For weeks Michael Flynn continued to sit in on top secret intelligence briefings even after it was determined that he had been compromised.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Senior officials across the government became convinced in January that the incoming national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, had become vulnerable to Russian blackmail. 

At the F.B.I., the C.I.A., the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — agencies responsible for keeping American secrets safe from foreign spies — career officials agreed that Mr. Flynn represented an urgent problem. 

Yet nearly every day for three weeks, the new C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo, sat in the Oval Office and briefed President Trump on the nation’s most sensitive intelligence — with Mr. Flynn listening. Mr. Pompeo has not said whether C.I.A. officials left him in the dark about their views of Mr. Flynn, but one administration official said Mr. Pompeo did not share any concerns about Mr. Flynn with the president. 

The episode highlights a remarkable aspect of Mr. Flynn’s tumultuous, 25-day tenure in the White House: He sat atop a national security apparatus that churned ahead despite its own conclusion that he was at risk of being compromised by a hostile foreign power.

It should also be remembered that during this time Trump was actively trying to get James Comey to drop the investigation into Flynn's Russian connections.

I think it is high time that CIA Director Mike Pompeo makes another appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Because either he provided classified information to a man that he knew was compromised, or he was out of the loop and did not know he was compromised. Both equally troubling.

When asked previously Pompeo dodged the question: 

Mr. Pompeo sidestepped questions from senators last month about his handling of the information about Mr. Flynn, declining to say whether he knew about his own agency’s concerns. “I can’t answer yes or no,” he said. “I regret that I’m unable to do so.” His words frustrated Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. 

“Either Director Pompeo had no idea what people in the C.I.A. reportedly knew about Michael Flynn, or he knew about the Justice Department’s concerns and continued to discuss America’s secrets with a man vulnerable to blackmail,” Mr. Wyden said in a statement. “I believe Director Pompeo owes the public an explanation.”

Yep, I agree.

As it stand right now we are left with two options.

Either this Administration is the most incompetent administration in the history of the country, or it is the most corrupt.

Donald Trump finally has that intelligence briefing, acknowledges "possibility" that Russia hacked DNC, claims it changed nothing.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

President-elect Donald J. Trump acknowledged the possibility on Friday that Russia had hacked a variety of American targets, including the Democratic National Committee, after an almost two-hour meeting with the nation’s top intelligence officials. 

Mr. Trump asserted the hacking had no effect on the outcome of the election.

Here is Trump's full statement after the briefing:  

"While Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democrat National Committee, there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines. There were attempts to hack the Republican National Committee, but the RNC had strong hacking defenses and the hackers were unsuccessful," Trump said in a statement released after the session. 

"Whether it is our government, organizations, associations or businesses we need to aggressively combat and stop cyberattacks.”

Trump then announced plans to appoint a team to look into cyber security during the first 90 days of his presidency.

(Personally I don't know why he simply does not call up Vlad and ask him how he did it and to please stop doing it.)

For their part the NSA, CIA, and FBI jointly released a declassified version of the report that Donald Trump, President Obama, and other key officials have just seen.

I found this part in particular rather informative:

We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments. 

We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President- elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him. All three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence. 

Moscow’s approach evolved over the course of the campaign based on Russia’s understanding of the electoral prospects of the two main candidates. When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign began to focus more on undermining her future presidency. 

Further information has come to light since Election Day that, when combined with Russian behavior since early November 2016, increases our confidence in our assessments of Russian motivations and goals. 

Based on this, Trump's contention that these hacks had no impact is absolutely ridiculous. 

Perhaps they did not hack the voting machines themselves, but they clearly hacked into the minds of the American voters and helped to shape their opinion of Hillary Clinton and the DNC.

And before somebody makes the claim that all the hacks did was reveal information about the DNC and Clinton which upset the voters, you must remember that these snippets of e-mails were constantly being misrepresented or exaggerated to the point where they often did not even remotely resemble the original source.

It took almost an army of fact checkers to go back and explain what the sensational headlines got wrong, but sadly the publications which corrected the lies rarely showed up on people's Facebook news feeds.

But as for whether the Russian hacks changed the outcome of the election I would go a little deeper, as far back as 2013, when a hacker named Guccifer hacked the e-mail of Clinton pal Sid Blumenthal.

Now though Guccifer, real name Marcel Lazar Lehel, was supposedly Romanian, his IP address was traced back to Russia.

Not only that but subsequent leaks came from a number of folks all using the pseudonym Guccifer 2.0. (I hardly think that is a coincidence.)

And those leaks have now been determined  (Read the report) to have come from Russian hackers. 

So if this first Guccifer was ALSO a Russian operative, that would mean that since it was from Blumenthal's e-mails that we first learned of Hillary's private server, which then of course inspired the GOP led congressional witch hunt, that also provided ammunition for James Comey's eleventh hour suggestion that Clinton might still be indicted, then that would mean that virtually EVERYTHING that damaged Hillary's credibility and undermined her character came directly from Russian directed hacking.

And yes, THAT most definitely impacted the outcome of this election.

In short this report should disqualify Donald J. Trump from being sworn in as our 45th president, because a hostile foreign government interceded to help him to win that title.

And America, the home of democracy, simply cannot let that stand. Period!

Intelligence officials identify go-betweens Russians used to funnel hacked material to Wikileaks. Oh, and the Russians celebrated Trump's victory. Update!

Courtesy of CNN: 

US intelligence has identified the go-betweens the Russians used to provide stolen emails to WikiLeaks, according to US officials familiar with the classified intelligence report that was presented to President Barack Obama on Thursday.

As if that were not enough the officials also intercepted this little tidbit: 

Senior officials in the Russian government celebrated Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton as a geopolitical win for Moscow, according to U.S. officials who said that American intelligence agencies intercepted communications in the aftermath of the election in which Russian officials congratulated themselves on the outcome. 

The ebullient reaction among high-ranking Russian officials — including some who U.S. officials believe had knowledge of the country’s cyber campaign to interfere in the U.S. election — contributed to the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow’s efforts were aimed at least in part at helping Trump win the White House.

Well now isn't that interesting?

Sometime today Trump is also going to be briefed on this same intelligence.

Gee, I wonder how that will go?

Update: Well I guess it's a good thing my irony meter broke several years back, because this would snap it off like an icicle in winter it it hadn't.

The Obama admin/CIA is illegally funneling TOP SECRET//COMINT information to NBC for political reasons before PEOTUS even gets to read it.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 6, 2017

Seriously, just how deep is this rabbit hole we are in?

Update 2: Just like clockwork.

I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

Remember leaks are only okay if they directly benefit Donald Trump. 

Donald Trump puts off press conference. Falsely blames delay on intelligence community.

The "Intelligence" briefing on so-called "Russian hacking" was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017

That was the tweet Trump sent out yesterday referring to the press conference that he promised to hold today concerning the Russians hacking our election.

Did you notice that Trump put intelligence in quotation marks?

The problem is that according to the intelligence folks that briefing was ALWAYS scheduled for Friday: 

A senior U.S. intelligence official with direct knowledge of the situation told NBC News Tuesday night that the heads of the NSA, CIA, FBI and the director of national intelligence were always scheduled to meet with Trump on Friday. 

But here's the thing, as the president elect Trump can essentially get a briefing pretty much every single day.

We already know that many Senators, including Lindsay Graham and John McCain, have been briefed and believe firmly that the Russians are behind these hacks, so how can Trump not know?

Perhaps because he does not WANT to know.

Julian Assange said "a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta" - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017

"@FoxNews: Julian Assange on U.S. media coverage: “It’s very dishonest.” #Hannity pic.twitter.com/ADcPRQifH9" More dishonest than anyone knows

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017

So Trump is now openly questioning the findings of the American intelligence community and instead choosing to believe Julian Assange. 

And you know the reason for that is because he is worried that the reports by the intelligence community, and there is a big report by the CIA headed to the President's desk in the next few days, will de-legitimize his election and undermine his ability to lead this country.

Which, in my opinion, is exactly what they should do.

#NotMyPresident

Forty members of the Electoral College demand an intelligence briefing before casting this vote, while Trump campaign threatens members with a "political reprisal."

Courtesy of The Hill:  

Forty members of the Electoral College on Tuesday signed a letter demanding an intelligence briefing on Russian interference in the election ahead of their Dec. 19 vote. 

Ten electors originally signed the letter when it was published Monday, and 30 more have since added their names. 

The open letter — led by Christine Pelosi, the daughter of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) — urged Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to give a detailed briefing on President-elect Donald Trump's ties to Russia. 

“We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr. Trump is fit to serve as President of the United States,” the letter read. The Clinton campaign applauded the effort Monday, saying it had repeatedly warned about Russian interference aimed at swaying the election in Trump’s favor.

Now there are 538 electors altogether and it only requires 270 electors to give Trump the presidency, however if enough of these electors receive a briefing and then decide that they cannot in good conscience cast their ballot for Donald Trump that could throw a monkey wrench into this whole thing.

And as unlikely as that scenario might feel, there is at least some concern on the part of the Trump campaign.

Courtesy of Salon:

Donald Trump’s campaign is pressuring Republican electors into voting for them under “threats of political reprisal,” according to a member of the Electoral College who spoke to Salon under the condition of anonymity. 

“We have gotten reports from multiple people,” the elector said, “that the Donald Trump campaign is putting pressure on Republican electors to vote for him based on . . . future political outcomes based on whether they vote for Donald Trump or not.” 

The elector emphasized that these reports had come straight from the Republican electors themselves, with the threats steering clear of violence but instead focusing on “career pressure.” 

“It’s all political, basically,” the elector said. “If Trump becomes the president, he’s going to be able to put pressure on the state parties and they won’t be involved anymore.”

Sounds like somebody might be a little worried.

Interestingly enough I happened to catch a little of MTP Daily on MSNBC the other day, and after discussing the fact that the Electoral College was created in order to protect America from a candidate put in place and controlled by another country, Chuck Todd made this statement:

"If we are not going to use the Electoral College we should abolish it."

His point being that if the Electoral College was created to prevent the very thing we are witnessing right now, and it fails to stop it, then what use is it?

And while I rarely agree with Chuck Todd on anything, I thought that was a very valid point to make.

Clinton campaign publicly supports an effort by the Electoral College to request an intelligence briefing concerning Russia's involvement with the election before casting their ballots.

Courtesy of Politico: 

Hillary Clinton’s top political adviser John Podesta said the campaign is supporting an effort by members of the Electoral College to request an intelligence briefing on foreign intervention in the presidential election. 

“The bipartisan electors' letter raises very grave issues involving our national security,” Podesta said in a statement Monday. “Electors have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution and we support their efforts to have their questions addressed.”

“Each day that month, our campaign decried the interference of Russia in our campaign and its evident goal of hurting our campaign to aid Donald Trump,” he said. “Despite our protestations, this matter did not receive the attention it deserved by the media in the campaign. We now know that the CIA has determined Russia's interference in our elections was for the purpose of electing Donald Trump. This should distress every American.” 

Podesta's statement is the first public statement from the Clinton campaign raising questions about the legitimacy of Donald Trump's victory.

This is a great idea.

I think that knowing for sure that your election was legitimate is a good idea before you cast your vote for the President of the United States.

But hey, that's just me.

By the way it should also be pointed out that Hillary's popular vote victory is now over 2.8 million. (2,843,860 to be exact.)

Courtesy of the Independent:  

Donald Trump lost the popular vote in last month’s US presidential election by a bigger margin than any other US president in history. 

The Republican is currently trailing Democrat rival Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million votes as the last remaining postal ballots are counted – despite him winning the November 8 election because of the Electoral College system. 

That deficit is more than five times bigger than the 544,000 by which George W. Bush lost to Al Gore in 2000 - the second biggest popular vote deficit in history for a candidate who has still gone on to become President. 

It appears that James Comey, Wikileaks, and Vladimir Putin did not do such a bang up job of stealing this election after all.

Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!! Update!

Courtesy of Wonkette.

Courtesy of CNN:  

Donald Trump will receive his first classified national security briefing Wednesday in New York, two sources told CNN. 

The briefing, prepared by the director of national intelligence, will be the first in what could be several classified briefings Trump will receive as the Republican nominee for president. Trump has never before had access to classified national security information.

Jesus Christ, why would we do this?

I don't care if it is customary, I would not tell this lunatic my real middle name much less anything classified.  (By the way for the record my middle name is not "Asswipe." My mother just tells people that.)

I wonder how many nanoseconds it will take before Trump dials up his pal Putin and starts telling him about the handful of secrets we still have that he HASN'T already learned by hacking virtually every government agency in the country?

And by the way, whatever happened to Harry Reid's idea of giving Trump fake intelligence briefings?

That was a great plan!

Besides we already know that he will believe virtually any bullshit thing he is told.

'It's just a 2-point race, Clinton 38%, Trump 36%' https://t.co/EzDzJ4EzIN

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2016

See?

Update: Apparently Trump does not even trust intelligence briefings:

Hours before he is set to receive his first classified intelligence briefing, Donald Trump said he does not trust information coming out of U.S. intelligence agencies and indicated he would cease relying on the bulk of the intelligence community’s massive workforce. 

That's right Donald it's all a bunch of lies. Certainly not even worth your time to leak it to the press or slip to your pals in Russia.

You fucking moron. 

I guess we should assume that if Trump were to actually win the election that he would ignore the State Department briefings altogether, and go to what he considers legitimate sources of information.

World Net Daily and the Drudge Report.