President Barack Obama was briefed in the summer of 2016 about an unverified Russian intelligence analysis that claimed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was then the Democratic presidential nominee, approved an effort to tie candidate Donald Trump to Russia’s hack of the Democratic National Committee, the nation's top spy chief revealed on Tuesday.
A one-page letter Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe sent to and released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said U.S. intelligence agencies obtained, in late July 2016, "insight into Russian intelligence analysis alleging that U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had approved a campaign plan to stir up a scandal against U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and the Russians' hacking of the Democratic National Committee." But, Ratcliffe stressed, the intelligence community "does not know the accuracy of this allegation or the extent to which the Russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or fabrication.”
The release of this information, just hours before the first debate between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden and one day before former FBI Director James Comey testifies before Graham's committee, was met with instant condemnation by Democrats in Congress.
"It's very disturbing to me that 35 days before an election, a director of national intelligence would release unverified Russian rumint," Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, told reporters.
"This is Russian disinformation," Rachel Cohen, the communications director for Warner, tweeted. “Laundered by the Director Of National Intelligence and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. This is extraordinary.” Cohen did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner's question about what she was basing her claim on and whether any intelligence assessment existed concluding this was Russian disinformation.
Ratcliffe released a statement to the Washington Examiner less than two hours after Graham unveiled his letter to address the backlash. "To be clear, this is not Russian disinformation and has not been assessed as such by the intelligence community. I'll be briefing Congress on the sensitive sources and methods by which it was obtained in the coming days," he said.
(FOX 9) - Police departments are reporting a nationwide 911 outage Monday evening.
Shortly after 6:30 p.m., several Minnesota police departments reported that 911 services are down.
As the outage is being investigated, officials are encouraging residents to contact local departments via the local number if emergency services are needed. Some are also encouraging residents to call the fire department.
https://www.fox9.com/news/police-departments-report-nationwide-911-outage
