White House: Putin authorized election cyberattacks; US will respond with action

[midian182]

The White House has suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally authorized the series of high-profile cyberattacks on US government organizations that took place this year. The Obama administration also said it was a “fact” that the hacks helped Donald Trump win the election, and the President-elect must have known what Russia was doing. In response to the interference, Barack Obama said the US must and will take action against the country.

Earlier this week, the CIA concluded that Russia had been promoting Trump over Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the election. The agency reportedly found that while Russian-backed hackers compromised both the Republican National Committee (something it denies) and several Democratic organizations, they passed only the Democrats’ documents to WikiLeaks, thereby damaging Clinton’s campaign.

At a press conference yesterday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said: "Only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities."

Another senior White House official, deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes, named Putin directly. "I don't think things happen in the Russian government of this consequence without Vladimir Putin knowing about it," he said on MSNBC. "When you're talking about a significant cyber intrusion like this, we're talking about the highest levels of government."

Obama spokesman Josh Earnest believes it was “obvious” that Trump knew what Russia was doing. The Republican has called the CIA’s report “ridiculous,” while his senior transition adviser, Kellyanne Conway, said the suggestion Trump knew about the Russian interference was “breathtaking” and irresponsible.

Barack Obama says Russia will now face the consequences of its actions. He told NPR News that the US will respond at a “time and place of our choosing,” and that while some of the response may be explicit and publicized, some of it may not. The President added that he has spoken directly to Vladimir Putin about the hacking.

Back in November, American officials warned Russia that it would face a US attack on its key systems if it interfered directly with the vote itself. The Kremlin has called the accusations of Putin’s involvement “laughable nonsense.”

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/67430-white-house-putin-authorized-election-cyberattacks-us-respond.html

 

[fktech]

Bluster.

 

[Burty117]

Do they have any evidence to back this up? It's all "Suggested", "Must've" and "It's a Fact".
Just calling something a Fact without any proof is just nonsense. I'm not necessarily a Trump fan or anything but now it's getting silly, Well, it was already silly, now it's getting to the point it's nearly all made up rubbish.

 

[cliffordcooley]

They're just trying to screw things up for Trump before he has any power to stop it.

 

[kenc1101]

And people think Trump is gonna start WWIII. SMDH.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Well, unless these "consequences" occur within the next few weeks, they won't happen at all... I hardly think Trump will be the one to "punish" Russia...

Even if it IS true, it's just sour grapes from the Democrats...

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

With less than a month left in his 8-year reign, Osama is finally going to start acting "tough"? Just go back to the golf course and stop your narcissistic, egotistical, hypocritical whinning you pathetic loser. Good riddance.

 

[RevD14]

I really hope they have some solid evidence to back this accusation up or its gonna really blow up in their face. It already is but this is something that can make their party sink lower then ever. Basically what they thought would happen to the GOP because of Trump.

 

[stewi0001]

It's kind of late to act on this now, wither it is true or not. What's done is done.

 

[wastedkill]

Its Obama's fault syrian's are flocking to other countries why arent they being attacked? Heck it was the US who supposedly by fact make the deathstar.

 

[AArnold]

More fake news coming from the white house and MSM. Every week its a new reason why Hillary lost. Maybe because no likes her? She's flawed? Etc.

 

[treetops]

It's funny because of how badly trump kissed putins arse all of 2016. Republicans even criticized his demeanor toward Putin before these hacks came out.

 

[Puiu]

Do they have any evidence to back this up? It's all "Suggested", "Must've" and "It's a Fact".
Just calling something a Fact without any proof is just nonsense. I'm not necessarily a Trump fan or anything but now it's getting silly, Well, it was already silly, now it's getting to the point it's nearly all made up rubbish.

if the president says it's fact then it is until proven otherwise. he has access to the most secret documents available from the CIA and FBI.

 

[RustyTech]

Rob Thubron stop spreading fake news and go tell Putin to stop hacking my alarm clock and pressing the snooze button!

 

[Armanian]

Do they have any evidence to back this up? It's all "Suggested", "Must've" and "It's a Fact".
Just calling something a Fact without any proof is just nonsense. I'm not necessarily a Trump fan or anything but now it's getting silly, Well, it was already silly, now it's getting to the point it's nearly all made up rubbish.

if the president says it's fact then it is until proven otherwise. he has access to the most secret documents available from the CIA and FBI.

So when Bush said that there was WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION in Iraq then it's automatically fact? So he invaded and now we know there wasn't. Talk about allowing history to repeat itself. Just because your President says something doesn't mean it's true.

I wonder if the US has ever intervened covertly in a Russian election, I suspect they have as given they have a good track record of interfering with other countries politics.

So documents were released about Hilary Clinton so what?! She knew she had to use a secure system and these are the repercussions for not doing so, nobody but Hilary is to blame.

Now the US without disclosing what evidence they have except for the DNC hack (which most countries with any decent hacking power probably had already infiltrated anyways given that all it took was a simple phishing attach to compromise it) are going to "retaliate" from there the snowball begins it's drop down the side of the mountain to gain traction and become a bigger issue. Russia will simply retaliate themselves creating a perpetuating cycle of tit for tat.

 

[VitalyT]

Russians are too intelligent and resourceful (read sneaky) to leave any evidence laying around.

 

[Nobina]

Do they have any evidence to back this up? It's all "Suggested", "Must've" and "It's a Fact".
Just calling something a Fact without any proof is just nonsense. I'm not necessarily a Trump fan or anything but now it's getting silly, Well, it was already silly, now it's getting to the point it's nearly all made up rubbish.

if the president says it's fact then it is until proven otherwise. he has access to the most secret documents available from the CIA and FBI.

That logic is heavily flawed.

 

[Teko03]

Well, unless these "consequences" occur within the next few weeks, they won't happen at all... I hardly think Trump will be the one to "punish" Russia...

Even if it IS true, it's just sour grapes from the Democrats...

Not just the Dems, the Republicans are in on this as well...most of all current politicians are against Trump.

 

[Puiu]

So when Bush said that there was WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION in Iraq then it's automatically fact? So he invaded and now we know there wasn't. Talk about allowing history to repeat itself. Just because your President says something doesn't mean it's true.

I wonder if the US has ever intervened covertly in a Russian election, I suspect they have as given they have a good track record of interfering with other countries politics.

So documents were released about Hilary Clinton so what?! She knew she had to use a secure system and these are the repercussions for not doing so, nobody but Hilary is to blame.

Now the US without disclosing what evidence they have except for the DNC hack (which most countries with any decent hacking power probably had already infiltrated anyways given that all it took was a simple phishing attach to compromise it) are going to "retaliate" from there the snowball begins it's drop down the side of the mountain to gain traction and become a bigger issue. Russia will simply retaliate themselves creating a perpetuating cycle of tit for tat.

for every shitty president there are a lot more better examples that you should follow.
it was proven that Bush lied, it wasn't for what Obama said. It's ok to ask questions, it's not ok to insult the president just because of stupid biased opinions.
if there is even a chance that Russia intervened in the election then you should be appalled and disgusted by such actions. no country should have to be subjected to such insults.

That logic is heavily flawed.

no it's not, it's the normal way to think. it's president not some random homeless guy talking about the end of the world. even if you don't like him, you should at least respect what he represents.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

The agency reportedly found that while Russian-backed hackers compromised both the Republican National Committee (something it denies) and several Democratic organizations, they passed only the Democrats’ documents to WikiLeaks, thereby damaging Clinton’s campaign.

1) We know the democrats were hacked - we all saw the news stories. Whether it was Russia I feel is sort of irrelevent - the result was the same whether it was Russia, wikileaks or whoever. The stuff got out.
2) The republicans also were hacked - but we all assume the hackers preferred republicans because Reps stuff wasn't published. Maybe... the republicans didn't have any damaging emails to show. Maybe Reps weren't trashing Catholics, feeding Trump debate questions ahead of time, or planning to sabotage Hillary rallies like the Dems were.

Hey Dems - next time - don't do so much underhanded crap. That undercover video of Romney's 47% speech killed him in 2012 - maybe the Reps learned from that and played it straight this time.

Dems need to stop blaming hackers (Russia or otherwise). Their basic point is 'America would have voted for Hilliary if they hadn't been able to' find out what she (and her party) was really like."

 

[jtsco]

Hillary and Obama Administration were lying with their claims of 17 US Intel agencies saying Russia was hacking US elections.

Top U.S. spy agency has not embraced CIA assessment on Russia hacking
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-intelligence-idUSKBN14204E

DNI James Clapper: NO strong evidence on Russian hacks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCOFacNN9RM

Former British Embassador CraigMurray Reveals Democrat Insiders As Source For DNC Leaks, Not Russia
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...termediary-disgusted-Democratic-insiders.html

 

[Armanian]

no it's not, it's the normal way to think. it's president not some random homeless guy talking about the end of the world. even if you don't like him, you should at least respect what he represents.

What do you think the president represents when he knew the full extent of the NSA spying? As you say he knows much more of what they're up to than your average Joe.

The American Government is just as corrupt as any of those it thinks it's better than, it's just better at hiding it from public view than China or Russia.

 

[cliffordcooley]

no it's not, it's the normal way to think.

No, the normal way to think is that they may not be telling the truth. We are told what they want us to think, regardless of whether it is true.

 

[Randylh]

Do they have any evidence to back this up? It's all "Suggested", "Must've" and "It's a Fact".
Just calling something a Fact without any proof is just nonsense. I'm not necessarily a Trump fan or anything but now it's getting silly, Well, it was already silly, now it's getting to the point it's nearly all made up rubbish.

The CIA has the evidence,Do you ever watch the news???

 

[Uncle Al]

Unfortunately the majority of Americans no longer trust the government so such claims without evidence to back it up is meaningless. It's further verified to the everyday citizen when the government further tells us "we can't show you because it is classified" ... if that was the case, why bring it up anyway? While I am still of the opinion that the President-Elect isn't playing with a full deck, I will give him credit for speaking his mind directly to the public and side stepping a now all too self serving media.

One of those laws I would enact if I were "king for a day" would be that any politician that used words he could not back up with evidence (ie: seamless transition, transparent government, etc) could be "hushed" (sorry I couldn't think of the right word) for a period of 1 year and required to attend classes in honesty, integrity, and truth telling ...

OK, just to answer your next question, yes I really am from Mars and looking forward to your first arrivals ... I have set up a dandy Real Estate Company to handle all of your relocation needs!