" had no effect. In fact, Trump succeeded in creating America's political reality and distracting the country from this foreign attack and its consequences. 10/

So, there is NO basis for criminal referrals. What ODNI and Gabbard are doing are concocting false evidence for made-up charges as part of a propaganda operation. This is what the Secret Services and prosecutorial arms of dictatorships do. 9/

None of what Gabbard or the ODNI released reveals new information. It was reported at the time that the IC and DHS did not assess any interference in the counting of results. This was not part of the Special Counsel investigation. The SSCI investigated it (Vol 1) and confirmed the DHS findings. 8/

It stated that Russian intelligence had "obtained & maintained access to . . . multiple US state or local electoral boards." Nevertheless, "the [Dept. of Homeland Security] assesses that the types of systems Russian actors targeted or compromised were not involved in vote tallying." 7/

In January 2017, the Intelligence Committee issued its assessment of "Russia's Activities and Intentions in Recent US elections." 6/

www.dni.gov/files/docume...

Opinion | How the U.S. media fails to defend itself against foreign propaganda News outlets are actively abetting Russia’s attempt to manipulate the election by accepting the hacked emails from WikiLeaks as a legitimate source.

Indeed, the Intelligence Community warned of this attack in Oct. 2016, but media ignored that warning and willingly participated in this illegal foreign intelligence operation. (I wrote of this at the time:

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how...) 5/

These document Russia's extensive active measures operation to influence the 2016 US presidential election in favor of Trump as well as the Trump campaign's solicitation, welcoming & use of it to win election. 4/

www.justice.gov/storage/repo...

www.intelligence.senate.gov/2020/08/18/p...