An NYT account of Ukraine's partnership with the CIA ten years since the 2014 Maidan coup underscores that Ukraine played a vital role in generating CIA allegations of "Russian interference" in the 2016 elections.
According to NYT: "The Ukrainians also helped the Americans go after the Russian operatives who meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election."
After Ukrainian intel conducted a deadly operation in Crimea in August 2016, Obama officials wanted to shut down the CIA program in Ukraine. But then-CIA chief John Brennan "persuaded them that doing so would be self-defeating, given the relationship was starting to produce intelligence on the Russians as the C.I.A. was investigating Russian election meddling."
After Trump took office, the CIA used the "Russian interference" allegations to expand its operations in Ukraine. This is because "whatever Mr. Trump said and did, his administration often went in the other direction." Indeed, Trump "had put Russia hawks in key positions, including Mike Pompeo as C.I.A. director and John Bolton as national security adviser."
As a result: "Preventing Russia from interfering in future U.S. elections was a top C.I.A. priority during this period, and Ukrainian and American intelligence officers joined forces to probe the computer systems of Russia’s intelligence agencies to identify operatives trying to manipulate voters."
The NYT omits that Ukrainians collaborated with the DNC to interfere in the 2016 election against Trump, including by leaking allegations about Paul Manafort. (ft.com) (politico.com)
Sounds to me like Ukraine and the CIA projected their own 2016 election interference onto Trump and Russia. And I wonder if this is what Trump was referring to in his July 2019 call with Zelensky.
According to NYT: "The Ukrainians also helped the Americans go after the Russian operatives who meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election."
After Ukrainian intel conducted a deadly operation in Crimea in August 2016, Obama officials wanted to shut down the CIA program in Ukraine. But then-CIA chief John Brennan "persuaded them that doing so would be self-defeating, given the relationship was starting to produce intelligence on the Russians as the C.I.A. was investigating Russian election meddling."
After Trump took office, the CIA used the "Russian interference" allegations to expand its operations in Ukraine. This is because "whatever Mr. Trump said and did, his administration often went in the other direction." Indeed, Trump "had put Russia hawks in key positions, including Mike Pompeo as C.I.A. director and John Bolton as national security adviser."
As a result: "Preventing Russia from interfering in future U.S. elections was a top C.I.A. priority during this period, and Ukrainian and American intelligence officers joined forces to probe the computer systems of Russia’s intelligence agencies to identify operatives trying to manipulate voters."
The NYT omits that Ukrainians collaborated with the DNC to interfere in the 2016 election against Trump, including by leaking allegations about Paul Manafort. (ft.com) (politico.com)
Sounds to me like Ukraine and the CIA projected their own 2016 election interference onto Trump and Russia. And I wonder if this is what Trump was referring to in his July 2019 call with Zelensky.
Here's the most important revelation:
Ukrainian military intelligence -- which the CIA closely managed -- claimed to have duped a Russian officer into "into providing information that allowed the C.I.A. to connect Russia’s government to the so-called Fancy Bear hacking group."
"Fancy Bear" is one two alleged Russian cyber espionage groups that the US accused of carrying out the 2016 DNC email theft.
CrowdStrike, the Clinton-hired firm that the FBI relied on, also directly accused Fancy Bear of email hacking.
So now we know that this allegation -- the central one of Russiagate -- came from a Ukrainian intelligence unit working under the CIA, specifically John Brennan.
Ukrainian military intelligence -- which the CIA closely managed -- claimed to have duped a Russian officer into "into providing information that allowed the C.I.A. to connect Russia’s government to the so-called Fancy Bear hacking group."
"Fancy Bear" is one two alleged Russian cyber espionage groups that the US accused of carrying out the 2016 DNC email theft.
CrowdStrike, the Clinton-hired firm that the FBI relied on, also directly accused Fancy Bear of email hacking.
So now we know that this allegation -- the central one of Russiagate -- came from a Ukrainian intelligence unit working under the CIA, specifically John Brennan.
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