White House agrees Russia meddled in US polls, but denies role in Trump win

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders acknowledged on Tuesday that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 elections but said the efforts didn’t play a role in President Donald Trump’s victory.

“It’s very clear that Russia meddled in the election. It’s also very clear Russia didn’t have an impact on the election,” Sanders said at a briefing today. "And it’s also very clear that the trump campaign didn’t collude with the Russians in any way for this process to take place."
The president spent much of the holiday weekend tweeting about the Russia investigation after Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals on charges that they carried out a multimillion-dollar operation to depress support for Democrat Hillary Clinton and boost backing for Trump in the 2016 election.

Trump was criticized for not speaking out against Russia after the indictment. He instead focused on comments by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that the indictment didn’t contain evidence that Trump’s campaign willingly collaborated with Russian efforts. He also rebuked his national security adviser for not defending the legitimacy of his election.

Facebook, Twitter, Google under scrutiny for 'Russian meddling'

Facebook, Twitter and Google lawyers defended themselves to US lawmakers probing whether Russia used social media to influence the 2016 Presidential election.

The three firms faced hard questions at a Senate panel on Tuesday on crime and terrorism about why they missed political ads bought with Russian money, BBC reported on Wednesday.

Lawmakers are eyeing new regulations for social media firms in the wake of Russia's alleged meddling in 2016. The firms said they would tighten advertising policies and guidelines.

Senator Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota, asked Facebook -- which absorbed much of the heat from lawmakers -- why payment in Russian rubles did not tip off the firm to suspicious activity.

"In hindsight, we should have had a broader lens," said Colin Stretch, general counsel for Facebook. "There are signals we missed."

A day earlier, Facebook said as many as 126 million US users may have seen Russia-backed content over the last two years.

Lawyers for the three firms are facing two days of congressional hearings as lawmakers consider legislation that would extend regulations for television, radio and satellite to also cover social media platforms.

The firms said they are increasing efforts to identify bots and spam, as well as make political advertising more transparent.

Facebook, for example, said it expects to have 20,000 people working on "safety and security" by the end of 2018 -- double the current number.
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Russia-backed US election posts reached 126 million US users: Facebook

Internet giants were expected to tell Congress this week that Russian-backed content aimed at manipulating US politics during last year's election was more extensive than first thought.

Facebook, Google and Twitter were slated to share what they have learned so far from digging into possible connections between Russian entities and posts, ads, and even videos shared on YouTube.

Facebook will tell Congress that some 126 million US users, a potentially large portion of the voting public here, may have seen stories, posts or other content from Russian sources, according to tech news site Recode, the Wall Street Journal and other US media.

The reach is far broader than had originally been estimated by the world's leading social network.

Facebook did not respond to AFP requests for comment.

Google found that two accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency spent $4,700 on search and display ads during last year's US election cycle, Google general counsel Kent Walker and director of information security Richard Salgado said in a blog post.

The ads were not targeted based on which states people lived in or their apparent political leanings, the men said.
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In Russia probe, Robert Mueller's first charges a show of force

President Donald Trump brushed off the first indictments in the probe of his campaign’s ties to Russian election meddling, but the charges sent a clear signal to the White House and other Trump associates: Robert Mueller means business.

By going after Trump’s campaign manager and another aide on money-laundering charges and securing a guilty plea from a third campaign adviser, the special prosecutor showed he would delve deeply into the past in search of criminal activity and use his broad powers aggressively.

That left some Trump associates worried about what or whom Mueller would target next, despite the White House’s public dismissal of the developments as unrelated to the president and his campaign.

“They’re flexing their muscles for anybody that they approach in this investigation and letting them know we really mean it,” said former federal prosecutor Patrick Cotter. “So if we come to you, you should talk to us. Manafort didn’t and look what happened to him.”

Manafort and Rick Gates are charged with money laundering, tax fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and other counts. They pleaded not guilty on Monday.

The indictments, which closely detail the alleged crimes, appeared to be an opening salvo from Mueller.
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