01-03-2017 (Photo: With Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov (left) and Aide to the President Yury ) http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/contact http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/schedules http://johnbatchelorshow.com/blog Twitter: @BatchelorShow

Obama Accuses Putin of Attacking Democracy. Stephen F. Cohen @NYU @Princeton University EastWestAccord.com

“House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes said he has not seen evidence that Russia tried to swing the 2016 election to President-elect Trump.

The California Republican is the top congressman in charge of overseeing and funding U.S. intelligence agencies and activities, and he has access to sensitive material.

In a wide-ranging interview Monday with the Washington Examiner'sweekly podcast "Examining Politics," to be broadcast Thursday, Nunes said that he has not seen intelligence proving that Russian strongman Vladimir Putin unleashed his government's computer hackers on the U.S. in a direct bid to defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

"There's no proof that we have from intelligence sources that I've seen that show that the Russians were directly trying to help Trump," Nunes said.

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But Nunes didn't rule it out, either, and he didn't claim Russia wasn't behind the hacking.

But, as Nunes indicated, that's a separate issue from Russian aggression generally. The congressman has been a consistent critic of what he views as President Obama's weak response to Putin's actions.

In fact, he confirmed the assessment of many current and former U.S. officials familiar with Russia's clandestine activities that the Russians present a dangerous threat.

The Russian government is uniquely capable of the sort of "sophisticated" computer hacking required to breach secure government systems, not to mention those run by the Democratic and Republican parties, and practices this form of espionage, including directed at American targets, on an ongoing basis, according to Nunes.

"We have been screaming here in the House of Representatives for many years that the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, North Koreans and other bad actors, every day, were attacking every imaginable place that you could think of, whether it be political parties, to the United States Congress, to the Department of Defense, to our intelligence agencies, to financial institutions," Nunes said. "Specifically, I've always said Russia was the most sophisticated actor in this arena."…”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/house-intel-chair-hasnt-seen-evidence-russia-hacked-for-trump/article/2610751