— Jeff Pegues (@jeffpeguescbs) March 31, 2017
A suggestion from testimony at Senate Intel hearings—
Former FBI special agent Clint Watts ... told the committee that the Russians may now be trying to cover their tracks.Sarah Posner: Today's Russia hearings actually revealed something new and important. Which was Clinton Watts startling the Senate committee by explaining with what serious journalists and researchers had known—
"Follow the trail of dead Russians," Watts said. "There's been more dead Russians in the past three months that are tied to this investigation who have assets in banks all over the world."
According to Watts (who was backed up by other witnesses who testified), the Russians have been using "active measures," which are built on propaganda tactics that date back to Soviet times, to spread disinformation, fear, confusion, and chaos in multiple democratic countries, including the United States.For instance,
These efforts include the use of visible Kremlin propaganda outlets, such as RT and Sputnik, to publish false news stories and conspiracy theories. Russian actors then deploy social media bots to spread these false stories far and wide. In the U.S., Watts said, the goal has been to provoke the Trump into repeating them or retweeting them to his millions of followers.
In a moment that stunned the hearing room, Watts flatly stated that the president himself has become a cog in such Russian measures. When asked by Oklahoma Republican James Lankford, who appeared visibly dismayed, why, if Russians have long used these methods, they finally worked in this election cycle, Watts' answer was extraordinary.
"I think this answer is very simple and is one no one is really saying in this room," he said. Part of the reason, he went on, "is the commander in chief has used Russian active measures at times against his opponents."
Intel chairman says Russia hired more than 1000 hackers to create fake, anti-Clinton news in key states, won by Trump. @jeffpeguescbs, now pic.twitter.com/mmRBcE4qCu— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) March 29, 2017
Also, extensive operations targeting journalists and others.
2. Around the time the NYT profiled my Hillary work, Russian media went after me and Russian accounts threatened to slit my throat.— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) March 30, 2017
.@leeladaou 4. Nearly 20 years in politics and until 2016 I'd never faced systematic foreign threats simply for participating in the democratic process.— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) March 30, 2017
.@leeladaou 6. It seems easy for some people to dismiss #TrumpRussia, but I know how serious their efforts were to intimidate and propagandize.— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) March 30, 2017
.@leeladaou 8. After everything we've learned, it's laughable to pretend #Russia didn't impact the 2016 election. OF COURSE THEY DID.— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) March 30, 2017
cc #Nunes #Flynn
.@leeladaou 10. There were myriad factors that led to the November 8 outcome, but to say Russia isn't one of them is to make a mockery of reality.— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) March 30, 2017
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