Your political discussions could be hijacked by the Russians
Mar 31, 2017, 6:39 AM | Updated: 9:38 am
There was some amazing testimony at Thursday’s Senate Intelligence hearing. It came from Former FBI Agent Clint Watts, who has researched Russia’s Internet trolls.
Ross: The adults finally decided to step into the Russia investigation
A Republican senator asked him, why did Russia decide to get so involved in the 2016 election?
“I think this answer is very simple and is what no one is really saying in this room,” he said. “Part of the reason active measures have worked in this U.S. election is because the commander-in-chief has used Russian active measures, at times, against his opponents.”
He’s saying the reason the Russians flooded the zone with fake stories about Hillary Clinton’s health, voter fraud, and President Obama not being a citizen is that Donald Trump – to their delight – was willing to use those stories to win. And that’s why the Russians are still pumping them out.
“I can tell you right now, today, Soviet accounts tweet at President Trump when they know he’s online and they push conspiracy theories.”
To be fair, they also targeted Democrats.
“They were with Bernie Sanders supporters trying to influence them in different directions.”
But Mr. Trump was by far their best customer.
“He claimed the election could be rigged. That was the number one theme pushed by RT and Sputnik News…”
And so here everybody’s looking for some secret connection, but instead, it sounds like it’s pretty simple: The Russians dropped a bunch of grenades on the battlefield and one candidate decided to use them.
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Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
