Trump aides: Democrats’ complaints are sour grapes
ASSOCIATED PRESS
President-elect Donald Trump spoke during a Dec. 15 rally at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. Trump’s closest advisers see Democrats’ complaints that Moscow hacked their private emails this election season as a case of sour grapes.
WASHINGTON >> Sour grapes. That’s how Donald Trump’s closest advisers see Democrats’ complaints that Moscow hacked their private emails this election season in a bid to sow discord among their supporters and sway the election toward Republicans.
The pushback comes ahead of the Electoral College vote, which was expected to make official Trump’s election win and pave his way to take office on Jan. 20.
“Let’s assume it’s true,” Reince Priebus, Trump’s incoming chief of staff, said Sunday of Russian interference in the election. “There’s no evidence that shows that the outcome of the election was changed because of a couple dozen John Podesta emails that were out there.”
The number of leaked emails by Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, was actually closer to tens of thousands. And it’d be difficult to prove exactly what influenced voters.
But Democrats said it was a personal attack and a threat to democracy.
“The emails were weaponized,” said Donna Brazile, interim chair of the Democratic National Committee. “The release of stolen, hacked emails caused a lot of confusion and of course it disrupted our daily campaign life.”
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Foreign policy experts say part of Russia’s calculation was likely a desire for payback for years of U.S. criticism of its own elections and to paint America as a flawed champion of democracy — potentially weakening it on the world stage.
“I would characterize it as a thinly disguised, covert operation intended to discredit the American election and to basically allow the Russians to communicate to the rest of the world that our elections are corrupt, incompetent, rigged, whatever — and therefore no more honest than anybody else’s in the world including theirs,” said Robert Gates, who was defense secretary under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Gates, who is no longer in government but has met privately with Trump, said he couldn’t confirm that Russia was trying to help Trump win.
But “I think it clearly was aimed at discrediting our elections and I think it was aimed certainly at weakening Mrs. Clinton,” he said.
Trump’s transition team and loyalists on Capitol Hill weren’t buying it — at least not on the eve of today’s Electoral College vote.
“Where’s the evidence?” asked Kellyanne Conway, another close Trump adviser.
On Obama’s vow to retaliate against the Russians for hacking, Conway said: “It seems like the president is under pressure from Team Hillary, who can’t accept the election results.”
Trump himself weighed in Sunday evening, tweeting, “If my many supporters acted and threatened people like those who lost the election are doing, they would be scorned & called terrible names!”
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said an unclassified intelligence review could be released within the next two or three weeks.
As president-elect, Trump would have access to high-level intelligence on the cyberattacks, although it’s unclear what he’s been told. Trump has previously called the intelligence finding of Russian involvement “ridiculous.” On Sunday, Conway said she wasn’t privy to the same intelligence briefings as the president-elect and couldn’t say what he knows.
47 responses to “Trump aides: Democrats’ complaints are sour grapes”
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Almighty God Fearing Donna Brazile who knows how its feels to be a persecuted Christian woman contradicted Barry saying the Hackers were hacking the DNC till the end of the elections. Whereas Barry said the hacking stopped when he told Putin to stop the hacking.
Now which Lying Democrat are we to believe? Unbelievable how Liberals/Democrats would still listen to either one of these liars.
I have a new title for Donna in the likes of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and in the same class as all with Charlie Rangle.
The Holy Reverend Donna Brazile. That’s the last you’ll see me refer her as Rev. as in the like of Jesse and Al.
Trump called the election rigged and implied Americans should not recognize the results. Little did we know how right he was.
It is rigged! But the people have spoken with their votes! You had the Stars, the Media, etc. on your side of Politics and the People saw thru your LIES, Cheatings, etc. God Bless the American People!
Two to three weeks before the election when Trump was shouting that the election was rigged against him, this product of affirmative action president came on TV and told Trump “stop your whining.” Now that the election is over and it was not what he expected or the rest of the libs have expected; guess who is whining now…..
Sour Grapes=Sore Losers=Threats of Physical Harm=Death Threats=Democrats/Liberals
January 20, 2017 #MAGA
Yeah, notice how Trump grumbles that all the people grumbling about him are Democrats when in reality a lot of them come from his own Republican party. Trump isn’t a true Republican anyway, and that is one of the reasons why his own party was slow to embrace him. His whole platform was to destroy the political establishment from the top down and create his own oligarchy similar to what his idol Putin has done in Russia.
I don’t recall PE Trump issuing Death Threats to his opposition..similar to Vladi or Democrats.
January 20, 2017 #MAGA
Unbelievable how the republicans, except for a few like John McCain and Lindsey Graham, are unmoved and do not believe the FBI or CIA. Seems like the R’s are okay with close relationship with the Russians.
Q: What EXACTLY did the Russians do that was so harmful to Felony-Shrillary’s campaign, if indeed it was the Russians who hacked into her unprotected home brew server? (Julian Assange vigorously denies it was Russians who provided this trove to WikiLeaks)
A: Whoever did it ‘swift boated’ her – – very much in the manner of revelations about the traitor John Kerry – – by publishing the truth, the text of actual emails written by John Podesta which he himself has not denied.
In other words ANOTHER Democrat Party standard bearer was done in by the TRUTH – – which tells you a lot about how thin the Democrat talent bench has been for more than two decades.
On a related note, one may be forgiven for speculating that even if it WAS the Russians who disgorged these actual emails to derail Felony-Shrillary, they may have done so because of her several, needlessly hostile blunders while pretending to be Secretary of State that caused US-Russian relations to deteriorate so fast (e.g., her unauthorized war against Russia ally, Syria).
The Russians aren’t as bad as The Democrats that run the inner Cities of America! Over 3000+ shootings for the year in Chicago alone! OMG! Are the Russians to blame for the crimes in America? This is worse than the MidEast where there is a War going on!
Chicago’s nearing if not already over 600 gun related deaths! How many Americans were killed in the War torn MidEast? Yikes! Stand aside from politics and see what’s happening around you, REAL LIFE situations for Gawd’s sake.
Actually that is an area where I think the Donald might be good. It is refreshing to have a republican president who doesn’t refer to Russia as the Evil Empire. Whether this can last though is anyone’s guess.
It is refreshing to have a republican president who doesn’t refer to Russia as the Evil Empire.
You been some kinda Rip Van Winkle the last three decades?
Even the Gipper, who originally used the term, softened his view after he and Iron Lady Thatcher and Saint John Paul II and Lech Wolensa/Solidarnosc had so weakened the USSR that it was brought to the brink of collapse when with a single utterance, Reagan brought down the wall.
Thanks to the cost leveraging strategy of a mere threat to devise and deploy a three phase defense in depth against ICBMs known as Strategic Defense Initiative, Reagan understood that the there was no way that the already highly leveraged Soviet “economy” would permit them to undertake so hideously expensive a project.
While sneering American know it alls scoffed at what they dismissively called ‘star wars’, the Soviets VIVIDLY recalled beating us into orbit in October 1957, only to have us come from behind and make the giant leap onto the floor of Tranquility Crater less than a dozen years later.
Because they could not afford to compete with us, they decided that the era of the hardliners – – a la Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko – – was over and instead launched a charm offensive in the person of Mikhail Gorbachev, which as they intended launched the US “news” media into a Gorbasm frenzy. Unfortunately Gorby’s two main charm initiatives – – perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) – – got away from him and the USSR literally dis-integrated. And all with out the Gipper having to fire a shot. Like the wicked witch of the west after Dorothy Gale threw a bucket of water one her, the formerly evil empire dissolved.
T’was the Soviet Union to which Ronald referred to as the evil empire, not Russia. As a card carrying Marxist you should know that.
Allie, klastri, keaukaka among others heads up the list of whiners. Stop with the whining and win with Trump.
lol, and how is one to win with Trump? Face it the Donald is going to be the most corrupt president we ever had where conflicts of interest rule the day. Already we have one with Turkey. What will follow? Tip of the ice burg. But this is what happens when so many ignore basic facts and go with simplistic slogans.
The Clinton’s were/are corrupt as of today! lol, Trump’s not in history as POTUS as of yet
Clinton and her team are sore losers. She lost because she tried to manipulate the election by getting debate questions, her private server, her remark about deploables e a campaign highly negative of people that did not agree with her liberal agenda, es, Libya, “what difference does it make” and her absolute disgust with White people of the country. The people did not want a liar and a cheat to use her position to enrich herself. Clinton only cares about Clinton and not the USA.
Well said.
If and when Democrat Party moguls undertake a much needed post mortem, they will soon realize that Felony Shrillary was THE worst candidate they could possibly have offered up.
Besides being an unlikeable, foul mouthed, power lusting, fingernails on blackboard ‘orator’, this aging, unattractive harridan has one main problem: she is aggressively S T U P I D. Thanks to her remarkably lousy judgment (e.g. calling half the voters in America ‘deplorable’) everything she touches she turns into a smelly pile of [scatological term redacted] – – a kind of reverse spin Midas effect.
Fake News!!! She called HALF of Trump voters Diplorables NOT half of America…That equates to about 23% of the voters are diplorable…That’s a numerical FACT…#MAGA
Voter suppression efforts by republicans had a much larger role in the Donald’s victory than any supposed hacking by the pinko commies. So the republicans have stolen another election but now they will have to govern. No more just bitching about things, they actually have to come up with constructive actions to improve the country. Can or will they be able to do this? I don’t think so. A party that has been corrupted by Voodoo, is likely to just continue pushing welfare for the rich. Last time we had such a president, we had the grand recession. We shall see if republicans can avoid another grand recession.
Obama = “The Great Mistake”
Why is this such a big deal? Prove it or zip it! All this jibberish is wasting people’s time and energy.
It can’t be Proven OR Disproven because both sides don’t want to leave their ECHO chambers to HEAR each other. Both sides have VALID points but there WASTED in each other…#MAGA
Need to set up more free counseling centers for all of these depressed anti trump cupcakes to go to.. They will need to set up many appointments as Trump will
be president for 8 years. Before that time Obama and Clinton will be forgotten. Obama’s legacy will be one of failure and the weakening of America.
one in which where the Barry was the Greatest contributor for TheDonald’s win. The Liberals/Democrats don’t have to look any further than themselves. But as we see the Truth, The Democrats will blame everyone and everything but themselves for failures. So many LIES and deceiving the general public will go only so far before you one gets caught.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Wouldn’t it be Funny, if the Electoral votes in the Democratic controlled states SWITCHED their votes and cast it for the POTUS Donald J. Trump?
I mean, the Left(The Hateful Gang of 8) here ,will literally go into Shock and once again seek their favorite Pet Rock to Crawl under….. ie; Klast3 “The Intern”, Boots “In my Mouth again”, Keaukaha “Counting Sand”, Allie, “Not sure if I’m American Indian or Japanese” Shibai or Nana0ko0lele, Wait ,wait, I’m forgetting someone, maybe still hiding under his pet rock? Yeah it’s “Yikes ” the Ike,and the rest of the Shameful Gang of 8….Haaaaaaaaaaaa. Sorry I had a great weekend!
Hypothetically speaking:
What if Hawaii changed their Electoral votes?
I know,I know it’s highly unlikely Hawaii will Change it’s votes. I know ,I Know just go along with me,just for the sake of this argument….. But what if?
OK.OK enough of the Hypothetical, I see faces turning red….in Rage!lol.
Is it me?
You know watching this nonsense on TV is so Stupid not to mention embarrassing! Poor Sports!
It’s like having that feeling of watching a close friend of yours,trying to make a point….. and fails(“Big League”) and ends up making a complete fool of himself! Remember that? You can’t watch it! It’s unbearable! This is exactly what the Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein,The DNC,The Left,Protesters,The MSM and yes even the Republicans are all……. “Making Complete Fools of themselves!IMUA
Now Why didn’t I expect this? Nice try though. Thanks SA/ Washington Post another Non Credible News agency.
How ironic is it that Obama went out of his way to make friends with Russia, even saying he’d have more freedom to deal with them after he won the election? He also chastised Romney for calling Russia the greatest threat to the U.S. NOW, how ironic is it that all the left-wing liberal democrats (LWLD) are blaming Russia for their loss? Perhaps all these LWLDs should spend more time studying world issues instead of political correctness.
Now if this had happened when Obama was first elected I wonder what the responses would have been???
Wow, the Democrats haven’t been this upset since the Republicans took their slaves away from them.
All we are sayyyiiing.. is give Trump a chance.
Why not Peace???
when obama sent tax payers money to israel that was used to campaign against netenyahu, there was a paper trail of the money funding a not for profit group who engaged in an anti-netenyahu campaign. but, the democrats called it mere speculation when obama was accused of interfering with israel’s elections.
yet, in the case of russia and the u.s. elections, the democrats are willing to accuse and convict russia, without evidence, of single handedly causing clinton’s loss.
democrats need to deal with the actual causes of clinton’s loss: clinton.
Jenifer Rubiin, the extremely conservative columnist for the Washington Post, wrote: “the Trump camp insists we must believe — contrary to the overwhelming mound of evidence from all intelligence entities — that Russian responsibility is unproved, for to do otherwise would make Trump’s win seem less convincing. And if U.S. national security interests are harmed, well, that’s a small price to pay for supporting the frail ego of a narcissist.”
https://theintercept.com/2016/12/14/heres-the-public-evidence-russia-hacked-the-dnc-its-not-enough/
Pretty reasonable summary of the situation. Enough to go to war? Throw out the election? Or intensify our own government’s clandestine cyber skills..
17 intelligence agencies agree, but Trump doesn’t believe in intelligence. Do you ever wonder why the Republican party, the party of endless investigations, can’t seem to be bothered when Putin interferes with the fundamental basis of our democracy?
Nice to see all the Trump supporters in this forum giving each other high-fives for Trump’s win. I hope you are all strong enough to carry all Trump’s baggages into his presidency. Remember he’s a business man with ties all over the world. He’ll be making deals while being President and even giving his kids advice on how to preserve his business ties. He’s a liar and a fraud. Just look at his foundation and the Trump U as examples. And don’t hold your breath that ObamaCare will be repealed the day after Trump is made President. He’ll tweak it a little and call it TrumpCare.
Crooked Lying Hillary trumps Trump, lol
Lock her Up!
IRT Pocho: Didn’t see previous post mention Clinton but great post by you…#MAGA
Question for all these upset democrats, Would you rather see Trump succeed in making America Great Again or Would you rather see Trump fail and seriously hurt our country?
Everyone would of course say that they would want the president to succeed. But if one tosses gas onto a lit fire, one can hope all they want that it won’t spread but guess what? The fire will grow, not shrink. In the same way, practicing Voodoo can only have one result. It will not make America great again, but it sure will destroy the American economy.
AhiPoke would you rather have seen CLINTON succeed in Making America Great Again or Would you rather see CLINTON fail and seriously hurt our country? #MAGA
Read all the excuses why Hillary lost, according to hubby Bill Clinton. He’s just angry because he won’t be able to audition congressional interns as planned.
No doubt Bill is angry. Guess he’ll have to console himself with recreational activities since his wife will not be occupying the WH. He can use his frequent flyer points to visit orgy island for periodic “tune ups”.
here is something better that will help you make money from these sour grapes crying liberals, if you own shares in the stock market invest in Kleenex tissues you will make a killing earning money.