Russia’s Attack, an Alternate HistoryIn this Op-Ed published in the New York Times, the author gives his opinion about the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) email accounts and how Obama responded to it. He claims that the then president’s response was not enough, claiming it was a “low-key passive response.” He continues by suggesting that the reason for this is that Obama was afraid of politicizing the country’s security and using the power of the presidency to hurt a political opponent, Donald Trump. However, the author continues, Obama might have made a bigger issue of it at the time had he taken Trump winning seriously. Overall, the message is that the country needs to take this more seriously, even promoting it the status of September 11th and the attack on Pearl Harbor (Leonhardt).
Senate Intelligence Committee Leaders Vow Thorough Russian Investigation
According to the authors of this article, in the wake of the Russian hacking of the DNC for the purpose of allegedly influencing the 2016 presidential election, the Senate Intelligence Committee has publicly stated that they will fully investigate the extent of Russia’s involvement and whether or not the Trump campaign was involved. The head of the committee stated, “This investigation’s scope will go wherever the intelligence leads.” However, problems have already arisen due the House of Representatives’ counterpart committee’s head, David Nunes, and the allegations that he has been working with the Trump administration. Furthermore, “Democrats have accused Mr. Nunes of trying to stall not only the investigation but also the committee as a whole.” The authors have cast a shadow on the both committees in the House and Senate to remain unbiased and carry out a fair investigation (Flegenheimer).
What to Ask About Russian Hacking
Having relevant experience with investigations, and having covered recent events closely, the author in the article proposes a list of people that should be questioned about their connections to Russia and their hacking of the DNC. Many of these people on the list were members of the Trump campaign, part of the Trump’s transition team, or have been part of his administration. Furthermore, the author has devised some carefully worded questions to ask these people, as he claims “The framing of the committee’s questions matters immensely.” As both the House and Senate have committees investigating the Russian hacking and the connection of the Trump team, problems with partisanism and misinformation threaten to hold up or even derail the investigation. Therefore, the author thinks he might be able to provide some clarity with this list of people and questions (Mensch).
Connecting Trump’s Dots to Russia
The author in this article attempts to explain the connection between Trump and Russia in the midst of multiple investigations by both the House and Senate, even including the FBI and NSA. He has provided ten points that help elucidate the connection. These being that Trump and his associates have repeatedly lied about connections to Russia, there are no good reasons for these connections, there are unexplained computer server communications between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank close to Putin, there are communication intercepts by other countries between Trump and Russia that are repeated and constant, reports by former intelligence agents that Russia has compromising material on Trump, Trump has a benign view of Russia, a Trump associate seemed to have advanced knowledge of the hacking, Sessions seems to be a misdirection, Trump is on record saying that Russia is pouring a lot of money into the country, and that other prominent Republicans are demanding answers (Kristof).
- Flegenheimer, Matt, and Emmarie Huetteman. “Senate Intelligence Committee Leaders Vow Thorough Russian Investigation.” Www.nytimes.com. The New York Times, 29 Mar. 2017. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/us/politics/senate-intelligence-committee-burr-warner-russia-investigation.html.
- Kristof, Nicholas. “Connecting Trump’s Dots to Russia.” Www.nytimes.com. The New York Times, 9 Mar. 2017. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/opinion/connecting-trumps-dots-to-russia.html.
- Leonhardt, David. “Russia’s Attack, an Alternate History.” Www.nytimes.com. The New York Times, 2 Mar. 2017. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/opinion/russias-attack-an-alternate-history.html
- Mensch, Louise. “What to Ask About Russian Hacking.” Www.nytimes.com. The New York Times, 17 Mar. 2017. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/opinion/what-to-ask-about-russian-hacking.html.
