“U.S. President Donald Trump had seen highly classified evidence before his inauguration that Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally ordered complex cyberattacks to sway the 2016 American election, just two weeks before his inauguration (January 6, 2017), according to the report, which cited multiple people who attended the briefing. The meeting took place at Trump Tower and the then-president-elect was shown evidence that included texts and emails from Russian military officers. There was also information gathered from a top-secret source close to Putin, which outlined the Kremlin’s plan to sway the 2016 election, the report said.â€
@edpc@mystery-ak@Cyber Liberty@CatherineofAragon How it happened, when it happened, who was there when it happened (from Comey’s book):
“On January 6, 2017, two weeks before the inauguration, these people flew to New York City for an intelligence briefing for Trump in Trump Tower: the directors of the CIA, NSA, FBI, were there. This was the third and final briefing session by the leadership of the intelligence community – referred to inside the government as the IC – to describe the classified findings of an intelligence community assessment (ICA) of Russia’s actions during the presidential election. At President Obama’s direction, analysis from the CIA, NSA, and FBI, coordinated by senior analysts from ODNI - the Office of the Director of National Intelligence - had spent a month pulling together all sources of information to offer government officials, as well as the incoming Trump administration, a complete picture of the level of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. A watered down version of the ICA had been prepared for public release. This was about sharing the most sensitive information, including sources and methods – precisely how we knew what we knew – spelling out in great detail why we had achieved the unusual state of a joint high-confidence opinion that Russia had intervened extensively in an American presidential election.â€
“The four agencies had joined in the assessment, which was both sunning and straightforward. Russian president Putin ordered an extensive effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. That effort which came through cyber activity, social media, and Russian state media, had a variety of goals; undermining public faith in the American democratic process, denigrating Hillary Clinton and harming her electability and potential presidency; and helping Donald Trump get elected.â€
(My shorter edit for this section): Among this information was the “Steele dossier†which contained a variety of allegations about Trump. It had not been fully validated. The FBI was aware of the material. Two United States Senators contacted Comey to alert him to its existence and the fact that many in Washington either had it or knew of it. A news agency was going to go with it the next day. “Among the information was the allegation that while Trump was in Moscow in 2013, he had been engaged in unusual sexual activities with prostitutes that involved them urinating on a hotel bed in the presidential suite of the Ritz-Carlton that the Obamas had used while on a visit there. Another allegation was that these activities were filmed by Russian intelligence for the possible purpose of blackmail against the president-elect.†It was determined Comey should advise Trump of these allegations in a private meeting.
Those present at the Trump Tower meeting:
President-Elect Donald Trump, Vice President-Elect, Mike Pence, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, National Security Advise Mike Flynn, Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
FBI Director James Comey, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, NSA Director Mike Rogers, and Trump’s next CIA Director, Mike Pompeo and designated Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert and Deputy National Security Adviser K. T. McFarland. The president-elect’s CIA intelligence briefer – a career employee assigned to deliver regular intelligence briefing to the incoming president – was also in the room to take notes.
Director Clapper presented the intelligence community assessment. During the discussion of Russia’s involvement in the election, Trump asked one question – “But you found there was no impact on the results, right?†“What we could say is that we found no evidence of alteration of the vote count.†The Trump team began to discuss how they could handle the publicity the public would get.
Eventually, Clapper said “…there is some additional sensitive material that we thought it might make sense for Director Comey to review with you in a smaller group. We will excuse ourselves so he can discuss it privately with you.†Trump said, “Just the two of us.†When the two were toge3ther, Trump spent some time praising Comey and his work.
“I explained the nature of the material I was about to discuss and why we thought it important that he knows about it. I then began to summarize the allegation in the dossier that he had been with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel in 2013 and that the Russians had filmed the episode. I didn’t mention one particular allegation in the dossier – that he was having prostitutes urinate on each other on the very bed President Obama and the First Lady had once slept in as a way of soiling the bed. I figured that single detail was not necessary to put him on notice about the material. Before I finished, Trump interrupted sharply, with a dismissive tone. He was eager to protest that the allegations weren’t true.â€
“I explained that I wasn’t saying the FBI believed the allegations. We simply thought it important that he know they were out there and being widely circulated. He then began discussing cases where women had accused him of sexual assault. He mentioned a number of women and seemed to have memorized their allegations. As he began to grow more defensive and the conversation turned toward disaster, on instinct, I pulled the tool from my bag: ‘We are not investigating you, sir.’ That seemed to quiet him. The entire private session took about five minutes.â€
