function onPlayerReadyVidible(e){'undefined'!=typeof HPTrack&&HPTrack.Vid.Vidible_track(e)}!function(e,i){if(e.vdb_Player){if('object'==typeof commercial_video){var a='',o='m.fwsitesection='+commercial_video.site_and_category;if(a+=o,commercial_video['package']){var c='&m.fwkeyvalues=sponsorship%3D'+commercial_video['package'];a+=c}e.setAttribute('vdb_params',a)}i(e.vdb_Player)}else{var t=arguments.callee;setTimeout(function(){t(e,i)},0)}}(document.getElementById('vidible_1'),onPlayerReadyVidible); Hacking of the Democratic National Committees computers and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podestas email during the 2016 presidential campaign had nothing to do with us, President Donald Trump told John Dickerson on CBSs Face the Nation Sunday.Had nothing to do with this, and everyone knows it, the president added.But thats not what intelligence information has shown.The U.S. intelligence community has argued, both publicly and via anonymous leaks in the press, that Russia interfered in the election in an effort to help Trump win. But Trump refuses to accept that, too. Ill go along with Russia, Trump told Dickerson immediately before speculating that the hacking also couldve been China, couldve been a lot of different groups.Democrats have gone further than the intelligence community, occasionally suggesting that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian attempts to boost Trumps chances. Although reporting that some Trump associates had contacts with Russian intelligence officials is widespread, theres no evidence that the Trump campaign secretly coordinated hacking or the release of hacked materials with the Russian government or its surrogates.Trump isnt always easy to understand, but that seems to be what he was trying to say Sunday: We didnt coordinate with the Russians, and Im not even sure the Russians were involved in the hacking.Heres the thing: Democrats dont need to prove some secret collusion between Russia and the the Trump campaign to show that Russia wanted Trump to win, and Trump wanted Russias help.Most public evidence suggests the election hacking did have to do with Trump. Russian support for Trumps campaign was abundantly clear from the countrys public actions' especially the work of state-backed media outlets and internet trolls. And Trump himself publicly called for Russia to hack his opponents emails. This is a lesson that super PACs, which sometimes release their plans publicly so as to avoid laws forbidding coordination with political candidates, learned a long time ago: You dont have to coordinate in secret if you can coordinate publicly.None of this is to say whether Trump associates ties to Russia were or werent above-board ' we just dont know yet. No one has been charged with a crime ' not even Michael Flynn, Trumps ex-national security adviser who omitted payments from three Russia-linked entities on his security clearance application, according to a Fox News report earlier this month. And Russian support for Trump likely had a lot to do with Russian opposition to Clinton ' and with policy positions Trump took before being elected but has since repudiated, such as skepticism for the NATO military allianceand skepticism for U.S. military strikeson the government of Syrian dictator (and Russian ally) Bashar Assad.The fact that the Russian government seemed to want Trump to win, and that it probably helped him do so, doesnt disqualify him from the presidency or make him guilty of a crime. But it does suggest that he wasnt and isnt as popular at home as he likes to believe. That seems to be the suggestion that Trump cant stand: That he didnt win all by himself.See a video of part of the Russia section of the interview below:Trump on election hacking: 'It's very hard to say who did the hacking. With that being said, I'll go along with Russia. Could've been China' pic.twitter.com/Yitp5YqdTs Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 30, 2017 And heres a transcript of the relevant section of the interview:JOHN DICKERSON: You dont think its phony that they, the Russians, tried to meddle in the election' You believe that'DONALD TRUMP: That, I dont know. I dont know.DICKERSON: That you dont know or you do know'TRUMP: Well, I have a problem. You have Podesta, who, by the way, I understand has a company with his brother in Russia. Hillarys husband makes speeches in Russia. Hillary did a uranium deal with Russia. Nobody ever talks about that. But I dont know'DICKERSON: You dont'TRUMP: 'because the F.B.I. was not allowed by Podesta to go in and check all of the records on their servers and everything else that you would normally have to check. Thats number one.Number two, knowing something about hacking, if you dont catch a hacker, okay, in the act, its very hard to say who did the hacking. With that being said, Ill go along with Russia. Couldve been China, couldve been a lot of different groups.DICKERSON: So President Donald Trump is ambivalent'TRUMP: But it couldve'DICKERSON: 'about or not ambivalent, youre not just not sureTRUMP: No. We have to find out what happened. Id love to find out what happened.DICKERSON: But you dont think its the Russians'TRUMP: I can tell you one thing. Had nothing to do with us. Had nothing to do with this, and everyone knows it. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Click here to read full news..
