This is probably one of the more egregious things Trump has done to date. I have no doubt that Mr. Trump feels he can beat Mr. Saunders in an election and that Russia will do what ever it can to bring that about!
Mr. Saunders would not be my choice, if I had a vote, but I find it dubious that he would knowingly allow Russian interference in the electoral process. If indeed Mr. Saunders was notified a month ago and kept silent it would probably be one of those 'dammed if you do and dammed if you don't' scenarios.'
If I had a vote it would be for Biden, Klobuchar or Bloomberg because they are moderates and could possibly bring in any disenfranchised Republicans!
Whatever the choice made, it will be the correct one as long as it is decided by the people and not some nefarious, external cause!
2
This is silly. The US has tried to influence foreign elections forever. Of course Russia has an interest in messing with us. Russian paid ads will have no greater effect than any other tripe put on the internet.
13
So they brief bernie, instead of spying on him? Weird.
5
This is what I suspected when his camp attacked Warren so viciously. Not to say his own supporters can’t be vicious bc I’ve experienced it- but the death threats - are those by actual Bernie supporters? If so- that is very sad- almost as sad as the man in the White House.
Nevertheless you can cause quite a stir to critique Bernie on social media. I mentioned that I thought Bernie was bait. Yes guys Bernie is the perfect bait for Trump. They are not talking about his tv exchange program with the Sandinistas ( who many leftists thought were “good” bc contras were funded by america and yes American intervention and imperialism is horrible but the contras also had boy soldiers - and many died. Just wait for the photos of the dead contra kids from the Sandinista war to be shown in the take down of Bernie. Also prepare for his words to be repeated - ones where he said bread lines were the sign of a healthy economy.
How could bernie be so irresponsible? He is raising all of this money and won’t address this?
If Russia and Trump were truly threatened by a Bernie nomination all of his dirt would be exposed now. And it’s not. They want him. Which is exactly why I don’t. Also - he is not all that people and he claim him to be. I’m sorry guys. It’s easy to talk a good game - or have ideas - to say the same thing for forty years does not make someone qualified.
So will we lose to Trump bc of another savior figure claiming to save America from its government ?
5
I see Russian trolls on social media every day who impersonate American Trump supporters. And I have seen them since 2016 without a pause. They can be identified with several tells, but one is decisive. They don't dare say anything critical of their boss, V. V. Putin.
Some people formally Ignore them, because their message is very harmful to America. I always read them, because they reveal the Kremlin's agenda. Of course, they want their mole to stay in the White House. And they think Sen. Sanders will lose the general election to ensure that.
1
Where is the outrage? Bernie Sanders knew about Russian interference a whole month ago and said nothing? That makes him complicit with Russian interference. We know that Mr. Trump has no morals, and no scruples, but Bernie? He should take himself of the stage immediately. And can you imagine the optics? Socialist Bernie aided, advanced, and promoted by the Russkies? And as for the commenters who say « oh, we don’t think the Russians really want Bernie, » no kidding!! They want a beatable candidate, in order to keep Putin’s pet puppet in power.
14
The habitual use of"czar" in American English is odd at the best of times, and particularly so in the context of this article.
Referring to "Shelby Pierson (as) the nation’s election security czar" I assume, was meant as a pun?
3
Howard Zinn once wrote that the difference between the US and an authoritarian state like Russia is that if you criticize Russia, someone might knock on your door at night to take you to jail. Or poison you. While in the US, if you criticize the government and/or the status up, you will be belittled and diminished and made to look crazy and/or stupid, so that people can find a way to ignore you. It still seems true.
6
“Mr. Sanders denounced Russia in a statement, warning Moscow to stay out of the election.”
Trump on the other hand openly-invited Russia to interfere in the 2016 election: “Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing!”
13
The DNC leadership actively conspired to get Hillary Clinton (and her utterly uninspired campaign) the Democratic nomination in 2016.
This is what the Russians exposed before the election, and why Wasserman-Schultz had to resign. This is how the Russians "meddled" in our election (They exposed the truth!).
This is pretty poor behavior by their party's leadership, but few Democrats or liberals will even acknowledge that it occurred.
11
Darned clever, those Russians. Help out Donald Trump by making us suspicious of Bernie Sanders.
8
What caused the editors of this piece to use the passive voice?
Why not identify the source of this information, which would be particularly untrustworthy coming from the Trump administration?
11
Duh -- I guess Russia also thinks Bernie is Trump's easiest foe.
2
If it helps him beat Trump then so what?
1
It's time for those who picked up the dead threads of the Cold War via Hillary's ferocious anti-Putinism in 2008 to realize that only the dumb and Hillary admirers believe whatever the CIA cooks up. They are resolutely anti-Sanders who has a public interest, not the beyond the pale extremism of capital as we have it today.
The "the Russians did it" campaign is typical of the intelligence community's failure in everything from the Gulf of Tonkin to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Their overkill is looking silly and it is destructive to America and the Democrats.
9
"It is said..." "people familiar with the matter." "some current and former officials say..."
And then we have a link to an article from February 20, with a vague reference from the Mueller report concerning the 2016 election.
Some bizarre narrative shaping here, but where is some evidence and specificity on sources? Who "is saying"? What people are "familiar with the matter"? Who are these "current and former officials"?
Let me get this straight. The Russians are trying to get Sanders nominated so that Trump can win reelection. This seems implausible, unless...Russians are also fueling their efforts by sending tens of thousands of people to Sanders' rallies. They are providing money to all those individual donors who are driving his campaign. They are also fudging polls showing Sanders defeating Trump in November.
Why are the Russians doing this? Why do they want Trump reelected? That's easy: they love all those sanctions and want them to continue.
Come on, NYT. You can take your readers for fools, but not complete imbeciles.
25
So why did Bernie not come out a month ago when he learned what the Russians were doing to help him and tell them to back off? Only now when the WP broke the story is he “shocked!!” I guess he’s as happy as Trump to have Russian interference on his behalf.
4
Putin is hedging his bets. Aid both knowing that Sanders is no match for Trump. If there is any proof of interference from Russia let those in the know speak up now before they are forever silenced by our would be Stalin.
3
Time to call this what it is. Treason. He is giving the country to Putin. What is Putin doing for him?
The question is: Is there a government institution left that can prosecute that? At this point, it is not just Trump, but the GOP senate, the Justice Dept., and possibly the Supreme Court -- all committing treason in broad daylight. Makes shooting someone on 5th Ave, look like a petty misdemeanor.
2
Ha, first we learned Putin is a masochist. He wants Trump reelected! And now we are told the leading populist candidate is being promoted by Putin as well. The theory apparently is 'If Sanders is the nominee Trump will get reelected.' Kill 2 birds with one stone.
U.S. Says It Has Thwarted $6 BillionRussia-Germany Gas Pipeline
By Patrick Donahue and Matthew Miller
February 15, 2020, 10:45 AM EST
Nord Stream 2’s owners had invested 5.8 billion euros ($6.3 billion) in the project by May 2019, according to company documents.
U.S. sanctions in December forced Switzerland’s Allseas Group SA, which was laying the sub-sea pipes, to abandon work, throwing the project into disarray. The U.S. has said Europe should cut its reliance on Russia for gas and instead buy cargoes of the fuel in its liquid form from the U.S.
The pipeline was just weeks away from completion, with 94% already constructed, when U.S. sanctions halted work. There’s a small section in Denmark’s waters that needs to be finished. Before the halt, Nord Stream 2 hoped to finish construction by the end of 2019 or in the first few months of this year. That would allow gas deliveries in time to supply Europe by winter 2020-2021.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-15/u-s-says-it-has-thwarted-6-billion-russia-germany-gas-pipeline
5
Well, per usual.
17 intellegence agencies coming together with proof.
How much more do we need?
Somebody please drive Trump off a cliff.
4
Where is the proof of all this “Russian interference” gossip?
Now, as in 2016, there is no proof.
7
It makes sense. The Russians know what many moderate Democrats and Republicans know. Sanders as a candidate guarantees a Trump victory. Guess what the word du heur will be Soc....m
Meanwhile, the DNC is interfering to aid anyone but Bernie.
9
For anyone who has ever played 7 Card Stud just for a lark with Jokers wild, it's clear that Putin is hoping that by playing his Joker face-up (Bernie Sanders) he can help his fav (Donald Trump) bluff his way into a Second term. Lets just hope that the voters who will decide the course of the vote, won't fall for this obvious simple minded gambit (But after the 2016 Election, I for one am not betting the Farm that they won't).
2
Yeah, well...I must admit, we have some formidable foes. I mean, now, via a Page 1 headline, we now all have officially been thrown a seed of doubt about the wisdom of Sanders (or any other Democratic candidate for that matter) being a viable holder of public office in the United States...
...and what happened to that headline about the Acting Intelligence Chief admonishing us of Russia interfering again on behalf of Trump, as in 2016?
Oh...that's right...because our news is all online now and quickly superceded, some of us might have missed it...
Well, that's ok ...the 4th estate will keep the latest "update" going...
Thanks (again).
3
So, the Russians convince intelligence operatives that they are helping Sanders, just as it's revealed they are helping DT. Gee. What a coincidence. That's step 1 to help DT. Step 2: DT can claim the D's are corrupt and that all along, it was the D's who Russia was helping not him, proving the Mueller investigation and impeachment were hoaxes invented by the D's and Step 3: given Russia is helping the D's and now there's also "evidence" of "fraud," the 2020 election has to be postponed until DT "investigates" it, and he has to remain in office, as Dershowitz said, for the "good of the nation's security."
4
This is the main reported “fact” in the article:
“The report quoted internal documents from the Internet Research Agency ordering operatives to attack Hillary Clinton’s campaign. “Use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest except for Sanders and Trump — we support them,” the document said.”
Then in Wikipedia, it defines disinformation:
“a carefully constructed false message leaked to an opponent's communication system in order to deceive the decision-making elite or the public".
Thus the IRA “exposed” document could itself actually be a part of the Russian disinformation efforts.
Furthermore, “for disinformation covert operation campaigns to succeed, "every disinformation message must at least partially correspond to reality or generally accepted views".
Mostly it’s about undermining public confidence in the democratic process and thus sowing KAOS.
An old propagandist tactic was “false flag” attacks:
“A false flag is a covert operation designed to deceive; the deception creates the appearance of a particular party, group, or nation being responsible for some activity, disguising the actual source of responsibility.”
This could explain the apocryphal Bernie Bros attributed attacks on the Nevada Culinary Union. No reporter has actually found and reported on a single Bernie Bros. Bernie Bros have a negative effect on Bernie’s campaign reputation, so why would any Bernie supporter behave that way?!
Only verified facts should be shared; all else is rumor.
7
If Russia wants Trump re-elected, it's our patriotic duty to refuse.
4
So, Trump is both our Chief Law Enforcement Officer AND our Chief Intelligence Officer? Not good. Sorry.
3
C'mon! Russia is trying to keep us from voting by instilling skepticism. Everyone crawl to the polls if you have to, but vote.
Well; just not for Trump. Don't worry, I'm not a Russian. I'm a Democrat supporter. Sheesh!, we have to think like lawyers now to avoid comment infiltrators calling free speech Russians. And doesn't that say something about the true identities behind the cyber politiking? A little joke there!
1
Did they already attack in Iowa?
“They” always blame the Russians when things aren’t going their way.
8
Interesting that we call the person in charge of our nation’s elections a security "czar."
2
Funny that this didn't come out until Trump fired the intell chief.
Almost like he didn't want to reliece lies so he was fired and the new guy relieced it hmm.
.
The important point here is that we cannot trust our own government to respond to the Russian interference.
Because Putin's lapdog in the White House has been chasing away all our competent people in government and has no interest in responding.
5
of course he is. Putin wants to split the U.S. down the middle. He wants brother fighting against brother. He wants our streets to be filled with blood. He wants Democracy to end. It looks like many people are falling for it. Nancy Pelosi was right. All roads lead to Putin. divide and conquer.
3
Very clever on Russia’s part. As the comments here so amply show. This move makes:
• Bernie supporters righteously angry and more determined to dig in.
• Democratic supporters of other candidates tempted to cast aspersions on Sanders supporters and the candidate himself.
• Republicans ready to throw around “what about him” comments.
• Pundits a chance to opine on the why’s, most notably, a Sanders nomination is a sure fire way for Trump to win.
• Trolls and bots the opportunity to do just about everything, including telling us we’re all being hysterical.
I‘be long been a Warren supporter, but in November I will be voting for and actively supporting the Democratic nominee whoever he or she may be. Trump and this Russian interference is taking us down. Well past time to stop this nonsense.
7
2016: "They're under audit"
2020: "It was classified!"
if you read Bernie Sanders tweet today you can see that the democratic party is as much an enemy as Trump. If you saw his rally the other day the biggest boos were for the democratic party. Wake up democrats!
The idea - the reality - that our own President, aided and abetted by the entire Republican party except, maybe, Romney - is openly inviting, encouraging, and accepting interference in our elections from Putin, a ruthless dictator openly intent on destroying our democracy, on destroying America, not for the first time, but for the second time, leaves me no other choice but to conclude that our President and the Republican party are traitors, not in the figurative sense, but in the legal sense.
THIS is what Democrats should have impeached Trump for in the first place. Treason.
3
The Russians want their puppet Trump in the White House. They’re momentarily aiding Bernie because, as a self-proclaimed socialist, they know him winning the general election is a long shot. If he gets the nomination, those self-same trolls will immediately turn against him.
The best way to counter this is to ‘Vote Blue; No Matter Who!’
2
The sad truth is Russia is doing to us the same thing we've done to countless countries. Interfering in elections. Kind of stinks when you're on the receiving end.
4
The hypocrisy of Americans is breathtaking
Russia is simply doing what America has done for a long time
"Ex-CIA director: US meddles in foreign elections for a 'very good cause"
"When asked whether the U.S. interferes in other countries’ elections, James Woolsey said, “Well, only for a very good cause in the interests of democracy."
“Oh, probably, but it was for the good of the system in order to avoid communists taking over,” he told Laura Ingraham on her Fox News show on Friday night.
Woolsey served as CIA director under former President Clinton. "
4
Just read this in the NYT. The National Security Council, an elite inter-agency group who work for the WH for the purpose of evaluating, developing, debating and recommending US policy options around the world, apparently no longer make and vet foreign policy for WH review and approval anymore. The NSC just carries out Trump's policies.
Question. Where does Trump get his policies from? Fox News? Outer space? Putin? Bannon, far right-wing-supporters, paying contributors....?
1
Who are the people familiar with the matter?
3
By supporting Sanders, an avowed Democratic Socialist, Russia hopes to cast him as "Communist," which is a term thrown around in the Nevada debate by a certain newcomer to the fray. We are re-entering the 50s and 60s, when anyone who didn't suit you was a Commie. Shame.
2
so disingenuous of Trump to complain the Dems will use the briefings to criticize the results..as if they plotted it all..when in fact he is scheming with the Russians and McConnell's senate isnt doing anything to stop it...
3
"Russia’s interference on behalf of both Mr. Trump, the dominant force in the Republican Party, and Mr. Sanders, a stalwart of the left, underscores its efforts to sow chaos across the political spectrum.
And just what are those efforts?
"Russia’s interference measures and their intensity remain murky, even as intelligence officials sound alarms".
So last week intelligence officials claimed, WITHOUT evidence that the Russians wanted Trump to win. This week they claim, WITHOUT evidence that they really want Sanders to win. It sounds to me that our "intelligence" community doesn't want either to win.
40
Whenever Trump says the Democrats are being very unfair to Bernie, he is reaching back into the 2016 disruption of the Democratic Party tactic.
Now we know who Trump wants to run against, and that the Russians are supporting the Sanders campaign through anonymous small donations on the Internet under the limit for disclosure, and disruptions at rallies and the same bots and trolls used to attack opponents.
I hope Senator Sanders does not allow himself to pave the way for a Trump victory, let's go of ego for the sake of the Republic, and remains a strong voice of clarity within the Democratic Party.
This generation of Americans cannot be the generation that allowed freedom, the rule of law, the Constitution, and the Republic to die at the hands of despotic mobster who is in the process of cash stripping America - like his 6 bankrupt companies before.
21
Russia is helping Bernie's campaign BECAUSE he would be a weak candidate against Trump in the general election. It's not equally helping--there's a strategy to it.
Why? Bernie is the least electable in the general election because his (democratic) socialist identify and Medicare for All platform will not be attractive enough to the electoral college vote he needs to win (perhaps he could win on the popular vote). Plus, his campaign is the most divisive among all of his Democratic counterparts.
Personally, I wish he would take a stronger stance and BOW OUT of the primary altogether for the SAKE OF DEMOCRACY so that Democrats could have a strong candidate who could beat Trump in the general election.
35
Think about it. Republicans politically assassinated Joe Biden’s campaign through the entire Ukrainian investigation and impeachment just as they strategically did with Hillary Clinton via the entire private server disaster. Is there a candidate remaining, or yet to emerge, who can grab this Party by its short hairs and make it spell out what they are. They, we, are not Bernie or Warren, no matter how noble their agendas. Buttigieg is very enticing but he’s yet to be schooled at the Federal level. Bloomberg, we are not Mike though I think he has noble intent. Klobuchar is possible and worthy of consideration, just don’t see her being as brutal as is necessary within and out of the Party. Steyer, great guy, fantastic message, but, no. He doesn’t know the machinations of government we’ll enough to know where to fix first. And that brings us back to Joe Biden. He has the experience, knowledge, and temperament to govern with strength and clarity. So rethink Joe Biden, he’s the best of the lot to get votes from Independents and rational Republicans. No one, not one, can fulfill aspirational plans if we do not first remove the roots and stems of this toxically corrupt Administration and Senate. We need to build our own excitement at the prospect of unseating Trump (the last of his name to hold political office) and bring a Democratic Senate to reality. Everything else is gravy. Joe Biden has the whole package plus coattails.
16
If the story is true and if intelligence agencies are truly committed to protecting U.S. citizens, the Sanders campaign would have been quietly informed and shown evidence to back up the claims.
Major U.S. media are again playing the role of laundering totally unverified “information” just because it comes from an intelligence source. Reporting such assertions without proof amounts to an abdication of journalistic responsibility. It is truly a sad state for this country when intelligence agencies warning about potential "Russian interference" never seem to offer us any proof of their claim, while an oligarch has already spent half a billion openly trying to buy an office.
27
We need an emergency agreement to stop infighting and purity tests among Democrats.
Trumputin amplifies otherwise benign argument
into a malignant force that will draw away voters in key states. They know what they are doing. Do we ?
10
I've not been a subscriber that long and I'm a foreigner anyway, but it seems to me that the Times would prefer a 'moderate' (ie right wing - and a billionaire) 'former' Republican to someone who, from a European perspective, is merely a social democratic. And given the vast inequalities in the USA, the criminality, cynicism and cruelty of the Trump party (formerly known as Republican party), isn't his anger justified.
I know I would hopping mad.
25
The Russians may be interfering in the US elections. The difference between 2016 and 2020 is that Trump welcomed and probably initiated Russian support. In 2020, Bernie Sanders only takes supports from small donors, no superpacs and that last thing he would encourage was support from Russian bots. This article like the orignal source WAPO are written to submarine Bernie. Sorry, Mr. Teflon is an accurate description for Bernie as the fake news and unsupported allegations won't stick to Bernie because he has been delivering the same message in the same way his entire life. He is a lifelong campaigner for the working people of america, civil and worker rights and to make corporates pay their fair share. The people won't believe the fake news that is being thrown at him. Sorry, the fake news doesn't stick because he is squeaky clean.
24
When the rumor was widely disseminated by DNC loyalists that Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian operative, the press stayed silent (this charge was repeated endlessly on CNN). With Sanders the charges are getting traction because he is the new threat to the choice of the mainstream media. Here is a reality check: Russia (and China) have ALWAYS inserted themselves into U.S. elections. This is not new or controversial but not reported on. There are many first person sources on this as well as historical accounts in the intelligence archives that are publicly accessible. The impact of these efforts has never been taken seriously; they are loader now because multi-media and recent finance laws can amplify them. But still they should be put into context: Russian and Chinese electoral interference is nothing new, and the media only complains when the efforts threaten their chosen candidates.
15
Then, we also have media outlets doing everything they can to make Candidate Warren invisible. There is even a hashtag about it. Warren's campaign trains their volunteers with explicit instructions to not go negative. Can Sanders' campaign say the same? His lack of leadership in this regard has opened his campaign to this criticism, even if much of the Bernie Bros claims are manufactured by Russia. Patriots! Avoid polls and predictions! Get out in the street and work to save this country!
5
“I’m not saying that’s happening, but it would not shock me.”
Doesn't this sound like Trump's method of casting doubt on the truth?
6
Imagine Bernie Sanders as President.
Republicans in Congress treat him as an utter pariah and many if not most Democrats join them.
Elation among his supporters lasts about 15 minutes until the realization sets-in among them that Washington is bound for utter gridlock.
Bye-bye American pie, bye-bye Medicare-For-All.
Bernie’s anger and irascibility grow by the day.
He takes to issuing tweets.
He urges his supporters to take to the streets of Washington.
They arrive in massive numbers.
A counter-tweet is issued in Mar-a-Lago.
It urges massive counter-protests to stem the raging-tide of Communism.
The protesters and counter-protesters meet in Washington.
Brickbats fly.
It takes the National Guard three days to stem the riots.
Street lights and traffic signals in Dallas, San Francisco and Butte, Montana begin flickering off.
Rumors fly that the nation is undergoing an internet attack from space invaders.
Donald Trump Jr. rides down the escalator at Trump Tower and
announces that he is a candidate for President in 2024.
13
A clever but cynical play by Putin. Can claim bi-partisan meddling but confident that Sanders' politics will not fly with most Americans. Trump fully supported by his Russian colleagues!
7
Bernie as the nominee spells disaster for the Dems. That’s why Russia supports Sanders.
18
The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming! This is all just so silly.
1 Another built-in excuse for Democrats when they lose in November.
2 Trump does not need russias help with this field of democrat candidates and what they are proposing.
3 All the Russians are doing is trying to so discord amongst all Americans, however it is only working on the Democrats.
5
Smells like 2016. I remember reading outrageous material on FaceBook which was accusing Secretary Clinton of all kinds of things. It was being spread by Bernie Sander's campaign. I called their Headquarters to report that this was Russian disinformation. The response- they hung up on me. Yup, stench returns. Of course, Russia will help Sanders. That will insure a Trump reelection.
14
This cheap trick will not prevent Bernie from winning all 50 states.
9
So was Bernie waiting to get more help from the Russians instead of coming clean a month ago? Did he think he had nothing to lose? ughh
8
In 1988 Bernie Sanders visited the Soviet Union. The man came back and sang the praise of a country in the twilight of communism. It’s pretty obvious who Putin and the Russians support and why.
2
What better way for Russia to delegitimize a candidate than to let be known that Putin supports that candidate?
3
It's amusing to consider that we're part of history today.
1917-1919, 1947-1957, 2016-??
By all accounts "Russian meddling" has amounted to a drop in the bucket. The 'big reveal' had Facebook dig up alleged Russian accounts spending a whopping $160,000 in total (about $200 per account). This was in an election where the total amount spend was about $6,500,000,000. In other words "The Russians" spent 0.0002% of the total spend on the 2016 election. And they were supposed to have had an outsized impact? Ok.
Next. Evidence. Where is it? The allegation is that they're creating effective and far reaching social media campaigns? No idea how they're doing that with next to 0 spending (relative to what was tossed about in the election) but in any case - Links please. Why not inform people not only exactly on what and where the disinformation is? Or is it just so compelling that if even seen for a moment, the most far left anti-fascist will find themselves unable to resist racing to buy a MAGA hat and praising Putin til the end of time? Give me a break.
---
Finally, and this is the big one. What's had a larger negative effect on our society today? "Russian meddling" or the hyper-propagandized never-ending investigation into such and allegations that, coincidentally, every single person who does not fall in line with establishment political preferences is now a secret Russian agent or part of some Russian conspiracy?
17
Some people just won't give up. Blaming Russia is becoming the norm for anything that could go wrong, and puts a dark cloud on the entire electoral process. After two years of Mueller's investigation, no evidence of collusion with Russia, no interference in the 2016 election or manipulation was found. We sure as heck don't need another useless investigation. Can the Democrats ever move on, and get back to work serving the people instead of themselves?
11
Didn't Sanders vote against Russian sanctions several times?
7
Sure looks like moderates are projecting heavily. Sure hope they know what they are doing. Because if Bernie is the strongest they are helping Russia tear him down. We don't even know the tactics that are supposed to be helping him?
The Mueller report was filled with setting up white supremacy and attacking immigrants.
3
Smart .. Help assure that sanders ultimately becomes the Democratic candidate, knowing that Trump is fully capable of making mincemeat of Bernie, the self proclaimed socialist.
4
Now that Trump has "learned his lesson," perhaps he will name Sen. Susan Collins Director of National Intelligence so that we can all be safe.
5
How can Russians meddle in the US American elections? They don't have a vote.
4
So now Sanders has the Bernie Bros and Vladimir Putin in his corner. And his words of denunciation melt like frost in the desert morning when exposed to his vitriolic, alienating, divisive rhetoric. You can't stand on a podium shaking your fist and not expect to attract the loyalty of fist shakers. If you truly denounce fist shakers, stop shaking your fist.
8
Current U.S. politics is like watching the Turning Point with a different ending, where the McKibbon gets arrested, the police kowtow, and the mob takes over.
2
If this isn't "clear and present danger", what is?
How is it possible that there is even one Amercican to find, that support Trump(ism)?
Trump and his supporters (43,3% of the Americans) are betraying the Constitution, and do so openly.
43% Of the Americans and the GOP support Trumps betrayal of democracy in there hunt for power. Power to be used against the "57%", because they are not loyal to "their leader".
A leader in the pocket of Putin, the USA administration in the pocket of Putin, in plain sight.
Trump/GOP will never accept an electoral defeat in November.
But Trump-Cronies don't worry, in Europe we know (Croatia/Krim) Putin has little green men (no, not the extraterrestrials, they are the lucky ones) to help you suppressing democracy; they do an excellent job at that and they undoubtedly will get visa to travel to the USA before the elections.
You can even imagine that there will be at least two Trump loyalty measures this year:
1. Everybody loyal to Trump is asked to paint his face as yellow as their leader's.
2. The approval by the US-Senate of the design of a small yellow star, that everybody has to wear who isn't loyal to Trump.
1
Another article in the digital edition today outlines how Sanders is the Teflon candidate and how other candidates are afraid to attack him. What has been largely ignored is that all those vulnerabilities the Senator has will not be ignored by Trump. The absurdity of turning the economy upside down with " Medicare for all" which will cost 180 million people their insurance and reduce benefits for those that have it now (simple math), the fact that he is a Socialist, not a Democrat, his article about rape fantasies, his honeymoon in the Soviet Union (not Hawaii, Italy, Disney World---The Soviet Union!!), his heart attack (the first three years after one are years of peril), his refusal to release his medical records, his age. I could go on but my point is he will be the Russian favorite because he will ensure Trump's re-election. Isn't beating Trump the object of all this and you'll need money to do it?
5
That "Vote Blue No Matter Who" has hit a brick wall. Klobuchar is best for America.
4
The intellligence community giving Bernie the kiss of death more likely. Because, we have to believe this is true , don’t we? Memories of the WMD debacle have faded anyway...
5
If Sen Sanders is the nominee, trust me, the impeached WH occupant will flood ads 24/7 about the next commie who is a Russian agent.
We all know it's an undisputed fact Trump is a Russian agent who twice married into communist families. But he mastered the art of deflection and projecting on others what he is all about. FIX News will run non-stop "FIX FACTS" from their experts about how Sanders was indoctrinated in the communist ideology and being groomed by Moscow since the 1908's.
We nominate Sen Sanders at our own peril.
6
We are always listening “national interest this...”, “national interest that...” And we love it.
Isn’t Russia here also following their national interest whit all this interfering stuff? Are they really so different?
Delete Facebook, delete Facebook, delete Fakebook.
Memorize, it's our national mantra.
6
The Russian bogeyman has become the slander of choice of the Democrats from the Establishment (Clinton wing) each time they want to discredit a political opponent. I am astounded there are still gullible people who buy this preposterous, self-serving rumor.
7
Putin's a genius. Support Trump AND the most likely opponent that will lose the election.
3
Why can't the American People of conscience see that the real question is - when the American People organize activism (economic boycotts, strikes, massive political civil action/protest to expose and stop the in plain sight deep corruption and the by now daily invitation to authoritarian, fascist-leaning government that wrecks our forward progress and the democratic institutions that might help preserve and extend our liberties, economy without massive inequality and injustice, our progress, and our ability to redress grievances, make corrections and innovate? Also to stop investing in war and start facing, along with the kind of democracy-leading allies worth having, the existential threat that now face the Nation and humanity? Or will be continue along the path the corruption that makes money and power our 'in fact' national creed and object, and make common the type of deadend propaganda that Orwell warned us about, this inviting the dystopia and fascism that Hannah Arendt's writing and many films about broken civil society warn us about?!
It's about power! And with the current 3 branches of US government coopted, the media mostly owned by corporations and figures like Jeff Bezos, it will be People power or frankly, it seems, massive dark times ahead.
Now choose activism, rescuing democracy, civil society, reason, facing realities, exposing/ending unconsciousness and evil, and maintaining a moral code that works globally and respects Life (lives) on Planet Earth. NOW.
3
And... I will vote for Sanders in the primary. Why...fairly simple. Most of what he stands for are views I held long before I even knew who he was. I developed them based on.. wait.. analysis of the US, politics, economics, trends and data. OMG. Hence I would support Warren as well if it came to that. Funny how using your own critical thinking skills is a key part of being an active participant in a democratic republic. Not ads, FB, your dad, buddy, a newspaper. Your own mind. Now I can tell the folks who do not use their minds as their arguments are usually easy to counter, they repeat lines and memes and in the end they get petulant.
5
Ah, here we go again. And why should we believe this nonsense? "Russia’s interference measures and their intensity remain murky, even as intelligence officials sound alarms."
6
Wait- Senator Transparency, who won’t release his medical records, knew about Russian interference on his behalf “a month ago?” Wouldn’t that seem like something about which voters ought to know?
10
I can see many comments here suggesting Putin is helping Sanders to re-elect Trump. It was my though when I read the news, too.
I watched evening news( ABC CBS and PBS) this evening but no commentators suggested the possibility of this theory.
I wonder why?
1
Of course the Russians want to see Sanders win the Democratic nomination. Their boy, Trump, will mop the floor with him.
6
Helping Bernie win the nomination is the same thing as helping Trump win the White House. It's all part of the same operation to reelect Trump and hence destroying our nation.
4
Time to cut off Russia completely. No trade, no visits, nothing. Make the Oligarchs suffer, and see how Putin reacts to that.
This meddling cannot be allowed to happen. Ever!
4
Probably the most important thing Robert Mueller said was that Russia was meddling again @as we speak.”
In a normal presidency, this would be a clarion call to arms. Yes n this presidency, we are surrounded by daily catastrophes...
8
Everyone needs to remember that McConnell is the architect of 2020 meddling. Obama wanted to release information on the 2016 meddling and NcConnell suppressed it. McConnell’s name needs to be right up there in American history—next to McCarthyism
7
Sanders has no real principles, and no one should believe a single word that he says, any more than you'd believe The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
If this so-called "progressive" and "democratic socialist" would ally himself with Hillary Clinton, who was supposedly his complete political and ethical opposite in 2016, why wouldn't he ally himself with Putin? Same routine, different year.
This superannuated old PHONY and pliable tool should drop out of the race right now, and take things easy and collect his lovely government pension, while his ailing heart is still functioning.
Support Sanders, and you're guaranteeing Trump his second term.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on ME!"
In the unlikely event that he's elected, he'd probably appoint the shamelessly carpetbagging Hillary to the Supreme Court.
No, no, a thousand times no, on Bernie Sanders for president!
2
He speaks their language. Why wouldn’t they?
2
When one looks at the bickering, arguing and blaming taking place in these comments, it's easy to conclude that the Russian's plan to dispute our election is working.
6
The Russian influence in 2016 was directed at democratic voters to turn them against Clinton. The targets were Sanders supporters and African Americans especially younger voters. It worked and it’s working again. Putin trolls Democrats not Republicans. Sanders is Putin’s guy.
1
“According to people familiar with the matter” doesn’t pass muster.
3
Finally Putin and I agree on something.
If Sanders is the Dem candidate, Trump will win.
6
Well, this is according to Bernie Sanders and unnamable, "people familiar with the matter.'
All the proof I need.
2
Has nothing to do with the Nevada caucuses, certainly. Obviously.
4
It seems to me that the remark “nobody likes Bernie” doesn’t ring true in Moscow! They like him in order to re-elect the donald...
3
"Mr. Sanders said he was briefed about a month ago. Asked why the disclosure came out now, he said: “I’ll let you guess about one day before the Nevada caucus. Why do you think it came out?”"
I am missing something here. Was Senator Sanders told he could not disclose the contents of the briefing held a month ago? Would that explain why he was close-mouthed at the last dog-and-pony show when taken to task about this campaign saying nasty things about the other candidates?
I fear I am going down a conspiracy theory rat-hole, but, if DJT thinks Senator Sanders is easily beaten, wouldn't aiding his campaign have the effect of aiding his own?
2
Consider the scenario so far:
Putin supports Sanders as well as Trump, so that Dem support proves he knows that Bernie is unelectable, so everyone on the fence urges Bernie supporters to stop supporting him. So Warren or Buttiegieg become President, and we thwart Putin's desire for Sanders.
But the real con -could- be: trick everyone into abandoning Bernie, who actually -can- beat Trump, and electing any other Democrat who maybe can't beat him, and so Trump---Putin's man---wins.
Full Disclosure: I am a Bernie supporter, and I -think- he would beat Trump but am aware of the dangers of this presidency so shall vote for any Dem nominee.
But I think all non- or anti-Bernie Dems & Inds. should consider that this could be what the Russians are hoping for--that they are leaking their "support" of Bernie because they're afraid he would beat Trump.
WHETHER IT IS OR NOT we can completely deflect the Putin's oligarchy (yes, of course an oligarchy wants Sanders!) by ALL agreeing to vote for whomever is the nominee.
I'm a Bernie supporter, and I will vote for any other candidate who becomes the nominee.
Will you?
As many have suggested, that's it. Vote Democrat, period.
5
This is very even-handed reporting. Thank you for publishing this article. I can't believe we don't have more tools to fight this.
4
No doubt the reason Russians are helping Bernie's campaign is due to the fact that Bernie would be the weakest candidate running against Trump.
44
Our elections have such big problems that foreign influence is a relatively minor one. Why don’t we get as worked up over huge money in politics, or over the Electoral College? We still give no-name electors a formal right to override our votes, but think foreign propaganda is our big problem?
47
Donald Trump's running mate, Vladimir Putin, is helping Sanders because Sanders would lose to Trump in the general election. Bloomberg is the only one who can ridicule and beat Trump.
23
Didn’t you watch the debate. It is Warren who can decimate Trump.
1
It took Sanders a month before he reacted to the intelligence briefing: At a time that he had to because it was made public (and not by him first).
Get Sanders out of here. No honesty. No respect for the American voter. And no real integrity.
31
@Ken
Did you read where it said it was "classified" info.?!
One does not leak or publicly announce "classified" info.
until it has been cleared or leaked by others.
Sanders did as he was told/supposed to.
So...because Sanders did as instructed and kept a state secrete, you castigate and disparage him.
"No integrity", "No honesty", "No respect".
The man risked his campaign by keeping it secret, and this is what Ken thinks is lacking integrity and honesty.
Seems you owe an apology Ken. If you have respect for the American voter of course.
7
Of course Russia is helping Sanders, Trump wants to run against him because Trump can win. Easy.
23
If Sanders wins the nomination, and after that half of social media activity on his behalf is gone, then we now Russians did the job.
10
@CarolinaJoe 17,000 people showed up at a Sander's rally last week. The reality is he is the most beloved senator in the country. People like and trust him.
6
Russia apparently is doing whatever it can to tear down US democracy and push the US toward fascism. The US is the key country for them but they are doing the same thing in western Europe. The goal of Putin it to end the world order being dominated by western democracies and create a new world order led by fascist countries where Russia would have the most influence. In Trump the Russians have found the perfect person to bring fascism to the US. I would have to assume that Putin believes Sanders would be the easiest candidate for Trump to defeat. I would guess Russia might be ready to roll out a campaign of misinformation focused on Sanders past associations with socialist and communist countries to help Trump. The Russians have learned that they can get people to vote to destroy their own countries and they will continue to do so if they cannot be stopped.
16
If Sanders had an integrity he would drop out.
14
Oh, stuff it.
Sanders is a lot of things and I would prefer he’s not the nominee, but he’s not a fake and he’s not a liar.
Of course, this may be hard to recognize for some.
17
Why? How does that make sense?
9
Thanks for the laugh, Hank. You just helped make my subway ride a little more amusing.
2
Bernie knew for a month and never told the voting public? How very Trump of him. That's not leadership...it stinks of something foul.
Also, the investigative journalists need to finally do some due diligence on Sanders funding and past writings and policy positions. He's gotten by with very little vetting. It's hard to believe that college kids have enough money to fund his entire campaign. Something is fishy and needs to be investigated. Russia wants Bernie to win the nomination...that says a lot and confirms that Bernie is not a viable candidate against Trump.
18
You should rethink the notion that only college kids back Bernie, many Americans who have been disillusioned with the political cycle in the past are reinvigorated by bernie, his funding reflects how widespread the movement truly is.
27
I regularly contribute money to Sanders campaign and Warren too. I am 65. So do my friends and family. Only a few are in their 20’s and most are over 50. Lots of Little contributions add up.
15
Putin's end game is to keep Trump in office for a second term.
Putin has KGB files from Sanders trip to Russia—valid of embellished make no difference—and will provide them to the Republicans to aid their smear of every Democrat as a communist.
See David Brooks column from yesterday where he declares "Democrats already see reality through the Bernie lens"—the GOP's first dog whistle "All Democrats are communists."
16
You see Trump and the Russians are on the same page. The way that BoJO became PM was to pick his adversary. Sanders is the weakest but he is running away with the delegates. I hope this destroys his candidacy together with hiding the info on his heart attack.
9
Did anyone else flash on the scene in All The President’s Men where Deep Throat aka Mark Felt says to Bob Woodward, “They wanted to run against McGovern, look who they’re running against.” Same here. I think Russia supported Sanders and Trump in the last election. They are sowing dissension and distrust and now they don’t care who knows because the US government has done NOTHING to stop them because: Trump re-election.
Goodbye democracy.
17
@TNM, I thought I was the only one having 1972 flashbacks! Thanks for writing!
7
Does anyone think this is getting a little absurd with Russia. We are so into the conspiracy theories that they don't have to do a thing. A whisper of a whisper becomes a plot. When will Americans realize that the whole world is laughing at us? The internet and the human need for affirmation is destroying us. Let's stop being children.
34
@G. Umanov - brilliant comment! I agree, the Russian election threat is absurd and I would add irrational. It seems to be in the American DNA though - McCarthysism etc. Whenever Wall Street, the Banks and the health care middle men preceive a threat, they pull out the Red Scare and most of the media quickly jumps from a whisper to a plot, as you say. I'm not laughing at American though, I'm shaking my head in disbelief. It's not Russia influencing your elections, it's the billions of dollars the parties spend winning them. I really hope I'm wrong, but won't be surprised if it ends up to be two billionaires squaring off in November. Will 2024 be Donald Jr. and Bezos? Bezos' mega donation to fight climate change is surely positioning for a run at the presidency.
11
Does anyone else but the democratic party elite care as much about Russia? I think the American people care about their jobs, healthcare, education for their kids and the environment. These are all issues Bernie addresses head on and this is why he is leading in the polls.
This article is so vague on what the Russians are currently doing to assist Bernie. If they really want Trump to win, why not promote Biden who is tanking and pandering/lying to get the Black vote... Arrested in apartheid South Africa? Or how about Bloomberg, the former republican with a racist/sexist record who was easily eviscerated by Warren in his first debate?
27
A quick reminder that Russians pale into insignificance compared to Republicans when it comes to compromising the democratic process.
Gerrymandering, purging voter rolls, stripping Democrat governors of power in the legislatures, penalizing voter registration drives, making it harder for the poor and students to vote using misinformation about voter fraud, compromised electronic voting machines ... the list goes on and on.
45
@Xoxarle ...And the list includes urging Republicans to crossover in the South Carolina primary and vote for Sanders.
9
@Xoxarle Not to mention covering for him against his Russian collusion and Ukraine abuse of power and congressional obstruction. Republicans are 100% complicit with Trump's corruption.
5
So, Vladimir Putin wants Donald Trump to win again, so he promotes Bernie Sanders as the Democratic candidate. He, thinks it will be easier for Trump to beat Sanders than possible opponents. Trump. of course, loves that scenario. If Sanders is nominated, both Trump and Putin can attack Bernie as a wild man who will take away private insurance destroy the economy. Trump will do everything he can to prevent any countermeasures against the Russian meddling. Why would he? It all benefits him. Perhaps those who have ignored Trump's bizarre relationship with Putin should wake up and do something. Trump is not going to give anyone anything positive unless they are his buddies - financially and politically.
12
It really is more about sowing discord and having us fight each other than advocacy for any one campaign. Its also about losing faith in democratic discourse and process. The HBO movie "Brexit" captures this so well with key scene of a focus group organized by Brexiteers.
6
Indeed, by meddling in the Democratic primaries and boosting Bernie Sanders’s chance of becoming the nominee to take on Trump, Russia hopes that Democrats would have a weak candidate in the November race. Many moderates and swing voters are terrified by Sanders’s brand of “democratic socialism” and would rather vote for Trump, even if they loathe him.
Sanders sent message to Putin: “If elected president, trust me, you are not going to be interfering in American elections.” The condemnation was weak. But unlike Trump, Sanders has integrity and character, and he doesn't want Russia to help him win.
Although Sanders will not be Putin’s stooge if elected, Russia would benefit hugely from new US foreign policy under his administration.
Sanders has long been a leading advocate of military restraint, and he is campaigning on a platform of “responsible foreign policy” that promises to end America’s “endless war”, away from the wisdom that military competition is necessary to contain Putin and circumscribe the Russian sphere of influence.
But Putin enjoys Trump's fawning admiration and appreciates his penchant for autocracy and venality - enough reasons to keep his impetuous stooge in the chaotic White House.
3
It's a new election cycle season for the Democracy Under Fire Show. Bernie is still playing Bernie, and the Bernie Bros and Bernie Bots are busy trying to put forth the weakest general election candidate, and suppress the Democratic vote by sowing discord and apathy. Trump is playing Trump, because Moscow's choice has performed so well in Putin's goal of dividing America, and attacking all institutions that keep us free. Tulsi Gabbard has replaced Jill Stein in this season's line-up, playing the role of the siphon for 4% of the would-be Democratic vote. Even though it's essentially a replay of 2016, the producers have decided to go with what worked.
None of this could be happening if Republicans fought for the preservation of accepted political norms, and to protect our national security. We are cooked. Put a fork in us.
8
Totally logical that the Russians would support Bernie. Putin openly stated a few years ago that he wanted Trump to win the Presidency. Having Bernie as his opponent makes sense because Bernie cannot win a general election. Yes, he does have a mass of supporters but the rest of the votes are divided among the other candidates who are not avowed socialists. When many Americans hear the word "socialism" they don't think of Social Security and Medicare they think of the old Soviet Union. Bernie is honest and I admire him, but c'mon "Medicare for all" and allowing prisoners to vote will never go over big. Putin wants the weakest candidate against his favored Trump.
7
Between Fox News and Russian social media manipulation, no one can trust polls anymore. Sanders’ rapid rise in national polls when he tied in Iowa and virtually tied in New Hampshire would not normally have sent just him to the top of the polls. And how much of the negativity about Bloomberg has been real oppo research and not Russian efforts to smear him because he might be a stronger candidate against Trump? It’s frustrating that we the the people can no longer believe what we read and hear, yet we have a Republican Senate who refuses even to consider bills protecting our elections.
6
I think that this new information brings to light the relentless drumbeat of negative aspersions about ascerbic ‘Bernie Bros” and progressive liberal’s who are, according to big money financed disinformation mills, naturally so much less intelligent educated and informed then more moderate leaning compatriots or republicans.
I cry horsefeathers to all of that. All I hear are the death rattles of big money having all the power in society and politics.
Americans need to avoid being distracted by this and other ambient and aggressive crusades of manipulation.
Pay attention to the candidates’ platforms, personalities, and track records while tuning out all the spirited hooplah and you will make the right choice in November.
Vote blue, no matter who.
3
This is unsurprising and benefits Russia interests in multiple ways.
First, it continues to muddy the waters and cast doubts over the integrity of the electoral process, which weakens the legitimacy of any candidate (not that our current president needed any help in that realm), which benefits Russian interests abroad by provoking further dissent and infighting within the US.
Second, despite national polling, Sanders is unlikely to beat Trump in the general election; given how beneficial Trump's presidency has been to Russian interests in the Middle East, Crimea, and other theaters, helping Sanders become the Democratic nominee will support Russian geopolitical interests.
Finally, Sanders is a candidate with a hyper-domestic focused, almost isolationist world view. The continued withdrawal of US interests from the global stage is again only something that can benefit Putin & co - so really, in a Trump versus Sanders race, there's no way for Russia to lose.
Sanders failing to openly identify and condemn the interference without being prompted by good journalism is troubling and speaks to the degree to which he simply wants the nomination and center stage, rather than any integrity or interest in the nation's fortunes.
8
Who are "the people familiar with the matter"?
We've heard this petulant howl about the big bad Russian bear since we were whiplashed by our "thought leaders"from admiring Uncle Joe Stalin to hate-filled brinksmanship that drove my generation to hide under their desks at school during bombing drills.
Worse than the gunman drills in today's schools, but similar in that the spiraling hysteria is of our own making as our leaders must hold up a target for our fear and enmity, and it's hard to discern the triggers for our despair and violence, sometimes embodied by rogue individuals who express the pain for us.
There was once hope that the lessons of the McCarthy era, the false accusations, the false equivalences, and the flat out lying to protect the status quo would remain in the lockbox of their time.
5
The Democrats need to pull together and collectively develop a strategy to preserve the integrity of the primary and election process. This is a leadership moment for the party to put the candidates to put individual differences aside and show how collective, informed, transparent and equitable decision-making can challenge the lies and subversion that characterize the GOP.
2
Leadership would detail ways and methods employed to stop this interference. It would not solely focus on the politics of it and bland epithets and pronouncements. Unfortunately that leadership does not exist in either Trump or Sanders
5
Putin wants Bernie to be the Dem candidate, not to win the election. Putin wants Trump to win the election, and believes Bernie would be easy for Trump to beat. Careful what you wish for Mr. Putin. Bernie is a populist, AKA...popular. And unlike Trump, Sanders is a not a liar and cheat.
2
They support Sanders because they know he can’t win, and will result in a Trump win, leading to another four years of chaos, further loss of international standing - America as the laughing stock of the world - loss of influence, and allowing insidious corruption to spread which directly and indirectly helps Putin.
6
It's not only the Russians who are aiding Bernie. The Republicans avoid going after him too; they know exactly who they want Trump to run against. Do we really want to watch the McGovern election again? Election night 2016 was bad enough. Please let's not put Bernie up there to lose to Trump.
8
Another lie perpetrated by the Democrats to smear a candidate they perceive to be a threat to their interests. Before it was Trump now it is Bernie.
9
Before we run amok in let us remember we all have an innate ability to choose goodness over fear. Fear is the real enemy here. Use your mind and heart. If a candidate or political add is biased toward fear, accusation, and finger pointing and not toward hope, unity, and taking action for the benefit of all, then ignore it.
Yes, it is difficult to decipher some lies, but we all have truth meter. Time to start using it.
4
Of course the Russians are trying to hep Sanders campaign, he's the one who has been working with them for years, going back to when he was young and visiting the Soviet Union. The fingers were pointed at trump, but the real provider of intelligence to the russians has been coming from the senator from vermont.
1
Russians helping Bernie? Hard to believe. Anyway, Bernie unlike the corrupted in the White House does not welcome the interfering. I am a Bernie supporter. The more Bernie is attacked and ignored the more fervent my believe that he is the one who stands for a Better America for All. I am sick and tired of the media (the voice of the establishment right and left) trashing social democracy for most of us while embracing social democracy for the billionaires.
6
Russian help for Bernie Sanders is not a new story, and the affinity of Sanders for Russia is a very old story. Years ago, Sanders traveled to Nicaragua and met with Daniel Ortega, the Communist leader of the rebel Sandinistas, and publicly said how impressed he was by Ortega. Bernie Sanders praised Cuba under Fidel Castro and had good things to say about the Soviet Union.
This is not to say that Russia is helping Bernie Sanders in 2020 and helped him in 2016 because Vladimir Putin feels the country owes Sanders. When forced to choose between Sanders and Donald Trump, Putin probably would choose Trump. If, however, Trump happens to lose the election to the nominee of the Democratic Party, Putin wants that winner to be Sanders.
One thing is certain. Bernie Sanders cannot dispel the suspicion simply by shouting anti-Putin one-liners on the campaign trail.
2
Years ago Martin Seligman wrote “Learned Helplessness”. They way to a complete breakdown is to live under constant uncertainty unpredictability, and lack of control. And here we all are, on the brink. First the Russians were aiding Trump, now they’re aiding Sanders? There’s little rationale here except to keep this country twirling in chaos until we destroy ourselves.
1
The horse is clearly out of the barn--everyone seems to accept the claim of Russian interference as gospel. I would like to propose that the entity that is doing the "interference" is the Intelligence Community itself. I, for one, would like the IC to produce hard evidence of these claims. To date, they have not.
7
Another case of the "boy who cried wolf"?
It seems any time a candidate who is unfavored by the establishment becomes more popular, something comes out of the intelligence service which seems to assign some of that popularity to America's adversaries.
Are we being played, folks?
7
Russia knows that Bernie Sanders could not possibly win in the general election, therefore who better than to go up against Trump in November?
I despise Donald Trump, but have already resigned myself to the likelihood of his winning a second term. If Sanders is to be the Democrat candidate, then I would change the above to "the certainty of his winning a second term."
1
Just as they did last time. Read the Mueller report.
And Bernie refused to finalise his FEC filings from 2016, no doubt because he didn’t want to have to explain over 600 pages of flagged suspect overseas donations, nor did he want to talk about the 10 million in dark money from a single DC zip code.
It may also be why, immediately after the election, he started a PAC, which also refuses to disclose its sources of funds.
All this, while decrying others for their fundraising efforts and for using PAC money.
Hypocrite much, Bernie?
2
The Russian idea seems to be to help Sanders get the Dem nomination, because they think he may be the only Dem that Trump can beat.
What is staggering about this plot is the Russian conviction that they can interfere freely, without consequences... and the Republican Senators willingness to allow them to do it...some could call it treason.
4
Brilliant! This is all about the Russians aiding a Trump re-election.
The Russians prop up a far left presidential candidate that will keep moderate Democrats at home and push conservative ones to vote Trump.
Let's not be fooled
3
I never imagined that I would find reason to thank Vladimir Putin. Hurt Sanders, create just enough doubt about him in the minds of Democratic voters who aren’t deep in his corner to diminish his chances as he shouts his way to the nomination. There would be a certain justice if a man who had a grand old time in the USSR was undone by someone who was in the KGB during Bernie’s visit. Maybe they met.
So are all those $2.70 contributions Bernie raises online from US citizens who can vote? Maybe a self-financed campaign isn't so bad.
Putin is no friend of dedicated anti-Russia hawk Sanders. That’s the obvious motive for muddying the waters on behalf of Trump - and I’m sure Sec. Clinton is thrilled too, since this undoubtedly gives further credence to her weak excuses for the 2016 electoral loss. Who knows, maybe people will eventually even forget that Clinton lost the election in three counties, any one of which, if flipped, would have given her the prize. She never set foot in these counties - just expected their votes - and even then lost by the slimmest of margins. Clearly, an actual campaign effort in person to win these counties would have been decisive. Now, however, let us turn to observe what is sure to become further efforts to derail Sanders from the right through disingenuous tactics. Are you going to buy the hype, dear reader?
2
I find it amusing that Trump supporters are up in arms about Russia's interference in Senator Sander's campaign, but not a peep about Russia's interference in Trump's because that's "fake news."
Hypocrites.
4
Typical of a Banana Republic, and this is what we are turning into, thanks to that person in the Oval Office. His BFF is Putin and no one objects? trump is like a puppet on a string and Putin is pulling the strings and enjoying every moment. And now Sanders is supposedly another puppet and just when I received my absentee ballot in todays mail.
Why would Russia seek to aid Sanders to "win" the nomination? Of course they know that Americans will never elect a candidate branded "Socialist".
In a matchup Sanders vs Trump, every H.S. 12th grader knows Trump will win hands down.
2
It is scary that we don’t know anymore what is true. We are all impacted by misinformation and ignorant people.
1
Russians did it last time in 2016, and I bet they will try their b best again to influence our election. I hope we could block them effectively! I am afraid that they will do so skillfully that it won't be easy to catch them and block them.
The Americans do not like other countries (except Israel) to interfere in their elections. But they do not hesitate to interfere in the selection/election of leaders in other countries. So contradictory.
4
How can Russia both undermine our democracy and transport our astronauts to the space station and back? There's a fundamental contradiction here that, as far as I know, has never been addressed by the journalism profession.
2
Intelligence officials briefed Bernie and he immediately - in the articles words - "denounced Russia in a statement, calling President Vladimir V. Putin an “autocratic thug” and warning Moscow to stay out of the election." Contrast that to Trump who encouraged - in fact repeatedly, publicly, asked Putin to keep interfering on Trump's behalf in 2016. Sanders response - denouncing Russia's attack and warning it to back off is the most Presidential response to Putin we've seen.
1
How Russia could possibly influence a vote of John Doe from West Virginia or Kentucky?? Or any other State? All it counts it's the news presented in the major TV channels , and the level of understanding of the current happenings by the voter. Their (Russians) only influence may be sharing an information about the involvement, and benefits received, by the candidates or their siblings - so much for the interference...
1
That’s a nice one. Seems designed to stop Bernie. I wonder how long it will be before wine cave Pete has it in his stock lines!
3
Russia wants whoever is going to reduce America’s military footprint abroad or strain our Historic alliances. It is geopolitics. They would also support tulsi gabbard. Simple as that.
Could the Dems sue Facebook etc., for failing to control foreign influence on their platform leading to damage their candidates?
1
Russia doesn’t want Sanders as president. They want him to be the Democratic nominee so that Trump will win again.
From US News: “according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday, Americans overwhelmingly are just fine with voting for a woman, as well as a black, Hispanic or (to a somewhat lesser extent) gay candidate. The sort of candidate a majority of Americans reject?
Socialist.
The category was the only one which had a majority of Americans, 53%, declaring they would not cast a ballot for a candidate so described.”
If Sanders is the Democratic nominee, Trump wins again and the puppet bromance with Putin continues.
3
In the absence of any proof to support such allegations, the conspiracy minded might also think that the US intelligence community is trying to influence the election towards a status quo candidate in the vein of the Clinton-Bush-Obama era. Evidence, please.
4
Here we are again, with the ludicrous "Russian Inference" farce.
1. There was absolutely zero evidence that the actual voting process was interfered with in 2016. No machines were rigged. All US agencies have confirmed that.
2. According to Mueller. the alleged Russian advertising spend in 2016 was $160,000. Total spent on the elections was about $7,000,000,000. Not millions. Billions. Seven Billion. What effect could $160,000 have? Do you really think that would be Putin's total budget for the project, if there was a Russian project to influence our election?
3. This time around, spending will be much higher. Everyone is collecting record amounts of money. Bloomberg will be spending at least 1 Billion; maybe 2 Billion. We are probably talking about a 12 to 15 Billion dollar spend for the 2020 election.
4. If Putin was actually willing to pump Billions into our economy in an attempt to influence our election, that would be great. We are 100% polarized already, so it would make no difference - we would have tricked Putin into boosting our economy!
5. The real attempt to influence our election, is the bogus Russia story itself - but that's OK, because dirty politics is an American norm.
5
What Russia’s election interference to boost Sanders tells me is that Putin thinks Sanders is the least likely candidate to beat Trump—the same thing many Democrats have been saying for months: Bernie may be able to whip up lots of voters in the blue states but he is unlikely to move the needle in Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin—the states that will actually determine the 2020 election. So Russia’s efforts to help Sanders win the primary are just an adjunct to helping Trump win the general.
My guess is that Putin also thinks Sanders supporters are more likely to sit 2020 out if Bernie doesn’t get the nomination—just like a lot of them did in 2016. So stirring up their animosity to the Democratic “establishment” also has the benefit of depressing voter turnout in the event the Dems nominate someone else—yet another boost for their man in the White House, Donald J. Trump.
Little wonder then that Trump is installing yet another of his yes-men at the DNI to put the quietus on communications about Putin’s election interference and to put down any counter intelligence measures to stifle the Russian efforts—in the name of rooting out the “deep state.” Little wonder, too, that it’s all crickets on the GOP front. Voter suppression and dirty election tricks are nothing new or even distasteful to them. So what if those dirty tricks are now being wielded by a foreign adversary who will then have even more leverage over the President of the United States?
1
Let’s just call it a day and allow Russians to vote. God knows once they vote in a caucus or a state whose electoral votes don’t matter, they will soon realize like most Americans, your vote doesn’t count.
What is just gobsmacking to me is how anyone, Republicans or Democrats alike, could see this as anything else then a hostile aggression of war against the United States.
When Putin is actively interfering with the core of our republic (again!), we should be at defcon 5, with scrambled B52’s and carrier groups diverted to the North Sea. Putin needs to face the possibility of paying a hefty price for this behavior, so that he or anyone else would understand the consequences and never attempt to meddle in our nation’s democracy again.
2
Regardless of what "people who are familiar with the matter have said" (thanks for that penetrating level of granularity NYT), I personally don't know that Putin has done anything, because as a mere citizen, I have no way of knowing. What I can plainly see, however, is that the Times has, once again, put its thumb on the scales, to try to make their non-preferred candidate seem less preferable. Who's attacking American democracy?
3
It looks like Russia’s interference with Sander’s campaign is a Putin’s effort to stain his legitimacy and not wanting him to win the election.
Interfering? What specific actions are they taking? Facebook ads? Sabotaging reporting mechanisms? The 2nd obviously more worrisome than the first. The Times and others need to dig a little deeper to define what “interference” specifically means. Some would believe votes will be changed but if it is simply advertising then that should be stated. Also these ads once established as originating from Russia and other foreign Countries including friendly Countries from Western Europe Canada Australia and others should be immediately disclosed along with their Countries of origin.
2
Putin supports Sanders, according to American intelligence reports?
According to NYT archives Sanders honeymooned in the old Soviet Union and Sanders said that he learned a lot from the old Soviet Union. Sanders had great admiration the Soviet Union at the time, according to Sanders' own written accounts. And he wrote articles praising the totalitarian socialist revolution in Cuba
Should Sanders be chosen as the presidential candidate of the American Democratic Party, Trump may campaign against Sanders based on Sanders' writings admiring the old Soviet Union. Democrats should know when considering his nomination to lead their Party.
1
Americans wake up, Russia is broke, his economy is tiny compared to its geography, it takes pennies on the dollar to undermine America through the click of a mouse, how many people are being played like a fiddle including some of our so called statesman in the upper echelons of power.
1
The idea must be that Putin believes that his buddy will find Sanders easiest to beat.
The 2020 election is already fully compromised and in dire jeopardy of being overtly stolen.
2
Sanders is Corbyn. However a good man with a good program, he is so framed that middle America would prefer a clown.
So of course Russia supports Sanders. Sanders vs. Trump means Trump will be elected.
2
In the Manchurian Candidate, a foreign power tries to have a US president elected who is so incompetent, that it will it will be necessary for it to take over the American governmnet. Putin may give only so much support to Sanders as may advance his nomination, but Trump is his Manchurian candidate
1
DROP OUT, Bernie. Give your wholehearted support to Warren.
Be a Hero, or this will NOT end well. Trump will be re-elected, and the Senate will remain in GOP outstretched hands.
Seriously.
3
This isn't about 'Russians' that want Trump to remain President. This is about the forces that do not want Bernie Sanders to become President, the same forces that did not want bernie Sanders or President Trump to become President 2016, but blamed the Russians for it....and they make their home in the DNC establishment.
It is all right there in the 2016 Wiki Leaks dump.
3
Yeah! I guessed that Trump told Putin who he wanted to run against ! They have let Bernie progress through the
primaries bellowing against 'the establishment' and inflaming and enraging his devotees who are ready to tear the place apart if their darling loses. Surely, the Trump campaign has it onslaught at the ready the minute Bernie becomes the presidential candidate of the Democrats: Morning to night coverage in Florida of Bernie singing the praises of Fidel Castro. Morning to night coverage in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and Michigan of Bernie in Moscow. Do the Democrats realize that Bernie rails and rages but has NO plan or policy except taxing the rich? But what do you expect from a fool who says he won't take PAC money, and has every single corporation, and man with money against him in this day of Citizens United and then rails against Bloomberg about his wealth buying elections.
What DID Bernie think Trump and his supporters were planning to do in the general election? Run their campaign on 20 dollar donations from true believers? I pray that Bloomberg finishes Bernie off in the primaries rather than wait for a fifty state defeat of Bernie Sanders in the general election.
1
Leaders of each party should be selected by a vote within the party. This internal fighting is like a circus
"Asked why the disclosure came out now, he (Bernie Sanders) said: “I’ll let you guess about one day before the Nevada caucus. Why do you think it came out?”
And that Ladies and Gentlemen is the "everything and anything" I keep speaking about that the Republican-Lite Pelosi Schumer Biden Democratic (in name only) Party is trying to do to stop Bernie Sanders from becoming our 46th President.
Now that Nevada is overwhelmingly for Bernie and South Carolina the same next week, they are hopping mad, crazed with fear that their version of the status quo will not be able to subjugate and beat us down these next four years.
Bernie Sanders is laying waste all of their plans, first Biden, then the billionaire Bloomberg, and the reality that after Super Tuesday the supporters of the other candidates will start to migrate to Bernies' camp is making them into dithering fools.
We are at last becoming able to affect our future, so now is the time to redouble our efforts; get out there, talk up what a true representative democracy is all about, and tell everyone that Bernie Sanders is our modern-day FDR unapologetically ready to undo the Trump abomination, and send he and his like-minded Republicans into the wilderness never to attempt to destroy our nation again.
4
The Russians want to help Sanders because they feel it will help Trump win a Trump / Sanders election.
2
This president is now eviscerating the intelligence community. He is finally learning how to turn our government into a personal weapon. Our republic may not survive another 11 months of this, let alone 5 more years.
2
I don't know how much Russia can help Trump or Sanders. It assumes that American people are stupid and willing to cast ballots based on their stories. I think people (both parties) are smarter than that.
Well, they like Bernie because that is where he went on his honeymoon.
There is one thing to do about this: Elect Sanders President. That will teach them.
1
Now here's a collusion theory that I'm sure Adam Schiff will pick up, and be supported by Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer. Sanders honeymooned in Russia, and has refused to denounce, or even speak negatively about Soviet socialist policies around the world, especially in places like Venezuela. Sanders can denounce it all he wants, but I'm sure he's pleased to get any support he can, b being such a believer in these types of policies.
Sigh. but I expect nothing will come of it, collusion is only interesting in democratic adversaries, not in their own homies.
While we all worry about the Russians, I would point out that Richard Grenell was appointed to temporary Director of National Intelligence.
Richard Grenell was recently implicated in a February 10th article of The Atlantic by McKay Coppins, of being part of a Trump effort, to dig up dirt on reporters, who reported negative stories about Trump. Grenell, now has the whole of the nations spy services, not only to dig up dirt on news reporters, but anyone who Trump and company want to target. And God only knows what else. We certainly should be weary of Russia, but the real problem, lies within our own borders.
2
I think we're returning to the Joe McCarthy frame of mind. Fear and hate Russia, and not only that, but almost 30 years after the Soviet Union collapses, make it all about communism.
1
Just guessing but could it be that Putin sees Sanders as someone DJT can defeat?
DJT and his ally in Russia are corrupt but not stupid. Putin continues to manipulate our Pres. and the latter accepts it for reasons unknown to we the public.
Not conspiracy but silent collusion and it is working just fine for both!
This is all happening on Facebook and Twitter. Until Americans decide to stop using these platforms because they’ve been compromised, I have little sympathy for the sanctity of each vote or voter
Kill Your Facebook. Do it already.
1
Russian propagandists often don’t know that they are Russian propagandists. They accept and repeat Russian propaganda because it fits with what they already believe. It’s sad how much it has infiltrated our political discourse. I have spent the last few years trying to fight it but most people thought I was some kind of conspiracy theorist. I hate conspiracy theories. But actual, real conspiracies need to be exposed.
1
If Sanders becomes the candidate for the Democrats, Trump will surely win the election.
I knew this was going to happen. Yesterday it was Trump was being aided by the Russians. Today its Bernie Sanders. Is ww3 far behind. The paranoia rampant in the world and the ever closer proximity of conflict in Syria and in Ukraine. So everybody is suspect. The miracle of the internet is now the cesspool of hate speech climate science denial. Of course the good people are the "moderate" democrats. They a true safe haven. Sanders' grass roots campaign would be singled out was obvious with Schiff's belligerent anti Russia crusade.
Oof. This must feel like a gut punch to Bernie: Knowing the Russians would like you to get the nomination because they think you're the easiest for Trump to beat. Democrats who actually want to win, you paying attention out there?
James Comey had more to do with influencing the 2016 election than anything the Russians did. He publicly stated a Presidential candidate was under investigation a month before then election. Come on folks, that was more troubling! But Democrats/media want a narrative with a boogeyman (Russians) lurking out there they only they can defend against.
2
Isn’t it simply cause as much damage to America as possible? Fools are so easy manipulated.
All I read here is that Russian operatives are mass posting social Media. If THAT influences an election then we really DESERVE to lose our democracy.
3
Can Democrats just elect the nominee they're most excited about and not have the DNC, corporate media, Republican Party or anyone else interfere? The other side gets that, right? They wanted Donald and there he is. For two solid years CNN was TNN. Now let us do our own thing and not have all of you tell us who to support. If you're a Never-Trumper then get Steyer and Bloomberg to run in the Republican primary. There is one happening. So just go there. That's the billionaire party anyway.
1
Watch Hypernormalisation, a documentary by Adam Curtis and the BBC. It shows how Russia has been promoting disinformation for a long time before the last election. In Russia for example, they would have the military beat up anti government protestors and then claim that they themselves had hired the protestors to protest. The goal being to confuse their people so much that they gave up. The goal here in America is not just to elect a single candidate. The goal is to erode trust in information so fully that the general populous gives up. Confuse confuse confuse. That’s why we keep seeing conflicting information about who they’re supporting in your headlines. They don’t care about supporting a single candidate, they care about eroding the American Publics trust in information using your paper as a soapbox.
If the Russians are interferring on facebook or twitter or instagram, isn't the American public knowledgeable enough they are being given bad information? Doesn't the public know the difference between communism by Russia and social programs for the people who need it -- like unions, social security, medicaid, school lunch program etc?
What is the form of this Russian 'interference'? As others have called for in these comments, the NYT's should provide specifics.
Or, more importantly, I would expect our intelligence agencies and our government to be sharing more on this will us! What is the point of having all this very expensive security apparatus if it can't even give citizens the guidance we need in the 21st century?!
These leads to two other possibilities as to why the secrecy:
1. Russia is really doing nothing and just creating the illusion of power by saying they're interfering. Brilliant strategy - until Russia's 'the emperor has no clothes' ploy is exposed and they're seen for the 3rd rate, criminal (and laughable) power they actually are. Also, it exposes how our intelligence community is overhyping these threats.
2. Russia is merely doing low tech incursions, such as planting disinformation on social media or using bots. If so, this is no better or worse than what other foreign nations are likely doing, which no MSM seems to be able to assess. Also, this is what many, many organizations in the US are also practicing. Didn't we just learn how Bloomberg is paying people to say nice things about him on social media?!
Without more substantive knowledge of what's going on, we as citizens can't determine if this Russia threat is real or just a tempest in a tea pot. I tend to think it's the latter.
Sat 2/22/2020 at 2:41am
3
Why would foreign interference be worst than de facto multinational billionaires interference.
When billions are spent by them on what is political propaganda to have their" Own Man" in the White House, one may wonder if they will not do, on their own more harm to America, than any possible Russian influence;
Fact is that America us now a Banana Republic for sale to the highest bidder, and that the Republicans are quite pleased with that result.
1
This whole narrative of events is so messed up that God must be playing the Republicans for fools and with any luck, America will be saved and flourish as a result. No news for me tonight. I'm feeling good today.
Some people are saying Bernie will be defeated because he calls himself a socialist. Some years ago, many people considered it highly unlikely that a black American male would be elected president because many people were "inherently racist". Well, they were wrong and Obama was elected twice. Just four years ago, most people thought Trump had no chance to defeat Hillary because who would vote for such a clown and dishonest and sleazy person! Well, wrong again. So Bernie Sanders could very well be our next president. I'm voting for him, by the way. I like what he has to say, what he says he intends to do.
3
Is anyone surprised by this allegation?
All it takes is sowing doubt.
1
Looks like the Russians feel as many of us do - that Sanders can’t beat Trump.
Warren, however...
1
It does not matter who the nominee is. We are on a mission. Whomever it is, without a doubt, is infinitely better that what we have now. Please, vote blue, no matter who. Let freedom ring!
Russia has succeeded in its disinformation campaign. I hope we are doing the same back since I can't imagine why any decent country would want a dictator for life. However, Trump, McConnell, Barr are actively seeking to overturn the rule of law and install an election-proof corrupt Republican administration. All Republicans should be voted out of power. They are not upholding the Constitution, the rule of law, or protecting American elections or Americans. Why did our soldiers die for? Criminals 'R Us?
Look what the computer age, which we so blithely embraced without careful controls, has brought us.
And also made $billions and $billions and $billions for a select group of nerds.
1
Russia “aids” Sanders in the primaries. Russia’s “help” is publicly revealed. Democrats, fearing foreign interference and therefore turned off by Sanders, vote for someone else in the primaries. Maybe Russia has had plans that their “help” be revealed all along and with timing that disrupts Sanders campaign. It’s an assumption to think that Russia thinks that Sanders is not a worthy opponent to Trump and that they’d therefore prefer him to another Dem. Just as likely is a Russian plan to sabotage Sanders via the taint of Russian interference precisely BECAUSE Sanders is a real threat to Trump.
1
It's interesting to consider that we're part of history today.
1917-1919, 1947-1957, 2016-??
By all accounts "Russian meddling" has amounted to a drop in the bucket. The 'big reveal' had Facebook dig up alleged Russian accounts spending a whopping $160,000 in total (about $200 per account). This was in an election where the total amount spend was about $6,500,000,000. In other words "The Russians" spent 0.0002% of the total spend on the 2016 election. And they were supposed to have had an outsized impact? Ok.
Next. Evidence. Where is it? The allegation is that they're creating effective and far reaching social media campaigns? No idea how they're doing that with next to 0 spending (relative to what was tossed about in the election) but in any case - Links please. Why not inform people not only exactly on what and where the disinformation is? Or is it just so compelling that if even seen for a moment, the most far left anti-fascist will find themselves unable to resist racing to buy a MAGA hat and praising Putin til the end of time? Give me a break.
---
Finally, and this is the big one. What's had a larger negative effect on our society today? "Russian meddling" or the hyper-propagandized never-ending investigation into such and allegations that, coincidentally, every single person who does not fall in line with establishment political preferences is now a secret Russian agent or part of some Russian conspiracy?
1
they lost the cold war.
they are angry and revengeful.
what is left is a bit of money and a line of credit .
as for corruption, it takes two,
guessing
A Russian bot recently tweeted an image showing Trump and Putin on Horseback with no shirts on and Sanders was standing in the background.
Now I'm so confused and I don't know who to vote for.
At some point Putin must be slapped with sanctions until it suffocates the entire Russian economy even worse than Iran, because he is attacking democracy.
I want anyone who claims that Russia interference doesn’t exist to say something bad against Putin. Three years ago, on the Washington Post site, I demanded the same thing. Guess what? They won’t do it. They will not say a single insulting thing against Putin.
Bernie? Harmless?
Things are seldom what they seem. Skimmed milk often masquerades as cream.
"Russia is said to be interfering to aid Mr. Sanders in the Democratic primaries."
It is also "said" in some quarters that the world is flat, or that Iraq has WMS, or that Russia is going to invade us.
1
American people have a right to ask why Putin supports Bernie and Why Bernie did not disclose this information. This is about transparency and national security
30
@Victoria I assume it's because they think Bernie will be easy to beat in the national election.
6
the briefing was classified.
4
@Victoria
Warning:
Ignore this post, because it's probably a Russian bot trying to distract and divert attention from what's going on.
Call out the lies!
3
Russia's algorithm: help elect the most divisive figured in US politics at the moment, extreme right or extreme left. Another clue why a centrist must win this time. It is also pretty clear they don't care which one, as long as we remain divided in perpetual internal conflict.
133
Probably. But even if Sanders is divisive, he’s not a divisive tool of Russia like Trump, so he’ll put a stop to foreign interference.
9
a centrist will lose to trunp
12
@Euxinus
So unite behind the President and stop trying to tear him down for Putin.
1
So Bernie has known about this for a month? While he was surging to the top of the field? This is an interesting development.
148
@Randeep Chauhan
His surge to the top of the field is because his ideas are where are the young people in this country have been since 2016. He has the support of nearly half the voters under 40 that didn’t just happen in the past month
33
@DJ I'm 26; I prefer pragmatism to populism. His army of toadies--the ones that refuse to vote for the Democratic nominee unless it's him--demonstrate the solipsism of "young people."
5
@Randeep Chauhan You probably have a good job, with good benefits which is why you have the luxury to "prefer pragmatism". The people living in the poorest counties in New Hampshire voted overwhelmingly for Bernie Sanders. I don't think Russia had anything to do with that. Nor the 17,000 people in Tacoma, WA, or 7500 in Denver, CO who came out to his rallies this week. Surely not all of those were Russian plants. And every Bernie supporter I know, including the young ones, voted for HRC in the 2016 presidential election. Calling people "toadies" is pretty nasty stuff.
9
That Putin is interfering in ways that benefit Sanders is not a ringing endorsement of Sanders, and rather suggests that he is viewed as weak or can be manipulated. Or more charitably, perhaps Putin fears Biden, Warren, Klobuchar or Buttigieg as stronger leaders that he does not want to see in the White House. Whatever is going on, kudos to Sanders for calling out Putin as a thug. That’s volumes more that Trump has done.
31
@SheBear Or maybe he knows that Sanders is the real threat and he is trying to sow discord.
Doubling for his supporters and bullying other people is not exactly helping now is it?
6
@SheBear I just wish Sanders had called it out a month ago when he knew of the interference by the Russians.
Americans are very skittish right now; especially when it comes to elections. I believe Sanders missed a leadership opportunity. He kept Russia's secret.
1
@Alice Did it not occur to you that this was probably classified information?
3
All I can say is, we have credible news outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post as well as others. Stay away from the less than trustworthy internet feeds on Facebook and so many other internet sites. We all know we can't believe much from them it has been proven.
Our Democracy is at risk if we don't. Please be mindful and check things out.
216
The key problem is that reputable news outlets have paywalls, whereas conspiracy theories are freely available on Fox, Sinclair stations, Breitbart & others.
30
@me, just me
You mean that meme that I saw on Facebook that depicted Trump armwrestling with Satan, and with Satan shown as representing Hillary Clinton, isn't legit? Who would have thunk? Thanks for the tip.
6
@me, just me
Yes, avoid other "news" outlets, especially Fox, as you would Corona virus. Contamination is fast and may be irreversible.
8
This is NOT about creating division within the US.
This is about Putin doing all he can to ensure Trump's second term...Sanders is Putin's insurance policy.
Putin has all of the KGB's surveillance from Sanders' trip to the USSR and will provide—or already has provided—it to Trump and the GOP.
4
It’s a bit of a mob mentality – people like to be on the winning side. Kind of like rooting for the underdog Trump in 2016, Sanders now. Of course the Russians want him as the Democratic nominee, he will never win in a general election for the same reasons Warren won’t win. This explains his surge in the polls.
6
@BLH What explains his huge rallies? 17,000 people showed up for his rally in Tacoma last week. How do you explain that. Every poll has him beating every other candidate by a large margin. How do you explain that? I think Sanders is very popular and you can't face that reality for partisan reasons.
1
It's time for Bernie to step down from his run for president since he knew about Russia's support a month before coming out and acknowledging his disapproval of Putin's election interference. We need to clean up the election on the Blue side ASAP!
3
Why is Russia doing this?
1 - Putin wants Bernie elected because he is a Marxist.
2 - Putin thinks that he would be a weak president vis-a-vis Putin.
3 - Putin thinks that he would be a strong president, and wants their meddling to be exposed so that Bernie loses.
Given Bernies response, I think that #3 is most relevant.
7
The Russians are not helping Bernie because they like him, they are only helping him because they know that he is unelectable.
48
Yes - and all of this talk about a woman like Liz Warren not being electable- or any other woman- yet here is a guy with a seriously huge Achilles heel. And Russia knows it.
There is only one Democratic candidate sitting a top the polls and the delegate count who also visited the USSR while Putin was a KGB Officer.
Today Putin the Tsar of Russia with absolute power and the means, methods and motive to gin up the KGB's documents of Sanders excursions, comments public and private and what ever fabrications they care to make from them to document Sanders' communist sympathies—real or fabricated—if not full party membership.
Those assessments will be provided to Trump and the GOP to smear Sanders and every Democrat as at the very least communist sympathizers if not full on fellow travelers.
Trump, Stone and Manafort were all tutored at the knee of Roy Cohn who use the communism to sow fear through every nook and cranny of our country.
That fear is pronounced in the GOP's base and latent in independents and older Boomer Democrats.
2
He visited a small city in the USSR with his staff as mayor in 1988, as part of a sister city program, it’s documented in his public access tv show. They went right after his wedding & Jane also went so everyone calls it a “honeymoon.” That was a legitimate & only documented visit to the USSR or Russia Bernie made. Please stop inventing conspiracy theories.
1
So, here we are in February 2020: not only is Sen. Sanders ahead of the pack of other aspirants to the Democratic presidential nomination, but he's also an avowed independent socialist. Anything wrong with this picture? Plenty. Any time you have someone like Bernie running for the highest office where the term "socialism" is synonymous with anti-capitalism--the very heart of North American economic thinking--very strange things begin to happen. And this is the result. Lots and lots of negative propaganda with the goal of derailing a highly successful candidacy such as the senator's. But it won't work. We're all very much awake and we'll not close our eyes until November when election is over.
20
@Rafael Gonzalez so, once again, any questions of Sanders will now be treated as unfair by Sanders supporters. Anyone who dares question, or doubt, the senator will be labeled by sanders' supporters.
1
@Mack By all means, please ask all the questions you want. Just don't try to taint or blemish Sen. Sanders' character with cheap propaganda a la Trump. We've been down that road already with that awful, awful Clinton person.
3
Are the Russians helping Sanders because they think Trump will win slam dunk if Sanders becomes the Democratic nominee ?
28
@Eliza Duerme
Why would you think that Putin would not be very happy with Sanders as our next president? He is demagogic and would continue to divide the country. Also, his inflexibility would make governing in a meaningful way quite difficult, and he is favorably disposed towards authoritarian regimes, including the USSR, Cuba, and Venezuela.. In other words, a lot like Trump.
You know what divides the country the most? The news itself about Russian interference. What if this was their intention all along, to "leak" information about Russian meddling in the election.
15
I'm pleasantly surprised to learn that Putin shares Bernie's goals of Medicare For All, workplace democracy, college and housing for all and a tax on extreme wealth.
Thanks, Vlad. I guess you can't judge a book by its cover.
34
The reports of Russian tampering with America's elections are greatly exaggerated. Because there are so many who believe that the Russians can determine the outcome of our elections, which is not even remotely possible, false rumors are widely believed by the gullible and they are distracted from the effort to promote their candidates and the successful functioning of the democratic system.
7
The intelligence services says differently. I'm going to believe them, not you.
4
@michjas
Warning:
Ignore this post, because it's like a Russian bot trying to distract and divert attention from what's going on.
Call out the lies!
1
@michjas
Russia engineered Brexit and has democracies in Western Europe on the ropes with rise in right wing extremism and xenophobia.
That’s a fact. Denialism doesn’t serve us.
I believe all or nothing arguments make no sense. I don’t give Russia credit for everything that happens here, or believe that Russia can “determine” the outcome of the election, but to deny that they targeted Facebook groups with micro-precision to aid Trump is a bit head-in-the-sand stuff.
2
The Russians are not angling to get Sanders elected to the Presidency. They're trying to make him the Democratic candidate, because they know Trump will beat him. It's funny that Sanders apparently thinks they're trying to get him elected.
34
They may actually not want Sanders to be the nominee because he will beat Trump, so they are trying to pretend that they support him to foil his nomination.
1
Finally Russia and I agree on something.
Sanders is helping trump's reelection chances.
40
What exactly could Russia do to influence the 2016 or 2020 election? Do you people consult with Svetlana in Murmansk before voting. Billions were spent on the 2016 election and a tiny insignificant sum was spent by Russian trolls probably not Kremlin connected, on posts and ads on the internet.
Trump hasn't been nice to Russia. trump has given Ukraine massive amounts of military aid whereas Obama gave them none. Trump has sanctioned Russia and hurt their economy for violating non proliferation laws preventing them from supporting arms programs in Syria, Iran and North korea. Trump opposed Russia's Nord Stream pipeline. Trump killed Russian mercenaries in Syria. Trump prevented companies from partnering with Russian offshore oil projects
10
The Russia, Russia, Russia tempest was deplorable (sorry poor choice of adjective) when Trump as the target (see Mueller report) and equally distasteful when Sanders is in the crosshairs. Get on with the campaign about issues and eave this to the proper authorities.
6
The Russians want Sanders to get the nomination because he's certain to lose to trump in the general election. It's part of their strategy to make sure he's re-elected.
28
Bernie ignores the main message from the Russians: they are backing Bernie because they think Trump could easily beat him.
73
@J Sherrard
That is not why they are backing him. They want violence.
Oh goody, something for moderates who can actually win to bring up at the next debate. But of course they won’t. We’ll be talking about how racist, misogynist, forgetful and, god forbid, establishment (read:experienced) the Democratic candidates are. To think Bernie sat on this for a month makes me seethe. He is as egotistical and unethical as the current occupant of our precious White House.
God bless us all. We will need it when Trump and McConnell take over this country as an authoritarian state.
9
The Russians want Bernie to win the primary and then you can bet they have an anti Bernie playbook just waiting to be put into action. It isn’t Bernie’s fault. The real problem is Trump.
3
@Jenny -- If the best "moderates" can do is more Putin Putin, then they'll lose to Trump.
After the last three plus years, everyone is sick of this game, except its true believers, and they are not enough to elect a President.
5
@Jenny - Sounds like they got ya. You fell for the misleading headline right away. Fact check: This intelligence brief was classified information. It would have been illegal (treasonous) for Sanders to make a public statement. Why did NYT omit this fact? Please, don't spread fear.
(No, I'm not a Bernie voter.)
5
The Russians will push for Sanders until he is nominated, and then pull the rug out from under him to get Trump in. Without the trolls attacking the other Democratic candidates and talking up Sanders, he would have no support at all--no charisma, extreme agenda that will never attract moderates no less Republicans, pigheaded inflexibility, and not even a sense of humor. And, not able to reveal his medical records--nobody gets a stent these days unless the condition cannot be controlled any other way. But without health issues, even so he would be a disaster as President. His selfishness in the past at staying inthe race too long cost the Democrats the election, and it will do so again, and there goes the nation.
10
@sandhillgarden So the 17,000 people who showed up at his rally last week was just a figment of everyone's imagination then?
1
I was saying the exact same thing two days ago about the Russians. Bernie is their dream.
- A flagbearer for the Russian economic model
- Will drive down economic growth in the US at a minimum, ruin entire sectors at worst
- Will weaken our military, much to the Russians' delight
- Will reduce our presence overseas, much to the Russians' delight
- Will reenter the Iran deal, much to the Russians' delight
- Will weaken Israel
- Will continue to sow class division throughout the US
How could Putin not support him?
8
Read the story again. They support him because they think Americans will be too scared to choose him in the end, and therefore Trump wins again. This isn't about Bernie's economic policy, this is about keeping their puppet in the White House. And it's also about the Russians deftly realizing that too many Americans are, at the end of the day, greedy, short-sighted, and ignorant enough not to realize that Bernie is exactly the change we need.
1
Most Dems and everyone else knows Sanders can't beat Trump, so, of course, Russians want Sanders on the ticket. Not rocket science.
I hope this pushes Hillary Clinton in for 2020. All the other Dems are weak in comparison to her. She can beat Trump and take back our country. She's Russia's greatest fear.
(1) Thank you, Russia, for giving me ammunition in my debate with my husband in which I take the view Sanders nomination would only serve to help Trump; and
(2) I am NOT a conspiracy theorist, but this does make the "app failure" in Iowa followed by a strong result for Sanders a tad suspect.
7
The only concern of a thoughtful, conscientious American at this news should be of our Democracy in general. Using it to fuel your anti-Sanders opinion is seedy.
1
Bernie was a gift from heaven for Russia and effective tool to get Trump elected in 2016, and he is in 2020.
13
I thought that was Hillary Clinton, the candidate who blew what should have been a shoo-in.
The Times should be more explicit and say directly and clearly that in 2016 and 2020, the Russians supported Trump and Sanders because they wanted Trump to win and thought Sanders was the weakest Democrat in a general election.
The Democrats should nominate their strongest candidate, probably Bloomberg.
21
Up until the last debate I thought Bloomberg was The One. Unfortunately, he came off as a Mini Trump. That isn’t to you say that each politician on that stage, including the holier than thou Warren, doesn’t have skeletons in their closet, but none of them really do it for me. Seems like, once again, I have to settle on someone who I think can actually win, and who I dislike less than The Donald.
The GOP in South Carolina has been aggressively asking Republicans to vote in the upcoming Dem primary for Sanders.
The GOP is salivating for Bernie to get the nomination.
It is a sure win for them.
They could not only win the presidency but win the Congress and many down seats as well.
Bernie = four more years of Trump.
Count on it.
79
Bloomberg is the only candidate who has the resources to fight both Putin and Trump.
I personally think Bloomberg is spending his own money to help America and the planet (hello climate change!) and that such spending is an extremely valuable “philanthropic” endeavor (see Trump- existential threat).
However, for those of you who want Trump out of office but believe Bloomberg is trying to buy the election, would you prefer that Putin helps to “rig” the primary campaign for Bernie with the end goal of re-electing Trump until 2025?
If so, good luck with that.
29
Both Trump and Sanders are divisive, both are guaranteed to perpetuate Washington gridlock, therefore exacerbating American decline in the world. The Democrats need to nominate anyone but Sanders if they want to take back the Senate and keep the house (Sanders supporters may want to note that it was largely moderate Dems that won in 2018, aside from “The Squad”).
Conservative retirees in Arizona will not be voting for Sanders and thus probably not Mark Kelly. Swingable conservative farmers in Iowa will not be voting for Sanders, thus giving Joni Ernst a boost. Same for Thom Tillis in NC. Ever been to Texas? Hard to imagine Sen. Sanders making a strong showing in that great state.
Sanders would be better serving his country by grooming and supporting younger Progressives like AOC. Over time, the more of them there are, the less divisive and more realistic their message becomes to the electorate at large.
38
So why are we only finding out about this now, when Bernie has known about it for a month? Where are his calls for further investigation, increased election security, and for assistance in combatting infiltration by Russia? I don’t understand how this is not a huge problem for the Sanders candidacy. And for God’s sake, where is the Congress in enacting legislation already passed by the House to protect elections? This is a national emergency.
149
@Michele Congress was briefed about election interference. Bernie knew, so did Warren and Klobuchar. Have you considered that perhaps intelligence briefings made to Congress or to campaigns are intended to remain out of the public ear? And that the campaign might not have been told how that interference was supposed to manifest?
As to the legislation you refer to: do you mean like when Sanders introduced a resolution in 2018, to help prevent this exact situation?
I frankly find it more suspicious that this came out just as the Nevada caucus is about to happen.
21
@Beto The Intelligence Committee was briefed on Russian election interference last week, not the entire Congress, and Sanders was briefed on his own campaign a month ago. I would like to know whether they were instructed to not share the information and also whether Sanders and his campaign are requesting assistance to combat infiltration by Russia.
@Michele
The national emergency is that Sanders will be the next president if he wins the nomination. That means severe damage to the US economic system according to Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, a loyal democrat, who says he will vote for Trump if Sanders is the nominee. I am well into the 1% and I suspect all of my acquaintances will vote for Trump. We earned out money and we don't feel like giving it to people who don't create jobs or laws or money. Vote blue no matter who? That is for the muppets. Draft Hillary. Clinton Klobuchar 2020.
1
This news can't be helpful to Mr. sanders in any way. He is in an obviously unenviable position but I think had he come out and addressed this issue head on, on his own in a very direct manner, he would've saved the nation from some real infighting. He would've gained my respect for being above the fray. Where were his uncompromising ideals for the last 1 month?
634
@Jesse S.
Senator Sanders has in fact alluded to this two or three times that I’ve heard. However, I don’t think it was up to him to speak publicly about it and I believe him to have been exercising appropriate discretion.
I am not a Sanders supporter as such, though I would not hesitate to vote for him if he becomes the nominee. I don’t think this speaks to any erosion of his integrity.
505
@Jesse S. Normally when one is briefed by intelligence officials it is done with the explicit understanding that the materials will not be made public by the person being briefed.
289
@Jesse S. Better than Trump calling it a hoax. It's all relative. All you high and mighty folks who are so perfect (Morgan, etc.) - Sanders is more perfect than Trump is. That's all. The corollary is that Trump is less perfect than Sanders. Or any D. Or almost any person in the world.
50
In fairness... we have to consider that it leaked to the public when it did.. through Russian manipulation.
Please.. people.. do not discount how good the Russians are at turning people against each other.
That said.. Bernie... Bernie failed here.. big time.. by not getting in front of this a month ago.. even if only indirectly by going full on anti-Russia. He did not.. he has been spending his time attacking other candidates.. while the Russians do what they are so good a doing ---> lining American candidates and voters up into a circular firing squad of bitter chaos and conflict.
39
The Russians' interference in the 2020 primaries to tilt the results in Sanders' favor should be a wakeup call to Democrats that Sanders is the candidate Trump wants to run against. Better to bail on Bernie now before he gets the nomination. Bloomberg is looking better and better.
48
This would only make any sense whatsoever if polling showed Sanders to be uncompetitive against Trump. In fact, all the polls I’ve seen both in 2016 and 2020 show he’s as competitive as other candidates, often more.
8
So there you have it. Even Russia thinks Sanders would lose to Trump!
80
I'd be interested to know why Sanders, who many claim to be so honest and real, didn't let the people know this was happening. He was told a month ago.
Russia isn't the only one trying to help Sanders. Trump threatened a few weeks ago to have his supporters vote for him in the primaries because he wants to face him in the general election. How do we know this isn't happening and the reason why his numbers are larger?
113
@Morgan have you heard of "top secret" or "classified" info?
11
@Morgan
New York has a closed primary system, but New Hampshire’s Democratic Presidential primary allowed Independents to vote. So he is getting some support from non-Democrats at the polls. Every state has different rules on who can vote in the presidential primary, and residency rules vary, which is crazy.
3
@First time NYT commenter
If it were classified or top secret we still wouldn't know about it. But nice try.
This is no surprise to everyone who has been saying Sanders cannot win - that's why the Russians and Trump want him to be the Dem. nominee. This is a huge warning. Dems need to listen up and nominate someone who will beat Trump like Bloomberg or Biden.
50
@BMD
Why does it matter to you who the Russians want? The fact that you are basing your choice on it means they succeeded.
11
People most prone to foreign manipulation and meddling are those that get their news from facebook, twitter, and other social media.
That's a double whammy, too. Not only is social media a huge source of such manipulation but those that trust what they read are pretty much by definition incapable of discerning fact from fiction.
That's a pretty big obstacle to overcome.
1135
@Robert
You are right.
Americans’ gullibility is very disheartening.
Fool us twice, shame on us.
Thanks for what you wrote.
87
@Robert Agreed. And don't forget FOX's Hannity et al whom viewers cannot distinguish from actual news. This inability to think critically is evidence of a multi-generational, abysmal failure of the American education system. And we are now reaping the results. Will we be able to overcome it before it's too late?
109
@Robert If only social media platforms like Twitter and FaceBook would take the threat of foreign meddling more seriously. But I guess that would interfere with those lucrative quarterly earnings. Plus, we have shady characters like Mark Zuckerberg attending clandestine dinners with Trump at the White House -- after one such dinner Zuckerberg refused to tell the press what he and trump talked about. Sketchy.
82
Of course they are. They love to inject divisiveness into our electoral process and Bernie is about as divisive as it gets.. until you get to Trump.
Anything to put Democrats at each others throats... and what better choice than a Democratic Socialist pretending to be a Democrat.
Would not surprise me if they are also moling around in other candidates election runs as well.
Mind you.. Russia, first and foremost, wants chaos in US democracy. They fear a strong and focused US.. so best do literally everything to turn Americans upon one another and create the opposite of focus.
74
@Chuck There is already plenty of chaos in the US "democracy" without any interference. They're just putting a little icing on the cake.
3
@Chuck
Try it this way: what's more divisive than a party which claims to support working people but actually works for Wall Street?
I gather you'd prefer that actual liberals -- which is all Sanders is -- never sought public office, in the interests of social harmony?
8
Russia is aiding Trump's reelection by trying to throw the primary to Bernie. It's that simple.
301
@Alan
Knowing that our intelligence would announce that Putin is playing games, thus his interference with Sanders would be seen as a negative.
So in actuality, Putin is kneecapping Sanders by assisting when no assistance was asked of or needed.
It's that simple.
16
@Alan Emergency! Emergency! Everybody to get from street!
1
@Alan Bernie, Social Democrat, is sure bet that Trump will win against.
5
Putinism wants Trump. Both Trump and Putin believe that Trump can beat Sanders (but not Biden).
So, Sanders misses the point, in his quoted comments: Putin has no fear or Sanders.
Trump will weaponize a demonic sense of 'socialism' to associate Sanders with Communism, and Putin will be laughing all the way to his Sovietist bank.
95
@gary e. davis I think Putin DOES fear a non-Trump who isn't in on this whole Russian-interference/Republican scam--or, I'd say (as a Berkeley Bernie suppporter!)--he fears any Democrat who, if/once elected, won't be part of his cabal.
Which leads to: what is Putin's ultimate goal in co-opting the Republican party & US presidency? Can't be just ensuring only Republicans win forever.
Bernie or Any Blue 2020
1
@gary e. davis
I feel mostly that way, but I feel that Bloomberg is the one that both Trump and Putin are scared of. No one can buy Bloomberg.
Biden, if I have to but Bloomberg for sure, with my vote.
1
"He (Sanders) also told reporters that he was briefed about a month ago."
And he is now just addressing this? And only because it has come out in the press?
371
@Voter
or, possibly it wasn't his choice, if intelligence officials had other reasons for not going public with it. It would be their call, and since they did not come out with it until now, that is what I would be assuming.
182
Members of Congress receive many intelligence briefings that they don’t make public.
129
Yes, because there is a thing known as 'classified information'.
56
Why would Russia want to re-elect President Trump? Trump has sanctioned Russia every which way from Sunday over so many different issues and probably with this news (true or not) more sanctions will follow.
6
@inhk
They, along with the Trump administration, are waiting until Trump is elected again for another 4 years so he can do whatever he wants without having to worry about re-election. What he's done so far will be child's play compared to what is coming.
Why do you think Trump is saving the Social Security and Medicare cuts, or elimination, until his second term?
12
@inhk Trump is chaotic and is dismantling both the government and the protections to the environment, our alliances, banking regulations . . . he is chaos personified. Add to that his divisiveness, dividing the country rather than uniting it . . . A perfect Putin tool.
6
For a start- Trump softened the Republican platform on Ukraine, he suggested Russia should keep Crimea,has repeatedly praised Putin, invited Russians into the Oval Office and gave them highly classified intelligence, with held military aid to Ukraine needed in their fight against Russian aggression, wanted to readmit Russia to the G-7abandoned the Kurds in Northern Syria allowing Russia to expand & take abandoned bases, and much more.
11
I am sure they are doing this for one of two reasons: 1. To take the pressure off of the GOP and Trump. 2. To support Sanders because he will be equally as divisive as Trump and create just as much chaos. It is very disturbing. Sanders will be a disastrous Nominee, more so than Clinton. If Sanders is the Nominee, I will skip the November Presidential Election....one is as bad as the other.
26
@Philip W this is just absurd. By the reactions of Sanders and Trump to this situation in particular, you can see the difference in leadership.
80
I respectfully disagree. I am NOT a Bernie fan, but I will vote for whomever the final Democratic candidate is. Trump is far worse - especially in a second term - than ANY of the current Dems, including Bernie. On this issue Democrats MUST UNITE! Not voting for the Democratic candidate is a vote for Trump.
7
@Drew Agreed. To out-devious the Russians . . . follow what you want for America in a president.
Mr Sanders appears not to understand that Russia believes that, given a choice between Sanders and Trump, the American people will opt for Trump.
296
@Curious Onlooker Who cares what the Russians think? Come out from hiding under your desk, they're not launching a nuclear device, they're posting inflammatory memes and making bot accounts...just like millions of other people within and without this country. And there's no evidence they persuaded a single American or changed how anyone voted. If you're worried about influence, you should worry more about Mike Bloomberg's several hundred million in digital ads.
51
I think he understands. Bernie isn’t stupid.
24
Because they don’t mind going bankrupt if they get cancer? They don’t mind if their children graduate college with high interest debt that will take decades to discharge? They don’t mind not having paid family leave or guaranteed paid vacation and sick time?
16
Oh, I get it.
Putin wants Bernie’s to win the nomination so Trump can beat him.
We will all now vote accordingly.
56
@JQGALT
Or perhaps that's what Putin wants you to think!
Or... perhaps we should base our votes on our own judgement and political opinions, rather than trying to triangulate around some hazily-defined Russian plot and allowing Putin to live rent-free inside our heads. Just a thought!
14
"Some 'ugly stuff on the internet' had been attributed to his campaign that could be coming from falsified accounts, he said"
Nice spin Sanders. You may have missed the fact that the Russians are trying to help your campaign, the activity you described would hurt it.
I attended my state's primary caucus in 2016. Those weren't Russians I felt threatened by in the room, they were genuine Bros.
74
@J Darby you seriously feel threatened by Bernie supporters? I find it hard to imagine that a bunch of nerdy white young college graduates are physically intimidating anyone
6
@J Darby Bernie is a disgrace. Of course he'll try to spin it in any nonsensical way that he can pitch to his followers. The rest of us are disgusted by his choice to just sit on this info and take whatever benefit he can get.
@Garrett
Really? Maybe you didn't see the Nevada caucuses in 2016. I'm sure you can find video. Nerdy these guys were not.
There are Trump/Bernie supporters. One wouldn't have thought this possible but it's a fact. Some comment on these threads.
Bernie was briefed about this a month ago, only commented today after the Post and Times reported it. Trump redux? No thanks.
127
@Cheeseman Forever No, Bernie mentioned this in the last debate when no one else forced him to - in fact, Bernie disowned some of his online supporters due to this. Please let’s stop accusing before spreading misinformation.
17
One must be careful when saying things like this, but: It’s not surprising that the Russians might want to help Sanders. They know that helping Sanders win the nomination helps Trump when the general election. There were similar stories of Russia surreptitiously helping Sanders in 2016.
109
@T. Monk I do not think that Bernie has the lead he has because of Russia...... but Russia can simultaneously support him and scare moderates.
@T. Monk I do not think that Bernie has the lead he has because of Russia. he has a sizable following for good reasons....... but Russia can simultaneously support him and scare moderates.
Sanders just lost any chance of building a winning coalition with his latest tweet. And I Quote: “ I’ve got news for the Republican Establishment. I’ve got news for the Democratic Establishment. They can’t stop us.”
Well, I’m a progressive Democrat and with this tweet he has lost not just my vote but many, many others. Once again he’s tearing the party apart. Running a smear campaign to destroy the Democrats is a lousy strategy for winning the Democratic Nomination. If he slashes and burns his way through to November Bernie will loose not just the presidency but the Senate and the House too. Putin will be celebrating his victory with his baby Trump in the WH, and a fractured Democratic Party . Luckily we have 5 other wonderful candidates to choose from. Vote for the real democrats! Don’t let him do it.
83
I wish Warren would disengage from him and stick to who she is and all she has done. There is no winning with anything remotely socialist / even socialist democracy in America is not going to fly. Americans love capitalism. I think she is the best one. I love her. She is the only one giving me hope.
On fb- before I left - I said this and got attacked by the Bernie folks- people I know. It reminded me of the cruelty of high school. The cruelty of conformity.
When will the people claiming to be radicals see how stuck in groupthink they are?
3
Senator Ted Kennedy introduced the "Health Security Act” in 1971 for a single payer system.This is not and has never been a radical idea. Ask anyone in Europe. Sanders isn't tearing apart the party, he's bringing it back to create liberty and justice for all.
3
@NPH
Sanders IS the real democrat. He believes in democracy and people power. The establishment in both parties, unfortunately, are committed to propping up the elite.
3
Putin isn't helping Sanders AND Trump.
Trump is Putin's asset NOT Sanders, Putin is helping Sanders because he can blow up his campaign and ensure Trump has a second term.
Putin needs Sanders to be the Democratic candidate, he has compromising material [kompromat] on Sanders from his 10 day trip through the USSR.
Sanders will be smeared into oblivion after he gets the nomination.
6
@Mary Elizabeth Lease
How do you know this?
The only thing scarier than Russia interference are those Americans who deny it's a problem and deny that Facebook ads influence our elections.
How many times have we heard the deniers assert that these Facebook ads have no influence on Americans votes?
Putin knows what he's doing.
Don't be stupid.
6
I am among those who think it is pure delusion to believe publication in the internet is controllable. Assuming it is appropriate to single out certain media platforms and task them with policing content, how will that stop spam posting and ads on other platforms. Yes - you are right that people may be influenced by spam Facebook ads, but what solution are you proposing? Would it be inappropriate for me from Chicago to buy ads in Reddit supporting Macron? To many of us the suggestion that Russian funded ads for Trump are scinister, inappropriate any more than Voice of America irritated Russian leaders etc is only fueling sympathy for Trump. We don't need nonsense red scare arguments to elect a sane candidate. The fact that politicians don't know how the internet works is disturbing. Spam internet ads from dubious sources have been around for many years (just like spam email). I generalyl support Isreal but I doubt it hadn't "meddled" in US elections over the years.
1
Sanders should drop out of the race. He’s known about this for weeks and has been perfectly happy to “benefit”. Only today, once the info is made public, does he come out with his tough-guy talk (absolutely nobody is taking him seriously).
It should be perfectly obvious that the goal of Russia in their promotion of sanders is because his nomination is a guarantee of what Russia actually wants- 4 more years of Trump bootlicking Putin.
96
Maybe he’ll sell more books, maybe he’ll buy another house. You too can be a millionaire if you write a best-selling book about how to use other people’s money. If you try to make money any other way you’re immoral.
2
@Ltron Bernie is going to take this as far as he can. He gets to keep whatever’s in his war chest when he drops out. He’s now a multi millionaire with three houses.
1
It seems to me the Russian support of Sanders is to prevent him from winning. I believe Russia feels that moderate democratic voters will turn away from Sanders in enough numbers if he wins the nomination to give trump the election.
7
or they want sanders to win the nomination so trump can beat him and win.
@MLE53 ....Sanders is by far the most divisive of the Democratic candidates. Because Sanders is the farthest to left he will have more trouble to unite the center behind him. It is more likely that the Russians hope Sanders will win the nomination because he will be the easiest candidate for Trump to defeat in the fall.
The people who influence my vote are the candidates themselves.
What I would like to know is what the Democratic Party stands for. What are our collective values? What are our goals for the future; where do we want to be in four years, ten years, twenty years? What is The Plan?
I would also like to know how each candidate intends to defend our collective values and achieve our collective goals.
We should care more about our Party’s influence on elections. A candidate is not the Party.
3
Russia is playing chess, the USA checkers.
11
Just like Sanders and his bros played the useful idiots to get Trump the Presidency in 2016, Sanders and his bros again will be key in getting what Putin wants in 2020.
This is a Greek strategy for our us. With Trump in for another 4 years our democracy will be a distant memory.
Who says crime does not pay in America.
5
@Babel
Even if he loses, he will not leave.
Depressing as it is, there is no way he would accept the results. Can anyone imagine his concession speech? Lets get real. Maybe Sanders' followers are America's only chance to save democracy. Of all the people running, only Bernie's would not meekly submit when Trump says sorry, state of emergency; I must impose martial law.
If this dictator loses he is not leaving. I am sure of it. He will do what all dictators do and declare martial law,
American democracy is already over. His already a tinpot dictator.. of course he will not leave and Bernie's people are the only ones who would resist and not just lie down and submit.
You do realize "Bernie bros" aren't even a thing, right? He has the least white and least male coalition of them all. It's merely a slur that's used by people who don't want to talk about the issues. By the way, HC threw the election last time. The Dems are failing bc they're not offering a serious leftwing alternative to bipartisan neo-liberal insanity
Is there much difference between the work of Russian bots and candidates paying people up to $2500 a month to post positive comments on social media?
12
TOTALLY predictable.
4
Seems the headline should include Trump’s name as well. Do better NYT.
16
Whoever gets their nose in front will get smeared. I like Bernie a lot but am not sure he is the best candidate. A this point we know who the Russians are in bed with and who Trump is in bed with. That should be 'enough said''
But the issue remains the democrats need to win the election and that means carrying the swing states and hope fully the senate. This is very doable if we keep our cool and not let these efforts to create a crazy zone of mistrust and loss of faith in the system.
The most unifying candidate that bring the biggest turnout and speak to that middle America population-who by the way needs the government to work well for them.
Trump is who he is. We all know that. We can do this.
3
Judging from the comments, it seems that people still don't understand the significance of this all. Russia is trying to help Bernie win the primary, because not enough people will vote for Bernie in the general election, therefore Trump will win. I like Bernie and have donated to him in 2016, but he's not a realistic choice for this emergency and critical election. He is not a uniter.
Russia is also aiding in Senate and House races for GOP, (and may have before) which is why the Senate refuses to pass any election security bills.
The meddling is occurring over Social Media and many average voters cannot discern what they are seeing, etc. and buy into it. Nothing was done to stop Facebook etc from aiding and abetting Trump.
The average person does not grasp that this is literally the end of the US as we know it. I fear for the world my children will have to live in. It's that bad.
16
@Celeste
Millions do know the level of interference that is occurring, and we know that social media is the primary venue, but know this -
The mainstream media, including the NY Times, often wittingly, is doing everything imaginable to manage public perception in an all-out effort, along with their corporate associates, and the Republican-Lite Pelosi Schumer Biden democrats, to undermine and destroy Bernie Sanders.
These so-called moderates, these pretender guardians of our Democratic Republic, are collectively hellbent on electing anyone, anyone, so long as it's not Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, and believe me, crazy as it may seem, they will not stop and will even cause a Trump second term if they do not get their Bloomberg or Biden nominated.
We now live in a fully corporate owned state, run by a corporate owned government, and that is the truth.
1
I have a lot of problems with Bernie and his past. I have attacked him on that basis. I have also attacked him for being promoted by Putin. But I still prefer Bernie to Bloomberg, Biden, and most certainly Trump. The truth is that the Russians used Bernie Bros to divide the Democratic electorate. But they used Trump to gain what they wanted. Bernie denounced Russian electorate interference. Trump either ignored or welcomed it. I am not a Bernie fan. But how can people not see that Trump is worse?
5
@Ben People do see and understand that Trump is worse. Bernie’s problem is with people who have made their peace with the system, and who have no desire to see big disruptive change away from what Obama was trying to do. There are many reliable democrats (and disgusted moderate Republicans) who like their employer provided medical insurance, and who are in fact (or plan to be by retirement) “millionaires”. Many of these people will see Bernie’s agenda as a threat to them and their families. Altruism is not a good motivator. The risk is that despite hating Trump, some of these people may find themselves unable to pull the lever for Bernie.
@Ben there are real Democrats running who we could be supporting. Warren, Biden, klobaucher, buttiegig. I'm not wild about Biden but he pills well against trump, has actual accomplishments, and can get along with other Democrats to get things done. Warren is by far the smartest and again has some record of accomplishment, and can work with others. Ditto klobaucher. We need to get behind one of them and not let the Russians manipulate the Democratic party.
The lies about the U.S. "greatest economy" are making this possible. If the majority of American's weren't desperate for a crumb of financial security, the corporate power elite turning the tides of democracy to autocracy wouldn't have a chance. This election will be such a muddy dirty mess that everyone will come out covered in muck regardless of the truth.
3
According to the Times, Sanders condemns cyber bullying, but his "internet army" doesn't listen.
That's convenient.
And it seems he is the only Dem to have one.
Will "Mr. Transparency," the fellow who won't release his health records do something about it? So far, no real steps have been taken.
I wouldn't want to speculate on a connection between that internet army and Moscow.
But if there is one Dem candidate that Trump can trounce next November, it's Bernie Sanders.
7
Aid in what way?
Noxious attacks on other candidates? That would show the illegitimacy of the bullying Berniebro trope. Not actual supporters.
Saying nice things about help for the struggling working class, and sowing hope about a Green New Deal? That seems less likely, as those issues are central to IRL supporters.
Packing his rallies with what only seems like a rainbow coalition of people, who only look like ordinary Americans ready for a chance to work towards a compassionate society? That seems even more unlikely.
Since I don’t know what form the alleged aid takes, I will continue to trust my own moral compass that says to support Generation Green New Deal.
The glee of anti-Bernie commentators is admittedly depressing, though. (By the way, you don’t have to like him personally, hence Not me, Us.) Maybe I’ll head over to YouTube and rewatch the recent Sanders endorsement from Dick VanDyke, to uplift my heart a bit. I’m pretty certain he’s not running Russian interference.
10
It seems to me as if people are hungry to believe that Russia prefers one candidate or another. I believe that what Russia wants is America to be as polarized and dysfunctional as possible. And why wouldn’t they? We stood by and watched their Union dissolve. I’m sure that Mr. Putin is well aware of history. He must be savoring this comeuppance. Sadly, they are succeeding, and we seem incapable of stopping it. This will be fascinating reading in 100 years, if anyone is left to read about it.
4
It’s funny. I grew up loving Russian literature. Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky were considered idols in my house. I love Kandinsky, although Russians might not be so great otherwise at visual art. Musically? Rachmaninov is my hero. I grew up struggling to play his pieces. Russians are great at chess too. I love them. But their politics have always been terrible. They are authoritarian by nature, worshipping a despot. It is no different now. The Russians are also the best at chess. They know that a war of attrition will benefit them in the end. They know that they can wear us down. I hope it doesn’t happen. We have a much better economy and vaster resources. We need to engage.
4
This is in no way surprising: a near octogenarian who has had a recent heart attack and who turns off moderates as well as older voters isn't going to defeat trump. In addition, after losing a brokered convention he'll most likely take his Bernie Bros home.
6
This ‘whistle-blowing’ matter drew attention to the deliberate trump slow-walking of Congressional funding support of the Ukraines in confronting Putin’s territorial aggression. It is also a reminder of trump slow-walking sanctions (for over three years now) imposed by Congress for Russian meddling in US elections . Incredibly, prominent GOP senators McConnell, Graham, Cruz, Cornyn, Burr, Johnson, and Thune are all in lock-step support of trump’s ceding to Putin’s demands for US sanctions relief on Russian oligarchs and their business interests. They voted for such relief as recently as early last year. Romney was among them. It shows how deeply and all pervasively trump’s obstruction in plain sight has seriously jeopardized national security. Under normal circumstances this kind of blatant presidential meddling would sound alarms all over the place. But a kind of public malaise about these developments seems to have settled in, emboldening these GOP senators to sense that they can turn a blind eye to presidential malfeasance definitely within the realm of outright treason with impunity.
4
Sanders platform is extreme and he locked into it. His supporters may love his take no prisoners approach but it will scare off the moderate votes needed to gain or hold enough seats in the Senate and the House to actually govern. Putin is KGB and he knows how to exploit character weakness. Sanders can't back out of his positions and he will be too proud to acknowledge actual social media support or dark money coming into his campaign through fake donors. Sanders recognizes the difficult spot he has been put in but by bringing out his old grievances against the media and the Democratic establishment he is only playing into Putin and Trump's hands.
3
It seems to me to be naive to expect or even hope that the USA elections are ever going to be free of this nonsense from Russia and other national "enemies." About all we can do is count more on curated "news" from trusted sources and ... think for ourselves? Facebook and Twitter etc. are not good sources of real information. Any intelligent person would see that. But then, so many people voted for Trump not so long ago, and many mainly out of sheer loathing of Clinton, as if she were some kind of devil.
The idea for almost all these outside influences is to reduce the sense of legitimacy of the elections. Trump knows that, which is why he fights so hard to show that he truly won the election on his own. Sadly, I think he is mainly right about that point of view. He defeated Hillary Clinton where it mattered, in the Electoral College. And this improper influence politics is a sort of asymmetric politics, like asymmetric warfare, where the weaker state/entity has to find a way to disturb the order the dominant power is trying to impose. And thus any disturbance to order is seen as a victory of sorts.
Bernie / Warren They can and will defeat trump. It will be maximum risk strategy, but if he is the candidate he can win.
I think there are other safer picks, but if that is the way it goes he can win. He is running against the most corrupt un american president in US history.
3
Yet another attempt from Russia to meddle in a foreign election and support an anti-system candidate. May Trump or Sanders win the election, Russia wins. Putin's goal is to divide and unsettle western democracies and ultimately to reshape the international political order to Russia's image, in order for him to regain influence, power, and eventually national credit, where he can be the savor of a country nostalgic of its past grandeur.
Sanders, despite him, would play Putin's game with a radical program that would divide again Americans and shake a little bit more the political and economic system.
Oh yes, it's "said." And does that make it true? Another interpretation could be that our uncontrolled intelligence establishment is the source of interference in our elections now. It is already becoming evident that elements within the FBI were working against Trump during the last presidential election cycle. Who can be trusted anymore?
5
@RW Nye
Your statements aren’t true. Elements of the FBI were not “working against Trump.” They were legitimately investigating apparent Russian inroads into his campaign. These still are open questions. Mueller didn’t exonerate Trump. Some witnesses lied and went to jail and likely now will be pardoned, and he couldn’t properly interview others or Trump would have removed him.
There were mistakes and maybe overzealousness in the FISA application associated with Carter Page. This is not the same thing at all as what you claim, and was kept under wraps and did not influence the election.
On the other hand, FBI effectively if not necessarily intentionally aided Trump’s campaign with Comey’s statements on the Clinton email investigation, including the reopening of the investigation a week before the election, evidently because the info otherwise would have been leaked by some in the New York field office who definitely opposed her.
If you regularly read this and other newspapers carefully you would know all of this. Your saying “who can be trusted anymore” means that with some people at least, Russia’s goal has already been 100% achieved. They know they can destroy our democracy if they can merely convince people that it is impossible to know the truth. That is not the case however. There are news sources that put out facts, and where they make mistakes, reveal and own up to them. You should use these sources.
What was one of the keys to Trump's victory in 2016? Bernie Sanders not fully supporting Hillary Clinton. Sanders non-support caused many of Bernie's supporter to not vote. Trump won key States because of low turnout by Democrats. My guess is that Putin's goal is to prop up Sanders just enough so he just misses the nomination again and hopes that Bernie will again be selfish ion his support for the eventual nominee.
3
@alan
Rewrite history all you like, but in the 4 months before Election Day 2016, Senator Sanders campaigned extensively for Secretary Clinton, in almost 40 rallies across the country, and in the media. You may take comfort in blaming Senator Sanders but many Democrats would never have voted for Secretary Clinton regardless of what primary candidate they preferred, based entirely on her own record not due to their preference for a failed primary candidate.
1
this makes sense to me. trump is probably in trouble in a general election, so back a loser to compete with him. the country does not need or want his socialist policies, medicare for all nor does it want the gov't to be the sole source provider of anything. putting bernie up against trump is a guaranteed win for trump.
The response by Senator Sanders should have included a demand from our government to stop Russian interference in our elections and penalize Russia severely. That would have been what I would have stated. I also would have demanded to know publicly what is our government doing to block interference and what actions we are taking to penalize this attack against our democracy by Russia. This was and is an act of war against our country...
1
I would prefer Bernie not be the candidate, but the briefing was classified - Bernie was not at liberty to release the information or discuss it. Also, his response on the tarmac Friday was strong, impressive and exactly what we should expect from a leader and a President.
The contrast with the compromised Russian asset Trump is inescapable.
6
Are the Russians really trying to sew chaos? Or do the Russians realize that there would be no Democrat candidate more odious to Republicans than Sanders?
A Sanders nomination equals a guaranteed win for Trump. It's almost as if the Russians see this better than we do.
3
as almost everyone, Putin knows Sanders will lose against Trump. he knows it now, he knew it then.
Sanders has no chance to be elected. America is not mature enough for a radical change like this.
Understanding that, Sanders should end his bid and support Amy Klobuchar. She is the most potent candidate and would be a very good and effective President. Who wants a second term for Trump? I hope no Sanders' supporter.
2
More unproven, unsubstantiated allegations from our intelligence community. It doesn't say which intelligence agency nor the nature of the so-called influence. Until they state specifically what the Russians are doing, I certainly won't take any of this seriously. Someone said Bloomberg is spending one billion dollars to influence the American elections! Too me this sounds like a more serious interference than anything Russia could possibly do!
5
It seams obvious that the Russians consider Sanders as a candidate that Trump can win against.
One more reason to nominate a candidate that is not Sanders, folks.
This election is very important and voters should take everything into account.
2
I have said for the last few years that there are many so called Bernie Bros who are actually
Russian trolls. I have also always said that the reason the Russians supported Bernie was to divide the Democratic electorate and the opposition to Trump. I do not blame Bernie, although I am not one of his supporters. He did the right thing by saying that Putin should stay out of American elections. I wish Trump would do the same thing.
1
social media platforms are the basis of today's division. I don't understand why people let those companies decide for them. I know they target people depending on their profile and supposed preferences just to keep them watching their ads but if I understand the companies goals, I don't understand the targets goal. Who wants to be a target? Who wants to be the rabbit in the crosshair?
there are so many good news sources available for free on mobile devices: AP, Euronews, Reuters, NPR, BBC News, The Guardian.
It's beyond me...
2
Because this could be the last truthful testimony from the IC to Congress, I agree with commenters who are calling out for those who collect and analyze such data to speak up.
I realize that Trump, or now Grenell, will fire them immediatelly, but we're in a huge crisis of confidence in this country, in the DOJ, in the IC, and whichever agencies the president is mad at next.
Our government's ability to defend against foreign interference in our elections, as well as other aspects of American institutions can't be held hostage to the paranoid, manipulative fixations of Donald Trump.
Unless government employees rise up en masse to reclaim their ability to do their jobs without political interference from Donald Trump, we Americans won't be safe.
3
This election has become utterly EXHAUSTING. Honestly, I'm going to vote for whomever the Democratic nominee is, and that's that. At this point whatever else happens in the meantime....there's not much I can do about it as a simple citizen and I'm just about ready to say "OK, let the big boys have their fun and do whatever they're gonna do because the constant stream of bad news is just too tiring to keep up with and I can't really do anything to make it better other than cast my vote in November and hope we get past this surreal phase in our country's life."
Is that selfish? Why continue reading a constant barrage of news that is enough to drive a sane person crazy? It's just TOO MUCH.
3
There are way too many people jumping on the idea that the Russians have promoted Bernie while ignoring the fact that the Russians promoted Trump a whole lot more. I know about Russian propaganda. I have written about it many times. The Russians like conspiracy theories and division. Those tend to appeal to populists. Therefore, Bernie, the left wing populist, and Trump, the right wing populist, were their targets in 2016. But their propaganda for Bernie has always been based on dividing the Democratic base, not helping him win. I don’t agree with it. I don’t agree with the Bernie Bros who ate up the Russian conspiracy theories and division either. But Bernie has the moral fiber to disavow his Russian “support.” Trump, on the other hand, embraces it and refuses to acknowledge its existence.
2
It seems so ridiculously obvious to me. Putin/Trump want Sanders as Trump’s opponent in the election and Russia’s working hard to make that happen. Sanders is a self-proclaimed socialist and Trump has people thinking that socialists will destroy their lives as they know it. He would call any democrat candidate a socialist, probably even Bloomberg, but with Bernie, it’s a dream come true.
3
Hey, USA, I really do wish you a president of such integrity, consistency and honesty as Bernie Sanders. After the current nightmare it would really be a blessing for this great country and the entire world. And be careful what you read on social and media because now manipulation intensifies. So the article clearly states that Trump is Russia's choice. At the same time there is Russian meddling on behalf of Sanders? How does that fit? Or maybe there is meddling ABOUT Sanders. I did notice misinformation about his tax codes in the form of "supporters" saying: Please Mr. Sanders don't put the 52% income tax on us before you fix the house prices, etc. Someone checked and found out the 52% tax was for billionaires or something. So be critical of what you read! Greetings from Europe!
3
This is Trump and Russia working together to pick off the Democratic candidates one-by-one. By staying silent in this, Republicans are already meddling in the Democratic primary process.
Russians are helping Republicans cheat in the 2020 elections. The only way to defeat both is to get out the largest vote in American history.
2
Is anyone surprised? Bernie is the weakest candidate against Trump (their crony). He is also the most divisive given the vitriol is supporters spew.
2
If the American public can be thoughtlessly manipulated by misinformation, that's on us. The real manipulation is voter suppression tactics here domestically.
3
We need a thorough, in-depth, unclassified public report on what is being done (and not) on the federal, state and local level—and what defensive and offensive steps should be taken immediately and going forward.
The report should be updated every two weeks through the election.
The report should continue quarterly after the election—as Russian and other efforts to subvert our free elections can be expected to continue.
3
Are we to believe anything the U.S. intelligence community has to say?
They have had more than four years to work at preventing misinformation and interference.
It appears that the U.S. intelligence agencies have not figure out a way to stop it.
The media is either being played here by Trump and Putin or it is helping Trump and Putin sow disinformation.
2
The effort to portray Bernie Sanders as a specifically targeted beneficiary of Russian election hacking efforts is being done with the express purpose of denigrating Mr. Sanders candidacy. The Russians would obviously prefer to have Trump as a “second termer”. Trump will do whatever Putin wants. Will Bernie Sanders do the same? I highly doubt it.
2
Putin doesn't "like" Trump, he likes the way he's destroying and dividing our democracy and nation. Sanders candidacy is a part of the same objective. Putin's Russia remains our fiercest enemy.
1
Russia is no friend of Trump or the Republican party. Yet they all acted so naively and against the interest of their own country and people just to satisfy the utter megalomaniac and totally ignorant person whom they are still so desperate to protect. Probably those folks will learn as soon they they lose power in Washington DC. But it'll be too late for them.
Bernie Sanders and 99.999% of his supporters are far better than that. Bernie himself castigated Putin and Russian interference since long. He did it more aggressively after he learned that Putin and his puppets in the USA are trying to divide and weaken our country and not helping the cause for which Sanders is fighting for Dem nomination- UNLIKE Republican leaders and, most importantly, unlike Trump.
Putin surely want Bernie to get Dem nomination but would surely support Trump in general election. That would be the best strategy for him to weaken America and divide its people in the worst possible way. It's not any ricket science but most GOP leaders would not understand it at all, as they fail miserably to understand the future consequences of protecting a person like Trump.
2
A big fat present just fell in Bernie's lap. Bernie needs to yell at the top of his lungs, for the election interference bill's that pasted out of the House, and are sitting on McConnell's desk, be brought to a vote and immediately implemented.
He also needs to keep pounding on Trump, to call for the same.
Disavowing Russia's involvement is not enough. Make hay Bernie, while the sun is shining.
1
I'd say the reason Russia is trying to help Bernie is because they see him as the least likely to beat Trump in the general election.
Trump is their guy, the one who told us he believes Putin over his intelligence agencies.
2
Trump and McConnell have done nothing about election interference but encourage it.
If people will still vote for Trump after this, then we deserve him.
2
"Russia has been trying to intervene in the Democratic primaries to aid Senator Bernie Sanders, according to people familiar with the matter, and Mr. Sanders said on Friday that intelligence officials recently briefed him."
No surprise. The US, too, has a long history of intervening in foreign elections, down to organizing the murder of elected leaders.
Russia's actions are comparatively benign
The questions on everyone’s mind ought to be:
Why would Russia back Sanders? Are they just picking revolutionaries, hoping to sow more chaos? Do they think Trump can beat Sanders? Does a Sanders-Trump matchup have any significance? Are they just flexing their cyber muscle?
2
Riddle me this batman.....
If Sanders knew for a month, wouldn’t it be in his best interests to reveal that fact himself. I don’t see how it is some dirty trick (as he is implying) if revealed by someone else.
I will vote for anyone running against Trump, but frankly Bernie will not carry the states which matter, and he is really appearing more and more disingenuous (first railing against millionaires and billionaires, not just billionaires).
I read these comments and come to the realization that they have already won. The United States of America is no longer, "one nation, under God, indivisible". Sanders and Trump didn't even need Russia's help; they did it all on their own. We stood silent while the Trump people and the Sanders people set fire to the half of the house each hates.
3
And he said nothing about it for a month, nice.
Sanders is no better than trump and his ego is getting the better of him.
It turns out that WaPo who hates Sanders with the passion of a thousand suns started the spin that Russia was supporting both Trump and Sanders. Others were interviewed on TV and they said they were simply briefed that Russians were working to aid Trump while interfering with Sanders’ campaign. Didn’t say how. WaPo is as corrupt as Fox and pursuing a agenda as transparently as them as well. What a loss of integrity and it’s former reputation for journalism rather than the propaganda it produces now.
2
Yet another proof that Russia's only goal is to divide western democracies and reshape the global order. Trump and Sanders have in common that their approach is radical, divisive and anti-system. One of these two wins 2020, Putin wins too. Reshaping the international political systems to Russia's image International chaos gives him national credit.
Only the thinkers and readers among us can see this for what it really is: a joke played upon the US. A joke played which goes right over the heads of all Faux Noise fans. For bolstering Bernie is to elect Trump. Middle America in their rocking chairs, pickup trucks, and pro life marches will never ever vote for a socialist, no matter how it might benefit them, and we should be more aware of that. We already know that people seem to vote against their own interests. I myself gave up on Bernie and his Bros after thousands sat out the last election, pouting and pondering their navels as HRC took the nomination. All the endorsements in the world by their supreme leader, Bernie, did not convince his "Bros" to get out and vote for HRC. Their sitting out the election gave us Trump. it's not about their threats and disparaging remarks this time around. it's about their not voting the last time around. I can never forgive them for that, and will not allow myself to vote for their team because of it. They are not seeing the bigger and more important picture. Trump must be defeated no matter what if we want to save our country. And a socialist this go around cannot do that, Trump has taken things too far right off a cliff. Maybe in the future, but not now. We need to heal first and get back to a normal respected government, before we embark on new directions. it can't be done in one step but we will get there and make converts along the way.
2
Russia is supporting the internal corrosion of the US state and political system. This is done using social media, possibly kompromat, and highly selective individual manipulation. Russia could not give two hoots about Trump or Bernie EXCEPT that they are excellent divisive friction creating agents that will greatly accelerate the process, and are provably doing so.
That two of the three branches of the polity don’t wish to address this is pretty much an invitation to accelerate the process. America either through complacency, arrogance, paralysis stupidity or fear chooses not to address the very obvious that many intelligent Americans, and nearly all Europeans can already see. American power has peaked and is in rapid, chaotic, internally driven decline, assisted by Russia.
1
Personally, I'm sick of hearing about Russia. I'm much more concerned about corporate interference in our elections. Just watch the Dem debates. With the exception of 2 candidates, everyone in unison repeats corporate-bought talking points about health insurance.
1
The reason the Russians are building up Bernie is for the same reason they did in 2016: they want him to get as close to a nomination as possible without getting it. They would LOVE for there to be a contested primary where Bernie has the plurality of votes but the superdelegates give it to someone else. That is their absolute dream...as it will turn a lot of voters away from whoever the Dem nominee is and undermine faith in our electoral system.
The best way to avoid this is to get Bernie to win in the first round.
2
It’s hard to fathom how easily Russia has delegitimized our elections. Of course, when the republicans decided to paint democrats and liberals as a danger to society and enemies of the United States, half the task of dividing the country was already accomplished. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence some 40 million believe its a hoax and fake news, meanwhile republican representatives and senators enable the current leader to continue his attack on every part of our government and its bureaucracy putting citizens in harms way.
1
At this point, Russia doesn’t need to do a thing to sow discord here. That seed has been planted and it’s vines are growing through our nation. Soon, if not already so for some of us, we will see each other as the enemy, and that will be to catalyst which could bring us down.
1
So, just to be clear - the only candidates not being secretly backed by Russia are the establishment political choices? What an interesting coincidence!
2
Looking through the comments is insanity to me. I read the Mueller Report. I knew how the Russians deliberately promoted Trump and used Bernie as a wedge to divide the Democratic electorate. I have been saying that since then. Everyone has treated me like a crazy conspiracy theorist, although I hate conspiracy theories. Now that it is published, everyone is jumping on the “Bernie is a Russian agent” bandwagon. It is ridiculous. Bernie is not a Russian agent. He has been used like one by the Russians. But if there is anyone who has consciously embraced Russian electoral assistance, it is Donald Trump. Do not forget that.
2
Russians want Sanders to win the Democratic nomination because they figure he would lose to Trump in the general election because of the big S for socialism Republicans will exploit. So, by helping Sanders now, the Russians think that ultimately they are helping Putin's puppet, Donald Trump win again.
2
Here’s where we are.
Scenario 1. Russians help Sanders become the Democratic nominee. Sanders painted a Socialist etc, Trump wins.
Scenario 2. We have another nominee, not Sanders. Bernie fans refuse to vote for that person. Trump wins.
2
The US elections need international observers, and pronto.
So do any other elections with electronic votes.
2
Imagine Bernie Sanders as President.
Republicans in Congress will treat him as an utter pariah and many if not most Democrats will join them.
Elation among his supporters would last about 15 minutes until the realization sets-in among them that Washington is bound for utter gridlock.
Bye-bye American pie, bye-bye Medicare-For-All.
Bernie’s anger and irascibility grow by the day.
He takes to issuing tweets.
He urges his supporters to take to the streets of Washington.
They arrive in massive numbers.
A counter-tweet is issued in Mar-a-Lago.
It urges massive counter-protests to stem the raging-tide of Communism.
The protesters and counter-protesters meet in Washington.
Brickbats fly.
It takes the National Guard three days to stem the riots.
Street lights in Dallas, San Francisco and Butte, Montana begin flickering off.
Rumors fly that the nation is undergoing an internet attack from foreign invaders.
1
Come now. We have the Electoral College and the Senate and a billionaire buying his way into the process, yet a few rumored Facebook ads that have zero effect get this kind of coverage? Shameful.
1
Why does no one seem to have a problem when the US interferes in countless elections all around the world? I find this so hypocritical. A few Facebook ads and people lose their heads.
1
Why on earth would anyone take these claims seriously when no credible facts are presented and the “intelligence community” has a demonstrated track record of not only being wrong, but collectively supporting false claims that support nefarious objectives including endless wars, murderous interventions in sovereign nations and undermining elected officials. Pathetic that the media would repeat these claims and give them credibility when our own politicians, the DNC and our own oligarchs are fueling the problems and divisions that are polarizing our population, undermining our democracy and corrupting our government.
2
Bernie, unprepared? Those of us who are Bernie supporters living abroad have found it virtually impossible to establish a relationship with his campaign. I guess they knew what type of smear was coming their way.
So...how many comments below are the product of trolls? Bots?
I personally am suspicious of any candidate that has an out-sized social media presence. It is too easy to whip up stature and create a buzz about a candidate. Moreover, it stirs up young activists and some of the recent tantrums attributed to them are not helping: screaming at debates, graffiti, online bullying. Whether Bernie fans are responsible or not we may never know. But if Mr Sanders does know of any Russian help in the online aspect of his campaign then he and his team should identify any troll, meme, post etc that is circulating information on behalf or to the benefit of the campaign however small and seemingly inconsequential.
2
so remind me, why would the Russians prefer Trump, are they enjoying the sanctions that this President implement (much more than Obama ever did) or was it that Trump walked away from the nuclear weapons treaty and we are back in the nuclear weapons race, hard to believe the Russians want us to build more nuclear weapons, or is it selling lethal weapons to our allies. Makes no sense why the Russians want Trump, but it does make sense that the deep-state and the far left media like to spew that narrative!
2
No matter how many ways you look at this there is nothing US can do about it.
It is like skynet in Terminator, its software and there is no kill switch.
Its a 100 meters race and Russian took of early, US can only play catchup.
Despite all the proclamation about Democracy, voters need to be informed correctly and then vote that takes a nation to right path.
Currently exploited by few and wealthy Americans and now foreign power had taken over. People are lazy and are not willing to pay financially nor in a effort so future looks bleak. Social Democracy is the future for the US.
So Russia says they are helping before Super Tuesday. Moderates jump on. They provide zero information of what assistance to Bernie. I’m so sick of moderate bias.
Putin isn’t picking Bernie to help Trump win. He is attacking our elections to set those who are abused by Trump and republicans such as minorities, immigrants and those who protect them in opposition to the white nationalist movement.
The only people opposing them are progressives. Are you going to stop casting stones and help moderates?
Are you going to apologize if you find out the hostile Bernie Bro’s we’re Russians to sow division?
1
Putin wants Sanders for the same reason he wants Trump: because both are populist demagogues who will weaken the US and destroy our standing in the world. It is pathetic to see the Bernie brigade twist themselves up in pretzels to pretend this is not so. You want a Russian candidate? Vote Trump or Bernie; makes no difference.
Hmmm. A day before the Nevada caucuses. Maybe the U.S. intelligence services have a candidate they don't like very much.
Meanwhile, from his own comments in the debate this week we know that Michael Bloomberg wants the U.S. to go back to asking the Chinese to please, pretty please, let us keep a few jobs, just a few, and pretty please with whipped cream on top cut back on currency manipulation.
Which candidate do you think Chinese intelligence is working for in the Democratic primary?
2
Bernie’s honeymoon in Moscow in 1988 vs. Trump actively pursuing a new Trump tower in Moscow in 2016 during his campaign....hmmm.
Seems like a slippery slope, Donald.
So it’s just Russia? You think China isn’t doing all it can to influence the election? How about Iran, North Korea? I’d bet dozens of countries if not the majority, even our alleged friends, are trying to influence the elections.
Our lack-of-intelligence agencies calling out only ‘Trumps Russia’ is absurd and obviously designed to influence our election!
2
"Mr. Sanders denounced Russia in a statement ... warning Moscow to stay out of the election." But he must have (secretly) relished that interference. He knows Russia is interfering in favor of Sanders to get Donald Trump elected. Of all the candidates Sanders has the least chance to beat Trump. And denouncing Russian interference wouldn't have any negative impact on Sanders.
Sanders is too old, will be 79 in a few months. He had a heart attack. He refuses to release his medical records other than a sanitized version. He & his supporters don't care what happens to the country. They're intoxicated. They would not mollify their radical agenda though at least he knows fully well his programs have little chance of becoming reality.
2
Why did it take Sanders a month after notification by Intelligence, that his campaign was being assisted? He has this propensity to obfuscate where disclosure of pertinent information is expected; Tax Records, Medical Records, legal matters involving his wife and now this little diddy.
And now with all the firings within the Trump WH, ridding anyone who spoke about the Russian influence, we will never truly learn the full extent of foreign interference until the next administration (whenever that will be).
1
How does it happen that we know that a classified briefing to Congress revealed that Russia was interfering with the 2020 election, but the Democrat Congressmen who leaked the secret information to the NYT did not mention that Russia was interfering to get Sanders elected?
Hmm, could it be that Russia is not interfering with any interest in who actually wins the election but rather to damage American faith in democracy.
But that would undermine the Democrat false narrative that Trump is illegitimate.
Another good question is why the national security machine saw fit to inform Sanders a month ago that Russians were supporting him, but did not inform Trump of their conclusions? He had to hear it leaked from the classified briefing to Congress. And the national security machine works for the executive branch.
Do Republicans in the Senate have any regrets about blocking all attempts to halt foreign interference in elections, now that they know for sure Russia is playing for the other team?
1
I watched no less than 4 people with intelligence connections/clearance or who were in the briefings. None of them wanted to speculate about what the Russians were planning. So we don't know, the briefings have been classified.
What the Intel Community did tell your reporters only a week or two ago was that the Russians were expected to bury their tracks in response to publicly announced countermeasures and or laws: They will use servers in the U.S. and they will disseminate to Americans first who will then do the posting on Facebook, to end run around Facebook's guard rails.
The thinking in this article is altogether to narrow, and some of it is coming from people who should know better. If you need an army of people who will rebroadcast your election interference in a way that sows discord, you should probably choose to target the supporters of candidates who have the most internet denizens already trolling for them.
And the two candidates whose followers comprise the most zealous and most likely to propagate dirt on opponents are Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
You don't even have to really want either to be president. If you're trying to sow discord, target your agitprop at the largest camps of known sore losers.
Watching this Russiagate nonsense from Europe is really quite bewildering. Trump has been one of the most hawkish presidents on mondern-day Russia the US has ever had. He has meddled constantly with Western Europe trying to normalise its relationship with Russia, such as Nordstream 2. Trump has the highest approval in Eastern European countries that are known for being anti-Russian, such as Poland and the Baltic Countries. The US is currently conducting one of its biggest war exercises aimed at Russia in Europe and he is continuing militarising the continent against Russia. Poland is expecting a 'Trump Fort' aimed at deterrence against Russia. He also dropped out of an important arms control treaty and he keeps attacking Russian allies such as Iran and China.
Russiagate has always just been a device by US intelligence to move liberal and centrist Americans to the far right on foreign policy and to shield their own elites from being accused of corruption and election interference. It is no surprise that this would be used against Bernie at some point. The real story here is that US intelligence is trying to meddle with a Democratic primary ahead of an important Caucus in Nevada. That's the real election interference by the same people that brought us Iraqian WMDs.
It's quite funny as well to see Russia described as socialist in some of the comments. It's a hyper capitalist, neoliberal country, much inspired by the economics of the Chicago Boys. Google 'shock doctrine'.
1
Clearly, Russia is attempting to help Trump by delegitimising Sanders. Once again, this shows the cynicism of the Kremlin and its ongoing belief that Russia is smarter than the competition.
These are the usual fact-free allegations with which the intelligence services try to influence the US elections. These "disclosures" have done much more to influence elections and damage them than the Russians.
1
Despite the assurances of the Iowa Democratic Party, the complete disaster surrounding their caucuses seems particularly suspicious in light of these latest accusations of Russian interference. Can we really be sure they weren't hacked? And what does that say about the rest of the primary process, and the elections next November?
Comey influenced the 2016 election by disclosing a misleading and pointless HRC investigation days before it and not disclosing Trump’s ties to Russia. To announce the same sort of confusing, fuzzy stuff just before Super Tuesday and several more important primaries is very interesting. We’ve heard since the last election that Russian interference was ongoing. What was the point of a big announcement now. Why not continuous updates on specific troubling areas as they appeared during the past four years?
There are always whisper campaigns for and against a favorite candidate and I appreciate intelligence services not wanting to be involved, but the way this was handled - a second time - is troubling. There has been misleading statements throughout the current campaign. For example, applying the label of “socialist” time and again to Saunders is partly a Russian and a GOP maneuver, and one that various politicians have used against their opponents since the time of the red scare. It’s propaganda that Medicare for all will destroy our economy, various studies show otherwise, plus it provides a scare tactic and takes energy and attention from what Trump is doing now to destroy our social fabric and what he plans to do if re-elected. Getting rid of entitlement programs, which taxpayers pay for, has been a GOP goal at least since the Reagan era. Any good propagandist uses key ideas that inflame to disrupt and confuse. Solution: read a variety of trusted sources.
1
Two thoughts. One, helping Sanders is helping Trump. And two, thanks to Mark Zuckerberg for letting Putin post whatever he wants on Facebook.
492
Yeah. Americans love their expensive for profit health care. They don’t mind if grandma has to ration her meds. They don’t mind starting a GoFundMe and begging for money to pay medical bills that their expensive for profit insurance won’t pay. And they are proud that their children graduate college with high interest debt that will take decades to discharge.
11
@Julio Wong
No. They are putting the two most active groups in conflict. The ones who want to protect minorities and immigrants against white supremacists. If Sanders wins their hope is that the republicans who post constant hate will start a shooting war. And that if Trump wins it will force an actual hard left movement.
1
No kidding, if Zuckerberg gave a darn about this democracy he could have cut off an major arm of access to Americans.
4
In 2016 Obama assured us that there was no Russian interference in the election. Fortunately, unlike Obama, the Trump administration is warning Congress about concerns that Russia is doing it again.
3
@William McCain Obama DID NOT assure us that there was no Russian interference. He wanted to tell the American people about it, but McConnell told him if he did it, Republicans would say that Obama was trying to engineer a Clinton win.
Of course they are. Helping Bernie is helping djt because Bernie is, quite simply, unelectable.
544
@Robin
And yet, he's the front runner, consistently polls as most able to defeat Trump, and is double digits ahead of all other candidates. In addition, party insiders, according to many, many articles and news reports just this week, are "wringing their hands" over how to "stop Bernie."
172
@Robin
If they really want to elect Trump they should be helping Bloomberg IMHO.
44
@Robin Thanks for sharing your opinion.
14
Here's an idea. We think for ourselves, spending less time reading (much less believing) whatever comes our way, focus on records and policies, vote and help get others to the polls. Just because Trump is impulsive doesn't mean the rest of us have to be.
8
I tend to take this with a few tablespoons of salt suspecting an attempted smear camaign. Nevertheless, Sanders' response was as good as it gets. What we as a nation need to be doing is securing our electoral system to make sure that as man people can vote as possible and that every vote will be counted accurately. Electoral reform that ensures and secures voting rights and that gets private fortunes, dark money and out and addresses media influence is vital. Other countries -- and not just Russia -- will continue to attempt to influence our elections as we do theirs.
10
Among the more likely candidates of the Democrats, who is Trump‘s favorite? Helping this candidate until he or she gets nominated, and fighting this candidate afterwards, is the most effective way to help Trump to win his second term.
15
Well, what are the measures being used for interference? The information here is really vague, and I think the public deserves to know more.
60
@Chelsea In 2016, they ran Facebook ads that showed Hillary boxing with Jesus. That's pretty much the extent of it
I don't think this has anything to do with Putin wanting Trump to win. Bernie and Donald are both selling the same thing - anger and resentment - just with different packaging. Their supporters embrace divisive messaging, and that's all any adversary of America could possibly hope for. Donald fractured the Republican party. Bernie would do the same to the Democrats. As goes Wichita so too goes Wichita Falls.
34
Brian, if Donald and Bernie frakture their parties, will the pieces rearrange and form a three party system? Left, middle, right?
Bernie has been working hard for decades to make sure the government works for the middle class, not just the wealthiest. People have been listening for years and now it is a movement that has firmly taken root. Trump on the other hand is just a mean loudmouth narcissist that bullies and divides people. If you think they are “selling the same thing” you either can’t read or aren’t listening or are a Russian troll trying to convince Bernie voters to support Trump.
@Brian Dombeck
Brian,
Many ordinary working people have much to be angry about.
The American Dream died decades ago.
America has obscene,colossal and growing inequality of opportunity, income and wealth, where the richest .1 percent take in 196 times the income of the bottom 90 percent.
https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/
America has a higher incarceration rate than any other country in the world.
People voted for Trump wanting Real Change.
People are voting for Sanders wanting Real Change,
medicare for all, quality free/affordable childcare for all, quality early childhood through grade twelve education for all, tuition free continuing public education for all, equal opportunity, the American Dream, a sustainable future!!!
If the above is divisive, so what.
We will fight for a better future for all working people!
President Sanders 2020!
A Future To Believe In!
Of course they are. They know Trump will beat Sanders. Sadly for all of us democracy-loving Americans, neither Bernie nor his supporters care about that.
39
@G Pecos Bernie Sanders is great for the DNC. Sanders will win a few states at least.
@G Pecos
They "know'? Maybe they listen to MSNBC. Meanwhile Sanders continues to be the front runner and polls repeatedly show him beating Trump.
If people would stop getting their 'news fix' from FB (and Twiiter), essentially a billion dollar advertising agency selling propaganda, foreign interference would not be such a problem. People could then do some critical thinking and focus on domestic interference and how difficult it's been made for millions to cast a vote.
41
It’s really something. I shut down my account.
Who thought we would welcome big brother into our everyday lives - our every day moments - so willingly?
This is like an announcement of an investigation into Hunter Biden, not an actual investigation. Anyone with any sense knows by now that Trump is Putin’s preferred president for the term starting in Jan 2021. When Sanders defeats Trump at the polls, Trump will claim that Putin helped Sanders and the election was fraudulent.
23
If political ads were illegal in the first place(which it should be in any civilized country), it would rob Russia of a very convenient and practically free platform with which to influence your elections.
36
Although you are right about ads, it is social media which is the true problem.
All what we need here is for Mr. Trump to denounce Russia, and issue a statement addressed to Putin, that this game of interference must stop right now. Will that happen?
Mr. Trump has said he believes and trusts Putin. At the same time, Mr. Trump does not believe in our own Intelligence Agencies. This plays right into the hands of Putin. That is what Putin wants to see happening here in our country. For Putin, and Russia, they are not our friends. It is not just about election interference. Putin's goal is to disrupt, and create divisions here. To make people distrust our democratic systems and values.
How do we view what Russia is doing? Do we call this an act of war? How do we deal with this? Who is it that we should expect to take action against Russia?
14
Mr. Sanders and trump are two sides of the same coin. By which I mean, they are both extremists who will tear our country apart.
That's why putin supported trump and Bernie in 2016, and that's why he's supporting them again now.
Either way, putin wins.
17
Bernie has a solid historical connection with Russia (campaigns during the Reagan era) so it would make sense for the support of his Presidential run. However, I'm not sure they (Russia) cares if a previous sympathizer wins as much as they cause disruption.
7
They know he can’t win. They want Trump. They know Bernie will lose.
Bernie Sanders said the right thing and then followed it up with something very Trumpian - suggesting a conspiracy to release the information right before the Nevada caucus. Bernie increasingly reminds me of Trump with his arrogance and intolerance for any view other than his own. His "bros" are equally intolerance as a result (recent polling shows that his supporters are least likely to support any democrat if Sanders doesn't win the nomination). I remember his sulky attitude when he didn't win last time and his failure to motivate his followers to vote for the nominee may just have handed the win to Trump. I fear his winning (because I don't think he can beat Trump) but I also fear what he will do if he loses because - like Trump - it is all about him.
39
@RAR
You have to fight fire with fire.
If I remember correctly, Trump wasn't very nice to the Reps, and they did not like him very much either.
This is Sander's last chance. Gloves are off. America loves bullies.
Exactly! He doesn’t think about the country. He only thinks about himself. He shouldn’t even be running this time, but his ego is too big for him to do the right thing.
There is so little substantive information in this article, so my only takeaway is to reread The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. I suspect a clampdown on free speech is coming down the information highway. Elizabeth Warren already floated this idea a week or so ago.
Soon we will have our own Ministry of Truth, but it will be called the Free Speech Transparency Act.
14
America is now tenuously protected by the Constitution.
The senate is now a function of the party and the Supreme Court and lower federal courts also judges are nominated and rubber stamped by the party via the avuncular senate.
The party via the senate will approve office holders to lead most sensitive agencies including Mr Grenell, a man of nil intelligence qualifications will oversee 17 US intelligence agencies and report to Trump.
He may dig into the folk who investigated Russian influence on your elections as a priority and command these 17 security agencies to give Trump food for his paranoia.
NPR reported today:
The Trump administration is coming under fire for its handling of government records. Historians and activists charge that the White House has failed to keep notes of the president's meetings with foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that other papers, including records of abuses of undocumented immigrants, could be destroyed. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.
My nation is Australia and enjoys membership of Five Eyes.
The leaked last comment made by a member noting Trump's mental and psychological instability led to the dismissal of the UK ambassador to the US.
Trump is an enabled dictator and nothing less.
Sad to see the senate compliant with a crazy monarch and incapable of defending your rule book the Constitution.
24
@RC Theologian
I forgot to mention in the comment that Trump is supported by biblical authority rather than the constitution of the US.
Mr Barr, Mr Pence and Mr Pompeo consult the bible daily.
I look at the sky daily for weather but consult meteorologists for forecasts.
Theology is a profession and absent from American politics.
Rule one is tell the truth, always.
Never lie.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer had standards .
The cabal of Republican acolytes using the bible to sanitise gross obsequious ingratiation of this man Trump is nauseating.
Five Eyes are not blind.
Some one needs to stand up in America soon.
Europe has factored in America as an untrustworthy ally.
Like the Kurds.
It is possible that they want Sanders to be the nominee because they believe that Trump would beat him in the general election. Is it time for an investigation into where all of Sanders' individual donations originated?
22
@Madge No it's time to see Individual # 1's tax returns.
1
One way to tell that we're not as serious about our democracy as we are about our money is the shear number of people, departments, corporations, and dollars going into technology to recognize people, when recognizing talking points and repeated conspiracy theories might just be a lot easier. If AI were being used to keep elections fair instead of to sell people things they don't want to buy, it would indicate a society that wanted to protect its democracy and defend its Constitution.
Seen any such apps out there? We're far more vulnerable to foreign interference and election cheating because internet giants find these behaviors lucrative than because some short bald ex-KGB agent out there hates us.
3
This is a disinformation campaign by either Putin or U.S. Intelligence operatives, if ever there was one. What we know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that Russia wants Trump in office. It is laughable that they would want to aid Sanders, who is already firmly in the lead and has been beating Trump head-to-head in every poll for a long time. Sanders becoming unbeatable in the Democratic field does not help Russia. Weakening the current leader in the race makes much more sense. I feel 100% certain that Russia is not helping Sanders. This is much more believable as misinformation.
17
@Joe
I don't buy the polls. A lot of them are online and I don't think Bernie will win in a general
@Joe Yes well stated. This is plain and simple fear-mongering. Cooked up fear of Bernie Sanders. The point is to link Russia and Sanders, the point is to destroy Sanders' candidacy. Who has the motivation to do that? Indeed, right on the eve of the Nevada caucuses; Bernie is absolutely right about the impeccable timing.
If Sanders wins today, expect much, much more of this form of "intelligence".
@Joe Russia is helping Sanders because they know, as everyone except the Sanders cult knows, that Mr Sanders is the least likely candidate to beat Mr Trump
This ought to be good for a few laughs.
Seriously though, do us a favor and report the who, when, what, where, and how of this meddling, so people can be on the lookout for it. Vague references to “ugly stuff on the internet” is useless - it describes half of what comes out of the White House.
13
We need another impeachment effort.v. The entire Republican party needs to pay.
5
Sanders is not Corbyn and the US is not the UK
5
A month ago Bernie? And now you’re responding. Good one.
18
Can the media give us some clarity on how they are assisting Bernies campaign? The unknown seems to be filled by moderate bias at this point. We need solid information as voters so we can counter the Russians. We surely can't expect it from the Republicans.
Are they funding white nationalists terrorists? Are they trying to set progressives, liberals and minorities in conflict with them? Are they feeding off moderate bias to undermine his election by pretending to support him?
My guess is they want violence but how are they supposedly assisting Sanders? And how are they assisting Trump? And are they supporting the white nationalist violence we see all over the world?
7
Putin knows something that many Democrats and others refuse to believe. Trump will defeat Sanders. Putin, who is not a fool and certainly not impressed by Sanders' dramatics on TV, sees Sanders as an asset to return his favorite US president, Trump, to office.
24
“Republicans have disputed that Russia supports Mr. Trump, insisting that Mr. Putin simply wants to broadly spread chaos and undermine the democratic system.” This is a tautology.
8
Where are the social media leaders’ commitments to ban all political ads?
415
@AB
Banning ads won't stop the sophisticated hacking that the Russians are capable of accomplishing, the tweets and posts and "stories" that they can insert throughout the net. I would be more interested in the "polls" which show Uncle Sanders "strength"and their methodology. How reliable are they? They certainly can increase donations to the "leader".
One has to also understand that Russia does not want Bernie to win. Their goal is to have the Democrats nominate the candidate that their boy, Putin's Pet Donny, will have the easiest time crushing.
14
@AB
Free speech?
5
@AB
Zuckerburg should IMMEDIATELY ban all political advertising until after the 2020 elections.This would save his company. Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel have been private dinner partners of Trump this year at the white house.
If he does not do this and Facebook again is useful for Trump in stealing another election the price to Facebook is going to be very very steep.
6
Far more frightening than the Russians trying to influence the election is the over the top, emotional response of so many writing here. The simple fact is that English speaking political operatives in this country can lie far more effectively than any Russian. Stop the hand-wringing and tell me what, short of hacking into voting machines, the Russians can do to impact the election?
6
So, how are the a Russians trying to help in the nomination of Sanders? There is no detail here. Come on New York Times, do some real investigative journalism here. After all, that is what you are good at. If the intelligence agencies have reason to believe this, there must be some evidence for this, i.e, something the Russians have done on behalf of his campaign. So, what is it? Go find out! If the intelligence agencies or those briefed on their findings won’t officially disclose this, work your sources and I am sure you will find someone who will leak it. Otherwise, it is what it is and that is: unsubstantiated.
27
@Warren S Goldstein we know what Russia is doing. The comments in comments section, ect It came from our intelligence agency’s. How is that unsubstantiated? Bernies weak on Russia, he didn’t vote for the magninsky act or sanctions.
This confirms my thinking that the recent "Bernie Bros" attacks have largely been sourced from "bots" and should be called "Bernie Bots".
19
@EFR what does it actually matter? BOTS are only reflecting what the Bros are doing and saying. How easy for the Russians to just copy and paste the vitriol and hatred in the Bernie Bros.
What is Russia SPECIFICALLY doing?
29
@Clayton READ THE MUELLER REPORT- for starters.
“Russia Is Said to Be Interfering to Aid Sanders”
Putin in the 2018 Helsinki summit admitted that yes, he had interfered to aid Trump.
Putin: “Yes, I did! Yes, I did!
Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal!”
4
I have long thought that the online “Bernie Bros” were propaganda accounts. They say “Bernie or Bust” which follows the tactic of reducing the voting power of their target, like Cambridge Analytica did with the “No Vote” meme campaign in Trinidad & Tobago.
24
Putin's goal is to disrupt American policy and politics to make the U.S. an ineffective player on the global stage.
Putin doesn't think Sen. Sanders will be elected if the Senator runs against Trump. Putin believes that Sanders vs. Trump is the most disruptive, divisive race. If Sen. Sanders does not become the Dem candidate -- possibly through a brokered convention -- Putin keeps the "American elections are rigged" narrative alive. The so-called "Bernie Bros" are ripe for the picking in this regard.
All Dem candidates should come together immediately to address and defuse Putin's interference as much as possible. Surely, the Trump administration won't lift a finger. Nay, they are actively in league with the criminal Putin.
It would be ironic to put Sen. Sanders in the White House, in order to expose the regime of former-commie Putin as the meddling head of the Russian kleptocracy.
12
Mitt Romney warned all of us in 2012. We all laughed at him. I voted for Obama in both elections. If I was to name his greatest failing as president it would be that he did not take the Russian threat seriously enough. And despite all of the good...that one mistake has put our country on the brink of what may be our greatest existential threat since the eve of the Civil War.
13
@HJ
To Putin's credit he's getting the last laugh. I suspect 2016 and now are revenge for our NGO maneuvers in Russian elections during his early years in office
The Russians seemed to know what they were doing in 2016 so it should be assumed they have a good plan for 2020. They may be assuming if Sanders is the nominee not only will he lose to Trump but he will cost the Democrats both the House and the Senate. Maybe not but there is good reason to think that is a strong possibility. That outcome would effectively end US democracy in any meaningful way. The move toward fascism would increase and Putin the fascist will have won big time.
19
Russia will not tell me who to vote for. I will vote for Sanders and couldn't care less whether they want that or not. It could be the complete opposite that they want but either way, it should not matter what they want. Ignore the trolls and vote for the best candidate. Any of them would and will beat Trump. Fear is a paralyzing emotion; don't be guided by fear.
21
Helping or hurting Bernie? It really is moot. Shiny object- do not chase it!
What matters is that Trump was and is working with Russia to steal another election. Fact is that he has and is and will seek to privately gain through his office. Fact is that he has and will continue to obstruct congress and the public from having access to this information.
Fact is that the GOP have blocked every effort to establish great election security. Fact is he is purging every person that does their job and tries to inform congress and or the public of these events.
No more denial please America-this is a ongoing criminal conspiracy, a Dictatorship, a Fascist regime, call it what you will.
It is not our BY an For the People, Equal before the LAW, CHECKS and BALANCES,no one is above the law, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the U.S.A.
Pull together people. Support whoever the Dems nominate, brokered convention or no.
If we can not pull this out we will be up a creek that will make this look like a day at the park.
13
The Democrats laughed when Romney stated that Russia was the biggest threat to America, now apparently they have sided with Romney. smh
In any case, this frenzy about Russia simply set's the table for 5 more years of blaming Russia for Trump's Presidency.
5
oh yeah...that...
In 2010, the private-wealth division of Deutsche Bank loaned Trump hundreds of millions of dollars during the same period it was laundering billions in Russian money.
“Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” said Donald Jr. in 2008.
“We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia,” boasted Eric Trump in 2014.
24
I want to know if Russia is contributing funds to either Mr Sanders's campaign or to Mr Trump's.
8
@elizabeth Well Liz it will be hard to know mainly because the GOP have blocked all efforts to remove either foreign or dark money from our elections, not to mention unlimited donations.
11
It’s very entertaining to see the Sanders supporters grasping for some / any rationale to refute the obvious: 1 the Russians want Trump and 2 they understand how weak a candidate Sanders is, so that supporting him ensures Trumps re-election.
20
@GC
There’s this narrative a lot of us have accepted as true, that Bernie is the Democratic candidate Trump is most likely to beat. But, if you go back and look at the polls, the evidence doesn’t actually support it.
Yes, the polls could be wrong, and that is likely if they are close. But a lot of the national level polls aren’t close.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/
To those critical of Sanders for not immediately going public with the news of Russian's interference in his campaign, think about it. It's a matter of national security. He had to wait for the intelligence agencies or the president to make the news public. To blurt that sort of thing out whenever he pleased would be at least irresponsible, if not a breach of protocol.
13
@escargot
The briefings were "classified." This article should have made this clear, as other media sources have. As such, Sanders was not at liberty to disclose the allegations. Main takeaway: they are unsubstantiated allegations leaked by someone other than Sanders -- someone who broke the law, but for what purpose?
1
I would not say that Bernie is concerned w these things or that he is responsible.
This can be taken a number of ways. Given that Putin knew this would be discovered in a timely manner, I suggest the following. Russia believes Bernie the most likely candidate to defeat Trump in November, therefore, they are undermining the perceived legitimacy of his campaign and front runner status to scare moderate Dems away from him turning out for him. Nobody is even considering this in the mainstream, however.
10
That is the really wishful thinking of a Bernie supporter but I fear not the case.
"Russia worked to support-or at least not harm Bernie Sanders in 2016. Operatives at a Russian intelligence factory were instructed to avoid attacking Mr. Sanders." Now it comes to light that Russian interference supporting Sanders is happening in the 2020 primaries. Mr. Sanders has known about this for a month and said nothing. He certainly should have informed the country of something this vital to the American voter and that calls into question the legitimacy of our ongoing elections - we do not know WHAT the Russians are doing or have done to interfere in the primaries. This is not okay.
6
Is it surprising that Russia wants the only self-described socialist as the nominee?
4
@Umberto Yes, because the USSR was never socialist--it was a communist dictatorshop--and it's not socialist now--it's a capitalist (oligarchical) dictatorship. Don't conflate the economic system with the political system, please.
Russia (Putin) is doing this b/c they believe Sanders will lose--or that he'll lose what with this leak--and so Trump, their pawn, will win again. That makes the most sense.
@Umberto Russia isn't socialist. It's hyper capitalist.
After reading most of the posts here my thoughts are if the article's headline swapped out Bernies name for any other Democratic presidential candidate there would be an uproar about how unelectable he/she is. Just vote Blue to send a message to the Russians. Its now or never folks.
9
They are also helping Trump. The Rushkies are helping Bernie, because like all the 'moderate' Democrats, they think he will be the easiest for Trump to beat. So they want Bernie to get the nomination.
Someone should check and see if they are getting help like last time. You know pointed in the right direction. How many times did the Trump campaign meet with Russians before the election? At least 120 times ..... including Sessions w the Ambassador & the infamous meeting at the Tower.
9
Have we forgotten that Putin is the former head of the KGB? One of the most notorious intelligence agencies in modern history? Hullo? Anybody?
Do we think that Putin might try to aid Sanders, in order to deflect attention from his efforts to support Trump?
I say this politely, but directly...Trump is a manipulator by nature; the problem with being a manipulator is that eventually you will succumb to master manipulators...like Putin.
We need a strong, stable, mature person of character in the White House for numerous reasons, paramount among them...that person won't be gas lighted by Putin.
5
If Bernie wins the democratic nomination, then the only reason he would come second to DJT in the general would be if the centrist dems don't vote for Bernie. Then the question needs to be asked why are the centrist dems helping Putin and giving Putin what he wants by not voting for Bernie ! Why centrists ? Why ? Please tell us this. ?
16
@Waldo it would likely come down to NOT centrist dems but independents and the remaining moderate R'S.
Why they would not vote for bernie? the propaganda will say that he is going to crash the economy and is going to raise taxes and he is going to initiate a new era of huge government etc,
The propaganda is going to heavy and thick.Those are some of the reasons Bernie is vulnerable and make a lot of people nervous-because he presents a large target for dark misleading propaganda,
4
Of course they are. Helping Bernie guarantees Trump's re-election.
9
@North Indeed - as simple a that. Trump needs Sanders as a punching bag, nothing else. But on the other hand, with U.S. interfering in elections all over the world, it would be only natural to expect the rest of the world interfering in U.S. elections as well. What goes around - comes around. Very simple:)
3
Sanders and Trump: One could not imagine them having much of anything in common - except age. Well, they do now!
1
Brilliant piece of investigative journalism.
I especially enjoyed the meticulously detailed account of exactly how Russia was "intervening" in the Democratic primaries. Thankfully there was another article hyperlinked with the explanation so this article couldn't be confused for complete yellow journalism.
So relieved to hear the expert analysis of an "intelligence official" at the Center for a New American Security, which is funded by Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Chevron, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, BP America and Exxon Mobil (among others!). Such corporate paragons seek only to ensure the "protection of our democracy" and obviously don't have any ulterior motives in hobbling the Sander's campaign.
Special thanks to the Times for making evident the brazen election interference by bad actors.
16
@James The ones who are REALLY interfering in U.S. elections are the moguls of the American military-industrial complex. Big Oil and Big Weapons fund pressure groups and political action committees all over the U.S. to the tune of hundreds of millions. And then they start looking for demons from Moscow or Beijing to cover up their act. The whole election process in U.S. - alas - has become one huge hoax.
7
@James, comments like yours prove how easy it will be to sow discord from a position of helping Bernie. Just start yelling about how unfair everybody is being to Bernie, and millions of Bernie Bros will light up the internet.
Discord accomplished.
it is absolutely delusional to think that Putin would want Bernie as president. 0% CHANCE. Putin is deep into his investment with Trump.
He is trying to either promote Bernie because he thinks Trump will defeat him, if nominated, or that by promoting Bernie that will hurt Bernie.
Bernie may or may not be the best candidate to win the swing states, but Bernies is not a foul, lying, traitorous politician.
The great deception goes on. Trump will continue it day by day until the election.
Bernie or someone else is going to face him. M
Meanwhile the GOP has done everything to obstruct justice for the guy who holds office, and has refused every effort to make the next election secure.
Meanwhile the guy in the white house has made every effort to silence people in the government from telling the congress and or the American people about the subversion of our elections.
People still take him seriously? How about a second impeachment, and include Bill Barr too. A two fer.
These people are the end of our country. Period. Fact.
7
So let me get this straight.
Sanders briefing a month ago was classified, so Sanders couldn't talk about it...correct?! Now that it has been released, he's allowed to say something.
Yet he's being abused because he didn't say something? Geez.
Actually, he has been saying for a month now that it isn't his supporters being nefarious, but outside actors. SO...he told the truth, as much as he was allowed.
Now, in what shape or form was having bad actors give his campaign a black-eye "helping" him? Putin's trolls, and Trumps, and other operatives are working overtime making his supporters appear bad, because they've got nothing to attack the man himself for; and the media drove the narrative. Geez...
Now, Putin knows his meddling will be exposed, and that the Sanders campaign will be hurt by association. SO, again, how is this supposedly "helping" Sanders?! It's NOT. It's designed to harm him and sow discord. And once again our media is pushing the false narrative.
Putin's not trying to help the Sanders campaign win, he's actively harming the front running candidate. Listen to the leaked Lev Parnas Tape, Trump admits Sanders would be the toughest candidate to beat. He admits that had HRC made Bern the VP, he would have lost.
Putin's not trying to help Sanders; to help Trump. He's harming Sanders to help Trump.
Poll after poll, for 5yrs., now says Sanders Beats Trump.
16
@Dobbys sock
Your read on this makes a great deal of sense.
Recent polls, while variable, indicate Sanders is not the weak candidate the Kremlin and Republicans would want to oppose. The narrative of “helping “ Sanders might play well to the base, but it isn’t supported by the evidence.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/
The question is, are Republicans/Russians more influenced by data, or their preconceptions? We know Republican voters don’t take facts seriously, but it’s more difficult to tell when it comes to the Party leaders actually making the decisions.
1
I wish I could agree. I think Bernie supporters are blinded to his flaws- and often to reality.
I believe that Putin is meddling in Sanders' behalf because he believes that Sanders is most likely to be beaten Trump and Putin wants to see Trump re-elected.
5
Here's what know:
Trump will continue to invite foreign interference in our election if it is to his advantage.
Putin will try to divide us and get us to hate and fear each other. He will succeed to some degree.
Trump will use lies, deep fakes and fear to win the election.
Trump will cheat and steal the election if he is able.
Here's what we don't know:
Who can beat Trump on 11/3/2020.
Whether both sides will accept the election results on 11/4/2020.
5
Yes. I fear this election will be contested by trump even if we win.
Instead of harassing government officials like Mrs McFarland shouldn't the intelligence apparatus be attacking Russian security forces and Russian and Chinese economic interests interfering in the US election? I thought the US had serious cyber offensive capability?
1
I wouldn’t be surprised the Russians are trying to help
his campaign, I’m sure he made a lot of friends when he was there on his honeymoon.
After reading many of the comments here, I think Putin has already succeeded. The number of conspiratorial and paranoid comments is highly disturbing. We are descending into complete chaos.
15
My wife bought me a William S. Burroughs book with his autograph for my birthday a few years ago. Before that, while in St. Louis, I went around their major cemetery for nearly an hour before discovering William S. Burroughs’ grave, really a family monument. Burroughs once said something I love, “Just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t out to get you.”
Putin surely has a lot of free time and money to try to chime in his five cents in US election. Does he forget he is the President of Russia, who is supposed to spend money and effort to govern Russia affairs?
Perhaps Trump’s long-promised release of his tax returns would shed some light on this business.
How long does it take the IRS to audit a half-dozen returns?!?
6
This is the same intelligence community that allowed al-Qaeda to enter the U.S. and conduct September 11. Now according to them Putin supports BOTH Trump and Sanders. I wouldn't believe a word from them.
8
I wonder how long the Americans people will watch more or less passively the assault on once the greatest world's democracy.
1
If it's true which it probably is, how can we trust any story about any of the candidates, democrat or republican.
Now more then ever we need our intelligence agencies to be able to intercept what Russia is doing and we don't need a president that's hiding his head in the sand.
1
Haha! Let’s just go after Trump and Sanders at the same time with Russia. And after five years what did the Russians do? Please give us an example of what the Russians are doing so we can prepare for the interference. They are interfering with the 2020. Show me what they are doing so I can distinguish. Give me just one example of a Facebook post so I can know what Russia is doing. You can’t. There is nothing.
9
Does anyone doubt for a nano second that Putin will do what ever is required to keep his asset in the oval office in power?
Putin will poison our body politic with a toxic smear equal to the toxicity of Polonium—communism—against Sanders and all Democrats.
Putin had Alexander Litvinenko—a former FSB [successor to KGB] officer who defected to England and became a naturalized British citizen poisoned to death.
Putin had a KGB defector and his daughter poisoned with Polonium is Salisbury England.
Putin had one his former top allies who defected to the US—the founder of RT—beaten to death in a DC hotel room.
1
How many "Bernie Bros" are in fact Russians?
5
Guys, let's not lose sight of something. Mike Bloomberg is doing everything Russia was ever accused of to interfere in our election, at ten times the scale. Troll farms, deceptive/fake ads, sowing disinformation, paid influencers, astroturfed Twitter accounts, and so on. Many have already been suspended for "Platform manipulation".
Top that off with bribery of elected officials, the DNC and superdelegates, as well as half a billion dollars in ads that essentially amount to mass bribery of the news media AND his decades of investing billions in think tanks, philanthropies and political networks to buy friends and silence of those who would otherwise cry out.
Mike Bloomberg is an oligarch and a greater threat to our democracy than either Trump or Putin.
14
Feel free to name something Bloomberg lied about. Be specific.
Dodged, sure, but he’s a pol.
This battle is for all the marbles people.
Bernie is not serving anyone but the American people.
Trump is the bottom of the barrel not merely an agent of a foreign power, not only the worst most corrupt president ever. In fact the most foul, deceitful person ever to hold public office in American history.
I disclose here that I am not convinced Bernie is the best candidate to win the election, though I respect him and understand why so many do as well.
The effort to confuse the American people begins. Turn off your social media for about 8 months. Might help.
America can get through this. This is going to be a transformative experience. If not then eternity will watch over us.
11
The people who already hate Sanders are jumping all over this here, twisting it into something which suits their odd point of view.
12
It’s really astounding that people would even read need from sites like Facebook and other such sites and believe that it is legitimate, might as well watch Fox.
3
I love Bernie and detest trump but I sometimes can’t distinguish btw their supporters.
5
Why would Sanders be notified before the House Intelligence Committee?
3
ok, so we are living in an autocracy.
1
As a Democrat I am waiting to hear from Tom Perez regarding this matter . Are we as a party going to sit by while our leading candidate for President ' who incidentally is not a paid up member of the party' is receiving help from the Russians to win the nomination, and go on to loose to Trump.
3
Interesting timing huh. Democratic leaders clearly have nothing substantive on Bernie, so we are now going with Russian hysteria. "The Russians want him! We can't do what the Russians want!" I'm sure that these intelligence reports are true. Everyone and they're mother knows Democratic leadership despises Bernie with a passion. Him doing well creates the most discord in the democratic party.
As far as electability goes, Sanders still does extremely well against Trump in head-to-head matchups, he does better than any other democrat with independents and minorities. He has grassroots energy and is the most popular Senator in the country. I'm very confident he'll beat Trump.
13
Boycott all social media and only rely on reputable news and information sources.
9
This was very obvious from the beginning of the campaign. The media missed it.
4
The Russians know The DNC knows and most non kool aid drinkers know Bernie could be another McGovern. Mueller made Trump stronger. Impeachment made Trump untouchable and a wipe out of Bernie in November will make Trump King. Winning The House in 2018 was great but it also exposed during the Impeachment where the real power is. Nothing Bernie is talking about has chance of passing even if the Dems keep The House flip The Senate and win The White House.Bernie's change is too radical for some folks who dislike Trump but like their 401 Ks. The Russians know that a Bernie ticket means their asset Trump is in their pocket for another four years unbridled..
8
All this tells us is that Putin thinks the same way that the dem establishment does: nominating Sanders will ensure a Trump victory. I think Putin and MSNBC and CNN are all wrong about this.
Blaming Sanders for this would be ridiculous. He’s constantly criticized and denounced Putin, and his election meddling.
Also: Russia isn’t the reason Trump won. Yes, they interfere on Trump’s behalf and yes, Trump welcomes that continuing interference, but Trump won because The Democrats ran a candidate who failed to persuade enough voters. We can’t make the same mistake again. Blaming this all on Russia helps a lot of people avoid taking responsibility for a shocking and embarrassing loss to DJT that should have never happened.
12
We should believe anything the intelligence agencies say. They have never lied before to undermine an election...
10
@porter Neither have the newspapers! They would never mislead us to increase profits!
1
Crazy. Does Russia want Bernie to face Trump because he’ll lose or did they hope that this would get out to discourage Democrats from letting Bernie be the candidate for the Democrats? Bernie’s democratic socialism political position is making him seem radical but he does express his views far more reasonably than does Trump. Trump runs on fear and loathing while Bernie runs on resolving inequities.,
10
With an homage to both an old movie and the truth, maybe we should refer to Trump as the "Siberian Candidate".
8
This is obvious to me since I listen, know and am involved with progressive policy. Progressives are the only real opposition to white supremacy in the United States right now. They receive death threats and constant hate targeting them.
We have a white supremacy problem. And Russias goal is to try and get these two groups into actual violence. The progressives I know are not aggressive. But the tactics of these racists is to antagonize and do as much harm as possible to provoke a response so they can play the victim and respond with deadly force. This is the tactic Trump uses as well. This is why they identify with him.
The only real opposition I see is the progressive movement. And that is why Russia wants Sanders. They want to provoke the white supremacists who have constantly been ignored and given kid glove treatment to violence.
5
How convenient. Credit Sanders with seizing the moment, using the opportunity to define his kinder, gentler version of socialism to Putin’s “autocratic thug” version.
Last time I checked, simply points along a narrow continuum...
1
It's the media that sows discord and profits by it. Russia is a minor player compared to them.
10
Of COURSE they are.
This is why Trump's constant downplaying of Russian interference is both pathetic and dangerous. Sure, Russia may like that Trump is easy to exploit and control, but that's just icing on the cake. Russia wants to sew discord, period. So they helped get Trump elected, because it would drive the rest of us crazy. Now they want to help Bernie get the nomination because he'll drive the Trump supporters crazy. Russia wants us to eat each other.
That's why we need politicians to act in the interest of country over party: democracy depends on it.
11
Somebody whom we can't tell you said with information that we can't verify that someone is in some way interfering with an election - vaguely or whatever.
Meanwhile Michael Bloomberg was in a business relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell who was running a blackmail ring and who trafficked in children and who profited from 9/11 and had foreknowledge about it ...
but we aren't going to report on that.
10
What specifically are the Russians doing? Sanders makes a mistake if he take the "intelligence community's" statements at face value. The same "intelligence community" that said wmds in Iraq was a slam dunk. How intelligent is this "community"?
12
Bloomberg alone spends hundreds of millions of dollars on ads, the radio waves are full of rightwing nonsense going back decades and we have cable channels that are little more than partisan jokes, plus our government lied about Iraq andAfghanistan and is helping the Saudis commit war crimes in Yemen, and the Democrats can’t run an election in Iowa, but Putin is going to undermine our faith in American institutions. Gosh, what an uphill battle that will be.
9
The Trump story has been debunked according to none other than Jake Tapper. The Bernie story will certainly be debunked. Notice how the two candidates that the establishment hates the most are smeared with this totally phony story.
10
The establishment is almost as vociferously anti Sanders as anti Trump.
Sanders is a real threat to corporate control at least in theory. Corporations rule.
Just exactly what is Russia doing to help Sanders? I believe this is a made up story to actually hurt Bernie-not help him because Russia knows Bernie would bury their chosen boy Trump. So again, what is Russia doing to help Bernie? I have seen no evidence to show they have.
20
Which political campaign leaked this the night before the Nevada Caucuses, I ask you? More dirty tricks from the DNC, no doubt. The fact is that unlike Trump, Sanders condemns Putin and will never be his lapdog. Sanders leads Trump in the polls, as he did in 2016 as well, so no one should conclude that they or Putin know best who Trump can beat in November. Hillary built much of her edge over Sanders on her domination in the South and in the Super delegates, but then lost both electoral college advantages and the south to Trump in the general election, while also losing narrowly in the Rust Belt where Bernie was considerably stronger.
11
Today's episode of NYT The Daily mentioned how "Bernie Bros" hammered the Nevada Culinary Union with a Twitter storm about health care. To me, that sounded more like a Rusian social media tactic because it's such a tight focus and tactical niche. Could a random Twitter mob stay that focused?
10
I will let everyone else debate Bernie's viability as a candidate.
Now that we know the Russians are doing this again, I want to know how to stop them -- then how to retaliate, in as nasty a way as possible.
7
@Nate Scarborough Make sure Trump does not get back into power.
Then I hope Bernie wins, because I vowed anyone would be better than Trump.
4
Sounds about right. Right?
3
The difference that is essential to highlight is the fact that Senator Sanders responded to these allegations by denouncing such actions from Russia and stating he would prosecute attempts to do so if elected. On the other hand Trump invited Russian interference by asking for Hillary’s emails to be hacked; following up by obstructing justice.
It is careless to blindly put out that headline without explaining the context, what Russia truly wants is discord and division in America to weaken the nation. The act of intertwining Sander’s campaign and Russia serves to ignore the delegate with the most support, with a strong after taste of red-scare. It is crucial to remember Russia’s sole goal is polarization and separation, and be critical accordingly.
20
Uh, no. What Russia wants is Sanders to win the primary, ensuring that Trump wins the general.
4
Bernie's mystery Soviet tapes revealed [Politico]
Over the course of 10 days, Sanders, who was then the mayor of Burlington, and his dozen-member delegation traveled to three cities: Moscow, Yaroslavl and Leningrad, now known as St. Petersburg. Their goal was to establish a “sister city” relationship with Yaroslavl, a community along the Volga River home to about 500,000 people. At the time, the Soviet Union was beginning to open itself to the world, if only slightly — and Sanders was a self-described socialist with an unusually large interest in foreign affairs for a mayor.
“It wasn’t as outlandish as it looks in the pictures,” William Pomeranz, the deputy director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute, said after hearing a description of the footage. “It’s the height of Glasnost and Perestroika, where there are genuine efforts by Americans to reach out to Soviet cities and try to establish these relationships.”
As mayor, Sanders worried about a potential nuclear war and railed against the bloated military budgets of both the United States and the Soviet Union. A year before the trip, he laid out his vision for a sister-city relationship. "By encouraging citizen-to-citizen exchanges — of young people, artists and musicians, business people, public officials, and just plain ordinary citizens," he said in a speech, "we can break down the barriers and stereotypes which exist between the Soviet Union and the United States.”
15
You can’t control your supporters and what they do.
You can’t keep a foreign government from supporting your candidacy, for whatever motive.
Meeting with a foreign government, hiding it, publicly asking for assistance, and calling the conspiracy to interfere a “hoax,” is another thing.
30
Has anyone seen Russian meddling? I've been on the lookout for the Russians, and you know, I just don't see where they are influencing any part of this election. What I DO see is a Wall Street oligarch buying his way to the nomination. I see corporate media disingenuously presenting and framing the issues. I see a botched caucus where the winner by 6,000 votes somehow ends up with fewer delegates. Did Russia do THAT? Did the Russians purge registered voters from the voter rolls? Did the Russians institute Super Delegates to steal an election from the voters? Did the Russians gerrymander our districts to make our votes meaningless? Did the Russians draw up a secret agreement between a major political party's committee and a candidate to rig the primary or pass along questions to a specific candidate to be asked in upcoming debates? Seriously, I want to know WHERE the Russians are interfering in our election. If someone can provide tangible evidence where this interference is occurring then I will stand corrected. Otherwise, what I see is a massive voter and election manipulation by us.
36
@FXQ
This is something that is always lacking.
It also makes 0 sense. This isn't like let's say Syria where all you can really rely on is media and 'intelligence' reporting.
For a social media influence campaign to have any effect whatsoever, it needs to be big and visible. So where is it, exactly? Links please. Oh oh, we're going to handwave away and instead suggesting the Russians are trying to get people to spread disinformation for them? Okay, again. What, exactly, is it? Where is this information that's being spread far and meaningfully beyond the insular little echo chambers on either side of the fence?
This is getting increasingly absurd. It suddenly seems anytime the establishment choice for anything runs into trouble, we're invoking the Russians. Who's trying to interfere in our elections, again?
1
easy peasy. read the Mueller report and stand corrected.
1
Denying Russian election meddling entirely is what Trump supporters and Russian trolls do. Just admit that they used Bernie to try to divide the Democratic electorate. And, like Bernie himself, say that Putin doesn’t matter and Bernie doesn’t want his help. Be honest, because the honest truth is fine.
1
I think it is terrible when staff people with special expertise are pushed out and replaced with people who don't know the details of what they are dealing with. A lot of these people spent years studying foreign countries. Just being smart is not the same as knowing what you are doing.
9
The reason Putin is doing this may be because he is rightly worried that Sanders will win the general and hopes this news will hurt Sanders in the primary.
10
It is clear from a disturbingly large fraction of the comments here, along the lines of "Sanders knew about this for a month; he's bad for not saying anything", that the Russians have successfully gotten their message to the people uninformed and gullible enough to help Trump win, because it never crossed their mind that this was classified information that Sanders had no authority to reveal. The Russian "help" is actually intended to be a smear against Sanders.
24
Well, they’re helping Sanders win because they think Trump can beat him. I’m not sure that’s true. Who know at this point?
1
The intelligence community also had previously reported that the Russians tried to aid the Sanders campaign in 2016.
Might the reason simply be that Putin would prefer a more isolationist US president at the helm?
2
Is it interfering to aid, or interfering to discredit and disillusion?
7
It's a ruse to give the appearance of a level playing field while helping their main man. No way the Russians would be rooting for Bernie, he is not a mass of vulnerabilities like their favorite.
9
@angel98 Of course they are rooting for Bernie! The oligarchs that control the former Soviet Union know exactly what they are doing. Pushing Bernie to the forefront ensures a Trump victory in 2020.
2
It should be pretty clear that the GOP can only win by cheating. Such cheating includes vote suppressing policies, gerrymandering, "faulty" software in vote counting machines, and yes, social media disinformation. Putin wants Trump to win and is playing a bit of a chess game to position the Democratic candidate he believes would be the weakest against Trump. He knows that because so many Americans have visions of communism when they hear the word socialism, Trump will likely be able to turn those visions into an aggressive campaign against the self described democratic socialist. This is not a bad strategy. Bernie could nip it in the bud by redefining himself as a social democrat. There is still time.
10
I think this summer we should have a long sit in at the WH, Congress, and our state capital buildings to protest Trump and the Republican politicians who enabled him.
It’s time for peaceful protest, on a massive scale, to show these leaders we’re not messing around anymore.
6
Bernie Sanders is a bit of a pacific isolationist, who wants to decrease military spending although not a “Putin puppet” Obama’s administration was very tough on Russia & they likely fear Biden would be likewise, in the same way Clinton was. If you’re looking for an obvious motivation for them to “interfere” on behalf of Sanders, that would be enough, considering they attempt to influence elections all over the world, preferring leaders they do not see as a threat.
3
This is propaganda released before the primary in order to take down Sanders.
Conspiracy theories are all they've got and the DNC is desperate.
Bernie's going to win.
30
Putin wants to help elect Trump. He's interfering in the primaries to further his goal. The calculation is either that (a) Sanders will not do well in the general election against Trump; or (b) Sanders would do well against Trump, but sowing doubt by pretending to back him will cause him to lose the primary against someone who would be weak against Trump; (c) something else. Who knows?
The only defense we have against these machinations is for each of us who wants Trump out of the White House to vow, to ourselves, that we will vote for the Democratic nominee. Given what Trump is, that should be an easy thing to do. Remembering that not a single one of the nominees is your favorite candidate's enemy, or your enemy, will help.
With multiple candidates left, chances are the person we're supporting right now will not be our next President; someone else will, someone we like less. If you think you don't like some or most of the candidates, it's time for an attitude adjustment.
7
Putin knows that if the Democrats nominate Sanders, Trump will win the election. Too many moderates would rather stay home on election day or even vote for Trump if the Democratic nominee is Sanders. That is why Putin is doing what he can to skew the Democratic primaries in favor of Sanders.
Trump knows all this. He only hopes the Democrats don't know it. That is why he indicated the other day that he feared the Democrats would use Putin's meddling as a weapon. He sees nothing wrong, however, with his own use of Russian meddling as a weapon.
Such is what passes for logic in today's White House.
8
Or maybe Russia just knows what they can scrape from the various pundits and the media. The elites and the media hate Bernie, they always have. Russia therefore believes that Bernie is toxic when in reality I believe that he has the best change to be president. He would have beat Trump in 2016 and he will beat Trump in 2020.
Bernie is the only candidate with a movement for the workers in this election. He does the best in the exact states that need to be won for the Electoral College. His movement attracts the working class, the exact constituency the Dems used to attract but dont anymore.
If the people can defeat the combined effects of the elites and the media against Bernie and nominate him, I think he will have no problem destroying Trump. I think this will all backfire in Russias face.
9
As a retired person, perhaps it is easy for me not to be on facebook. I have been off for about 2 years. I highly recommend it.
14
All of the polls say that Bernie beats Trump. So, what am I missing? How about the people that don't like Bernie just say it instead of hiding behind electibiliity concerns. I think the real fear is more equality might mean a little less for some of you and you don't like it. I even think that some of you could see no change in your socioeconomic standing but not like some other people making gains. It feels good to have more than some people.
10
Now that Sanders has spoken, Russia must be very afraid and will immediately cease interfering to help him win the nomination. Why doesn't he go back to D.C. to do the job he was actually elected to do - work with his colleagues in the Senate and get the multitudes of stalled election security legislation passed and signed into law?
1
In all of the debates that we've had, you'd think at least one question would have been, "If you are the president, what are you going to do about Russia's interference in our elections?"
The debates are a made for TV farce. Now that Warren has made a lot of money by attacking Bloomberg for being rich, you can only expect more of the same. Once again, Trump will win the debate without even being there.
4
Sanders campaign knew about these interferences for a month? Is that why Sanders has been doing so well these days? Talk about lack of transparency!
The problem, as I see it, is the vagueness of this information. What are we supposed to do about it? How are we supposed to recognize what's Russian interference vs anything else we see? Is it everywhere or only on certain sites, news articles? For me: I'm ONLY going to believe something that states who pays for the news/commercial, like: "This is Michael Bloomberg. I approve this message."
"Republicans have disputed that Russia supports Mr. Trump, insisting that Mr. Putin simply wants to broadly spread chaos and undermine the democratic system."
Yes, and that is exactly what Donald Trump is also trying to do.
7
So are the polls showing Sanders leading false? Are Russian bots or operatives participating in all the preference voter polls? Where is Facebook with it's anarchy rules over truth? Dare the candidates to refuse to use all social media to force Facebook, Twitter, etc. to clean up their acts or go broke.
4
Good reporting by The Times. Now it should be investigated if some of the attacks aimed at other candidates and alleged to be the work of Bernie supporters are really Russian bots trying to sow discord in the Democratic primaries.
Meanwhile, we have a president weakening intelligence agencies and ignoring their findings on Russia’s interference in 2016 and once again this year.
Hopefully our still free media can follow this story and keep watch on what Russia is doing to disrupt our electoral process with Trump standing with his friend Putin before the world denying any Russia involvement admitting his involvement in support of Trump.
4
Clearly the government of United States is unable to curb or control or retaliate the interference of Russia in our elections.
6
The best the Russians can do is make us hyperventilate. Let’s all chill out and vote rationally
11
Take away the means for Putin and others to spread disinformation. If Facebook better controlled/banned spreading of disinformation and political ads, we wouldn't be having this issue. But this drives up Facebook's eyeballs and ad revenue, so it isn't about to do this without being forced to.
7
Schiff has already declared Trumps reelection illegitimate. So I'm told to believe this nonsense and that career intelligence officials would never lie to the public. Just to get too Trump?
Taylor says we are at war with Russia. To bad the American people and their President don't agree with him. Meddling in another countries election is doesn't mean war it's just business as usual. We do it all the time.
9
@JoeG
To, two, and too; they're different words, with different meanings!
4
@Kevin C.
Who's smarter? The person that can't find Ukraine on the map and doesn't believe this propaganda campaign against Russia or the person who thinks another cold war with Russia will solve the Democratic Party's problems.
The American public is shamefully quiet and the political leadership has been inadequate to stop Putin and Agent Trump and The Family(Netflix).
Optimism and naivety
3
Anyone- here- suggesting that Bernie has any connection to communism and or has any allegiance to Russia is dumber than a sack of hammers. That includes Bloomberg who just lost not only my vote, but respect also.
If the ruuskies can sow chaos and mistrust by supporting BERNIE, they will do it.
Bernie's socialism can be found in places like: the National Park system, the U.S Mail. The V.A, and countless other government programs that underwrite services for the American people. His agenda only expands that role, needed because the free market, though a great thing, can not do all things. Some of these things are a absolute necessity, like healthcare.
Nothing to fear in the least concerning Bernie's socialism.
29
@bluescairn 5.5
Thanks; well said. I would add that the form of capitalism we now 'enjoy' is starting to morph into oligarchy.
"Russia Is Said to Be Interfering to Aid Sanders in Democratic Primaries"
Remember how Mr. Trump sought to sabotage Democrats' presidential nomination contest in New Hampshire by telling his own supporters to vote in it and pick the "weakest" candidate. He said:
"You have crossover in primaries don't you? I hear a lot of Republicans here tomorrow will vote for the weakest candidate possible of the Democrats. Does that make sense?...."
Well ..... it seems that once again Mr. Putin was listening to Mr. Trump's request. He has asked his army of hackers and bloggers to do exactly what Mr. Trump was asking. The Russian intelligence agencies have figured that Sen. Bernie Sanders has little chance of defeating Mr. Trump in the 2020 presidential election. So, they are trying to support him in any way they can to make him the winner of the Democratic primaries.
6
Guess who Russia preferred in the 2008 general election? It was Barack Obama. They preferred his more modern worldview to the hostile, out-dated Cold War era views of John McCain. Putin correctly viewed Obama as the more likely candidate to de-escalate tensions and avoid conflict.
Fast-forward to 2016, Russia supported Donald Trump to the candidate undoubtedly more hostile toward Russia, Hillary Clinton. This is not to say Trump's motives for his cozier relationship with Russia cannot or should not be highly scrutinized and investigated, as he has proven to actively push policies that aid Putin and his cronies.
Now in 2020, I would argue Trump and Bernie are by far the two candidates least likely to escalate Russian tensions. Putin is not stupid, and realizes conflict with the US leads to destabilization and does not benefit his position whatsoever. And while Trump by far remains Russia's most favorable outcome, it's not difficult to understand Putin's desire to also elevate Bernie given his establishment Democrat rivals are objectively the most hawkish candidates towards Russia left standing. In other words, despite Bernie's clear threat to the corporate special interests that enrich Putin and his band of oligarchs, at least Bernie poses zero threat of toppling a foreign authoritarian regime, unlike both establishment Republican and Democratic administrations of years past.
5
Well OK, Russia probably would like to see Trump back in the White House and believes that Sanders is to be the US 'Corbyn candidate', the one that Trump is most likely to beat `(IMHO they are wrong but that's another story). Mind you, while Russia may well want to see a second Trump term, Israel would like that outcome 10X more and will be pulling far more strings, far more effectively via AIPAC among others, in the U.S., than Russia ever could. Israel's influence on la vie politique in the U.S. is, however, the blue and white elephant in the room, which only a handful of people - including those in the intelligence community - ever dare publicly to allude to. I don't blame Israel in the slightest for leveraging its influence to the maximum but I am rather surprised at the U.S.'s acquiescence.
10
Nothing makes me sadder than seeing people think worse of Bernie because of a story like this. I know people with serious depression who can't afford medication or a therapist. Bernie wants to help them.
The big corporations and billionaires want to scare you from voting for Bernie. Don't let them. Think about the people who need the help the most.
32
@Noah
Do the other candidates not want to help?
What's this Bernie Most "Progressive" so Bernie Only Choice logic?
6
@Noah
ANY Democrat will do something to help, they just have to win first.
4