Senate Intel Committee: Yup, Russia tried to swing election

[pdq]

You mean it wasn't just fake news?

The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday largely endorsed the findings of the intelligence community that Russia sought to sway the 2016 U.S. elections through a hacking and influence campaign, and they called for a “more aggressive, whole-of-government approach” to ensure future elections are not similarly compromised.

There is consensus among members and staff that we trust the conclusions of the ICA,” Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the committee’s chairman, said at Wednesday news conference, referring to the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was behind hackings of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign director John Podesta’s email account and had attempted to exploit public opinion by sowing false information, much of it through fake social media accounts.

Burr also said that “the issue of collusion is still open”...

I am shocked. SHOCKED! miley-shocked003:

[samintx]

Fake news. If 45 doesn't believe it neither do I.:emoticon-animal-022:

[cbelt3]

Trump. The President Gullible Americans Deserve...

[pdq]

It's kind of cute - some right-wing sites are clinging to a particular statement of Burr (who is a Republican, after all!) near the end of the news conference:

“We can certifiably say that no vote totals were affected, that the tallies are accurate, the outcome of the election is based on the count of votes,” [Burr] said.

Well, you can forgive him for thinking that the outcome of this election was based on the count of votes. That's the way it (almost always) used to be. But it is true that they have not found evidence that the Russians changed vote totals. Only that they tried, in hacking the folks and state offices whose job it is to count votes, in dozens of states, but they were apparently unsuccessful, so that's how it's going to stay.

In fact, Burr said exactly that.

"All I can tell you is, the votes were counted. One person won. And that's how it's going to stay."

The votes were counted. And one person was the winner. (Like other folks of a certain test-taking generation, I would score that as "True/true/unrelated".)

Burr just wanted to be clear: yes, the Russians went all-in to get one guy elected, and he was. Just don't get any high-fallutin ideas about this election. That's how it's going to stay.

[deckeda]

Yeah it's never about righting a wrong, when it can be about "unity" (around a sore winner) instead.