Apparent US Intel Meddling in US Election With 'Report' Russia is Aiding
Sanders
February 21, 2020
Without any proof, The New York Times and Washington Post run "Russia
helping Sanders" stories, and Sanders responds by bashing Russia, writes Joe
Lauria.
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
With Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders spooking the Democratic
establishment, The Washington Post Friday reported damaging information from
intelligence sources against Sanders by saying that Russia is trying to help
his campaign.
If the story is true and if intelligence agencies are truly committed to
protecting U.S. citizens, the Sanders campaign would have been quietly
informed and shown evidence to back up the claims.
Instead the story wound up on the front page of the Post, "according to
people familiar with the matter." Zero evidence was produced to back up the
intelligence agencies' assertion.
"It is not clear what form that Russian assistance has taken," the Post
reported. That would tell any traditional news editor that there was no
story until it is known.
Instead major U.S. media are again playing the role of laundering totally
unverified "information" just because it comes from an intelligence source.
Reporting such assertions without proof amounts to an abdication of
journalistic responsibility. It shows total trust in U.S. intelligence
despite decades of deception and skullduggery from these agencies.
Centrist Democratic Party leaders have expressed extreme unease with Sanders
leading the Democratic pack. Politico reported Friday that former New York
Mayor Mike Bloomberg's entry into the race is explicitly to stop Sanders
from winning on the first ballot at the party convention.
A day after The New York Times reported, also without evidence, that Russia
is again trying to help Donald Trump win in November, the Post reports
Moscow is trying to help Sanders too, again without substance. Both
candidates whom the establishment loathes were smeared on successive days.
In a Tough Spot
The Times followed the Post report Friday by making it appear that Sanders
himself had chosen to make public the intelligence assessment about "Russian
interference" in his campaign.
But Sanders had known for a month about this assessment and only issued a
statement after the Post asked him for comment before publishing its
uncorroborated story based on anonymous sources.
Sanders was put in a difficult spot. If he said, "Show me the proof that
Russia is trying to help me," he ran the risk of being attacked for
disbelieving (even disloyalty to) U.S. intelligence, and, by default,
defending the Kremlin.
So politician that he is, and one who is trying to win the White House,
Sanders told the Post:
"I don't care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president. My message to Putin
is clear: Stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure
that you do. In 2016, Russia used Internet propaganda to sow division in our
country, and my understanding is that they are doing it again in 2020."
The Times quoted Sanders as calling Russian President Vladimir Putin an
"autocratic thug." The paper reported Sanders saying in a statement: "Let's
be clear, the Russians want to undermine American democracy by dividing us
up and, unlike the current president, I stand firmly against their efforts
and any other foreign power that wants to interfere in our election."
Responding to a cacophony of criticism that Sanders' supporters are
especially vicious online, as opposed to the millions of other vicious
people online, Sanders attempted to use Russia as a scapegoat, the way the
Clinton campaign did in 2016. He said: "Some of the ugly stuff on the
Internet attributed to our campaign may well not be coming from real
supporters."
But no matter how strong Sander's denunciations of Russia, his opponents
will now target him as being a tool of the Kremlin.
Mission accomplished.
