U.S. officials briefed Bernie Sanders that the Russians have efforts to interfere in the election to help his campaign. He talked to reporters about it:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Friday acknowledged that he was briefed by U.S. intelligence officials about Russian attempts to interfere in the 2020 elections, with The Washington Post reporting that Russia has sought to help his presidential campaign.
The Post’s report was published the day after The New York Times reported that House lawmakers were told by U.S. officials last week that Russia was also attempting to interfere in the 2020 elections to help the campaign of President Trump.
Sanders told reporters on the campaign trail Friday that he was briefed on Russian interference efforts “about a month ago,” speculating that the news of potential Russian interference efforts came out now because it was on the eve of the Nevada caucuses.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Let me tell this to Putin -- the American people, whether Republicans, Democrats, independents are sick and tired of seeing Russia and other countries interfering in our elections." pic.twitter.com/ejcP7YVFlt
— The Hill (@thehill) February 21, 2020
Here’s what he said:
“It was not clear what role they were going to play. We were told that Russia, maybe other countries, are gonna get involved in this campaign,” Sanders said.
“The ugly thing that they are doing, and I’ve seen some of their tweets and stuff, is they try to divide us up. That’s what they did in 2016,” he added.
Sanders described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “thug” in a statement on Friday, emphasizing that he stands “firmly against” Russian interference efforts.
“Unlike Donald Trump, I do not consider Vladimir Putin a good friend. He is an autocratic thug who is attempting to destroy democracy and crush dissent in Russia,” Sanders said. “Let’s be clear, the Russians want to undermine American democracy by dividing us up and, unlike the current president, I stand firmly against their efforts, and any other foreign power that wants to interfere in our election.”
Well that’s interesting. I think the auto-hot-take response from the Twitterati will be to dismiss these claims because it would be counter to the narrative that the Russians were help Trump in 2016. But U.S. intelligence officials say that kind of thinking is way too simplistic. The Russian play is not to help this or that candidate, it’s just to encourage chaos. And Bernie is definitely the chaos actors in the primary.
Expect more liberal minds to implode on this report. They’re already calling Bernie a communist plant, which is like, insane to hear from liberals, as an insult anyway! LOL!