Senate and House Leaders Call for Inquiry of Russian Hacking in Election
This article addresses the recent investigations regarding the possibility of Russian cyberattacks that might have influenced the election. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speak of the House Paul Ryan have both condemned any such efforts and have urged Democrats and Republicans to work together to support the investigation. This response from the two top Republicans in Congress could also foreshadow tension between Republicans in Congress and the president-elect, who has mocked theses findings. Furthermore, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman and many other Democrats have called for the CIA to release what they know about the hacking and claim that the Russian interference was solely to get Trump elected.
Do you think Trump had anything to do with the Russian cyberattacks considering their relationship? What do you think will happen as a result of this investigation? Do you think the Electoral College will change their vote once more information is released?
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
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If Trump had anything to do with the potential cyberattacks, I highly doubt it was him directly; I doubt he could understand even how to do that, so I feel that if he was involved, it was likely solely his team, or that it was his idea and his team actually carried it out. That being said, even if it turns out that Trump actually was behind it all and that the votes went right to his campagin, I doubt anything would happen. If nothing is going to change in the electoral college despite Clinton winning hte popular vote by millions, then, honestly, why would they change anything if it turns out that Trump won through hacks. A case was made against Clinton with her emails because people wanted to have a case against Clinton, but are people really going to try that hard to make a case about Trump, at this rate? I mean, I wish they would, but what would it do? His supporters would still report him, eventhough this would be much more trouble than Clinton's emails ever were, and would likely make excuses. This is just another bump on this incredibly rocky road we've entered, and we haven't even made it to inaguration yet.
ReplyDeleteI highly doubt that Trump worked with Putin on the cyber attacks, but Trump's relationship with the strongman is truly disturbing. When the President-elect of the U.S. is willing to believe a hostile government over U.S. intelligence and appoints friends of Russia to his administration, something is clearly not right. The investigation has basically concluded that Russia did interfere with the hacking of the DNC and John Podesta, so we know Russia did attempt to influence the election. The FBI has even accepted the CIA's conclusion that Russia perpetrated these attacks with the intent to help Trump and hurt Clinton. I doubt that the Electoral College will change their minds regarding the outcome of the election however. Trump's victory was legitimate and there is absolutely no evidence that Russia hacked the voting systems. While I would love to see the electors choose Clinton over Trump, this is unlikely to happen and would set a bad precedent if it did happen.
ReplyDeleteTrump personally wouldn't have anything to do with the hacking (if he did he would have tweeted about it). The consequences of such an action would ruin Trump, his family, his business, and his status as a politician. Trump is close with Putin, perhaps this can improve foreign affairs, since both men can sit and talk about how much they love themselves for hours on end. The results of the election are sadly final; Clinton's not president and that won't change.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Trump had any hand in the hacking that went on, but the fact that he has made jokes about its legitimacy says a lot about him, as he constantly denies anything that goes against him. I don't think this will change the way the electors vote though, as it would then create an even bigger mess then what we have now.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this is an “unpresidented” approach to an “unpresidented” problem, I think we should go through with a full investigation of Russia’s involvement and the connections Trump has and postpone the inauguration. In reality January 20 is just a date and no harm will occur if the inauguration does not commence then. Serious issues may arise if it turns out a criminal who won due to foreign involvement is inaugurated though. Being that the electors vote tomorrow, I don’t see anything super crazy and “unpresidented” happening. My guess is that they will vote for who they were supposed to vote for and that will be that. In reality, I don’t think Trump had a ton to do with this, although throughout this whole campaign he and Russia were in odd cohorts.
ReplyDeleteI really don't think he was directly tied to the hacking (mostly because he's not smart enough to do anything about it). However, I bet he threw out the idea to Putin during one of their talks - or dates. The hacking is threatening and uncomfortable. I praise McConnell and Ryan for condemning this because if they don't who will? As congressmen they are setting a precedent and a tone that tells everyone else - including electors - to stand up for what they believe in. My mom always says that Trump is a bully. Since when did we abandon what we learned in grade school and pretend like something isn't happening while it is, or worse, stand by and watch and not speak.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is very amusing to imagine Trump and Putin sitting in a dark underground room somewhere in the middle of Russia, I don't find it possible that Trump played a large role in organizing the hacking. Considering that nothing exciting happened last week during the electoral college perhaps nothing interesting or very convincing has been turned up yet. Or maybe the electors weren't going to change their vote no matter what they saw or the investigation wasn't complete? I don't know how long they have to conduct this investigation but whatever they conclude probably won't change who is finally inaugurated. Once the investigation is concluded I hope we can make it clear to Russia that they should think twice before trying something like this again.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe Donald Trump was linked to the hacking directly. Reports are that the campaign expected to lose, and furthermore, I just cannot believe, for my own sanity, that the future President of the United States would support a breakdown of democracy. I believe that such an involvement would result in an immediate impeachment and removal from office. As for the results of the investigation, I agree with Analiese, in that the results will not change who is inaugurated. They may find that Russia meddled, in which case I believe that heavy sanctions will be imposed, as well as cyber infrastructure revamping, but I do not think it will change who is in office, unless Trump was a part of it. I do not think any evidence hefty enough could have been found quickly enough to have prevented Trump from winning the electoral vote. Hopefully, we can find out at some point what the scale of the hacking was, as well as who was involved, and that it can be completed before Trump is in office, or at least continued while Trump is in office, although that is a stretch.
ReplyDeleteNah, Donald didn't do this. Nor was he involved. Russia sees Trump as a pawn, a puppet. They see him as too stupid to figure any of this out. They might be right. Probably. But, no, Donald didn't have any involvement. Did he like it? Yeah. But he probably just thinks we should become BFF's with Russia (which, I might add, as long as both nations were friendly, I don't see as a bad thing either, but Russia is presently a host unto itself, so that's not likely).
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that Donald Trump was linked to these cyber attacks. As Giacomo said, Trump is more of a puppet for the Russians, not a partner. With such high media coverage and intense public attention, Trump would not have been able to get away with such a blow to the democratic process. He would be immediately impeached. Perhaps Trump knew of the Russian hacking but was not involved in it (that's still worse than Watergate and he would definitely be impeached.) The results of the Senate Investigation will not change Trump being in office. However, it will probably be used as ammunition against Trump if and when he tries to run for reelection (that'll be fun).
ReplyDeleteI messenger from the future, I doubt that the electoral college will change its mind regarding its likely vote. To me it seems unlikely that Trump himself was directly involved with the Russian cyberattacks. It would probably have been leaked if he himself requested this form of election interference. Still, I do believe that Russian officials probably preferred to see one of the candidates elected, given their business ties to Trump (Hmmm....). I think that an investigation into these developments will not really change a Trump presidency, but will merely make him less popular among swing voters. This will likely harm his reelection chances.
ReplyDeleteTrump probably was not involved in the Russian cyber attacks. I don't think he could've handled something like that, and I don't think he would want to either. I can see why Russians would have their own motive to do these kinds of things without Trump getting involved, and he probably knows that too. I don't think that Trump would take that big of a risk and do something with such consequences without thinking about it first, although I may be wrong. Honestly, I'm not really sure what Trump would do. I don't think he's that ignorant to the consequences to do something like that, but I also don't think he wouldn't do something like that.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Trump had any connection to the hacking, but his relationship with Putin and the lightness in which he deals with the matter are concerning. He would be facing impeachment if he had anything to do with the hacking, and quite honestly, it all seems like a complex business that he does not understand. It feels like Trump views the relationship with Putin as a partnership, but I don't think that the feeling is all that mutual. As a man who constantly screams about being American, it seems like taking part of an international hacking situation against the U.S. is pretty un-American and not the smartest thing that Trump would do.
ReplyDeleteIt would be highly unlikely that Donald Trump had a direct influence on the Russian hacking of the presidential election. I do, however, believe that Trump had an indirect effect. I believe that the Russians, wanting the Trump administration in the White House, only released data that would incriminate Hillary, helping Trump. I do not believe that more information will be released before the electoral college votes, because of the investigation being so recent. And even if the information is released, I still believe the electoral college will vote in favor of Donald Trump. Unless the evidence is completely incriminating.
ReplyDeleteI doubt Trump had any influence over the Russian subversion of this past U.S. election. The article focuses more on the reactions of Congress to the issue and potential repercussions, but even without reading about the details and logistics of how this breech of security occurred I doubt Trump would have had any degree of influence over it. However, this issue shows that Russian interests (quite obviously) gain from there being a President Trump. With Rex Tillerson becoming our new Secretary of State and his connections to Russia, along with Trump being a weak figurehead already, look like they'll strengthen Russia's position on the world stage over the next four years.
ReplyDeleteI highly doubt Trump had anything to do (personally at least) with the hacking. However, I am happy to see that the Republican heads in Congress are trying to investigate what is going on instead of just blowing it off as it shows at least our Congress can be responsible. I agree with sean in that Russia will likely become more dominant on the world stage due to their eerily close relationship with Trump and his cabinet appointees.
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