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Trump raps NYT report on US cyber attacks against Russia

Sunday, 16 June 2019 7:34 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 16 June 2019 7:48 AM ]

US President Donald Trump (File photo)

President Donald Trump has attacked The New York Times for its Saturday report that said the United States was increasing its cyber attacks against Russia’s power grid in response to alleged Russian meddling in US elections.

Citing current and former US officials, The Times reported that Washington was deploying computer code into Russia’s power grid along with other measures.

The move was described as a classified part of action against Russia over alleged disinformation and hacking attempts around the 2018 midterm elections.

A few hours later, Trump on Twitter said what The Times did amounted to an “act of treason,” adding that “a once great paper” was “so desperate for a story.”

Do you believe that the Failing New York Times just did a story stating that the United States is substantially increasing Cyber Attacks on Russia. This is a virtual act of Treason by a once great paper so desperate for a story, any story, even if bad for our Country.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2019

The president also called the media “corrupt,” saying, “They will do, or say, whatever it takes, with not even the slightest thought of consequence.”

.....ALSO, NOT TRUE! Anything goes with our Corrupt News Media today. They will do, or say, whatever it takes, with not even the slightest thought of consequence! These are true cowards and without doubt, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2019

The report came after US national security adviser, John Bolton, had said that the United States was trying “to say to Russia, or anybody else that’s engaged in cyber operations against us, ‘You will pay a price.’”

Russia has been accused of meddling in US elections, a claim dismissed by Moscow. After Donald Trump was elected into office in 2016, special counsel Robert Mueller began investigating trump ties with the Kremlin.

In his last statement, the special counsel neither cleared the president nor charged him, throwing the ball into the Congress’ court.

“If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” he said during a recent press conference. “We did not however make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.”

Mueller argued that the decision not to charge Trump was made based on the Justice Department’s longstanding policy of not bringing charges against a sitting president.

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