President Biden threatened action against Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday over an intelligence assessment that claimed the Russian leader ordered an influence campaign to “denigrate” then-candidate Biden during the 2020 election. But the assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence offers no evidence for the claim and does not explain how US intelligence reached such a conclusion.
In an interview with ABC News that aired on Wednesday, President Biden said Putin would “pay a price” for the allegations made in the ODNI assessment. A report from CNN on Tuesday night said sanctions on Russia over the assessment could be announced as early as next week.
The assessment’s main example of Putin’s alleged influence is what it calls “Ukrainian-linked” individuals with alleged ties to Russian intelligence who were “alleging corrupt ties” between Biden, his family, and Ukraine. The report offers no evidence for the claims that these “Ukrainian-linked” individuals are tied to Russian intelligence.
The idea that allegations over Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine are Russian disinformation has given the president cover for what appears to be real corruption. In 2014, President Biden’s son Hunter landed a high-paying job on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings. Hunter got the job at Burisma just a few months after the Obama administration orchestrated a coup in Kyiv and chose who would lead the new government.
There are many reasons people in Ukraine or any “Ukrainian-linked” people would like to investigate Hunter Biden’s business dealings in the country, whether they are anti-corruption advocates or just people concerned with US intervention in the region.
The assessment says Russian officials and state media “frequently” attacked Biden for his role in Ukraine. But this is easily explained by the fact that the regime change in Kyiv had an enormous impact on the region, leading to the Russian annexation of Crimea and the war in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. The idea that Russian officials and media cover the topic does not suggest any sort of insidious influence campaign.
Ultimately, the assessment does not claim much with respect to Russia, or Iran and China, the other two states mentioned in the report. The assessment reads: “We have no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.”
For their part, Russia dismissed the claims made by the assessment as “baseless.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he believes the assessment will likely be used as a pretext for sanctions.
Russia did not “Annex” Crimea which has been part Russia since Catherine the Great. The people of Crimea wanted to return to Russia and voted 90+% to do so. After the vote they had a big celebration. The Tartars voted for it too.
The COVID death counter disappeared from CNN broadcasting after the elections. Using COVID to influence the elections? Will CNN blame Russia? Pass me the popcorn…
Not defending CNN, but the death counter did not disappear after the election.
I don’t check CNN often but I did not see the counter every time I checked over the past 2 months. Before the elections it was prominently displayed every time I turned the channel to CNN. Maybe Russia is not a good hacker after all?
I don’t watch CNN. Ever. I just remember that getting debunked with still photos showing the counter was still up after the election. Whether it was as prominent as before the election, I couldn’t say. Just guessing, I’d say no.
We all grew up hearing that absolutely anybody could become President. Biden proved that!
Classic!!!
Another claim akin to WMD.
Americans are very ignorant about their government’s interference in Russian domestic politics and reject any consequences for their crimes against the Russian people while claiming any grievances they have must be avenged with the greatest possible force.
If America does it, it’s OK. It’s when the other guy supposedly does it that it’s wrong.
We Americans are a righteous, unrepentant population.
Unfortunately, the majority of us, the American people, will still go with the deep state/MSM’s (Obama, Clinton, Biden, McCain, etc.) narrative believing Russia still seeks world domination without any attention to reality. That is exactly what Putin described as projection. The British may also be working on a new poisoning false flag if we somehow manage to steer away from war. They are regarded as masters in the field. They may invent something like, “Russians mutilate children.” If you don’t believe me, take a look at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocity_propaganda. I am afraid we may not wake up until nuclear bombs start dropping.
The MSM claims Russia’s/Putin’s ‘interference’ was spreading misinformation yet does not say what that misinformation was. The facts of US imperialism must not be revealed to citizens and doing so criminalized, as the prosecutions of Manning and Assange reveal.