Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Technical Analysis of the House Intelligence Report

It is too boring to read the report so I am looking for a few keywords.  The page number is in parentheses.

Without Merit, Debunked, Discredited, No Credible Evidence, False or the equivalent:
 a discredited theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 presidential election. (12)
 the other into a discredited conspiracy theory alleging that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. The allegations about Vice President Biden were without evidence, and the U.S. Intelligence Community had unanimously determined that Russia, not Ukraine, interfered in the 2016 election to help the candidacy of Donald Trump. Despite the falsehoods (13)
He counseled Mr. Giuliani that the Ukrainian prosecutor pushing the false narrative, Mr. Lutsenko, was promoting “a self-serving narrative to preserve himself in power.” (20)
 this false narrative has been promoted by President Putin (26)
Like the White House, the Department of State refused to produce a single document in response to its subpoena, even though there is no legal basis for the Department’s actions. (30)
 the Department is withholding responsive documents from Congress without any valid legal basis (30)
—sought to pressure and induce Ukraine’s newly-elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to publicly announce unfounded investigations (34)
Mr. Giuliani and his associates promoted false conspiracy theories about Ukraine colluding with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election. This false claim was promoted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2017—less than a month after the unanimous U.S. Intelligence Community assessment that Russia alone was responsible for a covert influence campaign aimed at helping President Trump during the 2016 election. Mr. Giuliani also made discredited public allegations about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in an apparent effort to hurt President Trump’s political rival in the 2020 presidential election. Mr. Giuliani’s associates, with their own ties to President Trump, also worked to enter into arrangements with current and former corrupt Ukrainian officials to promote these false allegations—the same unfounded allegations President Trump requested that Ukraine investigate on his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (38)
Ambassador Yovanovitch asked Ambassador Perez specifically whether this order had anything to do with President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who had been making unfounded allegations against her in the media. (40)
Mr. Lutsenko promoted debunked conspiracy theories that had gained traction with President Trump and Mr. Giuliani. Those debunked conspiracy theories alleged that the Ukrainian government—not Russia—was behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) server in 2016, and that former Vice President Biden had petitioned for the removal of Mr. Shokin to prevent an investigation into Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company for which Vice President Biden’s son, Hunter, served as a board member. (42)
President Trump’s former Homeland Security Advisor, Tom Bossert, said that the idea of Ukraine hacking the DNC server was “not only a conspiracy theory, it is completely debunked.” (42)
The allegations that Vice President Biden inappropriately pressured the Ukrainians to remove Mr. Shokin also are without merit. (42)
 even Mr. Lutsenko himself admitted that there was no credible evidence of wrongdoing by Hunter Biden or Vice President Biden (42)
Ambassador Hale agreed that the allegations were without merit. (44)
 there was a coordinated effort by associates of President Trump to push these false narratives publicly (45)
alleged “evidence” of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections (47)
Rudy Giuliani also announced a plan to visit Ukraine in mid-May 2019—not on official U.S. government business, but instead to pursue on behalf of his client, President Trump, the debunked conspiracy theories about alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election and discredited claims about the Bidens. (51)
Like Mr. Solomon’s previous work, this April 25 piece repeated unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (54)
Nonetheless, President Trump and his supporters sought to perpetuate the false narrative that Mr. Shokin should not have been removed from office and that Vice President Biden had acted corruptly in carrying out U.S. policy. (56)
Ambassador Volker had learned that Mr. Giuliani intended to travel to Ukraine “to pursue these allegations that Lutsenko had made, and he was going to investigate these things”—specifically, the debunked story that Vice President Biden had improperly pressured Ukraine to fire a corrupt prosecutor general, as well as the Russian-backed conspiracy that the Ukrainians interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. Ambassador Volker testified that he had a simple warning for Mr. Giuliani: Prosecutor General Lutsenko “is not credible. (58)
President Trump also alleged, without offering any evidence, that Ukraine “tried to take me down” in the 2016 election. (63)
In 2019, that bipartisan policy was undermined when President Trump ordered, without justification, a freeze on military assistance to Ukraine. (67)
After ordering the hold on security assistance to Ukraine against the unanimous advice of the relevant U.S. government agencies, President Trump used his hand-picked representatives to demand that Ukrainian leaders publicly announce investigations into his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, and into the debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. (83)
Ambassador Volker clarified that by “the Giuliani factor,” he meant “a negative narrative about Ukraine” (86)
 Mr. Giuliani and Ambassador Volker discussed the discredited allegations against former Vice President Biden relating to Ukraine (92)
During a call on July 25, President Trump asked President Zelensky of Ukraine to “do us a favor though” and investigate his political opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. (97)
Witnesses unanimously testified that President Trump’s claims about former Vice President Biden and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election have been discredited. (98)
Dr. Fiona Hill, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs at the National Security Council, testified that the conspiracy theories about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election touted by President Trump are a “fictional narrative that is being perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services.” She noted that President Trump’s former Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert and former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster repeatedly advised the President that the so-called “CrowdStrike” conspiracy theory that President Trump raised in the July 25 call is completelydebunked,” and that allegations Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. election are false. (98)
He first requested that Ukraine investigate a discredited conspiracy theory (101)
President Trump was referencing the widely debunked conspiracy theory that the Ukrainian government—and not Russia—was behind the hack of Democratic National Committee (DNC) servers in 2016 (101)
“a fictional narrative that is being perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.” (101)
Tom Bossert, President Trump’s former Homeland Security Advisor, stated publicly that the CrowdStrike theory is “not only a conspiracy theory, it is completely debunked.” Dr. Hill testified that White House officials—including Mr. Bossert and former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster—“spent a lot of time” refuting the CrowdStrike conspiracy theory to President Trump. (101)
She affirmed that President Trump was advised that “the alternative theory that Ukraine had interfered in the election was false (102)
they were not aware of any credible evidence to support the claim that former Vice President Biden acted inappropriately when he advocated for the removal of Mr. Shokin (103)
Lt. Col. Vindman testified during his deposition that, prior to the July 25 call, he was aware of concerns from former National Security Advisor John Bolton and other U.S. officials that President Trump might raise these discredited issues with President Zelensky (105)
contingent on the Ukrainian president announcing investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and a debunked conspiracy theory about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.(126)
President Trump twice asked that the Ukrainian leader “get to the bottom of it,” including in connection to an investigation into the debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election to help Hillary Clinton (130)
Ukraine Prosecutor Says No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Bidens (152)
 the actions of President Trump, the President’s personal agent, Rudy Giuliani, and others to pressure Ukraine to launch investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and a debunked conspiracy theory alleging Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election.(209)
These claims are without basis and unsupported by precedent. (212)
Nevertheless, Mr. Cipollone’s complaints are unfounded as the House has implemented procedural protections for the President in its exercise of its Constitutional power. (213)
Rather, Mr. Kent said that the language in Secretary Pompeo’s letter, which had been drafted by a State Department attorney without consulting Mr. Kent, “was inaccurate.” (222)
Solomon, John Author of articles promoting debunked conspiracy theories about the Bidens, Crowdstrike, and the 2016 U.S. election (297)

So this leads to a question - if theories are debunked or discredited, who is the debunker?  In the above quotes, sometimes it is the intelligence community, sometimes it is the witnesses like Dr Hill, sometimes it is apparently self-evident like anything by John Solomon or anything that Putin said.  Isn't it just the opinion of Adam Schiff?

Specifically, was it really debunked that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 elections?  Just in the excepts above, I count 20 times that allegations that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 elections were debunked.  Why do you have to endlessly repeat it?  Why doesn't Schiff mention one time in the 300 page report with 441 footnotes who debunked this theory and when?

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Huh.  There is mention of a "unanimous U.S. Intelligence Community assessment" in January 2017.  I did a search and found this: https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf (Background to “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections”: The Analytic Process and Cyber Incident Attribution).  It is a 25-page report by CIA/FBI/NSA that mentions how some Russians preferred President Trump because of his policies.  (I don't know if it is unanimous since there are only 3 intelligence agencies listed and there are something like 17 that are part of the Intelligence Community).  It doesn't say anything about alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 elections and it doesn't say that "Russian alone" was responsible.  I don't think that this document "debunks" claims of alleged Ukrainian interference since it doesn't even address those claims.

Also, apparently Fiona Hill conclusively debunked the conspiracy theories during her testimony.  I would have to read her testimony and see what she says about John Solomon.

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