Manafort Worked With Russian Intelligence, Was A "Grave Counterintelligence Threat"

The Republican- led Senate Intelligence Committee's final report on Russian interference in the 2016 election to benefit existential threat Donald "COVID Donnie" Trump is out with some stark findings.  For example, it's now confirmed that the shady figure Konstantin Kilimnik is a Russian intelligence officer and was working hand- in- glove with then- Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.  Here are more key points assembled by CNN:

• That then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort was working with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian intelligence officer, and sought to share internal campaign information with Kilimnik. The committee says it obtained "some information suggesting Kilimnik may have been connected" to Russia's 2016 hacking operation and concludes Manafort's role on the campaign "represented a grave counterintelligence threat."

• That Trump and senior campaign officials sought to obtain advance information on WikiLeaks' email dumps through Roger Stone, and that Trump spoke to Stone about WikiLeaks, despite telling the special counsel in written answers he had "no recollections" that they had spoken about it. 

• That information offered at the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting "was part of a broader influence operation" from the Russian government, though there's no evidence Trump campaign members knew of it. Two of the Russians who met with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Manafort had "significant connections" to the Russian government, including Russian intelligence, and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya's ties were "far more extensive and concerning than what had been publicly known."

• That Russian-government actors continued until at least January 2020 to spread disinformation about Russia's election interference, and that Manafort and Kilimnik both sought to promote the narrative that Ukraine, and not Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

• That Russia took advantage of the Trump transition team's inexperience and opposition to Obama administration policies "to pursue unofficial channels," and it's likely that Russian intelligence services and others acting on the Kremlin's behalf exploited the Transition's shortcomings for Russia's advantage.

The Russians are still colluding with COVID Donnie in ways we can't know at this time.  Meanwhile, his consigliere William "Low" Barr is pressing ahead with his investigation of the investigators, still trying to undercut the conclusions of the Meuller report, intelligence agencies, and now this bipartisan Senate report.  It makes it all the more imperative that their asset is removed by voters in November and that he not be allowed to spend one more second in the White (Supremacist) House than necessary. There's no greater purpose for this country than to rid itself of this treasonous, malignant threat.

Senate Intel Committee Confirms Mueller Findings

As tawdry, corrupt Attorney General Trump defense lawyer William "Low"Barr shuttles around the globe seeking to undermine the Mueller Report that confirms Russia's meddling in the 2016 elections to benefit demagogue and Kremlin asset Donald "Tovarich" Trump, the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee issued its final report confirming Russia's malign interference. The report undercuts Trump's desperate efforts to call the Mueller probe into question, which was one of aims of his infamous shakedown call to Ukrainian President Zelensky on July 25.

In a classic case of "tell me something I don't know," the bi-partisan report looks specifically at Russia's attack through spreading false narratives through social media, something that's been known for years. From Politico's story:

The report corroborates past findings by researchers and the intelligence community that the notorious Internet Research Agency troll farm, as the committee wrote, 'sought to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election by harming Hillary Clinton's chances of success and supporting Donald Trump at the direction of the Kremlin.'

The findings mark the second installment of the committee's five-part report outlining the scope of Russian election meddling in 2016, the result of an expansive investigation that has spanned over two years and included interviews with over 200 witnesses. The committee in July unveiled the first chapter, which detailed Russian efforts to attack state elections systems and spread disinformation. The second installment focuses on the Kremlin's documented attempts to sow political discord on social media. (our emphasis)

Perhaps by 2024 they'll get to the fifth installment. Nevertheless, coming from a Republican-controlled Senate committee, the report is another redundant confirmation of who was behind Trump's illegitimate election. All of the fever swamp conspiracy theories that Barr is trying to legitimize can't erase that, although he'll try his evil best.