Russia has today dismissed claims it is meddling in the 2020 presidential race, after U.S. lawmakers were told that Moscow was interfering to help Donald Trump win a second term.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the predictable denial at a press conference today where he labelled the claims ‘paranoid announcements’.
‘Unfortunately, there will be more and more of [them] as we get closer to the elections,’ he said in Moscow.
‘Of course, they have nothing to do with the truth.’
U.S. intelligence officials told lawmakers last Thursday that Vladimir Putin’s regime was resuming its efforts to interfere in American politics.
The House Intelligence Committee was told at a closed-door briefing that Russian operatives were trying to influence the 2020 race and sow discord in the U.S. electorate, as spy chiefs believe they did in 2016.
Republicans on the committee defended Trump while the president reacted angrily after discovering that chairman Adam Schiff, with whom he clashed during the impeachment process, had received the briefing.
Trump berated his then-Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire in the wake of the briefing, before firing him this week.
Russia has today denied it is interfering in the 2020 presidential race to help Donald Trump (pictured at a rally in Phoenix on Wednesday) to win a second term
U.S. intelligence chiefs believe operatives working for Russian president Vladimir Putin (pictured today in Moscow) are seeking to influence the 2020 race
U.S. intelligence chiefs believe that Russia interfered in the 2016 race by running social media campaigns and stealing and distributing emails from Democratic accounts.
Special counsel Robert Mueller concluded in his report last year that Russian interference was ‘sweeping and systematic’.
However, Trump has long been skeptical of the claims, seeing them as a way to undermine his victory against Hillary Clinton.
In 2018 he said at a Helsinki summit that he believed Vladimir Putin’s denials of meddling, although he later backtracked after an angry backlash.
The briefing on February 13 by election security official Shelby Pierson shows that the intelligence community believes Russia is resuming its efforts in 2020.
Lawmakers were told that Russia was trying to cast doubt on the integrity of the vote to boost Trump’s re-election, a person familiar with the matter said.
Republican committee members at the briefing pushed back by arguing that Trump has been tough on Russia, an official familiar with the meeting said.
One member told the New York Times that Republicans had gone ‘nuts’ over Pierson’s conclusion.
A senior administration official said the briefing had also infuriated Trump, who complained that Democrats would use the information against him.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi quickly seized on the claims to say that ‘American voters should decide American elections – not Vladimir Putin’.
‘All Members of Congress should condemn the President’s reported efforts to dismiss threats to the integrity of our democracy and to politicize our intel community,’ she said.
According to the New York Times, Trump was also angry that the House briefing was made before his adversary Schiff.
Key figures: Rick Grenell (pictured left), Donald Trump’s ambassador to Germany, was named Wednesday as the new acting director of national intelligence, succeeding Joseph Maguire (right) – whose aide told Congress that Russia wanted a second term for the president
Schiff was one of the House managers during Trump’s impeachment trial, in which he was accused of abusing his power by strong-arming Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden.
Trump quickly rebuked Maguire, berating him in the Oval Office over what he perceived as disloyalty.
Trump incorrectly believed Pierson gave the information exclusively to Schiff and gave Maguire a ‘dressing down’ that left him ‘despondent,’ sources said.
Some of Trump’s biggest defenders during the House impeachment inquiry – including Reps. Devin Nunes and Elise Stefanik – also sit on the intelligence panel.
Pierson chairs the Election Executive and Leadership Board, which was created in July 2019 to specifically deal with election security matters.
The lecture from Trump ruined Maguire’s chance of becoming the permanent intelligence chief, sources told The Washington Post.
Trump announced this week that Maguire would be replaced by Richard Grenell as director of national intelligence.
The Times cited two administration officials as saying the timing after the intelligence briefing was coincidental.
Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, is a Trump loyalist whose appointment will do little to improve Trump’s relations with the intelligence community.
Trump has publicly voiced his distrust at findings with which he does not agree, telling them in 2019 to ‘go back to school’.
He has also accused them of underrating the threat from Iran and over-emphasizing that from North Korea during a public briefing to Congress.
Both briefed: Devin Nunes, the Republican ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, and its Democratic chairman Adam Schiff were both told about Russia’s interference by the intelligence officials – but Trump incorrectly believed only Schiff was told
Mike Quigley, a Democratic member of the Intel Committee, said he feared that Pierson and others would be put in jeopardy over saying Russia favors Trump.
‘If you don’t agree with the king, you’re gone,’ Quigley told The Daily Beast.
‘That has a chilling effect on people being willing to tell the truth, and that makes us less safe.’
Amid Maguire’s removal, two senior members of his staff both resigned – the ‘principal executive,’ Andrew Hallman, and the general counsel, Jason Klitenic.
Grenell’s appointment was instantly divisive.
‘He is probably the most unqualified individual ever appointed to this position,’ said Larry Pfeiffer, a former intelligence official who helped establish the Office of the Director of National Intelligence after 9/11.
But Grenell has support among the president’s backers on Capitol Hill. ‘Ric has a proven track record of fighting for our country, and now, he will work every day to make sure Americans are safe,’ said House minority leader Kevin McCarthy.
Maguire had until March 12 to remain as acting DNI, a role he took when Dan Coats quit as the last permanent leader of the intelligence community.
Maguire had previously been director of the National Counterterrorism Center after a career in the Navy as a SEAL and chief of special operations.
He and the wider intelligence community were thrust to the center of the news agenda by the whistleblower letter which accused Trump of wrongdoing in his relations with Ukraine.
Key issue: Grenell used his twitter feed to issue a warning to the UK after it gave the go-ahead to Huawei building part of its 5G mobile phone network in defiance of U.S. demands to lock it out
Grenell is eligible to become acting director because he is already on a Senate-confirmed role as ambassador to Germany, having been voted through 56-42.
He was sworn in by Mike Pence with his partner Matt Lashey at his side, becoming the highest-ranking gay official in a Republican administration.
Grenell has not worked in the intelligence community before but was also floated as a possible director of national security at the White House, a job which went to Robert O’Brien after the sudden departure of John Bolton.
He has already been outspoken on one intelligence issue, saying there is a need to prevent Huawei having access to 5G cell phone networks in the West.
He used Twitter to issue a direct warning to the UK this week that it faces losing access to U.S. intelligence – which he will now control – after prime minister Boris Johnson allowed Huawei to be part of building the country’s 5G network.
Grenell has also led U.S. opposition to Nord Stream 2, a pipeline which was intended to increase the flow of natural gas from Russia to Germany.
The U.S. opposes it on strategic grounds, and has used sanctions to try to derail the project.