Published 15:34 IST, October 9th 2019
Senate investigation reports Russia's help in US 2016 election
Republican Senator Richard Burr led investigation reported that Russia evidently sought to help the United States President Trump in the 2016 election.
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On Tuesday, Republican Senator Richard Burr led investigation reported that Russia evidently sought to help President Donald Trump in the 2016 election. The Senate Intelligence Committee's election investigation in 2016 reportedly claimed that a sweeping social media manipulation campaign conducted by an Internet Research Agency (IRA) based in St. Petersburg represented overt support to President Trump in the United States presidential election. President Trump continues to insist that the story of Russian meddling is fake news and a “witch hunt hoax”.
"The committee found that the IRA sought to influence the 2016 US presidential election by harming Hillary Clinton's chances of success and supporting Donald Trump at the direction of the Kremlin. IRA social media activity was overtly and almost invariably supportive of then-candidate Trump," it said.
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US President Donald Trump has also slammed fellow Republican Mitt Romney for criticizing his move to push foreign countries into launching probe against Joe Biden, former vice-president and a leading Democratic candidate for the White House. Trump took to Twitter to criticise Romney and said that people of Utah, from where Romney is Senator, have realized their mistake for choosing the ‘Pompous Senator’.
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Possible foreign interference
President Trump and his supporters in the Republican party are meanwhile pressing for a theory which suggests that Ukraine colluded with Democrats to undermine the US President in 2016 when Trump's campaign allegedly sought Moscow's support to defeat political enemy Hillary Clinton. The United States President faces a similar allegation that he has sought Ukraine's help to find dirt on his possible 2020 Democratic election challenger Joe Biden. The Robert Mueller's investigation into the election found numerous instances of attempted collusion between Trump campaign and Russians and now the committee warns of a possible repeat of Russian meddling in next year's election.
"The executive branch should, in the run-up to the 2020 election, reinforce with the public the danger of attempted foreign interference in the 2020 election," the report said.
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Russian interference
On July 24, 2019, Robert Muller, Special Counsel in the Russian interference case, testified before the Congress that the US President Donald Trump was not cleared of obstructing justice. Trump was also completely exonerated in the Russian probe, where he was accused of involving support from Russia to win the Presidential elections. Mueller issued a warning about the consequences of Russian involvement in American elections.
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(With inputs from agencies)
13:19 IST, October 9th 2019