Tag: Russian interference in 2016 election

Mueller’s probe has produced a rogues’ gallery of liars

Two stunning developments in the special counsel’s investigation shed light on investigators’ focus on President Trump as a main subject of interest. (Video: Jenny Starrs /Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

As special counsel Robert S. Mueller III moves toward the summation of his investigation — and whatever his eventual report produces — there is no escaping the sleaze factor that existed around President Trump before and during his campaign for the White House in 2016.

It was there in the presence of Paul Manafort, who arrived at the campaign in the spring of 2016 and lasted until embarrassing and continued disclosures about his past work with pro-Russian officials in Ukraine forced him to step aside, and whose recent plea agreement was tossed outthis past week because prosecutors say he has continued to lie to them.

It was there in the presence of Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and fixer, who did the deals and arranged the payoffs that were designed to suppress damaging allegations about Trump and other women during the final months of the campaign and whose new guilty plea about lying to Congress has put renewed focus on the president’s words and actions.

View the complete December 1 article by Dan Balz on The Washington Post website here.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar pushes for transparency in Google, Facebook, Twitter political ads

The following article by Maya Rao was posted on the Star Tribune website October 19, 2017:

The stronger proposed disclosure rules from Minnesota’s Klobuchar and colleagues are aimed at diluting Russian interference in elections.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., left, and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., speak about online political ads and preventing foreign interference in U.S. elections, during a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON – Sen. Amy Klobuchar and a group of fellow U.S. senators are proposing stronger disclosure rules for paid political ads on sites like Facebook, Google and Twitter, in an effort to prevent covert foreign influence of American elections.

The legislation they unveiled Thursday follows revelations that Russian interests bought online ads during the 2016 presidential campaign, which are not subject to the same disclosure requirements of radio and TV ads. It’s a loophole that’s grown wider as more voters primarily get information online, and the senators said they would push to enact a law before the 2018 midterm elections.

“This exposes a national security vulnerability when it comes to online ads, a space where our laws have failed to keep up with technology,” Klobuchar said at a news conference. She is sponsoring the measure along with Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee; and Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who chairs the Armed Services Committee. Continue reading “Sen. Amy Klobuchar pushes for transparency in Google, Facebook, Twitter political ads”

How Russia Harvested American Rage to Reshape U.S. Politics

The following article by Nicholas Confessore and Daisuke Wakabayashi was posted on the New York Times website October 9, 2017:

Credit: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

YouTube videos of police beatings on American streets. A widely circulated internet hoax about Muslim men in Michigan collecting welfare for multiple wives. A local news story about two veterans brutally mugged on a freezing winter night.

All of these were recorded, posted or written by Americans. Yet all ended up becoming grist for a network of Facebook pages linked to a shadowy Russian company that has carried out propaganda campaigns for the Kremlin, and which is now believed to be at the center of a far-reaching Russian program to influence the 2016 presidential election.

A New York Times examination of hundreds of those posts shows that one of the most powerful weapons that Russian agents used to reshape American politics was the anger, passion and misinformation that real Americans were broadcasting across social media platforms. Continue reading “How Russia Harvested American Rage to Reshape U.S. Politics”

Google uncovers Russian-bought ads on YouTube, Gmail and other platforms

The following article by Elizabeth Dwoskin, Adam Entous and Craig Timberg was posted on the Wasington Post website October 9, 2017:

Google found tens of thousands of dollars were spent on ads by Russian agents who aimed to spread disinformation across Google’s platforms. (Elyse Samuels/The Washington Post)

SAN FRANCISCO — Google for the first time has uncovered evidence that Russian operatives exploited the company’s platforms in an attempt to interfere in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the company’s investigation.

The Silicon Valley giant has found that tens of thousands of dollars were spent on ads by Russian agents who aimed to spread disinformation across Google’s many products, which include YouTube, as well as advertising associated with Google search, Gmail, and the company’s DoubleClick ad network, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that have not been made public. Google runs the world’s largest online advertising business, and YouTube is the world’s largest online video site. Continue reading “Google uncovers Russian-bought ads on YouTube, Gmail and other platforms”

Russian operatives used Facebook ads to exploit America’s racial and religious divisions

The following article by Adam Entous, Craig Timberg and Elizabeth Dwoskin was posted on the Washington Post website September 25, 2017:

Facebook announced on Sept. 21 that it would turn over copies of 3,000 political ads brought by Russian accounts during the 2016 election, after previously showing some to congressional investigators. (The Washington Post)

The batch of more than 3,000 Russian-bought ads that Facebook is preparing to turn over to Congress shows a deep understanding of social divides in American society, with some ads promoting African American rights groups, including Black Lives Matter, and others suggesting that these same groups pose a rising political threat, say people familiar with the covert influence campaign.

The Russian campaign — taking advantage of Facebook’s ability to send contrary messages to different groups of users based on their political and demographic characteristics — also sought to sow discord among religious groups. Other ads highlighted support for Democrat Hillary Clinton among Muslim women. Continue reading “Russian operatives used Facebook ads to exploit America’s racial and religious divisions”

War by Other Means

The following article by Max Bergmann and Carolyn Kenney was posted on the Center for American Progress website June 6, 2017:

Introduction and summary

The Kremlin is seen behind the Moskva River in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 7, 2017. The Russian military says it will help Syria beef up its air defenses after the U.S. strike on a Syrian air base. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)

Liberal democracies across the globe are under attack. They are being attacked not by traditional weapons of war but by disinformation—intentionally false or misleading information designed to deceive targeted audiences. While these attacks may not pose a threat to the physical safety of democratic citizens, they do pose a threat to democracy.

In modern democratic societies, credible information is critical to the economy, political system, and way of life that citizens have come to expect. When citizens of democracies do not trust information, the forums for discussing politics and debating policy are compromised. If the media in a democracy is viewed as biased or, worse, as aligned with special interests, the bedrock of the democratic system—its ability to resolve differences through debate, persuasion, and compromise—breaks down. A democratic society can withstand deep disagreements, but if its citizens cannot agree on some basic and fundamental facts, that democracy will struggle to function. Continue reading “War by Other Means”

CIA director alerted FBI to pattern of contacts between Russian officials and Trump campaign associates

The following article by Greg Miller was posted on the Washington Post website May 23, 2017:

The CIA alerted the FBI to a troubling pattern of contacts between Russian officials and associates of the Trump campaign last year, former agency director John Brennan testified on Tuesday, shedding new light on the origin of a criminal probe that now reaches into the White House.

In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, Brennan said he became increasingly concerned that Trump associates were being manipulated by Russian intelligence services as part of a broader covert influence campaign that sought to disrupt the election and deliver the presidency to Trump. Continue reading “CIA director alerted FBI to pattern of contacts between Russian officials and Trump campaign associates”

Four things to know about Russia’s 2016 misinformation campaign

The following article by Lauren Carrol was posted on the Politifact website April 4, 2017:

Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Alexei Druzhinin/Associated Press)

The Internet has the power to advance democratic ideals by making knowledge more accessible and helping voters make more informed choices.

But the picture painted by witnesses at a March 30 bipartisan Senate hearing — a group that included academics, former intelligence officers, and cyber-security consultants — shows how the Internet also makes those ideals vulnerable.

All six witnesses agreed that Russia was behind a misinformation and propaganda campaign intended to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Continue reading “Four things to know about Russia’s 2016 misinformation campaign”