The story has nothing to do with the content of Clinton’s hacked emails, which show she stole the nomination from Bernie Sanders. The main story was submerged in this outcry against Russia, former CIA officer Ray McGovern told RT.
During a news conference at the 2016 BRICS summit for five major emerging economies, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Washington’s latest threat to launch a cyber-attack against Russia based on unsubstantiated claims that Russia had somehow interfered in the 2016 presidential election, which is already being called the most scandal-filled contest in American political history.
Putin added that US intelligence could be keeping tabs on all journalists.
RT spoke with former CIA officer Ray McGovern for his views on the situation.
RT: Will there be any justification on a CIA cyber-attack on Russia given there’s no concrete evidence against Moscow interfering with the US elections?
Ray McGovern: Vice President Biden, let me put it this way, ‘on neseryozniy chelovek’; he’s not a serious person. He’s run by ventriloquists. The reality is that someone told him to say that, told him to say that on Friday. Why is the timing important? Because the foreign ministers of the United States, Russia and others were convening in Switzerland on Saturday. And so the CIA leaked these reports from unnamed officials about Russians hacking, trying to interfere with our election and Biden went on Meet the Press on Friday and told them: “That this is terrible. We’re going to retaliate.” Retaliate for what? As you’ve already mentioned, there’s no proof, there’s no proof at all.
Could there be proof? Of course. There’s a trace mechanism that can trace the emails back to the original source, and if they had that they would produce it. What is it? It’s not hacking, it’s leaking. My friends, who used to work for NSA, tell me that this is most likely a leak, a leak by someone like Ed Snowden, who saw what Hillary Clinton and what the Democratic National Committee was doing and wanted to expose it to the rest of the world. And they successfully did that.
What did Clinton and the Democrats do? A huge diversion; it no longer had to do with the content of these emails, which of course, showed that she stole, again, she stole, the nomination from Bernie Sanders. The content was submerged in this outcry against Russian: “Julian Assange – he must be working for the Russians. Why the Russians? The Russians want Trump to win.” I’ve never heard anything so outlandish to suggest that President Vladimir Putin would want Trump to win.
RT: What do you think are the reasons behind such an aggressive attitude?
RM: I think a part of it, as President Vladimir Putin has said, has to do with the election. But you know, fine tuning it, it all has to do with what started it – from Hillary Clinton trying to divert attention from the fact that she stole the election from Bernie Sanders. That’s the content that was in those emails; that content has completely disappeared from the press. Now [the question is] “Who did it?” And as President Putin himself said, and he’s quite right, “who cares who did it? It’s factual, these are emails that happened!” And it shows she stole the nomination. So this is a magnificent diversion, and everyone in the mainstream press in this country has fallen in for it.
RT: What would the US stand to achieve by launching a cyber-attack against Russia though if it’s actually serious?
RM: Well, I don’t believe it’s serious. You know the initial reports from NBC and others said that it’s going to be secret. If it’s secret, why do you leak it to NBC and the major media? So I think it’s an idle threat, and if it’s a real threat, that’s very serious because Russians and others are just as adept at cyber as the United States, and once you get into that realm, you’re in a much more even playing field, because it doesn’t matter how many satellites you have, or how many aircraft carriers [you have], if they don’t work because of cyber-warfare the playing field is much more even. So I don’t think this is a serious threat, this is all rhetoric and Joe Biden cannot be relied upon to be a serious source here. In Russian, you would say “U niego yazik bez kostey”; he blabbers on at the mouth except when he’s told to say things, as he was told on Friday. And the timing is important, the timing is important because the CIA and Biden seem to be determined to scuttle the resumption of ceasefire talks in Switzerland. That is serious, the question is was Obama aware of this, or did the CIA and Biden go off on their own? I don’t know the answer to that.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.