Last December, at the height of the “Russia hacked the election” scandal, we showed that between 1946 and 2000, the US had interfered in foreign presidential elections at least 81 times in the period from 1946 through 2000. And while millions of Americans were aware just how “innocent” the US government in general, and the CIA in particular, have been few dared to mention it in public.
Until today, when in an unexpected moment of honesty U. S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Wednesday the while idea of Russian involvement in U. S. election is bothersome, he added the United States doesn’t “come to the table with clean hands”, noting the CIA’s involvement in an Italian election in the 1940s. Of course, there are many, many other examples of CIA intervention, but we’ll settle for the admission of one to start.
Grassley said that intelligence community leaks of classified information should concern Americans just as much as foreign meddling in U. S. elections. Grassley, an Iowa Republican and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also equated apparent Russian interference in the 2016 election with past operations by the United States to influence the outcomes of foreign political contests.
Grassley, who has made encouraging and protecting government whistleblowers part of his portfolio in Washington, expressed deep reservations about the leaks that have informed news stories in recent days and ultimately forced Flynn’s ouster. Such leaks by intelligence officials are illegal and are not protected by whistleblower laws, Grassley said. “We need to start considering that it’s not only dangerous and scary that some foreign power attempts to influence our elections, but it may be even scarier that intelligence officials in our own government might be trying to undermine our government,’ he said.
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Feb 15, 2017.
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