(2017-03-30) Fbi Director James Comey Tried To Reveal Russian Tampering Months Before Election

FBI Director James Comey tried to reveal Russian tampering months before election. While news outlets reported in June that Russian hackers accessed Democratic National Committee emails, U.S. intelligence agencies didn’t confirm that the Russian government was trying to influence the election until months later.

FBI Director James Comey attempted to go public as early as the summer of 2016 with information on Russia’s campaign to influence the U.S. presidential election

Comey pitched the idea of writing an op-ed about the Russian campaign during a meeting in the White House’s situation room in June or July.

The other national security leaders didn’t like the idea, and (Barack Obama) White House officials thought the announcement should be a coordinated message backed by multiple agencies, the source says. “An op-ed doesn’t have the same stature, it comes from one person.”

The op-ed would not have mentioned whether the FBI was investigating Donald Trump’s campaign workers or others close to him for links to the Russians’ interference in the election, a second source with knowledge of the request tells Newsweek. Comey would likely have tried to publish the op-ed in The New York Times, and it would have included much of the same information as the bombshell declassified intelligence report released January 6. (after the election)