Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation led to 37 indictments and at least seven guilty pleas and criminal convictions. Many of these indictments targeted Russian nationals for interfering in the 2016 election. Mueller’s report laid bare how the Russian government targeted election infrastructure in multiple states in 2016, and the national security community has confirmed that efforts to undermine future elections are already underway.
These indictments will not protect our election systems from future cyber attacks. We desperately need greater election security funding for states that will safeguard against attempts to tamper with vote counts -- but Congress has failed to deliver.
The House of Representatives recently passed a 2020 appropriations bill (HR3351) that would allocate $600 million to states to replace outdated voting equipment with a system that uses voter-verified paper ballots, which are the best protection against cyber attacks attempting to change the outcome of our elections. Many U.S. states have no way of verifying vote counts in the event of a cyberattack.
So far, the Senate has failed to follow suit and prioritize election security funding for states. I’m asking senators to take a stand and support a version of the House bill, and urge other senators to do the same.
Failure to protect our democracy is simply unacceptable, especially when there’s a clear way forward.
Carolyn Griswold
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What you don’t get from Ms Griswold’s parroting of the leftist mantra about Russian government meddling in our election is on May 28 before Robert Mueller’s surprise press conference on May 29, Federal Judge Dabney Friedrich called the Mueller team her office. She ordered prosecutors to stop overstating the evidence in Mueller’s claim that the “trolling” firms alleged to have interfered in our elections were controlled by the Russian Government. She was concerned the overstating would prejudice a jury. She further stated this was a departure from the original indictment language of February 2018 which did not state anyone in the Russian government was a target of the indictment (Washington Times, July 19, 2019, Real Clear Investigations, August 7, 2019 ). That’s fundamental law.
This is big, folks. The Federal Judge reprimands Mueller for overstating evidence, switching targets from the original indictment and as she said in her order prosecutors were not to declare the target of prosecution guilty as under our system of justice all are considered innocent until proven guilty. That might explain Mueller’s press conference when he said the entities indicted were private and presumed innocent. This has been the centerpiece of Russia, Russia, Russia.
But then Mueller was questioned under oath about his press conference by Rep Tom McClintock in his underwhelming appearance before Congress. McClintock ask him if his press conference was in response to the Judge’s demands a day earlier. Mueller said no it was a coincidence. Really?
Did Mueller lie or forget? It’s important to know because Ms Griswold and others are convinced the Russian government targeted our elections. After all didn’t Robert Mueller say that? Yes, but not in the indictment where it’s supposed to count. Apparently Mueller had no evidence of it or it would have been in his indictment. Or is this the way these leftists are going to operate now?
No doubt I will be blasted by the usual suspects for being naive, because they know it was the Russian government behind all of this. Maybe Maryanne Williamson saw in the Tea leaves at the Russian Tea Room and revealed it in a personal tweet to them.
It’s looking more and more like many have been snookered again by a leftist Deep State Cabal intent on overturning our 2016 presidential election. And definitely there are those wanting to undermine our judicial system. Jerry Nadler, when not gorging fried chicken, and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are at the center of that move.
I close with this thought. Does anybody think if Hillary Clinton had won we would have ever heard about Russian government meddling in the election or would Tennessee and 11 other states be challenged about the way votes are counted?
Ralph Miller
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It is sad when some choose to believe others over our own intelligence agencies with regards to foreign interference in our election process. Even our president, who stood next to Putin in that unforgettable news conference while cowering and stated he believed Putin’s denial. Really? He actually believed Putin? How Trump behaved in that news conference with Putin, as well as his private conversations and meetings with Putin that we have no clue what was discussed, should cause some concerns and questions why?
It is possible Trump could have won the election regardless of the interference or not, but it is overwhelmingly known there was interference. Some choose to simply not believe, as well as some choose to believe we never went to the moon.
And yes, I suspect if Hillary had won the election we would have heard about the foreign interference, but it would have been from every Republican, including Mitch McConnell, who are now currently blocking or refusing to do anything to prevent any future foreign interference in U.S. elections. I suspect some would still vote for Trump even if he announced Putin as his running mate in 2020.
David Turner
Chattanooga