More reason for Senate Republicans to grow a pair

Fiona Hill, a respected Russia scholar and former senior White House official, added a harsh critique during testimony on Thursday. She told some of Mr. Trump’s fiercest defenders in Congress that they were repeating “a fictional narrative.” She said that it likely came from a disinformation campaign by Russian security services, which also propagated it.

In a briefing that closely aligned with Dr. Hill’s testimony, American intelligence officials informed senators and their aides in recent weeks that Russia had engaged in a yearslong campaign to essentially frame Ukraine as responsible for Moscow’s own hacking of the 2016 election, according to three American officials. The briefing came as Republicans stepped up their defenses of Mr. Trump in the Ukraine affair.

  NYT

Yeah, they don't care if our country has been undermined by the Russians. They don't care if they have a Russian asset in the White House. They either need to grow some balls or be voted out of office. This story needs wings. Democrats should be bringing it up every time they talk to a reporter or engage in a public event.  Trump keeps crying about a "hoax".  Here it is.

[U]nfounded claims about Ukrainian interference seeped into Republican talking points. American intelligence agencies believe Moscow is likely to redouble its efforts as the 2020 presidential campaign intensifies. The classified briefing for senators also focused on Russia’s evolving influence tactics, including its growing ability to better disguise operations.

[...]

Since Ukraine won independence in 1991, Russia has tried to reassert influence there, meddling in its politics, maligning pro-Western leaders and accusing Ukrainian critics of Moscow of fascist leanings.

“The Russians have a particular vested interest in putting Ukraine, Ukrainian leaders in a very bad light,” she told lawmakers.

[...]

Russian intelligence operatives deployed a network of agents to blame Ukraine for its 2016 interference. Starting at least in 2017, the operatives peddled a mixture of now-debunked conspiracy theories along with established facts to leave an impression that the government in Kyiv, not Moscow, was responsible for the hackings of Democrats and its other interference efforts in 2016, senior intelligence officials said.

The whole basis to the Trump-Giuliani-Mulvaney-Sondland-Pompeo-and now we find-Nunes misinformation campaign to destroy Joe Biden and cover up Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The Russian intelligence officers conveyed the information to prominent Russians and Ukrainians who then used a range of intermediaries, like oligarchs, businessmen and their associates, to pass the material to American political figures and even some journalists, who were likely unaware of its origin, the officials said.

And could they not do a little investigating?

That muddy brew worked its way into American information ecosystems, sloshing around until parts of it reached Mr. Trump, who has also spoken with Mr. Putin about allegations of Ukrainian interference.

Sure. When Trump was in Helsinki standing with Putin and denouncing American Intelligence reports of Russian interference, Putin was coaching him.

Republicans have denounced any suggestion that their concerns about Ukrainian meddling are without merit or that they are ignoring Russia’s broader interference. “Not a single Republican member of this committee said Russia did not meddle in the 2016 elections,” Representative Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, said Thursday.

Sure, try to clean it up. But not a single Republican member of the committee said much of anything about it.

Indeed, Ms. Stefanik and her Republican colleagues on the Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee, which is conducting the impeachment hearing, have also steered clear of the fringe notion that Mr. Trump mentioned to Mr. Zelensky, which is pushed by Russian intelligence: the so-called CrowdStrike server conspiracy theory, which falsely suggests Ukraine, not Russia, was behind the breach of Democratic operatives’ servers.

They just sit back and let Trump trumpet the falsehood himself. AND they hammered over and over about some supposed scandal involving Hunter and Joe Biden, which is part and parcel of the story that Ukraine was the real culprit.

In her testimony, Dr. Hill noted Russia’s pattern of trying to blame other countries for its own actions, like the attempted poisoning last year of a former Russian intelligence officer or the downing of a passenger jet over Ukraine in 2014. Moscow’s goal is to cast doubt on established facts, said current and former officials.

“The strategy is simply to create the impression that it is not really possible to know who was really behind it,” said Laura Rosenberger, the director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy, which tracks Russian disinformation efforts.

[...]

It is not clear when American intelligence agencies learned about Moscow’s campaign or when precisely it began.

And I look forward to seeing if Republicans in the Senate call Alexandra Chalupa and others the House Republicans have been constantly whining about not getting to hear from as witnesses for the actual trial.  What do you want to bet they don't dare?  They'll just leave people thinking there was something there that the Democrats were trying to hide.  I think the Democrats should call them all.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: