Russian interference in the US presidential election: a whistleblower charges the White House
Suspicions of Russian interference in Donald Trump's election as president will have haunted him for much of his tenure.
REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
A US intelligence official accuses the White House of ordering him to stop reporting on Russian interference in the presidential election and focus on Iran and China instead, in a complaint unveiled Wednesday .
Publicity
Read more
This complaint, initiated by an official named Brian Murphy, was drafted as part of a whistleblower procedure, a format that allows an official normally subject to confidentiality to publicize clearly illegal actions.
“In
mid-May 2020, Mr. Wolf
(Minister of Homeland Security to Donald Trump, Editor's note)
asked Mr. Murphy to stop raising intelligence reports on the threat of Russian interference in the United States, and instead inform about interference from China and Iran,
”the whistleblower said in a complaint filed on his behalf by the Inspector General of the Ministry of Homeland Security.
“
Mr. Wolf said these instructions came directly from National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien,
” the document added.
According to US intelligence agencies, Russia interfered in the 2016 US election for the benefit of Republican Donald Trump, whose campaign team has been accused of colluding with Moscow.
At the
end of a long investigation
which poisoned the first half of the mandate of the billionaire New Yorker, the special prosecutor Robert Mueller had explained not to have found "
sufficient proof
" of an agreement between Russia and the entourage of the candidate Trump, but described a series of disturbing pressures on his investigation.
Still according to US intelligence agencies, there are risks that Russia will still interfere in the November 2020 election. The Trump administration, of which Iran is the bête noire and which is engaged in a diplomatic, economic and technology with China, has been accused by its detractors of lacking firmness vis-à-vis Vladimir Putin's Russia.
"Politicize, manipulate and censor intelligence"
According to the complaint presented Wednesday, Mr. Murphy was also asked to modify an official US intelligence document on white supremacists "
to mitigate the dangerousness of this threat and to include information on the importance of violent extreme left groups
”.
Murphy, who was responsible for intelligence matters in the Department of Homeland Security, was relegated to a less important post in August, due to his refusal to give in to pressure from his superiors, he says.
Officials in the Trump administration “
have illegally sought to politicize, manipulate and censor intelligence for the political benefit of President Trump.
This puts the security of our nation at risk,
”reacted in a statement Adam Schiff, the Democratic leader of the powerful Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives.
Adam Schiff was tasked earlier this year with overseeing the team of prosecutors at the
impeachment trial of Donald Trump
, who was accused of abusing his presidential office by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democrat Joe Biden, his opponent in the November presidential election.
Indicted by the House, in the hands of the Democrats, Donald Trump was finally
acquitted by the Senate
, controlled by his Republican camp.
(AFP)
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
United States
Donald trump
Russia
On the same subject
Analysis
Mandela, Harris ... Do Donald Trump's words serve his campaign?
United States: with "Unfair", lawyer Michael Cohen charges Donald Trump
United States: Trump ends anti-racism training in administration