10/31/16, "Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia," NY Times, Eric Lichtblau and Steven Lee Myers
"A version of this article appears in print on November 1, 2016, on page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: After Lengthy Inquiries, Officials Doubt Trump Has Direct Link to Russia."...
"Investigators, the officials said, have become increasingly confident, based on the evidence they have uncovered, that Russia’s direct goal is not to support the election of Mr. Trump, as many Democrats have asserted, but rather to disrupt the integrity of the political system and undermine America’s standing in the world more broadly...an intensification of spy-versus-spy operations that never entirely abated after the Cold War but that have become more aggressive in recent years as relations with Mr. Putin’s Russia have soured.
A senior intelligence official, who like the others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing national security investigation, said the Russians had become adept at exploiting computer vulnerabilities created by the relative openness of and reliance on the internet. Election officials in several states have reported what appeared to be cyberintrusions from Russia, and while many doubt that an Election Day hack could alter the outcome of the election, the F.B.I. agencies across the government are on alert for potential disruptions that could wreak havoc with the voting process itself."...
[Ed. note: On June 30, 2016, Pres. Obama requested foreign monitors for the November 2016 US presidential election].
(continuing): "“It isn’t about the election,” a second senior official said, referring to the aims of Russia’s interference. “It’s about a threat to democracy.”
The investigation has treated it as a counterintelligence operation as much as a criminal one, though agents are also focusing on whether anyone in the United States was involved. The officials declined to discuss any individual targets of the investigation, even when assured of anonymity."...
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Added: The US government--not Russia--sought to "undermine America’s standing in the world more broadly" when on June 30, 2016, Obama requested foreign monitors for the November 2016 US presidential election, Miami Herald via Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
10/21/16, "International monitors for a US election--just like in Haiti," Miami Herald, Andres Oppenheimer, columnist
"For the first time ever, the Organization of American States will monitor the upcoming U.S. presidential elections, putting the United States in the same league as Haiti and other politically volatile Latin American countries....
The head of the OAS observation mission to the U.S. election, former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla, told me in an interview that the outside scrutiny was requested by the U.S. government on June 30.
The OAS has been monitoring elections in Latin America and the Caribbean for the past 50 years, most recently in Haiti, Guatemala, Colombia and Peru. Usually, governments request these missions to generate domestic and foreign confidence in the electoral process and to help prevent post-electoral violence.
In this case, the OAS will deploy election observers in up to 15 U.S. states, including New York, California, Ohio, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Florida will not be included because of a state law that prohibits such outside election missions, she said.
Chinchilla told me that the OAS is more than happy to conduct its U.S. observation mission, among other things because it will help debunk a frequent excuse by Latin American authoritarian regimes for not accepting outside electoral monitoring missions.
“Many of them say, ‘If the United States doesn’t allow observers, why should we?’ ” she explained."...
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Added: Again, US personnel--not Russia--cast doubt on "the integrity of the political system" and undermined "America’s standing in the world more broadly." Per a Dec. 2015 published article, John Kerry said he still thinks the 2004 US election was rigged by the Bush campaign and has shared this view with at least one foreign leader. In particular, Kerry says they rigged the vote in Ohio.
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Added: The US government--not Russia--sought to "undermine America’s standing in the world more broadly" when on June 30, 2016, Obama requested foreign monitors for the November 2016 US presidential election, Miami Herald via Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
10/21/16, "International monitors for a US election--just like in Haiti," Miami Herald, Andres Oppenheimer, columnist
"For the first time ever, the Organization of American States will monitor the upcoming U.S. presidential elections, putting the United States in the same league as Haiti and other politically volatile Latin American countries....
The head of the OAS observation mission to the U.S. election, former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla, told me in an interview that the outside scrutiny was requested by the U.S. government on June 30.
The OAS has been monitoring elections in Latin America and the Caribbean for the past 50 years, most recently in Haiti, Guatemala, Colombia and Peru. Usually, governments request these missions to generate domestic and foreign confidence in the electoral process and to help prevent post-electoral violence.
In this case, the OAS will deploy election observers in up to 15 U.S. states, including New York, California, Ohio, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Florida will not be included because of a state law that prohibits such outside election missions, she said.
Chinchilla told me that the OAS is more than happy to conduct its U.S. observation mission, among other things because it will help debunk a frequent excuse by Latin American authoritarian regimes for not accepting outside electoral monitoring missions.
“Many of them say, ‘If the United States doesn’t allow observers, why should we?’ ” she explained."...
Added: Again, US personnel--not Russia--cast doubt on "the integrity of the political system" and undermined "America’s standing in the world more broadly." Per a Dec. 2015 published article, John Kerry said he still thinks the 2004 US election was rigged by the Bush campaign and has shared this view with at least one foreign leader. In particular, Kerry says they rigged the vote in Ohio.
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