US Attorney General William Barr left senators confused about whether he believed that unauthorized spying on President Trump's campaign had occurred, as he was pressed on the impending release of special counsel Robert Mueller's final report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

William Barr: Spying "did occur" on Trump campaign'16

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Moscow's meddling in the 2016 election found no evidence of a conspiracy by President Donald Trump's campaign to collude with Russia, the Justice Department said Sunday.

Mueller also declined to rule on whether the evidence showed Trump obstructed justice, according to a summary submitted to Congress by Attorney General Bill Barr.

In a letter to Congress summarizing the report's key points, Barr quoted Mueller as saying: "While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."&nbsp;

Barr said the investigation did not recommend any further indictments and does not have any further sealed indictments outstanding.

In his own review of Mueller's findings on obstruction -- one of the most explosive allegations against Trump -- Barr said, "the evidence... is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense."

Barr's letter marked the conclusion of the 22-month investigation by Mueller, a former FBI director, into allegations that Trump's election campaign coordinated and colluded with Russians to skew the 2016 vote so the billionaire real estate magnate would win.

But it marked the beginning of a new phase, the determination of Democrats in Congress to further investigate Trump, using the evidence from the Mueller probe.

"Seems like the Department of Justice is putting matters squarely in Congress' court," tweeted Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

"Special Counsel Mueller clearly and explicitly is not exonerating the President, and we must hear from AG Barr about his decision making and see all the underlying evidence for the American people to know all the facts."

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Moscow's meddling in the 2016 election found no evidence of a conspiracy by President Donald Trump's campaign to collude with Russia, the Justice Department said Sunday.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Moscow's meddling in the 2016 election found no evidence of a conspiracy by President Donald Trump's campaign to collude with Russia, the Justice Department said Sunday. Mueller also declined to rule on whether the evidence showed Trump obstructed justice, according to a summary submitted to Congress by Attorney General Bill Barr. In a letter to Congress summarizing the report's key points, Barr quoted Mueller as saying: "While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." Barr said the investigation did not recommend any further indictments and does not have any further sealed indictments outstanding. In his own review of Mueller's findings on obstruction -- one of the most explosive allegations against Trump -- Barr said, "the evidence... is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense." Barr's letter marked the conclusion of the 22-month investigation by Mueller, a former FBI director, into allegations that Trump's election campaign coordinated and colluded with Russians to skew the 2016 vote so the billionaire real estate magnate would win. But it marked the beginning of a new phase, the determination of Democrats in Congress to further investigate Trump, using the evidence from the Mueller probe. "Seems like the Department of Justice is putting matters squarely in Congress' court," tweeted Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. "Special Counsel Mueller clearly and explicitly is not exonerating the President, and we must hear from AG Barr about his decision making and see all the underlying evidence for the American people to know all the facts."

Mueller found no Trump campaign collusion with Russia: Justice Department

American President Donald Trump suggested Saturday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is deliberately leaking to the press documents about his probe into possible collusion with Russia.

"There was No Collusion with Russia (except by the Democrats). When will this very expensive Witch Hunt Hoax ever end? So bad for our Country," Trump tweeted after the investigation passed its one-year mark last month.

"Is the Special Counsel/Justice Department leaking my lawyers letters to the Fake News Media? Should be looking at Dems corruption instead?"

Earlier, The New York Times published a confidential 20-page letter the American president's legal team sent to Mueller in January, along with another sent in June 2017.

In the letters, Trump's lawyers sternly oppose attempts by Mueller's office to interview him, saying "under our system of government, the president is not readily available to be interviewed."

They also argue that Trump cannot be accused of obstructing justice because he has the constitutional power to end the investigation led by the Justice Department.

Mueller was appointed in May 2017 to investigate Russian efforts to tip the 2016 presidential election in Trump's favor.

He has increasingly dug into evidence of alleged money laundering, fraud and obstruction of justice inside Trump's inner circle.

American President Donald Trump suggested Saturday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is deliberately leaking to the press documents about his probe into possible collusion with Russia

American President Donald Trump suggested Saturday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is deliberately leaking to the press documents about his probe into possible collusion with Russia. "There was No Collusion with Russia (except by the Democrats). When will this very expensive Witch Hunt Hoax ever end? So bad for our Country," Trump tweeted after the investigation passed its one-year mark last month. "Is the Special Counsel/Justice Department leaking my lawyers letters to the Fake News Media? Should be looking at Dems corruption instead?" Earlier, The New York Times published a confidential 20-page letter the American president's legal team sent to Mueller in January, along with another sent in June 2017. In the letters, Trump's lawyers sternly oppose attempts by Mueller's office to interview him, saying "under our system of government, the president is not readily available to be interviewed." They also argue that Trump cannot be accused of obstructing justice because he has the constitutional power to end the investigation led by the Justice Department. Mueller was appointed in May 2017 to investigate Russian efforts to tip the 2016 presidential election in Trump's favor. He has increasingly dug into evidence of alleged money laundering, fraud and obstruction of justice inside Trump's inner circle.

Trump suggests Mueller is behind Russia probe leaks 

Political consulting group Cambridge Analytica used Russian researchers and shared data with companies linked to Russian intelligence, a whistleblower told a congressional hearing on interference in the 2016 US election Wednesday.

Christopher Wylie, who leaked information on the British-based firm's hijacking of data on millions of Facebook users, told a Senate panel he believes Russian intelligence services had access to data harvested by the consultancy.

Wylie told the panel that Russian-American researcher Aleksandr Kogan, who created an application to harvest Facebook user profile data, was working at the same time on Russian-funded projects, including "behavioral research."

"This means that in addition to Facebook data being accessed in Russia, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that CA may have been an intelligence target of Russian security services...(and) that Russian security services may have been notified of the existence of CA's Facebook data," Wylie said in his written testimony.

Wylie added that Cambridge Analytica "used Russian researchers to gather its data, (and) openly shared information on 'rumor campaigns' and 'attitudinal inoculation'" with companies and executives linked to the Russian intelligence agency FSB.

The hearing is part of a broad inquiry on both sides of the Atlantic over the misuse of Facebook data by the consulting firm working on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

Facebook has accused Cambridge Analytica of misappropriating its user data by violating terms of the data agreement with Kogan, the academic researcher.

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that the FBI and Justice are investigating Cambridge Analytica for potential criminal violations.

The Times said it was unclear whether the probe was linked to the one led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.

'Black ops' at CA&nbsp

Wylie told the panel that "the ethos of the firm was 'anything goes'" for its political campaigns, including "attempting to divert health ministry funds in a struggling African country to support a politician's re-election campaign."

He added that he was aware of "black ops" at the company, "which I understood to include using hackers to break into computer systems to acquire kompromat or other intelligence for its clients."

He said that one of the tactics used to interfere with voter participation included "weaponizing fear."

"In one country, CA produced videos intended to suppress turnout by showing voters sadistic images of victims being burned alive, undergoing forced amputations with machetes and having their throats cut in a ditch," he said.

"These videos also conveyed Islamophobic messages. It was created with a clear intent to intimidate certain communities, catalyze religious hatred, portray Muslims as terrorists and deny certain voters of their democratic rights."

Cambridge Analytica announced earlier this month it was shutting down, unable to recover from the Facebook-linked scandal.

Its chief executive Alexander Nix was suspended after he was filmed by undercover reporters bragging about ways to win political campaigns, including through blackmail and honey traps.

Another whistleblower said that Britons' personal data may have been misused by a pro-Brexit campaign ahead of the 2016 referendum in which Britain voted to leave the European Union.

Christopher Wylie, who leaked information on the British-based firm's hijacking of data on millions of Facebook users, told a Senate panel he believes Russian intelligence services had access to data harvested by the consultancy

Political consulting group Cambridge Analytica used Russian researchers and shared data with companies linked to Russian intelligence, a whistleblower told a congressional hearing on interference in the 2016 US election Wednesday. Christopher Wylie, who leaked information on the British-based firm's hijacking of data on millions of Facebook users, told a Senate panel he believes Russian intelligence services had access to data harvested by the consultancy. Wylie told the panel that Russian-American researcher Aleksandr Kogan, who created an application to harvest Facebook user profile data, was working at the same time on Russian-funded projects, including "behavioral research." "This means that in addition to Facebook data being accessed in Russia, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that CA may have been an intelligence target of Russian security services...(and) that Russian security services may have been notified of the existence of CA's Facebook data," Wylie said in his written testimony. Wylie added that Cambridge Analytica "used Russian researchers to gather its data, (and) openly shared information on 'rumor campaigns' and 'attitudinal inoculation'" with companies and executives linked to the Russian intelligence agency FSB. The hearing is part of a broad inquiry on both sides of the Atlantic over the misuse of Facebook data by the consulting firm working on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Facebook has accused Cambridge Analytica of misappropriating its user data by violating terms of the data agreement with Kogan, the academic researcher. On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that the FBI and Justice are investigating Cambridge Analytica for potential criminal violations. The Times said it was unclear whether the probe was linked to the one led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. 'Black ops' at CA Wylie told the panel that "the ethos of the firm was 'anything goes'" for its political campaigns, including "attempting to divert health ministry funds in a struggling African country to support a politician's re-election campaign." He added that he was aware of "black ops" at the company, "which I understood to include using hackers to break into computer systems to acquire kompromat or other intelligence for its clients." He said that one of the tactics used to interfere with voter participation included "weaponizing fear." "In one country, CA produced videos intended to suppress turnout by showing voters sadistic images of victims being burned alive, undergoing forced amputations with machetes and having their throats cut in a ditch," he said. "These videos also conveyed Islamophobic messages. It was created with a clear intent to intimidate certain communities, catalyze religious hatred, portray Muslims as terrorists and deny certain voters of their democratic rights." Cambridge Analytica announced earlier this month it was shutting down, unable to recover from the Facebook-linked scandal. Its chief executive Alexander Nix was suspended after he was filmed by undercover reporters bragging about ways to win political campaigns, including through blackmail and honey traps. Another whistleblower said that Britons' personal data may have been misused by a pro-Brexit campaign ahead of the 2016 referendum in which Britain voted to leave the European Union.

Cambridge Analytica shared data with Russia: Whistleblower

US President Donald Trump resumed his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions Tuesday, calling his onetime ally &quot;VERY weak&quot; in pursuing intelligence leaks and for failing to go after former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over her email.

Trump&#39;s latest Twitter salvo followed a report in the Washington Post that the president and his advisers have discussed replacing Sessions, one of the Republican billionaire&#39;s earliest supporters.

&quot;Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails &amp;DNC server) &amp; Intel leakers!&quot; Trump tweeted.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails &amp; DNC server) &amp; Intel leakers!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/889790429398528000">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Trump has openly criticised Sessions for recusing himself from overseeing a federal probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to meddle in the 2016 US presidential elections.

Sessions has said he has no plans to resign.

With pressure mounting from the investigation led by former FBI director Robert Mueller, Trump has sought to revive an election year controversy over Clinton&#39;s use of a private server to send email while secretary of state.

The White House also alleged last week that the Democrats colluded with Ukraine during the 2016 campaign, adding another twist to the president&#39;s counter-offensive.&nbsp;

&quot;Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign - &#39;quietly working to boost Clinton.&#39; So where is the investigation A.G.,&quot; Trump said in another early morning tweet Tuesday.

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Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign - &quot;quietly working to boost Clinton.&quot; So where is the investigation A.G. <a href="https://twitter.com/seanhannity">@seanhannity</a>
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/889788202172780544">July 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&#39;Beleaguered&#39;

US presidents normally go to great pains to avoid being seen as influencing ongoing or possible investigations, making Trump&#39;s attacks on Sessions all the more extraordinary.

On Monday, Trump took to Twitter to declare his top law enforcement official &quot;beleaguered&quot; as he wondered out loud why Sessions was not investigating Clinton.

&quot;So why aren&#39;t the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes &amp; Russia relations?&quot; Trump asked.

Trump has expressed increasing anger with Sessions as his Justice Department&#39;s investigations into possible Trump-Russia collusion has quickened.

Last week, he publicly upbraided Sessions for stepping back from issues related to the probe.

Sessions recused himself because of his role on Trump&#39;s campaign and because he failed to tell the Senate during his confirmation hearings about contacts he had with the Russian ambassador in Washington.

Trump said he would never have hired Sessions had he known he would recuse himself.

&quot;I think is very unfair to the president,&quot; Trump told The New York Times last week. &quot;It&#39;s extremely unfair, and that&#39;s a mild word, to the president.&quot;&nbsp;

Widening probe

Trump&#39;s eldest son, son-in-law and top aides have become entangled in the widening investigation led by Mueller.

Jared Kushner, the president&#39;s son-in-law and a top White House official, was questioned Monday by a Senate panel about contacts with then Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a Russian financier and a Russian lawyer who offered dirt on Clinton.

Kushner made a statement denying collusion after testifying behind closed doors, insisting the string of undisclosed meetings with Russian officials were &quot;proper.&quot;

&quot;Jared Kushner did very well yesterday in proving he did not collude with the Russians. Witch Hunt. Next up, 11 year old Barron Trump!&quot; Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

In May, Trump fired FBI director James Comey over the bureau&#39;s investigation into Russia.

That led to Mueller&#39;s appointment as a special prosecutor.

The Post report said Trump associates see getting rid of Sessions as part of a potential strategy to fire Mueller and end the Russia investigation.&nbsp;

The website Axios reported that Trump was considering replacing Sessions with another early supporter, Rudy Giuliani, a former New York mayor.

But Giuliani dismissed the report and said Sessions was right to have recused himself from the Russia probe, CNN reported.

Sessions &quot;made the right decision under the rules of the Justice Department,&quot; CNN quoted Giuliani as saying as he arrived at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.&nbsp;

US presidents normally go to great pains to avoid being seen as influencing ongoing or possible investigations, making Trump's attacks on Sessions all the more extraordinary

US President Donald Trump resumed his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions Tuesday, calling his onetime ally "VERY weak" in pursuing intelligence leaks and for failing to go after former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over her email. Trump's latest Twitter salvo followed a report in the Washington Post that the president and his advisers have discussed replacing Sessions, one of the Republican billionaire's earliest supporters. "Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails &DNC server) & Intel leakers!" Trump tweeted. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017 × Trump has openly criticised Sessions for recusing himself from overseeing a federal probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to meddle in the 2016 US presidential elections. Sessions has said he has no plans to resign. With pressure mounting from the investigation led by former FBI director Robert Mueller, Trump has sought to revive an election year controversy over Clinton's use of a private server to send email while secretary of state. The White House also alleged last week that the Democrats colluded with Ukraine during the 2016 campaign, adding another twist to the president's counter-offensive. "Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign - 'quietly working to boost Clinton.' So where is the investigation A.G.," Trump said in another early morning tweet Tuesday. Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign - "quietly working to boost Clinton." So where is the investigation A.G. @seanhannity — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017 × 'Beleaguered' US presidents normally go to great pains to avoid being seen as influencing ongoing or possible investigations, making Trump's attacks on Sessions all the more extraordinary. On Monday, Trump took to Twitter to declare his top law enforcement official "beleaguered" as he wondered out loud why Sessions was not investigating Clinton. "So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?" Trump asked. Trump has expressed increasing anger with Sessions as his Justice Department's investigations into possible Trump-Russia collusion has quickened. Last week, he publicly upbraided Sessions for stepping back from issues related to the probe. Sessions recused himself because of his role on Trump's campaign and because he failed to tell the Senate during his confirmation hearings about contacts he had with the Russian ambassador in Washington. Trump said he would never have hired Sessions had he known he would recuse himself. "I think is very unfair to the president," Trump told The New York Times last week. "It's extremely unfair, and that's a mild word, to the president." Widening probe Trump's eldest son, son-in-law and top aides have become entangled in the widening investigation led by Mueller. Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and a top White House official, was questioned Monday by a Senate panel about contacts with then Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a Russian financier and a Russian lawyer who offered dirt on Clinton. Kushner made a statement denying collusion after testifying behind closed doors, insisting the string of undisclosed meetings with Russian officials were "proper." "Jared Kushner did very well yesterday in proving he did not collude with the Russians. Witch Hunt. Next up, 11 year old Barron Trump!" Trump tweeted on Tuesday. In May, Trump fired FBI director James Comey over the bureau's investigation into Russia. That led to Mueller's appointment as a special prosecutor. The Post report said Trump associates see getting rid of Sessions as part of a potential strategy to fire Mueller and end the Russia investigation. The website Axios reported that Trump was considering replacing Sessions with another early supporter, Rudy Giuliani, a former New York mayor. But Giuliani dismissed the report and said Sessions was right to have recused himself from the Russia probe, CNN reported. Sessions "made the right decision under the rules of the Justice Department," CNN quoted Giuliani as saying as he arrived at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Trump slams Jeff Sessions, questions Ukraine's role in US elections

US President Donald Trump admitted that Russia may have interfered in the 2016 US election of which he was proclaimed the winner, but said that other countries may also have been involved, AFP reports.&nbsp;

&quot;I&#39;ve said it very simply. I think it could very well have been Russia. I think it could well have been other countries. I won&#39;t be specific. But I think a lot of people interfere,&quot; Trump said while in Warsaw.

On January 10, 2017, Trump&nbsp;told reporters, &quot;as far as hacking, I think it was Russia,&quot; reports the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/us/politics/trumps-press-conference-highlights-russia.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a>, marking the first time he agreed with multiple&nbsp;US intelligence agencies which&nbsp;conclude&nbsp;that Russia interfered in the election&nbsp;to help him, Trump, win.

But then moments later Trump&nbsp;compared US intelligence agencies to Nazis&nbsp;and dodged questions about whether he or anyone on his team had contact with Russia during the election. &quot;They said it totally never happened,&quot; Trump said of Russia denying their involvement in the hack.&nbsp;&quot;I respected the fact that he said that,&quot; Trump said of Russia&#39;s denial,&nbsp;adding, &quot;it could have been others also&quot;.&nbsp;

About the fact that there was an&nbsp;election breach, Trump has shown little outrage, then or since.

Another major NATO&nbsp;power&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/angela-merkel-warns-of-possible-russian-interference-in-german-elections-8547" target="_blank">Germany</a>&nbsp;has since said they fear Russian interference in their election. Emmanuel Macron&#39;s campaign team has also blamed Russia for a &quot;<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/05/macron-campaign-blasts-massive-hacking-attack-ahead-french-presidential/" target="_blank">massive hacking attack</a>&quot; days before the French election, that he eventually won.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Election fraud or voter suppression?

Trump has launched an investigation into alleged voter fraud, in what he called without evidence a &quot;rigged&quot; election, in order to prove that Clinton, who won the popular vote by about 3 million votes, did not really&nbsp;win the popular vote.

Donald Trump lost the popular vote by more than any US president in American history.

President Trump&#39;s&nbsp;commission has sought to obtain the personal data of voters, including the &quot;name, address, date of birth, party affiliation, last four Social Security number digits and voting history back to 2006 of potentially every voter in the state&quot;, reports the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/06/30/voting-hypocrisy-on-the-right-rebellion-from-the-states/?utm_term=.7b2da12e367b" target="_blank">Washington Post.</a>

So far 44 states have refused. Virginia&#39;s judge issued a blunt denial, along with the reasoning behind it:

&quot;I have no intention of honouring this request. Virginia conducts fair, honest, and democratic elections, and there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in Virginia.

&quot;This entire commission is based on the specious and false notion that there was widespread voter fraud last November. At best this commission was set up as a pretext to validate Donald Trump&#39;s alternative election facts, and at worse is a tool to commit large-scale voter suppression.&quot;

&nbsp;

In January Trump had conceded 'as far as hacking, I think it was Russia', but then compared US intelligence agencies who agreed to Nazis

US President Donald Trump admitted that Russia may have interfered in the 2016 US election of which he was proclaimed the winner, but said that other countries may also have been involved, AFP reports. "I've said it very simply. I think it could very well have been Russia. I think it could well have been other countries. I won't be specific. But I think a lot of people interfere," Trump said while in Warsaw. On January 10, 2017, Trump told reporters, "as far as hacking, I think it was Russia," reports the New York Times, marking the first time he agreed with multiple US intelligence agencies which conclude that Russia interfered in the election to help him, Trump, win. But then moments later Trump compared US intelligence agencies to Nazis and dodged questions about whether he or anyone on his team had contact with Russia during the election. "They said it totally never happened," Trump said of Russia denying their involvement in the hack. "I respected the fact that he said that," Trump said of Russia's denial, adding, "it could have been others also". About the fact that there was an election breach, Trump has shown little outrage, then or since. Another major NATO power Germany has since said they fear Russian interference in their election. Emmanuel Macron's campaign team has also blamed Russia for a "massive hacking attack" days before the French election, that he eventually won. Election fraud or voter suppression? Trump has launched an investigation into alleged voter fraud, in what he called without evidence a "rigged" election, in order to prove that Clinton, who won the popular vote by about 3 million votes, did not really win the popular vote. Donald Trump lost the popular vote by more than any US president in American history. President Trump's commission has sought to obtain the personal data of voters, including the "name, address, date of birth, party affiliation, last four Social Security number digits and voting history back to 2006 of potentially every voter in the state", reports the Washington Post. So far 44 states have refused. Virginia's judge issued a blunt denial, along with the reasoning behind it: "I have no intention of honouring this request. Virginia conducts fair, honest, and democratic elections, and there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in Virginia. "This entire commission is based on the specious and false notion that there was widespread voter fraud last November. At best this commission was set up as a pretext to validate Donald Trump's alternative election facts, and at worse is a tool to commit large-scale voter suppression."

Russia 'could have' interfered with 2016 US election, says US President Trump

A Russian government think tank controlled by Vladimir Putin developed a plan to swing the 2016 US&nbsp;presidential election to Donald Trump and undermine voters&rsquo; faith in the American electoral system, three current and four former US&nbsp;officials told Reuters.

They described two confidential documents from the think tank as providing the framework and rationale for what US&nbsp;intelligence agencies have concluded was an intensive effort by Russia to interfere with the November&nbsp;8 election. US&nbsp;intelligence officials acquired the documents, which were prepared by the Moscow-based Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, after the election.

The institute is run by retired senior Russian foreign intelligence officials appointed by Putin&rsquo;s office.

The first Russian institute document was a strategy paper written last June that circulated at the highest levels of the Russian government but was not addressed to any specific individuals.

It recommended the Kremlin launch a propaganda campaign on social media and Russian state-backed global news outlets to encourage US&nbsp;voters to elect a president who would take a softer line towards Russia than the administration of then-President Barack Obama, the seven officials said.

A second institute document, drafted in October and distributed in the same way, warned that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was likely to win the election. For that reason, it argued, it was better for Russia to end its pro-Trump propaganda and instead intensify its messaging about voter fraud to undermine the US&nbsp;electoral system&rsquo;s legitimacy and damage Clinton&rsquo;s reputation in an effort to undermine her presidency, the seven officials said.

The current and former US&nbsp;officials spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the Russian documents&rsquo; classified status. They declined to discuss how the United States obtained them. US&nbsp;intelligence agencies also declined to comment on them.

Putin has denied interfering in the US&nbsp;election. Putin&rsquo;s spokesman and the Russian institute did not respond to requests for comment.

The documents were central to the Obama administration&#39;s conclusion that Russia mounted a &ldquo;fake news&rdquo; campaign and launched cyber attacks against Democratic Party groups and Clinton&#39;s campaign, the current and former officials said.

&ldquo;Putin had the objective in mind all along, and he asked the institute to draw him a road map,&rdquo; said one of the sources, a former senior US&nbsp;intelligence official.

Trump has said Russia&rsquo;s activities had no impact on the outcome of the race. Ongoing congressional and FBI investigations into Russian interference have so far produced no public evidence that Trump associates colluded with the Russian effort to change the outcome of the election.

Four of the officials said the approach outlined in the June strategy paper was a broadening of an effort the Putin administration launched in March 2016. That month the Kremlin instructed state-backed media outlets, including international platforms Russia Today and Sputnik news agency, to start producing positive reports on Trump&rsquo;s quest for the US&nbsp;presidency, the officials said.

Russia Today did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Sputnik dismissed the assertions by the US&nbsp;officials that it participated in a Kremlin campaign as an &ldquo;absolute pack of lies.&rdquo; &ldquo;And by the way, it&#39;s not the first pack of lies we&#39;re hearing from &#39;sources in U.S.&nbsp;official circles&#39;,&quot; the spokesperson said in an email.

&nbsp;

PRO-KREMLIN BLOGGERS

Russia Today and Sputnik published anti-Clinton stories while pro-Kremlin bloggers prepared a Twitter campaign calling into question the fairness of an anticipated Clinton victory, according to a <a href="https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf" target="_blank">report </a>by US&nbsp;intelligence agencies on Russian interference in the election made public in January.

Russia Today&rsquo;s most popular Clinton video - &ldquo;How 100% of the 2015 Clintons&rsquo; &lsquo;charity&rsquo; went to ... themselves&rdquo; - accumulated 9 millions views on social media, according to the January <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RTAmerica/videos/10153703671361366/" target="_blank">report</a>.&nbsp;

The report said Russia Today and Sputnik &ldquo;consistently cast president elect-Trump as the target of unfair coverage from traditional media outlets.&quot;

The <a href="https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf" target="_blank">report </a>said the agencies did not assess whether Moscow&rsquo;s effort had swung the outcome of the race in Trump&rsquo;s favour, because American intelligence agencies do not &ldquo;analyse US&nbsp;political processes or US&nbsp;public opinion&rdquo;.

&nbsp;

CYBER ATTACKS

Neither of the Russian institute documents mentioned the release of hacked Democratic Party emails to interfere with the US election,&nbsp;according to four of the officials. The officials said the hacking was a covert intelligence operation run separately out of the Kremlin.

The overt propaganda and covert hacking efforts reinforced each other, according to the officials. Both Russia Today and Sputnik heavily promoted the release of the hacked Democratic Party emails, which often contained embarrassing details.

Five of the US&nbsp;officials described the institute as the Kremlin&rsquo;s in-house foreign policy think tank.

The institute&rsquo;s director when the documents were written, Leonid Reshetnikov, rose to the rank of lieutenant general during a 33-year-career in Russia&rsquo;s foreign intelligence service, according to the institute&rsquo;s <a href="https://riss.ru/profile/prime/" target="_blank">website</a>. After Reshetnikov retired from the institute in January, Putin named as his replacement Mikhail Fradkov. The institute <a href="https://en.riss.ru/profile/mikhail-fradkov/" target="_blank">says </a>he served as the director of Russia&rsquo;s foreign intelligence service from 2007 to 2016.

Reuters was unable to determine if either man was directly involved in the drafting of the documents. Reshetnikov&rsquo;s office referred questions to the Russian institute.

On its <a href="https://en.riss.ru/about/]" target="_blank">website</a>, the Russian institute describes itself as providing &ldquo;expert appraisals,&rdquo; &ldquo;recommendations,&rdquo; and &ldquo;analytical materials&rdquo; to the Russian president&rsquo;s office, cabinet, National Security Council, ministries and parliament.

On Jan. 31, the <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/53793" target="_blank">websites </a>of Putin&rsquo;s office&nbsp;and the <a href="https://en.riss.ru/news/20063/" target="_blank">institute</a>&nbsp;posted a picture and transcript of Reshetnikov and his successor Fradkov meeting with Putin in the Kremlin. Putin thanked Reshetnikov for his service and told Fradkov he wanted the institute to provide objective information and analysis.

&ldquo;We did our best for nearly eight years to implement your foreign policy concept,&rdquo; Reshetnikov told Putin. &ldquo;The policy of Russia and the policy of the President of Russia have been the cornerstone of our operation.&rdquo;

(Reuters)

It recommended that the Kremlin launch a propaganda campaign on social media and Russian state-backed global news outlets

A Russian government think tank controlled by Vladimir Putin developed a plan to swing the 2016 US presidential election to Donald Trump and undermine voters’ faith in the American electoral system, three current and four former US officials told Reuters. They described two confidential documents from the think tank as providing the framework and rationale for what US intelligence agencies have concluded was an intensive effort by Russia to interfere with the November 8 election. US intelligence officials acquired the documents, which were prepared by the Moscow-based Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, after the election. The institute is run by retired senior Russian foreign intelligence officials appointed by Putin’s office. The first Russian institute document was a strategy paper written last June that circulated at the highest levels of the Russian government but was not addressed to any specific individuals. It recommended the Kremlin launch a propaganda campaign on social media and Russian state-backed global news outlets to encourage US voters to elect a president who would take a softer line towards Russia than the administration of then-President Barack Obama, the seven officials said. A second institute document, drafted in October and distributed in the same way, warned that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was likely to win the election. For that reason, it argued, it was better for Russia to end its pro-Trump propaganda and instead intensify its messaging about voter fraud to undermine the US electoral system’s legitimacy and damage Clinton’s reputation in an effort to undermine her presidency, the seven officials said. The current and former US officials spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the Russian documents’ classified status. They declined to discuss how the United States obtained them. US intelligence agencies also declined to comment on them. Putin has denied interfering in the US election. Putin’s spokesman and the Russian institute did not respond to requests for comment. The documents were central to the Obama administration's conclusion that Russia mounted a “fake news” campaign and launched cyber attacks against Democratic Party groups and Clinton's campaign, the current and former officials said. “Putin had the objective in mind all along, and he asked the institute to draw him a road map,” said one of the sources, a former senior US intelligence official. Trump has said Russia’s activities had no impact on the outcome of the race. Ongoing congressional and FBI investigations into Russian interference have so far produced no public evidence that Trump associates colluded with the Russian effort to change the outcome of the election. Four of the officials said the approach outlined in the June strategy paper was a broadening of an effort the Putin administration launched in March 2016. That month the Kremlin instructed state-backed media outlets, including international platforms Russia Today and Sputnik news agency, to start producing positive reports on Trump’s quest for the US presidency, the officials said. Russia Today did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Sputnik dismissed the assertions by the US officials that it participated in a Kremlin campaign as an “absolute pack of lies.” “And by the way, it's not the first pack of lies we're hearing from 'sources in U.S. official circles'," the spokesperson said in an email. PRO-KREMLIN BLOGGERS Russia Today and Sputnik published anti-Clinton stories while pro-Kremlin bloggers prepared a Twitter campaign calling into question the fairness of an anticipated Clinton victory, according to a report by US intelligence agencies on Russian interference in the election made public in January. Russia Today’s most popular Clinton video - “How 100% of the 2015 Clintons’ ‘charity’ went to ... themselves” - accumulated 9 millions views on social media, according to the January report. The report said Russia Today and Sputnik “consistently cast president elect-Trump as the target of unfair coverage from traditional media outlets." The report said the agencies did not assess whether Moscow’s effort had swung the outcome of the race in Trump’s favour, because American intelligence agencies do not “analyse US political processes or US public opinion”. CYBER ATTACKS Neither of the Russian institute documents mentioned the release of hacked Democratic Party emails to interfere with the US election, according to four of the officials. The officials said the hacking was a covert intelligence operation run separately out of the Kremlin. The overt propaganda and covert hacking efforts reinforced each other, according to the officials. Both Russia Today and Sputnik heavily promoted the release of the hacked Democratic Party emails, which often contained embarrassing details. Five of the US officials described the institute as the Kremlin’s in-house foreign policy think tank. The institute’s director when the documents were written, Leonid Reshetnikov, rose to the rank of lieutenant general during a 33-year-career in Russia’s foreign intelligence service, according to the institute’s website. After Reshetnikov retired from the institute in January, Putin named as his replacement Mikhail Fradkov. The institute says he served as the director of Russia’s foreign intelligence service from 2007 to 2016. Reuters was unable to determine if either man was directly involved in the drafting of the documents. Reshetnikov’s office referred questions to the Russian institute. On its website, the Russian institute describes itself as providing “expert appraisals,” “recommendations,” and “analytical materials” to the Russian president’s office, cabinet, National Security Council, ministries and parliament. On Jan. 31, the websites of Putin’s office and the institute posted a picture and transcript of Reshetnikov and his successor Fradkov meeting with Putin in the Kremlin. Putin thanked Reshetnikov for his service and told Fradkov he wanted the institute to provide objective information and analysis. “We did our best for nearly eight years to implement your foreign policy concept,” Reshetnikov told Putin. “The policy of Russia and the policy of the President of Russia have been the cornerstone of our operation.” (Reuters)

Putin-linked think tank planned to sway 2016 US election: Documents

Donald Trump has been grilled for months about his ties to Russia, all the while steadfastly denying&nbsp;he had any contact with Russian officials during the US election. It turns out members of Trump&#39;s administration certainly have, and now we know Trump himself also&nbsp;met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, as per a report by <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-personally-met-with-russian-ambassador-during-campaign-cc59ae305032#.l38j375zb" target="_blank">Think Progress</a>.

The report states that on April 27, 2016, Donald Trump met Kislyak right before a major foreign policy speech. The meeting was written about by <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Vladimir-Putin-Russia-Trump-Relations/2016/05/14/id/728839/" target="_blank">Newsmax </a>in an article called &quot;Putin &#39;pleased&#39; with Trump&quot;, published on&nbsp;May 14 of last year, and also by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-goes-his-own-way-with-vladimir-putin-1463172396" target="_blank">The&nbsp;Wall Street Journal</a>&nbsp;on&nbsp;May 23, 2016. Trump&#39;s connections with Russia wasn&#39;t making headline news at the time, but these reports are being widely revisited now.&nbsp;

In the Newsmax piece, Trump states, &quot;...and I&#39;ve had a sort of a semi-nice relationship with Putin.&quot;

The WSJ report (which is only available to subscribers) states: &quot;A few minutes before he made those remarks, Mr Trump met at a VIP reception with Russia&#39;s ambassador to the US, Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak. Mr Trump warmly greeted Mr Kislyak and three other foreign ambassadors who came to the reception.&quot;

Think Progress reports that Kislyak was seated in the front row of the invite-only event, and shows a picture of the ambassador at the event.&nbsp;

Trump&#39;s denials have been&nbsp;unequivocal.

&quot;Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven&#39;t made a phone call to Russia in years. Don&#39;t speak to people from Russia,&quot; Trump said in a press conference on&nbsp;February 16, 2017. Trump&nbsp;stated&nbsp;that his only contacts with Russia were two phone calls with Vladimir Putin after election day, which were widely reported on at the time.

Since then&nbsp;it&#39;s come to light that at least five members of his team&nbsp;talked with Russian officials during the 2016 US presidential campaign. Joining&nbsp;Donald Trump himself, the list also&nbsp;includes Jeff Sessions, Michael Flynn, Carter Page and JD Gordon. Trump&#39;s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner also met with Kislyak, but after the election.

Here is a picture of Donald Trump&#39;s son Don Jr, Jeff Sessins,&nbsp;Jared Kushner and Sergey Kislyak at a Donald Trump&nbsp;speech from April, 2016:

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.Photos: Last night I released these photos of Don Jr-Sessions-Kushner &amp; Russian Amb Kislyak at Trumps April speech <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/trumprussia?src=hash">#trumprussia</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/russiagate?src=hash">#russiagate</a> <a href="https://t.co/5EANzyUCRK">pic.twitter.com/5EANzyUCRK</a>
&mdash; Scott Dworkin (@funder) <a href="https://twitter.com/funder/status/839701531888922624">March 9, 2017</a></blockquote>
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US Attorney General Jeff Sessions had to recuse himself from any investigation on the Trump campaign&#39;s contact&nbsp;with Russia after he told the Judiciary Committee, falsely, that he had not met with any Russian officials.

The Trump campaign has not explained why&nbsp;so many people on their team keep meeting with Russian officials, only to deny it.

While the story about Trump meeting the&nbsp;Russian ambassador was months old, it happened to recirculate&nbsp;on the same day that headlines were dominated by&nbsp;WikiLeaks releasing&nbsp;thousands of pages of&nbsp;documents purporting to show that the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/wikileaks-says-it-releases-files-proving-cia-can-spy-on-all-iphones-androids-13155" target="_blank">CIA </a>can hack any iPhone and Android user in the world.

US intelligence is united in saying that Russian&nbsp;hacked the Democrats during the election. WikiLeaks&nbsp;published Clinton&#39;s emails during the election, which was a theme taken up by Trump repeatedly during the campaign. Some in the US intelligence committee believe that WikiLeaks is a front for the Kremlin.

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Like to remind that I&#39;ve been calling out Wikileaks as a Kremlin front since mid-2013. Took epic shit for speaking truth. Believe me now?
&mdash; John Schindler (@20committee) <a href="https://twitter.com/20committee/status/839143945871441920">March 7, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Trump has been in an open war with US intelligence.

He claimed, without evidence, that Trump Tower had been wiretapped by President Obama himself before the election.&nbsp;Before that characterised the treatment he was receiving at the hands of American intelligence as being like &quot;<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-nazi-germany-tweet-doesn-article-1.2943473" target="_blank">Nazi Germany</a>&quot;.&nbsp;

If the president&nbsp;has an&nbsp;explanation for why he and his administration met with Russian officials during&nbsp;an election campaign that&nbsp;US intelligence claims Russia&nbsp;interefered with, he is obliged to share it.

(WION)

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US intelligence agrees Russia interfered with the US election. Donald Trump met their ambassador in April 2016, and lied about it

Donald Trump has been grilled for months about his ties to Russia, all the while steadfastly denying he had any contact with Russian officials during the US election. It turns out members of Trump's administration certainly have, and now we know Trump himself also met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, as per a report by Think Progress. The report states that on April 27, 2016, Donald Trump met Kislyak right before a major foreign policy speech. The meeting was written about by Newsmax in an article called "Putin 'pleased' with Trump", published on May 14 of last year, and also by The Wall Street Journal on May 23, 2016. Trump's connections with Russia wasn't making headline news at the time, but these reports are being widely revisited now. In the Newsmax piece, Trump states, "...and I've had a sort of a semi-nice relationship with Putin." The WSJ report (which is only available to subscribers) states: "A few minutes before he made those remarks, Mr Trump met at a VIP reception with Russia's ambassador to the US, Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak. Mr Trump warmly greeted Mr Kislyak and three other foreign ambassadors who came to the reception." Think Progress reports that Kislyak was seated in the front row of the invite-only event, and shows a picture of the ambassador at the event. Trump's denials have been unequivocal. "Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven't made a phone call to Russia in years. Don't speak to people from Russia," Trump said in a press conference on February 16, 2017. Trump stated that his only contacts with Russia were two phone calls with Vladimir Putin after election day, which were widely reported on at the time. Since then it's come to light that at least five members of his team talked with Russian officials during the 2016 US presidential campaign. Joining Donald Trump himself, the list also includes Jeff Sessions, Michael Flynn, Carter Page and JD Gordon. Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner also met with Kislyak, but after the election. Here is a picture of Donald Trump's son Don Jr, Jeff Sessins, Jared Kushner and Sergey Kislyak at a Donald Trump speech from April, 2016: .Photos: Last night I released these photos of Don Jr-Sessions-Kushner & Russian Amb Kislyak at Trumps April speech #trumprussia #russiagate pic.twitter.com/5EANzyUCRK — Scott Dworkin (@funder) March 9, 2017 × US Attorney General Jeff Sessions had to recuse himself from any investigation on the Trump campaign's contact with Russia after he told the Judiciary Committee, falsely, that he had not met with any Russian officials. The Trump campaign has not explained why so many people on their team keep meeting with Russian officials, only to deny it. While the story about Trump meeting the Russian ambassador was months old, it happened to recirculate on the same day that headlines were dominated by WikiLeaks releasing thousands of pages of documents purporting to show that the CIA can hack any iPhone and Android user in the world. US intelligence is united in saying that Russian hacked the Democrats during the election. WikiLeaks published Clinton's emails during the election, which was a theme taken up by Trump repeatedly during the campaign. Some in the US intelligence committee believe that WikiLeaks is a front for the Kremlin. Like to remind that I've been calling out Wikileaks as a Kremlin front since mid-2013. Took epic shit for speaking truth. Believe me now? — John Schindler (@20committee) March 7, 2017 × Trump has been in an open war with US intelligence. He claimed, without evidence, that Trump Tower had been wiretapped by President Obama himself before the election. Before that characterised the treatment he was receiving at the hands of American intelligence as being like "Nazi Germany". If the president has an explanation for why he and his administration met with Russian officials during an election campaign that US intelligence claims Russia interefered with, he is obliged to share it. (WION)

Donald Trump himself met Russian ambassador before election: Report

Trump&#39;s former campaign member, long-time friend&nbsp;and mega supporter Roger Stone was apparently in email communication with the Russian hackers being probed by the FBI, known as &quot;Guccifer 2.0&quot;, according to &quot;a source&quot; in a report filed by <a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/roger-stone-and-guccifer-913684" target="_blank">The Smoking Gun</a>&nbsp;(TSG).

Guccifer 2.0 claims to be an independent hacker, but US intelligence says &quot;with high confidence&quot;&nbsp;that it was in fact GRU, Russian Military Intel Service simply&nbsp;operating&nbsp;under the alias &quot;Guccifer 2.0&quot;,&nbsp;with the specific aim&nbsp;to help Donald Trump get elected president.

The email from Guccifer 2.0&nbsp;is dated from&nbsp;June 15, 2016, when Roger Stone was still officially a member of the Trump campaign.

Attached in TSG&#39;s long&nbsp;article about Roger Stone was an&nbsp;email&nbsp;from &quot;Guccifer 2.0&quot; purportedly&nbsp;to Stone himself. Nowhere in the email does it say &quot;Roger Stone&quot;, but TSG&#39;s article also contained&nbsp;an IRS tax document with Roger Stone&#39;s name on it. This does not mean that the email from Guccifer 2.0 is authentically addressed to Roger Stone, but TSG&nbsp;does have a leak that provided&nbsp;official correspondence between Stone and the American Government, ie the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).&nbsp;&nbsp;

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If this email is truly from Russian hackers to an official member of Donald Trump&#39;s election campaign, it would be very, very damning. Photo source: The Smoking Gun. (Others)
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WION contacted&nbsp;TSG to ask about the source of the leak, and for proof that the email from Guccifer 2.0 was indeed mailed to Roger Stone. So far they have not&nbsp;responded, and we will update the article if they do.

&nbsp;

Why would this email prove?

If this email is truly from Guccifer 2.0 to Roger Stone, it means that an official&nbsp;Trump campaign member was in communication with the Russian government, and worked with them as they&nbsp;interfered with the US election on Trump&#39;s behalf.

Before, it was clear that Russia hacked the Democrats,&nbsp;who then&nbsp;sent emails&nbsp;to WikiLeaks. In fact, the first time WikiLeaks published the Democrat&#39;s emails was on October 7, just <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/dec/18/john-podesta/its-true-wikileaks-dumped-podesta-emails-hour-afte/" target="_blank">hours </a>after the recording leaked of Trump saying, &quot;Grab them by the p*ssy&quot;.&nbsp;

But there was no proof that Trump worked directly with Russia, or with WikiLeaks.

That changed days&nbsp;ago when the same <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/trump-ally-says-he-worked-with-assange-pre-election-to-spread-clinton-emails-in-abusive-twitter-tirade-13089" target="_blank">Roger Stone </a>took to Twitter to say he had a &quot;perfectly legal back channel with WikiLeaks&quot; and also&nbsp;said, &quot;Assange does NOT work for Russians and nobody has proved otherwise&quot;. Actually, Stone has admitted to being in &quot;direct contact&quot; with Julian Assange himself. Essentially,&nbsp;the Trump campaign&nbsp;did&nbsp;have open communication with WikiLeaks.

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Listen to &quot;long time Trump advisor&quot; Roger Stone here... sure seems to know what Assange (Russia) had in store: <a href="https://t.co/EclA0jpXIU">pic.twitter.com/EclA0jpXIU</a>
&mdash; justin kanew (@justin_kanew) <a href="https://twitter.com/justin_kanew/status/838485426050641920">March 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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It may be&nbsp;noteworthy that WikiLeaks was responsible for the&nbsp;biggest ever leak of secret&nbsp;CIA <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/mar/07/wikileaks-publishes-biggest-ever-leak-of-secret-cia-documents-hacking-surveillance" target="_blank">documents</a>, and it came amid Trump&#39;s ongoing war with US intelligence, and&nbsp;just days after Stone admitted to having a channel of communication with WikiLeaks.

Here is Trump encouraging Russia to hack Clinton&#39;s emails:

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gNa2B5zHfbQ" width="560"></iframe>

While Russia&#39;s interference in the US election may constitute an act of war between the countries, this doesn&#39;t necessarily reflect on President Trump.&nbsp;

But if the Guccifer 2.0-Stone email is confirmed, it&nbsp;proves that the exact same aide in Trump&#39;s campaign was in contact with not just WikiLeaks but with the Russian Military Intelligence Service,&nbsp;the very people who hacked the Democrats.

&nbsp;

Does anything else suggest Russia and Trump are connected?

Jeff Sessions&nbsp;recused himself from the US intelligence&#39;s&nbsp;investigation into the Trump-Russia connection after it emerged that he at least twice met the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and lied about it under oath.

Shortly after Sessions met Kislyak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last summer, the Republican Party changed the language in their policy to become more aligned with Russia. Former Trump aide <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jd-gordon-trump-adviser-ukraine-rnc-2017-3" target="_blank">JD Gordon</a> just claimed this alignment was on the insistence of&nbsp;Donald Trump himself. Historically, Jeff Sessions has been decidedly<a href="http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/2/14790818/jeff-sessions-russia-attorney-general-lie-congress-perjury-recusal" target="_blank"> anti-Russia</a>.

It was also just reported that <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trump-himself-met-russian-ambassador-before-election-report-13160" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;himself&nbsp;met the Russian ambassador and lied about it. Other members of his administration or his campaign who have done the same include: National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, JD Gordon, and as mentioned Jeff Sessions. Trump&#39;s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner also met Kislyak, but after the election.

Flynn had to resign from his position as the head of national security after <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/national-security-adviser-flynn-discussed-sanctions-with-russian-ambassador-despite-denials-officials-say/2017/02/09/f85b29d6-ee11-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_usrussia-%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&amp;utm_term=.4def7586fab0" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported that not only did Flynn lie about meeting with the Russian ambassador, but that he called Kislyak repeatedly the day Obama levelled sanctions against Russia to discuss those&nbsp;sanctions. The phone calls were recordedm as per ordinary US intelligence protocol.

From the report, which cited&nbsp;nine senior officials in US intelligence: &quot;All of those officials said Flynn&#39;s reference to the election-related sanctions were explicit.&quot;&nbsp;

The notorious Christopher Steele dossier alleges that Putin, the former head of Russia&#39;s spy agency, has enough information over Trump to blackmail him. That dossier contains allegations that are false, mostly slight error about inessential items.&nbsp;But&nbsp;more and more of it&nbsp;is being <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RbpBxJ3QNyvts_w16UcSSGeH7cSrXK9U3wIq0OOq-Xs/preview" target="_blank">corroborated</a>.

Trump has <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/analysis-trump-russia-and-deutsche-banklinks-that-raise-many-many-questions-11975" target="_blank">many </a>links with Russia, and has had them for decades.&nbsp;

Trump dismisses&nbsp;his&nbsp;alleged connection to Russia as Fake News. It&#39;s a real possibility that this email is not what it claims to be. &nbsp;

But Trump is definitely lying about aspects of his connection to Russia. It would be funny if the stakes weren&#39;t so high, but here is Trump denying he&nbsp;knows Vladimir Putin, while also&nbsp;bragging about his personal relationship with Putin.

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(WION)

A published email claiming to be from 'Guccifer 2.0' to Roger Stone would prove that Trump's campaign communicated with Kremlin hackers

Trump's former campaign member, long-time friend and mega supporter Roger Stone was apparently in email communication with the Russian hackers being probed by the FBI, known as "Guccifer 2.0", according to "a source" in a report filed by The Smoking Gun (TSG). Guccifer 2.0 claims to be an independent hacker, but US intelligence says "with high confidence" that it was in fact GRU, Russian Military Intel Service simply operating under the alias "Guccifer 2.0", with the specific aim to help Donald Trump get elected president. The email from Guccifer 2.0 is dated from June 15, 2016, when Roger Stone was still officially a member of the Trump campaign. Attached in TSG's long article about Roger Stone was an email from "Guccifer 2.0" purportedly to Stone himself. Nowhere in the email does it say "Roger Stone", but TSG's article also contained an IRS tax document with Roger Stone's name on it. This does not mean that the email from Guccifer 2.0 is authentically addressed to Roger Stone, but TSG does have a leak that provided official correspondence between Stone and the American Government, ie the IRS (Internal Revenue Service). If this email is truly from Russian hackers to an official member of Donald Trump's election campaign, it would be very, very damning. Photo source: The Smoking Gun. (Others) × WION contacted TSG to ask about the source of the leak, and for proof that the email from Guccifer 2.0 was indeed mailed to Roger Stone. So far they have not responded, and we will update the article if they do. Why would this email prove? If this email is truly from Guccifer 2.0 to Roger Stone, it means that an official Trump campaign member was in communication with the Russian government, and worked with them as they interfered with the US election on Trump's behalf. Before, it was clear that Russia hacked the Democrats, who then sent emails to WikiLeaks. In fact, the first time WikiLeaks published the Democrat's emails was on October 7, just hours after the recording leaked of Trump saying, "Grab them by the p*ssy". But there was no proof that Trump worked directly with Russia, or with WikiLeaks. That changed days ago when the same Roger Stone took to Twitter to say he had a "perfectly legal back channel with WikiLeaks" and also said, "Assange does NOT work for Russians and nobody has proved otherwise". Actually, Stone has admitted to being in "direct contact" with Julian Assange himself. Essentially, the Trump campaign did have open communication with WikiLeaks. Listen to "long time Trump advisor" Roger Stone here... sure seems to know what Assange (Russia) had in store: pic.twitter.com/EclA0jpXIU — justin kanew (@justin_kanew) March 5, 2017 × It may be noteworthy that WikiLeaks was responsible for the biggest ever leak of secret CIA documents, and it came amid Trump's ongoing war with US intelligence, and just days after Stone admitted to having a channel of communication with WikiLeaks. Here is Trump encouraging Russia to hack Clinton's emails: While Russia's interference in the US election may constitute an act of war between the countries, this doesn't necessarily reflect on President Trump. But if the Guccifer 2.0-Stone email is confirmed, it proves that the exact same aide in Trump's campaign was in contact with not just WikiLeaks but with the Russian Military Intelligence Service, the very people who hacked the Democrats. Does anything else suggest Russia and Trump are connected? Jeff Sessions recused himself from the US intelligence's investigation into the Trump-Russia connection after it emerged that he at least twice met the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and lied about it under oath. Shortly after Sessions met Kislyak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last summer, the Republican Party changed the language in their policy to become more aligned with Russia. Former Trump aide JD Gordon just claimed this alignment was on the insistence of Donald Trump himself. Historically, Jeff Sessions has been decidedly anti-Russia. It was also just reported that Donald Trump himself met the Russian ambassador and lied about it. Other members of his administration or his campaign who have done the same include: National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, JD Gordon, and as mentioned Jeff Sessions. Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner also met Kislyak, but after the election. Flynn had to resign from his position as the head of national security after The Washington Post reported that not only did Flynn lie about meeting with the Russian ambassador, but that he called Kislyak repeatedly the day Obama levelled sanctions against Russia to discuss those sanctions. The phone calls were recordedm as per ordinary US intelligence protocol. From the report, which cited nine senior officials in US intelligence: "All of those officials said Flynn's reference to the election-related sanctions were explicit." The notorious Christopher Steele dossier alleges that Putin, the former head of Russia's spy agency, has enough information over Trump to blackmail him. That dossier contains allegations that are false, mostly slight error about inessential items. But more and more of it is being corroborated. Trump has many links with Russia, and has had them for decades. Trump dismisses his alleged connection to Russia as Fake News. It's a real possibility that this email is not what it claims to be. But Trump is definitely lying about aspects of his connection to Russia. It would be funny if the stakes weren't so high, but here is Trump denying he knows Vladimir Putin, while also bragging about his personal relationship with Putin. (WION)

Trump campaign communicated with Russian hackers during election, claims report

A WikiLeaks release from this past weekend suggests that&nbsp;Bernie Sanders was&nbsp;blackmailed by the Clinton campaign when they competed during&nbsp;the primaries to see who would be the Democratic presidential nominee.

After being asked about the topic, Sanders made some pointed remarks about the potential impact of Clinton&#39;s wealth on her policy making decisions, discussing the possible isolating effect of extreme wealth. He told CNBC in May:

&quot;Theoretically you can be a multibillionaire and in fact be very concerned about the issues of working people. Theoretically that&#39;s true.&quot;

Then he added, &quot;When you hustle money like that, you don&#39;t sit in restaurants like this. You sit in restaurants where you spend, I don&#39;t know what they spend, hundreds of dollars for dinner and so forth. That&#39;s the world you are accustomed to. And that&#39;s the worldview that you adopt. I&#39;m not going to condemn Hillary and Bill Clinton because they&#39;ve made a lot of money. That type of wealth has the potential to isolate you from the reality of the world,&quot; he said.

The WikiLeaks dump shows that not only did a campaign manager&nbsp;object to this comment, particularly Sanders&#39; use of the word &quot;hustle&quot;, or highlight it as something negative in need of counter-messaging, he seemed to believe that he had control of Sanders, who&nbsp;crossed a line by speaking this way&nbsp;despite explicitly saying&nbsp;&quot;I&#39;m not going to condemn Hillary or Bill Clinton&quot;.

Here is Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook&#39;s&nbsp;response to this remark after&nbsp;the campaign brought it to his attention,&nbsp;as released by&nbsp;<a href="https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/47397">WikiLeaks</a>: &quot;This isn&#39;t in keeping w the agreement. Since we clearly have some leverage, would be good to flag this for him. I could send a signal via Welch--or did you establish a direct line w him?&quot;

What did Clinton&#39;s campaign have &quot;over&quot; him? What else did this prevent him from saying or doing? Exactly how profound an impact did this have on the US election? None of this is currently evident, but Sanders&#39; supporters are livid, and it seems they have reason to be.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/wikileaks-releases-20000-emails-of-democratic-party-officials-working-against-bernie-sanders-3076">Also read: WikiLeaks releases 20,000 emails of Democratic party officials working against Bernie Sanders</a>

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2016-bernie-sanders-responds-to-a-donald-trump-presidency-8625">Also read: Bernie Sanders responds to a Donald Trump presidency</a>

WikiLeaks, months earlier, also released emails showing that the Democratic National Committee favoured Clinton over Sanders, and, as the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wikileaks-emails-show-dnc-favored-hillary-clinton-over_us_57930be0e4b0e002a3134b05">Huffington Post</a> reports,&nbsp;considered whether it would be advantageous to highlight his Jewish heritage or his identification as an&nbsp;atheist -- whatever would make a &quot;several points difference with my peeps [voters]&quot;.

While Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, even still, her campaign has a lot of explaining to do.

(WION)

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

'This isn't in keeping w the agreement. Since we clearly have some leverage...' Clinton's campaign manager said in what seems like silencing

A WikiLeaks release from this past weekend suggests that Bernie Sanders was blackmailed by the Clinton campaign when they competed during the primaries to see who would be the Democratic presidential nominee. After being asked about the topic, Sanders made some pointed remarks about the potential impact of Clinton's wealth on her policy making decisions, discussing the possible isolating effect of extreme wealth. He told CNBC in May: "Theoretically you can be a multibillionaire and in fact be very concerned about the issues of working people. Theoretically that's true." Then he added, "When you hustle money like that, you don't sit in restaurants like this. You sit in restaurants where you spend, I don't know what they spend, hundreds of dollars for dinner and so forth. That's the world you are accustomed to. And that's the worldview that you adopt. I'm not going to condemn Hillary and Bill Clinton because they've made a lot of money. That type of wealth has the potential to isolate you from the reality of the world," he said. The WikiLeaks dump shows that not only did a campaign manager object to this comment, particularly Sanders' use of the word "hustle", or highlight it as something negative in need of counter-messaging, he seemed to believe that he had control of Sanders, who crossed a line by speaking this way despite explicitly saying "I'm not going to condemn Hillary or Bill Clinton". Here is Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook's response to this remark after the campaign brought it to his attention, as released by WikiLeaks: "This isn't in keeping w the agreement. Since we clearly have some leverage, would be good to flag this for him. I could send a signal via Welch--or did you establish a direct line w him?" What did Clinton's campaign have "over" him? What else did this prevent him from saying or doing? Exactly how profound an impact did this have on the US election? None of this is currently evident, but Sanders' supporters are livid, and it seems they have reason to be. Also read: WikiLeaks releases 20,000 emails of Democratic party officials working against Bernie Sanders Also read: Bernie Sanders responds to a Donald Trump presidency WikiLeaks, months earlier, also released emails showing that the Democratic National Committee favoured Clinton over Sanders, and, as the Huffington Post reports, considered whether it would be advantageous to highlight his Jewish heritage or his identification as an atheist -- whatever would make a "several points difference with my peeps [voters]". While Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, even still, her campaign has a lot of explaining to do. (WION)

WikiLeaks suggests Bernie Sanders was blackmailed during Democratic Primary

Thousands of people across America took to the streets to riot in a show of protest against the thought of a Donald Trump presidency.&nbsp;

In California, at Berkeley High School, thousands of students left school to openly denounce the new president-elect.

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NOW: Thousands of students at Berkeley High School in CA walked out of class with their teachers, to say that he is not their president. <a href="https://t.co/vcKGKDPdE9">pic.twitter.com/vcKGKDPdE9</a>
&mdash; KING 5 News (@KING5Seattle) <a href="https://twitter.com/KING5Seattle/status/796405036532174848">November 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
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The LA Times reports that shortly after Trump gave his victory speech in New York, at about 3 am NY time, about 2,000 people rallied at UCLA, when two separate protests joined together, UCLA Seargeant Miguel Banuelos told the LA Times.

The UCLA protest peaked at 1 am local time, when a Trump pinata was set on fire in a trash can, the LA Times reports. There were five businesses who reported broken windows, and one incident of vandalism.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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Hundreds of students march from freshman dorms to I.V. chanting &quot;Fuck Donald Trump&quot; and &quot;Not my president.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/8wx7dU01GA">pic.twitter.com/8wx7dU01GA</a>
&mdash; Daily Nexus (@dailynexus) <a href="https://twitter.com/dailynexus/status/796270980456857600">November 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
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The Daily Nexus, the student paper at UC Santa Barbara,&nbsp;reports that students there&nbsp;waved Mexican flags and denouced&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;with profane language.

<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-10/us-protests-against-trumps-election/8011454">ABC </a>reports that about 100 protesters took to the Capital Hill neighbourhood of Seatle to block roads and set garbage bins on fire.&nbsp;ABC also reports that hundreds at the University of Pittsburgh marched through the streets, mostly&nbsp;calling for unity.&nbsp;

In Pennsylvania, hundreds of University of Pittsburgh students marched through the streets, with some in the crowd calling for unity,&nbsp;according to the student-run campus newspaper, the Pitt News.

The Pitt News&#39; Twitter account posted videos of peaceful protests that took place the morning after the election results were announced.

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New Protest going down Forbes sidewalk protesting &quot;hate.&quot; Sign in front says &quot;love trumps hate&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenJ_Caruso">@StephenJ_Caruso</a> <a href="https://t.co/1511Sayu2u">pic.twitter.com/1511Sayu2u</a>
&mdash; Stephen Caruso (@StephenJ_Caruso) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenJ_Caruso/status/796412950965784576">November 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
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At least two protests are planned for Trump&#39;s hometown New York, one in Union Square and the other in Columbus Circle. Facebook events for demonstrations in Union Square and Columbus Circle were created on Wednesday morning, with more than <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/177936919332882/">10,000&nbsp;Facebook</a> users responding that they would be present at the protests, <a href="http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Donald-Trump-New-York-City-Reaction-Protests-Union-Square-Columbus-Circle-NYC-400546271.html">NBC New York</a> reports.

The Union Square protest is hosted by a group called the Socialist Alternative, and they plan to march for over 40 blocks to picket outside the Trump Tower, NBC New York reports.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/2138893776334981/">The Columbus Circle</a> demonstration is hosted by the anti-racism group&nbsp;Answer Coalition, and so far about 1,000 people have indicated they plan to attend.

Some in New York didn&#39;t even wait for Trump to be declated winner, booing the Republican presidential candidate as he was on his way to cast his ballot.&nbsp;

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dwn2fxuzLww" width="560"></iframe>

Meanwhile,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.teenvogue.com/story/crisis-text-line-call-volume-doubled-since-trumps-win">Teen Vogue </a>reports that calls have doubled for a teen suicide hotline, many from the LGBTQ community, with &quot;election&quot; and &quot;Trump&quot; the two words cited most by testers.&nbsp;

This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the anti-Trump protests, or negative consequences,&nbsp;since the announcement was made&nbsp;that he will be the next American president.&nbsp;No doubt there will be more protests to come --&nbsp;it has not even been a full 24 hours.

But Trump pledged to be a president for &quot;all Americans&quot;, and&nbsp;many&nbsp;don&#39;t seem to believe that will come&nbsp;true.

While Trump led in the all-important&nbsp;electoral votes, defeating Clinton&nbsp;by a high margin of 279 to 228, Clinton led the popular vote&nbsp;with about&nbsp;200,000 more votes overall.

(WION)

'Not my president!' was a common refrain in protests and in hashtags, as Americans everywhere denounced the man who will be their president

Thousands of people across America took to the streets to riot in a show of protest against the thought of a Donald Trump presidency. In California, at Berkeley High School, thousands of students left school to openly denounce the new president-elect. NOW: Thousands of students at Berkeley High School in CA walked out of class with their teachers, to say that he is not their president. pic.twitter.com/vcKGKDPdE9 — KING 5 News (@KING5Seattle) November 9, 2016 × The LA Times reports that shortly after Trump gave his victory speech in New York, at about 3 am NY time, about 2,000 people rallied at UCLA, when two separate protests joined together, UCLA Seargeant Miguel Banuelos told the LA Times. The UCLA protest peaked at 1 am local time, when a Trump pinata was set on fire in a trash can, the LA Times reports. There were five businesses who reported broken windows, and one incident of vandalism. Hundreds of students march from freshman dorms to I.V. chanting "Fuck Donald Trump" and "Not my president." pic.twitter.com/8wx7dU01GA — Daily Nexus (@dailynexus) November 9, 2016 × The Daily Nexus, the student paper at UC Santa Barbara, reports that students there waved Mexican flags and denouced Trump with profane language. ABC reports that about 100 protesters took to the Capital Hill neighbourhood of Seatle to block roads and set garbage bins on fire. ABC also reports that hundreds at the University of Pittsburgh marched through the streets, mostly calling for unity. In Pennsylvania, hundreds of University of Pittsburgh students marched through the streets, with some in the crowd calling for unity, according to the student-run campus newspaper, the Pitt News. The Pitt News' Twitter account posted videos of peaceful protests that took place the morning after the election results were announced. New Protest going down Forbes sidewalk protesting "hate." Sign in front says "love trumps hate" @StephenJ_Caruso pic.twitter.com/1511Sayu2u — Stephen Caruso (@StephenJ_Caruso) November 9, 2016 × At least two protests are planned for Trump's hometown New York, one in Union Square and the other in Columbus Circle. Facebook events for demonstrations in Union Square and Columbus Circle were created on Wednesday morning, with more than 10,000 Facebook users responding that they would be present at the protests, NBC New York reports. The Union Square protest is hosted by a group called the Socialist Alternative, and they plan to march for over 40 blocks to picket outside the Trump Tower, NBC New York reports. The Columbus Circle demonstration is hosted by the anti-racism group Answer Coalition, and so far about 1,000 people have indicated they plan to attend. Some in New York didn't even wait for Trump to be declated winner, booing the Republican presidential candidate as he was on his way to cast his ballot. Meanwhile, Teen Vogue reports that calls have doubled for a teen suicide hotline, many from the LGBTQ community, with "election" and "Trump" the two words cited most by testers. This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the anti-Trump protests, or negative consequences, since the announcement was made that he will be the next American president. No doubt there will be more protests to come -- it has not even been a full 24 hours. But Trump pledged to be a president for "all Americans", and many don't seem to believe that will come true. While Trump led in the all-important electoral votes, defeating Clinton by a high margin of 279 to 228, Clinton led the popular vote with about 200,000 more votes overall. (WION)

US Election: Trump presidency sparks riots across United States

At the time of vioting, Donald Trump appeared skeptical&nbsp;of a&nbsp;demographic he thought was secure -- his wife. It wouldn&#39;t be his second or first wife to part ways from him, but Melania seemed like a bigtime&nbsp;MAGA enthusiast.

She had done so much&nbsp;for him this election:&nbsp;falsely post&nbsp;on her website&nbsp;she graduated from&nbsp;university, deliver and write a speech&nbsp;written and delivered by Michelle Obama, nobly defend her husband for saying he grabbed other women&#39;s vaginas without asking permission.

It was&nbsp;the customary American grooming for&nbsp;every First Lady before her. So why did Trump appear to doubt Melania when it mattered most?&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Like father, like son

By sneaking a peak at his&nbsp;wife&#39;s ballot, Eric Trump also showed little faith&nbsp;his wife would vote horribly.&nbsp;He appeared to believe she might suddenly Stand With Her, or&nbsp;conscientiously&nbsp;throw&nbsp;her vote into the garbage by voting&nbsp;Stein or Johnson.

Over the course of the campaign&nbsp;two or three&nbsp;Sensitive Sallies were miffed by the Trump Campaign, only&nbsp;because Donald&nbsp;has&nbsp;been consistently racist sexist&nbsp;and a&nbsp;xenophobe&nbsp;who doesn&#39;t just lie a lot but has never said anything true despite talking ceaselessly on TV&nbsp;since 2014.

But this week, using the family&#39;s quintessential soft touch,&nbsp;Eric Trump surprised all by&nbsp;alienating&nbsp;a&nbsp;community leader&nbsp;and Trump devotee, saying KKK leader David Duke &quot;deserves a bullet&quot;.&nbsp;

Luckily for them, while the Trump&#39;s have insulted about everyone in the world&nbsp;roughly half of America still backs them! Stay tuned to see if it&#39;s the bigger or smaller half.

Disclaimer: Please get your hard facts elsewhere on WION. If this provided&nbsp;a laugh, good.&nbsp;If not, sorry.

(WION)

Eric Trump also shows little faith his wife will vote horribly

At the time of vioting, Donald Trump appeared skeptical of a demographic he thought was secure -- his wife. It wouldn't be his second or first wife to part ways from him, but Melania seemed like a bigtime MAGA enthusiast. She had done so much for him this election: falsely post on her website she graduated from university, deliver and write a speech written and delivered by Michelle Obama, nobly defend her husband for saying he grabbed other women's vaginas without asking permission. It was the customary American grooming for every First Lady before her. So why did Trump appear to doubt Melania when it mattered most? Like father, like son By sneaking a peak at his wife's ballot, Eric Trump also showed little faith his wife would vote horribly. He appeared to believe she might suddenly Stand With Her, or conscientiously throw her vote into the garbage by voting Stein or Johnson. Over the course of the campaign two or three Sensitive Sallies were miffed by the Trump Campaign, only because Donald has been consistently racist sexist and a xenophobe who doesn't just lie a lot but has never said anything true despite talking ceaselessly on TV since 2014. But this week, using the family's quintessential soft touch, Eric Trump surprised all by alienating a community leader and Trump devotee, saying KKK leader David Duke "deserves a bullet". Luckily for them, while the Trump's have insulted about everyone in the world roughly half of America still backs them! Stay tuned to see if it's the bigger or smaller half. Disclaimer: Please get your hard facts elsewhere on WION. If this provided a laugh, good. If not, sorry. (WION)

US Election 2016: Trump unsure Melania Trump will vote Trump

The Clinton campaign has issued cease-and-desist warnings to any TV or radio station, demanding that they refrain from airing ads from pro-Trump groups stating that his democratic rival is &quot;under investigation by the FBI&quot;, <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/media/304854-clinton-campaign-to-media-stop-airing-ads-saying-clinton-is-under">The Hill reports.</a>

CNN reported that the letters were sent on Sunday, the same day that FBI Director James Comey anounced that the newly discovered emails would not change the FBI&#39;s original conclusion from July 5, that Clinton was innocent of any criminal wrongdoing.&nbsp;

&quot;These ads falsely claim Secretary Clinton is under investigation by the FBI,&quot; wrote Marc Elias, the general counsel for the Clinton campaign. He also writes that &quot;at no point&quot; did the FBI &quot;reopen&quot; an investiation into Clinton&#39;s emails. &quot;The claim in these ads is provably false.&quot;

The prospect of misinformation affecting&nbsp;the 2016 US election, and possibly tainting its result,&nbsp;is considerable. There are <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-fears-of-voter-intimidation-suppression-run-high-8541">already early reports </a>from advanced voting related to&nbsp;voter intimidation and voter suppression.&nbsp;

Jon Favreau, President Obama&#39;s chief speech writer from 2005-2013, pointed out that&nbsp;today&#39;s <a href="https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/moscows-news-media-helps-russians-report-vote-fraud-to-the-trump-campaign-56051">Moscow Times</a>&nbsp;reports that&nbsp;Russian news media is sending Russians living in Russia the number to a&nbsp;hotline where they&nbsp;can report so-called vote fraud to Donald Trump. While the hotline&nbsp;is primarily for Russians living in the US, there is an option to &quot;Press 1&quot; for callers located within&nbsp;Russia.

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One last push from a foreign government intervening in our election on behalf of Trump! <a href="https://t.co/0HEouhNPE6">https://t.co/0HEouhNPE6</a>
&mdash; Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) <a href="https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/796018298324295680">November 8, 2016</a></blockquote>
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This frantic atmopshere of misinformation poses a two-fold threat: that the election result itself&nbsp;is&nbsp;tainted, and that the result is&nbsp;perceived&nbsp;to be tainted. Democracy can&#39;t be strong if its very foundations, a free voting process, is questioned.&nbsp;

(WION)

Trump supporters were airing commercials claiming the Democratic nominee for President is 'under FBI investigation', which is not true

The Clinton campaign has issued cease-and-desist warnings to any TV or radio station, demanding that they refrain from airing ads from pro-Trump groups stating that his democratic rival is "under investigation by the FBI", The Hill reports. CNN reported that the letters were sent on Sunday, the same day that FBI Director James Comey anounced that the newly discovered emails would not change the FBI's original conclusion from July 5, that Clinton was innocent of any criminal wrongdoing. "These ads falsely claim Secretary Clinton is under investigation by the FBI," wrote Marc Elias, the general counsel for the Clinton campaign. He also writes that "at no point" did the FBI "reopen" an investiation into Clinton's emails. "The claim in these ads is provably false." The prospect of misinformation affecting the 2016 US election, and possibly tainting its result, is considerable. There are already early reports from advanced voting related to voter intimidation and voter suppression. Jon Favreau, President Obama's chief speech writer from 2005-2013, pointed out that today's Moscow Times reports that Russian news media is sending Russians living in Russia the number to a hotline where they can report so-called vote fraud to Donald Trump. While the hotline is primarily for Russians living in the US, there is an option to "Press 1" for callers located within Russia. One last push from a foreign government intervening in our election on behalf of Trump! https://t.co/0HEouhNPE6 — Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) November 8, 2016 × This frantic atmopshere of misinformation poses a two-fold threat: that the election result itself is tainted, and that the result is perceived to be tainted. Democracy can't be strong if its very foundations, a free voting process, is questioned. (WION)

Clinton lawyers end ads with 'provably false' claims before election

On the campaign trail, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has explicitly warned, without foundation or evidence, that the US election will be &quot;rigged&quot; against him.

As a result, everybody from state leaders, voting experts and election advocates are preparing for an inordinate amount of confusion and chaos, the Washington Post reports, as the US election begins Tuesday after&nbsp;an unusually fierce and bitter presidential race.

In some states, advanced voters have faced lineups over four hours long. It has even been taken to court, as Democrats have filed lawsuits against&nbsp;Donald Trump&nbsp;supporters.&nbsp;

In Virginia, America&#39;s wealthiest state,&nbsp;a man with<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/armed-man-wearing-trump-shirt-confronts-woman-with-child-at-polling-station-authorities-shrug-8407"> a Trump shirt and a gun </a>stood&nbsp;outside a polling station. He was said to be cooperative with the authorities when they confronted him, and complied with the regulation about standing far enough away from the entrance of the polling station. But he had already&nbsp;asked voters which candidate they favoured, and some, who saw the gun, said they were intimidated.

Election monitors are worried this year as the prospect of voter intimidation appears to be very real after Trump&#39;s&nbsp;direct and repeated calls for his supporters to stake out other polling stations and watch out for suspicious activity.

Actually, the first example of voter fraud was committed by a<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/29/voter-fraud-iowa-trump-supporter"> Trump supporter </a>who voted twice because she feared&nbsp;Trump&#39;s unsubstantiated claim&nbsp;that her vote wouldn&#39;t be counted would come true.

&nbsp;

Specific warnings and consequences

The Washington Post reports that election officials in Pennsylvania and Arizona have become so concerned about voter intimidation that they have issued specific advisories outlining what types of threatening behaviour are not permitted, and exactly what distance they need to keep&nbsp;surrounding&nbsp;polling places.

A notice issued by Pennyslvania&#39;s secretary of state reads &quot;Individuals who conspire to interfere with a person&#39;s right to vote can face up to 10 years in prison&quot;. This was posted after Trump singled out Philadelphia as a place for his supporters to scrutinise.&nbsp;

&quot;The number and tenor of calls we&#39;ve received about problems, the amounf of litigation you already see, it all reflects the moment we&#39;re in,&quot; said Kristen Clarke, president of the nonpartisan Lawyers&#39; Committe for Civil Rights Under Law, as quoted by the Washington Post.

They report that her group will be running America&#39;s largest independent effort to deal with voters complaints, concerns and questions. The nonpartisan organisation &quot;Election Protection will have as many as 4,500 legal volunteers answering calls sent to the hotline 866-OUR-VOTE, and 2,500 volunteers are stationed at polling sites around the US&quot;.

The Washington Post further states that Clarke&#39;s has set up a headquarters in Washington where hundreds of lawyers are working for free so they can attend to all the conerned calls by voters poring in.

&nbsp;

Long lines

The worst problem may not be intimidation exactly, but another form of voter suppression: long lines. By changing laws to reduce the number of polling stations available, especially in areas where minorities (who skew Democrat)&nbsp;live, it means voters need to travel longer to get to a polling station, and need to wait there for longer in order to vote. It&#39;s designed systematically to discourage would-be Democrat&nbsp;voters

On Sunday, the only early voting station in <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/republican-efforts-to-suppress-minority-votes-appear-to-be-working-8440">Cincinnati </a>was at least a quarter-mile long, with thousands of people lined up for hours. The Washington Post reports that food trucks handed out free tacos and cupcakes to encourage people to come out and vote. California, Arizona and Nevada all faced similar problems, the Washington Post reports.

There is special attention being paid to Florida and Ohio, where in 2012 some stations in Miami were so clogged that voters were still casting ballots at 1 am,&nbsp;while President Obama was giving his victory speech, the Washington Post reports.

A group called Stop the Steal, run by Republican operatives and a trump adviser named <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/ohio-judge-orders-trump-campaign-to-avoid-voter-intimidation-8368">Roger Stone</a>, has been signing up &quot;vote protectors&quot; to stand outside polling stations. As of yesterday, 3,191 had signed up, the Washington Post reports

&quot;This is our best chance to stop the Democrats from stealing the election from Donald Trump. Help us fight a rigged system,&quot; the group posted on its <a href="https://stopthesteal.org/">website</a>. In&nbsp;addition to signing people up to patrol polling stations, the group also solicits monetary donations&nbsp;from visitors.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/17/man-who-cried-rigged-problem-with-trump-election-claims">The Guardian</a> reports that while 41 per cent of Americans believe the election is rigged, an independent legal expert determined that out of over a billion ballots cast, there were only 31 cases of voter fraud, nowhere near enough to alter an election even slightly.

What this fraught atmosphere this means for the 2016 election, and whether whoever loses the race will accept the result, remains to be seen. Hopefully the fears of fraud, intimidation and suppression turn out to be blown out of proportion, but only time will tell.

(WION)

Officials are taking extra measures to ensure fairness after Trump warned repeatedly, but without evidence, that the election was 'rigged'

On the campaign trail, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has explicitly warned, without foundation or evidence, that the US election will be "rigged" against him. As a result, everybody from state leaders, voting experts and election advocates are preparing for an inordinate amount of confusion and chaos, the Washington Post reports, as the US election begins Tuesday after an unusually fierce and bitter presidential race. In some states, advanced voters have faced lineups over four hours long. It has even been taken to court, as Democrats have filed lawsuits against Donald Trump supporters. In Virginia, America's wealthiest state, a man with a Trump shirt and a gun stood outside a polling station. He was said to be cooperative with the authorities when they confronted him, and complied with the regulation about standing far enough away from the entrance of the polling station. But he had already asked voters which candidate they favoured, and some, who saw the gun, said they were intimidated. Election monitors are worried this year as the prospect of voter intimidation appears to be very real after Trump's direct and repeated calls for his supporters to stake out other polling stations and watch out for suspicious activity. Actually, the first example of voter fraud was committed by a Trump supporter who voted twice because she feared Trump's unsubstantiated claim that her vote wouldn't be counted would come true. Specific warnings and consequences The Washington Post reports that election officials in Pennsylvania and Arizona have become so concerned about voter intimidation that they have issued specific advisories outlining what types of threatening behaviour are not permitted, and exactly what distance they need to keep surrounding polling places. A notice issued by Pennyslvania's secretary of state reads "Individuals who conspire to interfere with a person's right to vote can face up to 10 years in prison". This was posted after Trump singled out Philadelphia as a place for his supporters to scrutinise. "The number and tenor of calls we've received about problems, the amounf of litigation you already see, it all reflects the moment we're in," said Kristen Clarke, president of the nonpartisan Lawyers' Committe for Civil Rights Under Law, as quoted by the Washington Post. They report that her group will be running America's largest independent effort to deal with voters complaints, concerns and questions. The nonpartisan organisation "Election Protection will have as many as 4,500 legal volunteers answering calls sent to the hotline 866-OUR-VOTE, and 2,500 volunteers are stationed at polling sites around the US". The Washington Post further states that Clarke's has set up a headquarters in Washington where hundreds of lawyers are working for free so they can attend to all the conerned calls by voters poring in. Long lines The worst problem may not be intimidation exactly, but another form of voter suppression: long lines. By changing laws to reduce the number of polling stations available, especially in areas where minorities (who skew Democrat) live, it means voters need to travel longer to get to a polling station, and need to wait there for longer in order to vote. It's designed systematically to discourage would-be Democrat voters On Sunday, the only early voting station in Cincinnati was at least a quarter-mile long, with thousands of people lined up for hours. The Washington Post reports that food trucks handed out free tacos and cupcakes to encourage people to come out and vote. California, Arizona and Nevada all faced similar problems, the Washington Post reports. There is special attention being paid to Florida and Ohio, where in 2012 some stations in Miami were so clogged that voters were still casting ballots at 1 am, while President Obama was giving his victory speech, the Washington Post reports. A group called Stop the Steal, run by Republican operatives and a trump adviser named Roger Stone, has been signing up "vote protectors" to stand outside polling stations. As of yesterday, 3,191 had signed up, the Washington Post reports "This is our best chance to stop the Democrats from stealing the election from Donald Trump. Help us fight a rigged system," the group posted on its website. In addition to signing people up to patrol polling stations, the group also solicits monetary donations from visitors. The Guardian reports that while 41 per cent of Americans believe the election is rigged, an independent legal expert determined that out of over a billion ballots cast, there were only 31 cases of voter fraud, nowhere near enough to alter an election even slightly. What this fraught atmosphere this means for the 2016 election, and whether whoever loses the race will accept the result, remains to be seen. Hopefully the fears of fraud, intimidation and suppression turn out to be blown out of proportion, but only time will tell. (WION)

US Election: Fears of voter intimidation, suppression run high

FBI Director James Comey was under attack from some of his own agents and members of Congress on Monday over his handling of an inquiry into Hillary Clinton&#39;s emails, but the White House was remaining supportive, for now.

In stunning fashion, Comey has injected the Federal Bureau of Investigation, meant to be politically neutral, into the thick of the 2016 US&nbsp;presidential race, making a series of announcements on the inquiry.

The latest was on Sunday, when he said the FBI stood by a July decision not to recommend criminal charges against the Democratic presidential candidate. Sunday&#39;s announcement came days after Comey disclosed the FBI was examining a trove of newly discovered emails.

With the election coming on Tuesday, Comey&#39;s statements and the FBI&#39;s overall handling of the emails controversy has drawn fire from congressional Democrats, who criticised the agency for clouding Clinton&#39;s campaign so close to the election, while Republicans questioned why the new inquiry ended so quickly.

FBI &quot;field agents have felt the derivative impact of the criticism fired at Director Comey as a result of the Clinton email scandal,&quot; said Jon Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation, which represents more than 3,500 FBI agents.

He said some agents disapprove of Comey&#39;s handling of the investigation and think he should resign, while others support him, but do not appreciate being in a political crossfire.

A spokesman for the FBI Agents Association said the more than 13,000 active and former special agents it represents have become the victims of &ldquo;unwarranted attacks&rdquo; on their integrity.

&quot;Implications that agents do not respect the confidentiality of those investigations is simply false,&quot; said the association&rsquo;s president Thomas O&rsquo;Connor.

Comey has so far kept the support of President Barack Obama, who has the power to fire the FBI director. &quot;The president views Director Comey as a man of integrity, a man of principle,&quot; White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a briefing on Monday. &quot;The president&#39;s views of him have not changed ...he continues to have confidence in his ability to run the FBI.&quot;

The White House has said it will not criticise or defend Comey over his handling of the Clinton email investigation.

Charles Schumer, a close Clinton ally and expected Senate majority leader should Democrats regain control of the chamber, said on October&nbsp;30 that he was &ldquo;appalled at what Director Comey did&rdquo; and owes an explanation to Clinton and the American people.

FBI directors are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate to serve 10 years, unless they are fired or resign.

Only one FBI director in recent history has been fired. William Sessions was fired by President Bill Clinton in 1993 after a report emerged about Sessions using an FBI airplane for personal travel and other unethical practices. FBI Director Louis Freeh resigned in 2001, two years short of the end of his term, amid a scandal over Robert Hanssen, a senior FBI official charged with spying for the Soviet Union and Russia undetected for 15 years.

If Clinton wins the election, as polls suggest, she would also be in the position to fire Comey, but might not do so to avoid being portrayed as seeking political retaliation.

&quot;I don&rsquo;t know what her view will be, but ...you just cannot have an FBI director in place who believes he is accountable to neither the rules nor the attorney general,&rdquo; said Matthew Miller, former chief spokesman for the Obama Justice Department.

Under the federal Hatch Act, Justice Department employees may not engage in partisan political activity while on duty.

On Sunday, Democratic Representative Adam Schiff said Comey&#39;s &quot;original letter&quot; telling Congress that Clinton&#39;s emails were once again under investigation &quot;should never have been sent so close to an election&quot;.

Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley called on the Justice Department&#39;s inspector general on Novemeber&nbsp;2 to examine the FBI&#39;s investigation.

(Reuters)

The FBI Director has drawn the Republican's ire for ending the Clinton email investigation so quickly, and Democrats' for starting it at all

FBI Director James Comey was under attack from some of his own agents and members of Congress on Monday over his handling of an inquiry into Hillary Clinton's emails, but the White House was remaining supportive, for now. In stunning fashion, Comey has injected the Federal Bureau of Investigation, meant to be politically neutral, into the thick of the 2016 US presidential race, making a series of announcements on the inquiry. The latest was on Sunday, when he said the FBI stood by a July decision not to recommend criminal charges against the Democratic presidential candidate. Sunday's announcement came days after Comey disclosed the FBI was examining a trove of newly discovered emails. With the election coming on Tuesday, Comey's statements and the FBI's overall handling of the emails controversy has drawn fire from congressional Democrats, who criticised the agency for clouding Clinton's campaign so close to the election, while Republicans questioned why the new inquiry ended so quickly. FBI "field agents have felt the derivative impact of the criticism fired at Director Comey as a result of the Clinton email scandal," said Jon Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation, which represents more than 3,500 FBI agents. He said some agents disapprove of Comey's handling of the investigation and think he should resign, while others support him, but do not appreciate being in a political crossfire. A spokesman for the FBI Agents Association said the more than 13,000 active and former special agents it represents have become the victims of “unwarranted attacks” on their integrity. "Implications that agents do not respect the confidentiality of those investigations is simply false," said the association’s president Thomas O’Connor. Comey has so far kept the support of President Barack Obama, who has the power to fire the FBI director. "The president views Director Comey as a man of integrity, a man of principle," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a briefing on Monday. "The president's views of him have not changed ...he continues to have confidence in his ability to run the FBI." The White House has said it will not criticise or defend Comey over his handling of the Clinton email investigation. Charles Schumer, a close Clinton ally and expected Senate majority leader should Democrats regain control of the chamber, said on October 30 that he was “appalled at what Director Comey did” and owes an explanation to Clinton and the American people. FBI directors are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate to serve 10 years, unless they are fired or resign. Only one FBI director in recent history has been fired. William Sessions was fired by President Bill Clinton in 1993 after a report emerged about Sessions using an FBI airplane for personal travel and other unethical practices. FBI Director Louis Freeh resigned in 2001, two years short of the end of his term, amid a scandal over Robert Hanssen, a senior FBI official charged with spying for the Soviet Union and Russia undetected for 15 years. If Clinton wins the election, as polls suggest, she would also be in the position to fire Comey, but might not do so to avoid being portrayed as seeking political retaliation. "I don’t know what her view will be, but ...you just cannot have an FBI director in place who believes he is accountable to neither the rules nor the attorney general,” said Matthew Miller, former chief spokesman for the Obama Justice Department. Under the federal Hatch Act, Justice Department employees may not engage in partisan political activity while on duty. On Sunday, Democratic Representative Adam Schiff said Comey's "original letter" telling Congress that Clinton's emails were once again under investigation "should never have been sent so close to an election". Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley called on the Justice Department's inspector general on Novemeber 2 to examine the FBI's investigation. (Reuters)

FBI agents, lawmakers hammer Comey over Clinton emails inquiry

When Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey announced 11 days before the election&nbsp;that the agency would be reviewing a new batch of Democractic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton&#39;s emails,&nbsp;many thought&nbsp;the race&#39;s momentum had swung towards Trump for good.

For days, the headlines had been about&nbsp;Trump&#39;s comments on&nbsp;grabbing women &quot;by the p*ssy&quot;, and now they were about&nbsp;Clinton&#39;s emails again.

But Comey has written a new letter today, saying unequivocally that the FBI&nbsp;have reviewed &quot;all of the&nbsp;communications&nbsp;that were to or from Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State&quot;, and that based on this, they have not changed their conclusion from July, which stated&nbsp;that nothing was&nbsp;illegal.&nbsp;

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As expected, the review of the additional emails has not changed the FBI&#39;s original conclusion. <a href="https://t.co/iVMTWRLv4h">pic.twitter.com/iVMTWRLv4h</a>
&mdash; Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/795360399948390405">November 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Comey was criticised for contravening the Department of Justice&#39;s standard policy by commenting on an investigation, seemingly all on his own,&nbsp;so close to the election.&nbsp;

Trump surrogate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said, then denied, that he had advanced knowledge that&nbsp;the FBI was reviewing&nbsp;new&nbsp;Clinton emails, which suggested that the FBI was leaking&nbsp;information to him and the Trump campaign.

Whether&nbsp;this&nbsp;Comey letter gets as much prominence&nbsp;in US media is yet to be determined. Also to be determined is whether or not Comey&#39;s&nbsp;new letter will undo the damage his old one did to&nbsp;the Clinton campaign.

(WION)&nbsp;

FBI?chief wrote they have reviewed all communication?'to or from Hillary Clinton while she was secretary', nothing illegal was found

When Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey announced 11 days before the election that the agency would be reviewing a new batch of Democractic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's emails, many thought the race's momentum had swung towards Trump for good. For days, the headlines had been about Trump's comments on grabbing women "by the p*ssy", and now they were about Clinton's emails again. But Comey has written a new letter today, saying unequivocally that the FBI have reviewed "all of the communications that were to or from Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State", and that based on this, they have not changed their conclusion from July, which stated that nothing was illegal. As expected, the review of the additional emails has not changed the FBI's original conclusion. pic.twitter.com/iVMTWRLv4h — Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) November 6, 2016 × Comey was criticised for contravening the Department of Justice's standard policy by commenting on an investigation, seemingly all on his own, so close to the election. Trump surrogate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said, then denied, that he had advanced knowledge that the FBI was reviewing new Clinton emails, which suggested that the FBI was leaking information to him and the Trump campaign. Whether this Comey letter gets as much prominence in US media is yet to be determined. Also to be determined is whether or not Comey's new letter will undo the damage his old one did to the Clinton campaign. (WION)

New Comey letter clears Clinton, a second time

Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich are in consideration for major positions in Trump's cabinet should he win the presidency, NBC reports

As the 2016 American presidential election finally winds up, a picture is emerging of what the White House will look like should Donald Trump win. NBC reports that the names being considered, according to three campaign advisers who requested anonymity, are Rudy Giuliani for attorny general, Newt Gingrich for secretary of state, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn for defense secretary or national security adviser, Trump's finance chairman Steve Mnuchin for Treasury secretary, and Republican National Chairman Committee finance chair Lew Eisenberg for commerce secretary. NBC reports that Trump has not particiapted much in planning the transition, as he is superstitious. NBC says that Trump fears that planning before a victory will "jinx" the campaign. Trump has openly warred with many figures of the Republican establishment, so speculation suggests that he'll promote those who remained loyal to him while the media and political opponents berated him for bragging about sexaully assualting women, stirring up xenophobia by telling lies about immigrants, spreading racist lies on social media and in campaign speeches, and more. Salon characterises Newt Gingrich's tenure as secretary of state duringt he 90s as pushing right on a number of social, economic and foreign policy issues. Giuliani was viewed with considerable sympathy and admiration, as he was New York's mayor during 9/11, but, as Salon claims, he became notorious for "expanding policing powers at the expense of civil rights of poor and non-white citizens". He has consistently defended Trump all throughout the 2016 election. As a pronent of the "broken windows" theory of policing, Giuliani's guiding philosophy is that arresting everyday criminals, rather than addressing the root causes of crime, will rid the city of crime. LiberationNews reports that, citing the NYPD's own statistics, the year before Giuliani took office, 720 New Yorkers were arrested for misdemeanor marijuana-related charges. In his last year as mayor, that number jumped to 60,000. NBC reports that the conservative Heritage Foundation is helping to vet names, along with members of Mitt Romey's presidential run and George W Bush's administration. It will be interesting to note how many veteran Republicans make it into Trump's inner clique, given that the theme of his campaign has been "drain the swamp" and that he's positioned himself as an outsider without Washington inner-circle connections. NBC reports that running mate Mike Pence is heavily involved in the selection process, and is expected to play as active a role in a Trump administration as Joe Biden and Al Gore played while they were vice presidents. A possible barometer to tell whether Trump will strengthen or destroy bridges with established Republicans is how he will appoint the current Republican National Chairman, Reince Priebus, who is currently under consideration to be Trump's chief of staff. Priebus didn't object to Trump, and was his dependable defender, while other Republicans distanced themselves over the course of the 2016 presidential campaign. (WION)

Donald Trump likely to install loyalists in White House, if elected

A man clad in a Donald Trump&nbsp;shirt stood&nbsp;outside a Loudun Country, Virginia polling station Friday carrying a 357 magnum, the Huffington Post reports.&nbsp;There is apparently nothing the authorities can do about it.

Erika Cotti told the Huffington Post that she encountered the man when she went to vote at the county&#39;s registrar&#39;s office.

&quot;I had my 9-year-old son with me. I felt intimidated,&quot; she said. &quot;And I had to explain to my 9-year-old why a man with a 357 magnum is standing outside the polling station.&quot;

Cotti said that she rejected the Republican sample ballot she was offered.&nbsp;&quot;He&#39;s like, &#39;Who are you going to vote for, crooked Hillary?&#39; And I was like, that&#39;s really none of your business.&quot; Cotti added that the man was standing on the sidewalk outside of the office when they left, and blocked their path.

A local registrar,&nbsp;Judy Brown, confirmed that the man was standing outside her office, handing out Republican Party literature. He had a holstered gun in an open carry state, so law enforcement was powerless to do anything, Brown told Huffington Post.

Virginia is the wealthiest county in America.&nbsp;

In the US, while there is broad national legislation bearing on guns, the laws concerning open-carry versus concealed-carry vary from&nbsp;state to state.

Brown told the Huffington post that the man was &quot;being nice&quot; to people, and appeared to be observing the rule forbiding canvassing within forty feet zone of the polling station entrance.

Next, Brown said her office contacted the local Republican Party, which spoke to the man and convinced him to pull his Trump shirt over the weapon, blocking it from sight.

The Loudon County Republican Committee Chairman, Will Estrada, told the Huffington Post that the man was a former law enforcement official, and also a veteran with a perrmit to carry a concealed weapon. Estrada specifically said that he doesn&#39;t want to ban volunteers from carrying weapons, even at polling stations.

CNN reports that on Friday, a federal judge warned Trump&#39;s campaign, and Republican operative Roger Stone, against any &quot;voter intimidation&quot; activity in Ohio. The Democrats have brought several cases&nbsp;

A federal judge Friday warned Donald Trump&#39;s campaign and Republican operative Roger Stone against any &quot;voter intimidation&quot; activity in Ohio, the result of one of several cases brought by Democrats before Election Day.

The Huffington Post&nbsp;pointed to a pretty startling&nbsp;inconsistency; while a&nbsp;man outside a polling station carrying a gun doesn&#39;t bother them this time, their tolerance appears to be selective.

Conservative media outlets and Republican politicians spent significant time and money attacking Obama&#39;s administration over how the Justice Department handled a 2008&nbsp;incident involving a man standing outside a polling place carrying a nightstick. But, the Huffington Post points out, what&#39;s interesting is the man who promoted and condemned the video of the nightstick-wielder is a man named Mike Roman, who reports say has been working on so-called election protection efforts related to the Trump campaign.

Despite all of Donald Trump&#39;s rhetoric about the election being rigged, it&#39;s unlikely that&nbsp;Republicans will&nbsp;be galvanised to protect the freedom from voter intimidation over this latest incident in Virginia.

(WION)

&nbsp;

'Who are you going to vote for, Crooked Hillary?' he asked. 'That's really none of your business'

A man clad in a Donald Trump shirt stood outside a Loudun Country, Virginia polling station Friday carrying a 357 magnum, the Huffington Post reports. There is apparently nothing the authorities can do about it. Erika Cotti told the Huffington Post that she encountered the man when she went to vote at the county's registrar's office. "I had my 9-year-old son with me. I felt intimidated," she said. "And I had to explain to my 9-year-old why a man with a 357 magnum is standing outside the polling station." Cotti said that she rejected the Republican sample ballot she was offered. "He's like, 'Who are you going to vote for, crooked Hillary?' And I was like, that's really none of your business." Cotti added that the man was standing on the sidewalk outside of the office when they left, and blocked their path. A local registrar, Judy Brown, confirmed that the man was standing outside her office, handing out Republican Party literature. He had a holstered gun in an open carry state, so law enforcement was powerless to do anything, Brown told Huffington Post. Virginia is the wealthiest county in America. In the US, while there is broad national legislation bearing on guns, the laws concerning open-carry versus concealed-carry vary from state to state. Brown told the Huffington post that the man was "being nice" to people, and appeared to be observing the rule forbiding canvassing within forty feet zone of the polling station entrance. Next, Brown said her office contacted the local Republican Party, which spoke to the man and convinced him to pull his Trump shirt over the weapon, blocking it from sight. The Loudon County Republican Committee Chairman, Will Estrada, told the Huffington Post that the man was a former law enforcement official, and also a veteran with a perrmit to carry a concealed weapon. Estrada specifically said that he doesn't want to ban volunteers from carrying weapons, even at polling stations. CNN reports that on Friday, a federal judge warned Trump's campaign, and Republican operative Roger Stone, against any "voter intimidation" activity in Ohio. The Democrats have brought several cases A federal judge Friday warned Donald Trump's campaign and Republican operative Roger Stone against any "voter intimidation" activity in Ohio, the result of one of several cases brought by Democrats before Election Day. The Huffington Post pointed to a pretty startling inconsistency; while a man outside a polling station carrying a gun doesn't bother them this time, their tolerance appears to be selective. Conservative media outlets and Republican politicians spent significant time and money attacking Obama's administration over how the Justice Department handled a 2008 incident involving a man standing outside a polling place carrying a nightstick. But, the Huffington Post points out, what's interesting is the man who promoted and condemned the video of the nightstick-wielder is a man named Mike Roman, who reports say has been working on so-called election protection efforts related to the Trump campaign. Despite all of Donald Trump's rhetoric about the election being rigged, it's unlikely that Republicans will be galvanised to protect the freedom from voter intimidation over this latest incident in Virginia. (WION)

Armed man wearing Trump shirt confronts woman with child at polling station, authorities shrug

According to a new report by <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-hackers-ready-hit-back-if-russia-disrupts-election-n677936">NBC</a>, US military hackers have already penetrated Russia&#39;s electric grid, telecommunications network and the Kremlin&#39;s command systems, making them susceptible to an attack by secret American cyber weapons if the US feels it is necessary. This revelation was provided bya senior intelligence official and by top-secret documents NBC reviewed.

The Clinton campaign has stated&nbsp;that Russia is behind the hacks of Demorat outlets, despite the assertions of WikiLeaks founder, <a href="http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/304243-dnc-hack-investigator-despite-assanges-comments-attack-was-russan">Julian Assange</a>. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has asked Russia to hack and release Clinton&#39;s emails. A presidential candidate calling on a foreign goverment to spy on another presidential candidate and disrupt the election process has been called &quot;treasonous&quot;.

But the purpose of this latest cyber infiltration appears to be different.

American officials have stated&nbsp;publicly that Russia, China and other countries&nbsp;have penetrated&nbsp;and left hidden malware on parts of US critical infrastructure&nbsp;for cyber attacks that could turn out the lights, or turn off the internet across major cities, NBC reports.

It&#39;s been widely assumed that the US&nbsp;has done the same thing to its adversaries. The documents reviewed by NBC News,&nbsp;along with remarks by a senior US&nbsp;intelligence official,&nbsp;confirm that&nbsp;in the case of Russia.

US&nbsp;officials have warned lately that Russia will disrupt the 2016&nbsp;presidential election via cyber attacks. NBC reports that American intelligence officials don&#39;t expect Russia to go so far as to attack critical infrastructure, which could be interpreted as an act of war, but do expect &quot;cyber mischief&quot;.&nbsp;This includes&nbsp;the possible release of fake documents and bogus social media accounts meant to spread misinformation, NBC reports.

On Friday the hacker known as &quot;Guccifer 2.0&quot;,&nbsp;which US&nbsp;officials say is a front for Russian intelligence,&nbsp;tweeted a threat to monitor the US&nbsp;elections &quot;from inside the system&quot;.

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I&#39;ll be an independent observer at the U.S. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Elections2016?src=hash">#Elections2016</a> 
I call on other hackers to monitor the elections from inside the system
&mdash; GUCCIFER 2.0 (@GUCCIFER_2) <a href="https://twitter.com/GUCCIFER_2/status/794575269604589568">November 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
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The US&nbsp;government is&nbsp;combatting the threat in a way that is without precedent for a presidential election. NBC reports that the cyber weapons would only be deployed in the unlikely event the US&nbsp;was first attacked in a significant way, they quote officials as saying.

(WION)

US military hackers have already penetrated Russia's electric grid, telecommunications network and the Kremlin's command systems

According to a new report by NBC, US military hackers have already penetrated Russia's electric grid, telecommunications network and the Kremlin's command systems, making them susceptible to an attack by secret American cyber weapons if the US feels it is necessary. This revelation was provided bya senior intelligence official and by top-secret documents NBC reviewed. The Clinton campaign has stated that Russia is behind the hacks of Demorat outlets, despite the assertions of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has asked Russia to hack and release Clinton's emails. A presidential candidate calling on a foreign goverment to spy on another presidential candidate and disrupt the election process has been called "treasonous". But the purpose of this latest cyber infiltration appears to be different. American officials have stated publicly that Russia, China and other countries have penetrated and left hidden malware on parts of US critical infrastructure for cyber attacks that could turn out the lights, or turn off the internet across major cities, NBC reports. It's been widely assumed that the US has done the same thing to its adversaries. The documents reviewed by NBC News, along with remarks by a senior US intelligence official, confirm that in the case of Russia. US officials have warned lately that Russia will disrupt the 2016 presidential election via cyber attacks. NBC reports that American intelligence officials don't expect Russia to go so far as to attack critical infrastructure, which could be interpreted as an act of war, but do expect "cyber mischief". This includes the possible release of fake documents and bogus social media accounts meant to spread misinformation, NBC reports. On Friday the hacker known as "Guccifer 2.0", which US officials say is a front for Russian intelligence, tweeted a threat to monitor the US elections "from inside the system". I'll be an independent observer at the U.S. #Elections2016 I call on other hackers to monitor the elections from inside the system — GUCCIFER 2.0 (@GUCCIFER_2) November 4, 2016 × The US government is combatting the threat in a way that is without precedent for a presidential election. NBC reports that the cyber weapons would only be deployed in the unlikely event the US was first attacked in a significant way, they quote officials as saying. (WION)

US ready to hack Kremlin if Russia interferes with presidential election: NBC

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been investigating Donald Trump&rsquo;s former campaign manager&rsquo;s foreign business connections, NBC news reported.&nbsp;

Paul Manafort&nbsp;is being investigated for his alleged business ties with Russia and Ukraine, NBC news reported on Monday night. &nbsp;

In August, Politoco reported&nbsp;that Manafort&nbsp;resigned from&nbsp;the Trump campaign amid revelations of his&nbsp;work lobbying for pro-Russian Ukrainian&nbsp;oligarchs, which Politico&nbsp;was at odds with Trump&#39;s claim to be free of moneyed interests.

NBC news further reported that the inquiry is only preliminary and not a criminal investigation.

Manafort told NBC news, &ldquo;None of it is true. There&#39;s no investigation going on by the FBI that I&#39;m aware of.&quot;

&quot;This is all political propaganda, meant to deflect,&quot; he added.

In that August article, Politico&nbsp;reported&nbsp;that a source close to the Trump campaign said the Trump family was particularly troubled by reports that Manafort was involved with Russia, activities which he reportedly&nbsp;hadn&#39;t disclosed.

The same source added that the Trump family was also unhappy about changes made to the Republican platform that were seen as beneficial to Russia, in which they felt Manafort played a role.

The Manafort inquiry comes just days after FBI director James Comey announced a reopened investigation into Hillary Clinton&rsquo;s emails mere days before the November 8 election.&nbsp;

The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/31/james-comey-fbi-clinton-trump-email-investigation-russia-hack">Guardian reports</a> that the Clinton campaign has been especially vocal of late,&nbsp;blasting Comey&#39;s decision as a &quot;jaw-dropping&quot; double standard after claims emerged that he had sought to withhold evidence of Russian support for Donald Trump, out of fear that it could influence the outcome of the US election.

(WION)

Manafort, who denies all,?resigned from?the campaign in August?amid revelations of his?work lobbying for pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarchs

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been investigating Donald Trump’s former campaign manager’s foreign business connections, NBC news reported. Paul Manafort is being investigated for his alleged business ties with Russia and Ukraine, NBC news reported on Monday night. In August, Politoco reported that Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign amid revelations of his work lobbying for pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarchs, which Politico was at odds with Trump's claim to be free of moneyed interests. NBC news further reported that the inquiry is only preliminary and not a criminal investigation. Manafort told NBC news, “None of it is true. There's no investigation going on by the FBI that I'm aware of." "This is all political propaganda, meant to deflect," he added. In that August article, Politico reported that a source close to the Trump campaign said the Trump family was particularly troubled by reports that Manafort was involved with Russia, activities which he reportedly hadn't disclosed. The same source added that the Trump family was also unhappy about changes made to the Republican platform that were seen as beneficial to Russia, in which they felt Manafort played a role. The Manafort inquiry comes just days after FBI director James Comey announced a reopened investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails mere days before the November 8 election. The Guardian reports that the Clinton campaign has been especially vocal of late, blasting Comey's decision as a "jaw-dropping" double standard after claims emerged that he had sought to withhold evidence of Russian support for Donald Trump, out of fear that it could influence the outcome of the US election. (WION)

FBI investigating former Trump campaign manager's ties to Russia

PoliticusUSA reports that the United States District Court in New Jersey ordered discovery on both Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee&#39;s&nbsp;(RNC)&nbsp;poll monitoring efforts. The hearing will be on November 4th, just days before the November 8 election.

Read the full court ruling<a href="http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/dnc-rnc-discovery.pdf">&nbsp;here.</a>

Donald Trump, his running mate Mike Pence, a campaign spokesman Kellyanne Conway have all made statements encouraging Trump supporters to guard the polls because, they say, the 2016 US election could be rigged. There is no statistical evidence&nbsp;to support this contention. While election fraud isn&#39;t literally zero, all evidence suggests that it is statistically negligible.&nbsp;

The concerted, repeated efffort to say otherwise&nbsp;has been widely perceived as a theat that could undermine&nbsp;America&#39;s democractic integrity.

<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/29/voter-fraud-iowa-trump-supporter">The Guardian</a>&nbsp;reports that according to a study by the Loyola Law School, there have been 31 cases of voter impersonation in more than a billion ballots cast from the year 2000 to 2014. The Guardian also reports&nbsp;that Trump&#39;s assertions of voter fraud in Philadelphia in 2012 have also been debunked, by no less than Republican officials in the city.

<a href="http://www.factcheck.org/2016/10/trumps-bogus-voter-fraud-claims/">Here</a> is an updated and thorough debunking&nbsp;of Donald Trump&#39;s claims related to voter fraud.

While voter fraud is pretty close to non existent, a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/poll-41-percent-of-voters-say-the-election-could-be-stolen-from-trump-229871">Politico/Morning Consult poll</a> suggests that Trump&#39;s repeated assertion that the elections will be &quot;rigged&quot; are taking hold in the American populace: As many as 73 per cent of Republicans think the election could be stolen from him, while 17 per cent of Democrats agree with the basic idea that there could be massive voter fraud.

 
Perhaps because it takes this threat seriously, the court order demands affidavits from several parties, including those with personal knowledge of the Republican National Committee&#39;s effort with the Trump campaign to monitor voting stations around America, &quot;as indicated by Kellyanne Conway.&quot;

The Court ordered affidavits from several Republican operatives from various states who are said to be planning to enact&nbsp;state-wide &quot;voter fraud&quot; monitoring and poll monitoring. These include RNC member Rob Gleason&#39;s efforts to recruit persons to act as poll watchers in Philadelphia, and another RNC member Ronna Romney McDaniel&#39;s attempt in Michigan to prepare, in her words, a &quot;massive statewide anti-voter fraud effort&quot;.

Republicans must also answer in court for Governor Mike Pence&#39;s remarks, that the Trump campaign is working with state officials to ensure &quot;ballot integrity&quot;.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) failed a lawsuit against the RNC for violating a court order from 1982 intended to prevent voter indimidation. Donald Trump&#39;s baseless assertion that the election and rigged and that supporters need to go to other polling stations was widely-considered to be barely-veiled call&nbsp;to intimidate voters.

(WION)

Republicans will have to explain comments inciting their base to monitor polls to guard against 'voter fraud'

PoliticusUSA reports that the United States District Court in New Jersey ordered discovery on both Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee's (RNC) poll monitoring efforts. The hearing will be on November 4th, just days before the November 8 election. Read the full court ruling here. Donald Trump, his running mate Mike Pence, a campaign spokesman Kellyanne Conway have all made statements encouraging Trump supporters to guard the polls because, they say, the 2016 US election could be rigged. There is no statistical evidence to support this contention. While election fraud isn't literally zero, all evidence suggests that it is statistically negligible. The concerted, repeated efffort to say otherwise has been widely perceived as a theat that could undermine America's democractic integrity. The Guardian reports that according to a study by the Loyola Law School, there have been 31 cases of voter impersonation in more than a billion ballots cast from the year 2000 to 2014. The Guardian also reports that Trump's assertions of voter fraud in Philadelphia in 2012 have also been debunked, by no less than Republican officials in the city. Here is an updated and thorough debunking of Donald Trump's claims related to voter fraud. While voter fraud is pretty close to non existent, a Politico/Morning Consult poll suggests that Trump's repeated assertion that the elections will be "rigged" are taking hold in the American populace: As many as 73 per cent of Republicans think the election could be stolen from him, while 17 per cent of Democrats agree with the basic idea that there could be massive voter fraud. Perhaps because it takes this threat seriously, the court order demands affidavits from several parties, including those with personal knowledge of the Republican National Committee's effort with the Trump campaign to monitor voting stations around America, "as indicated by Kellyanne Conway." The Court ordered affidavits from several Republican operatives from various states who are said to be planning to enact state-wide "voter fraud" monitoring and poll monitoring. These include RNC member Rob Gleason's efforts to recruit persons to act as poll watchers in Philadelphia, and another RNC member Ronna Romney McDaniel's attempt in Michigan to prepare, in her words, a "massive statewide anti-voter fraud effort". Republicans must also answer in court for Governor Mike Pence's remarks, that the Trump campaign is working with state officials to ensure "ballot integrity". The Democratic National Committee (DNC) failed a lawsuit against the RNC for violating a court order from 1982 intended to prevent voter indimidation. Donald Trump's baseless assertion that the election and rigged and that supporters need to go to other polling stations was widely-considered to be barely-veiled call to intimidate voters. (WION)

US court orders discovery on Donald Trump and Republican's 'poll monitoring' efforts

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