Topic: Russian Interference

Former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey have received subpoenas from the Department of Justice regarding their activities while in government. Brennan defends his actions as lawful and consistent with his authorities, specifically regarding the investigation into Russian interference in 2016. He characterizes the current DOJ actions as a "retribution campaign" by Donald Trump intended to harass political critics.

A U.S. appeals court upheld the law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok by January 19th or face a ban. Meanwhile, Romania's Constitutional Court annulled a presidential election round following allegations of a Russian-backed TikTok campaign promoting a far-right candidate.

During her PBS interview, Maria Ressa described how machine learning builds "clones" of users in a "motherlode database" to facilitate micro-targeting. She claimed this was used by Russia to impact 126 million Americans in 2016. The hosts mock her terminology, noting that "micro-targeting" is simply a modern term for targeted advertising that has existed for decades.

Irish MEP Claire Daly criticized the European Parliament for what she described as "paranoid McCarthyist" rhetoric regarding Russian interference. She argued that the focus on foreign influence is being used to suppress political opposition and erode democratic values. Daly warned that the current climate of counterintelligence paranoia mirrors historical periods of political repression.

California Congresswoman Norma Torres expresses concern that Vladimir Putin has compromised President Trump and the GOP. She repeats allegations that the president is acting as a "handmaid" to Russia and suggests the existence of blackmail material.

Journalist Natasha Bertrand appeared on NPR to argue that the Mueller report does not answer whether the President is "compromised" by Russia, regardless of criminal conspiracy findings. She cited former CIA Director Mike Morell to claim the report validates the intelligence community's 2017 assessment of Russian interference.

The impact of the $100,000 spent by the Russian Internet Research Agency on Facebook ads was questioned, with Brad Parscale calling it "malarkey" to suggest such a small amount could influence a national election. He noted that legitimate organizations spent hundreds of millions on the platform during the same period. Parscale suggested Facebook is in a "catch-22" where admitting the ads were ineffective would undermine the perceived power of their advertising platform.

RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan appeared on 60 Minutes to defend the network against allegations of interfering in the 2016 U.S. election. She challenged Lesley Stahl by pointing out that Western media outlets also express opinions on foreign elections without being labeled as illegal propaganda. Simonyan argued that RT's "fault" was simply not supporting Hillary Clinton.

Senator Richard Burr revealed that the committee has "hit a wall" regarding the Steele dossier because Christopher Steele has refused to meet with investigators. The committee is struggling to verify the credibility of the dossier without knowing who funded it or the identity of its sources.

Senator Richard Burr stated that the primary goal of Russian involvement was to "create chaos at every level" rather than support a specific candidate. The hosts argue that the Senate and the mainstream media are the ones actually perpetuating the chaos by continuing the investigation for nine months without definitive results.

Valerie Plame expressed confidence in Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, referring to his associates as a "crackerjack team." She claimed that the Trump campaign's interactions with Russian entities follow a classic KGB and FSB playbook for cultivating contacts. These assertions align with broader narratives regarding the sophistication of Russian influence operations in Western politics.

Former DHS Secretary Jay Johnson expresses frustration that the FBI did not inform him of the DNC hacking for several months. Johnson also notes that the Obama administration's October 7th statement on Russian interference was "drowned out" by the release of the Access Hollywood video. The hosts argue that the media intentionally prioritized the Trump scandal over the national security warning.

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld appeared on The View, where he was pressed by hosts regarding similarities between the Trump administration and the Watergate scandal. Rumsfeld pushed back against hypothetical questions about impeachment and collusion, arguing that foreign "mischief" in elections is not a new phenomenon.

The hosts examine HR 356, a bill proposed to establish a national commission to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election. The legislation targets electronic hacks of the DNC, John Podesta, and Colin Powell, as well as the dissemination of "false news." The hosts argue the bill's scope is overly broad and targets standard propaganda efforts.

The hosts play a high-energy clip of Alex Jones asserting that the American people, not the Russians, were responsible for Hillary Clinton's election defeat. Jones uses the phrase "big swinging Johnson" to describe American political power. The hosts find the clip's intensity and phrasing humorous, adding it to their collection of soundbites.

Keith Olbermann argued on Bill Maher's show that Donald Trump is an illegitimate president due to Russian interference, which he characterizes as a bloodless invasion. He called for a psychological war against the administration, suggesting the use of the Logan Act and constant public harassment.

A new unclassified report from the intelligence community regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election is analyzed. While media reports often claim 17 agencies agreed on the findings, the document shows only the CIA, FBI, and NSA participated, with the NSA expressing only "moderate confidence" compared to the others' "high confidence." Critics suggest the lack of physical evidence from the NSA makes the high-confidence claims from other agencies suspicious.