donald trump

donald trump

This is only my opinion, and not the representation of Saintel Daily, LLC.

When it comes to the 2016 Presidential Election, I think we are all extremely confused.  Or is it just me?  That’s not to say that I am unclear on what happened.  I think I am, but when it comes to the facts, they’re kind of hazy, so I’m just basing my opinions on what I read in the media.  What’s so incredible about this whole thing is that the U.S. intelligence community and the Oval Office differ greatly in what they believe to have happened.  It’s no surprise that Donald Trump believes Russia when Putin says they didn’t have anything to do with it.  And why wouldn’t he?  He’s the only person who has something to lose if it comes out that Russia did.  His job!

Almost every U.S intelligence and national security agency is involved in this massively coordinated effort.  Their goal? To figure out if there will be foreign influence in the 2018 or 2020 elections.  Their priority at this point is to make sure that “it” doesn’t happen again.  Whatever that might be.  On Thursday, officials gathered at the White House for a press briefing. Officials at the briefing include White House National Security Advisor John Bolton, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, and General Paul Nakasone, head of U.S. Cyber Command.

The good news?  According to Coats, the efforts to meddle in this upcoming election is “not the kind of robust campaign that we assessed in the 2016 election”.  Meaning, it’s possible that it won’t be as bad, but they are still on high alert because when it comes to cybersecurity, things can change in a heartbeat.

Because this was a press briefing, following the statements made by the above officials, were a firing range of questions.:

REPORTER: The special counsel, Robert Mueller, has indicted more than 20 Russian officials based on work by the FBI for meddling in the 2016 election. The President has tweeted that that investigation by the special counsel is a ‘hoax’ and should be shut down. I know you’ve said you don’t believe it is a hoax, but why would the American people believe what you’re saying about the FBI when the president says that the investigation by the special counsel is a hoax and when the press secretary yesterday said there is a lot of corruption within the FBI?

DIRECTOR WRAY: Well, I can assure the American people that the men and women of the FBI, starting from the director all the way on down, are going to follow our oath and do our job.

That’s kind of a lame answer, don’t you think?  I’m not saying that you have to throw anyone under the bus at this point, but don’t give us some kind of sugar-coated message, when all we want to know is the truth.  Sure, do your job, but tell us what you’ve figured out.  Not only that, but the president has gone on record saying that these indictments are all a hoax.  While I don’t really understand how it would be a hoax, I think that it’s something that Wray should have addressed.

This is certainly far from over.  All of these people have a duty to protect the American people, so it will be interesting to see if justice prevails or if the can gets kicked down the road a bit farther.