Rachel Maddow put the focus on what she called a “really freaking big deal” on Wednesday, which is the fact that former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Donald Trump is president today because Russia essentially installed him there.
“I’m sort of amazed that it’s not becoming a more dominant story in the news right now,” the MSNBC host said.
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Rachel Maddow calls it a “really freaking big deal” that James Clapper said Russia swung the election to Trump. #Maddow #ctl #p2 #TrumpRussia pic.twitter.com/beZSenI1sF
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Maddow said:
I’m sort of amazed that it’s not becoming a more dominant story in the news right now. Is a guy who is the last director of intelligence for the last seven years. Saying he has concluded that based on everything he has seen the current president of the United States was only installed in office because of a successful Russian intelligence operation that the guy who is president right now would not be president if it not for what Russia did to put him there. The implication is that Donald Trump is not a legitimate president of the United States and that Hillary Clinton would and should be president now, and she only isn’t because of an illegal operation that was mounted against us from outside our borders to keep her from winning that election and taking that position. That seems like a really freaking big deal. … I mean, if the Director of National Intelligence is right and this president is only in office because of an illegal foreign intelligence op that installed him in this office, then the law enforcement and counterintelligence effort to investigate that and to hold people accountable for that, that’s not just some fight about ordinary crime and punishment, right? That’s not a typical Washington scandal, even. That — that makes it a critical nexus between both the rule of law and national sovereignty, our ability to determine our own leaders without other countries messing with it.
Russia installed Trump in the White House
On Tuesday, the former Director of National Intelligence told Rachel Maddow that Russia unquestionably tilted the election in Trump’s favor, particularly given how slim the margin was.
Clapper said: “The Russian effort affected the outcome. Surprising even themselves, they swung the election to a Trump win.”
As the MSNBC host said, this is a big deal, and Clapper’s words need to be taken seriously.
Not just so those who carried out this attack on democracy – possibly including the president – can be held accountable, but so the U.S. can prevent future attacks.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
