{"id":88237,"date":"2020-08-19T06:25:56","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T11:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=88237"},"modified":"2020-08-19T06:25:56","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T11:25:56","slug":"auto-draft-155","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2020\/08\/19\/auto-draft-155\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Report Provides New Details of Russian Meddling in 2016 Presidential Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"VOA \u2014 A bipartisan investigation into Russian efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election found that Moscow successfully used a complex web of operatives and active measures to ensnare members of President Donald Trump\u2019s campaign, in some cases, leaving the incoming administration open to manipulation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report concluded, among other things, that Trump\u2019s 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort posed a \u201cgrave counterintelligence threat\u201d because of his dealings with people close to the Kremlin. But it also found that the FBI\u2019s investigation of the Russian meddling in the election was \u201cflawed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Released Tuesday by the Senate Intelligence Committee, the report is the fifth on the subject by the committee and the culmination of more than three years of work. It includes hundreds of witness interviews and the review of more than 1 million pages of documents.<\/p>\n

The report focuses on key players from Russia and the Trump campaign, as well as efforts undertaken by Russian intelligence and organizations like the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, which according to the report, \u201clikely knew it was assisting a Russian intelligence influence effort.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the report does not find evidence that Trump campaign officials willingly and knowingly worked with Russia to win the election, committee investigators concluded that whether due to ambition or naivety, key officials were indifferent to the possibility help was coming from the Kremlin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With WikiLeaks and its release of documents obtained during Russia\u2019s hack of the Democratic National Committee\u2019s computer services, for example, the report found the Trump campaign, \u201csought to maximize the impact of those leaks to aid Trump’s electoral prospects.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump Campaign publicly undermined the attribution of the hack-and-leak campaign to Russia and was indifferent to whether it and WikiLeaks were furthering a Russian election interference effort,\u201d the report added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Senate report raises especially deep concerns about the role of Manafort, a Republican political operative and international lobbyist who joined the Trump campaign in March 2016. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cManafort’s presence on the Campaign and proximity to Trump created opportunities for Russian intelligence services to exert influence over, and acquire confidential information,” the report said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manafort was convicted of tax and bank fraud charges during a separate investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. He was released from prison to home confinement earlier this year. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"FILE<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Trump’s Former Campaign Chief Manafort Released from Prison<\/div>\n
Paul Manafort’s lawyers prevailed in their bid with federal prison officials to get him freed to home confinement because they said he was at high risk of contracting coronavirus because of his age and underlying medical conditions<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

But the report raises concerns specifically about Manafort\u2019s long-running ties to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who was known for running influence operations under the direction of the Kremlin, sometimes with Manafort\u2019s help, and Russian intelligence officer Konstantin Kilimnik.\u00a0<\/p>\n