Tag Archive for: trump

The Trump administration formally says Russia is likely behind SolarWinds hack culprit. Will Trump?

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The Trump administration formally accused Russia of “likely” being behind the most devastating hack of U.S. government agencies in years. 

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The statement, made jointly by four agencies in charge of intelligence and cybersecurity, is the first time the U.S. government has linked Russia to the hack that also affected critical companies that were also clients of network management system SolarWinds. The statement said it found less than 10 federal agencies had internal computer systems infiltrated in the breach; known victims include the federal departments of State, Treasury, Homeland Security, Commerce and Energy.  

The statement publicly breaks with President Trump, who has sought to point the finger at China. 

This caps a four-year term throughout which Trump broke with his own officials to downplay the Russia threat.

Trump has cast doubt on intelligence assessments pointing to Russian interference in the 2016 election and dismissed claims Russia tried to interfere during the and 2020 elections. 

It remains to be seen how he will respond to the latest joint statement from the FBI, Homeland Security’s cybersecurity agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Security Agency. The White House did not return a request for comment. 

Even before yesterday, several Trump officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Attorney General William P. Barr, pointed to Russia as the likely culprit. White House officials were reportedly prepared to release a statement accusing Russia of being behind the hack the day of Trump’s tweet, but were told to stand down, Jill Colvin and Matthew Lee at the Associated Press reported.



a group of people on a stage: President Trump holds a rally in support of Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, whose Senate term expired Sunday, on Monday in Dalton, Ga.

© Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
President Trump holds a rally in support of Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, whose Senate term expired Sunday, on Monday in Dalton, Ga.

A reprisal of the clash between Trump and the national security apparatus could hurt a Biden administration response.

President-elect Joe Biden slammed Trump at a news conference in late December for downplaying the hack and harming the United States’s cybersecurity defenses…

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Trump Administration Says Russia Likely Behind Massive SolarWinds Hack

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WASHINGTON—Russia is likely behind a massive, continuing hack discovered last month that has ripped through various federal government agencies and an unknown number of private organizations, the Trump administration formally said Tuesday.

In a joint statement, four agencies in charge of intelligence and cybersecurity said that the administration has so far identified fewer than 10 federal agencies whose internal computer systems were infiltrated in the hack. While the statement didn’t identify any of the agencies, those affected include the departments of State, Treasury, Commerce and Energy, according to officials and others familiar with the investigation.

An advanced, government hacking group “likely Russian in origin is responsible for most or all of the recently discovered, ongoing cyber compromises of both government and non-governmental networks,” said the statement, released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The statement was the first from the administration to link what is called the

SolarWinds

hack to Russia since the attack was first discovered nearly a month ago. Senior officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have previously said in media interviews that Russia is believed to be responsible. Moscow has denied involvement.

President Trump has largely avoided speaking publicly about the attack, though on Twitter last month he said that China might be responsible. Officials have said there is no evidence linking the breaches to Beijing.

Current and former officials and cybersecurity experts have said the hack amounts to one of the worst intelligence failures on record, and the efforts to respond and root out the intruders have produced jostling and finger-pointing among the government agencies.

A suspected Russian cyberattack of the federal government has breached at least six cabinet-level departments. WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib explains what the hack means for President-elect…

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Georgia: Trump calls Senate runoff elections ‘illegal and invalid’

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  • President Donald Trump tweeted that the Georgia Senate runoff elections are “both illegal and invalid.”
  • He cited a bipartisan legal agreement as being proof of unconstitutionality — a claim that courts have rejected.
  • Hours later, Trump urged his Twitter followers to “get ready to vote on Tuesday.”
  • Trump will attend a rally in Georgia on Monday for Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

On Friday evening, President Donald Trump tweeted that the upcoming Georgia Senate runoffs are “both illegal and invalid.”

Just hours later, Trump vowed to “rally” for both Republican candidates — Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue — and told Georgians to “get ready to vote on Tuesday.”

In the initial three-part Twitter thread alleging fraud, Trump claimed that Tuesday’s vote would be illegitimate because of one of the state’s legal settlements.

Read more: Secret Service experts are speculating in group chats about how Trump might be hauled out of the White House if he won’t budge on Inauguration Day

“The Georgia Consent Decree is Unconstitutional & the State 2020 Presidential Election is therefore both illegal and invalid, and that would include the two current Senatorial Elections,” the president wrote.

 

The consent decree, a bipartisan agreement signed in March, established standards for verifying signatures on absentee ballots. Legal attempts to prove that this decree is unconstitutional have all failed.

Other legal challenges to overturn the election results, such as L. Lin Wood and Sidney Powell’s attempt to decertify Georgia’s results, have also been thrown out.

Despite Trump inaccurately dismissing Tuesday’s two Senate runoffs as illegitimate, he still urged his followers to vote.

 

The elections will directly affect the beginning of Joe Biden’s presidency. If Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock win, the Democratic Party will control the legislative and executive branches, allowing Biden to accomplish his legislative goals more easily.

Trump…

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John Bolton to Trump: ‘For God’s sakes, get out of the way’

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  • Former national security adviser John Bolton told President Donald Trump to “get out of the way” and said he was “not a conservative.”
  • Bolton’s comments come as Trump vetoed the annual bill to fund the US military.
  • The must-pass bill was passed with bipartisan support.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Former national security adviser John Bolton described President Donald Trump’s veto against the annual bill to fund the US military as “very destructive” and against the ideals of his own political party.

In a CNN interview on Wednesday, Bolton said he agreed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in that Trump’s veto against the bipartisan bill was antithetical to the Republican party.

“Just to make a philosophical point, I think this is a very compelling piece of evidence why Donald Trump is not a conservative,” Bolton said. “Nobody in the House or Senate, Republican or Democrat, likes every provision of this bill. But for 59 straight years, our parties have compromised their differences to give clear policy direction on defense for the full year.”

“What Trump’s veto does here, potentially, is put that in jeopardy at a time when we’re suffering from one of the worst computer attacks in our history, when we see threats all around the world continuing to grow from China and elsewhere,” Bolton added.

Trump on Wednesday vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would allocate $741 billion for US national security. The bill passed through both chambers of Congress with wide support from Republicans and Democrats.

The Democratic-controlled House supported the bill in a 335-78 vote, which exceeds the two-thirds majority needed to slap down Trump’s veto. The Republican-majority Senate also reaffirmed the defense bill in a 84-13 vote.

Wright-Patterson Air Force deployment

US service members at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, March 5, 2019.

US Air Force/Ty Greenlees


Aside from continued funding of the US military, the bill includes substantive changes to overseas troop deployments and a 3% pay raise for service members.

Trump previously threatened to veto the bill for including…

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