ELECTION/NATIONAL SECURITY/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Trump administration officials on Thursday [8-2-18] vowed to defend the United States’ elections against threats from Russia and other countries, describing influence campaigns by America’s adversaries in blunt terms rarely used by President Trump. The heads of the nation’s national security agencies said Russia was still trying to influence and disrupt the midterm elections, and they pledged to help local and state governments counter those efforts in the weeks ahead…Mr. Wray and other top national security officials, who spoke at a White House news briefing, did not describe specific threats to the coming elections, and they were vague in saying how the government was responding to what they called Russia’s interference campaign. Despite Mr. Trump’s public comments playing down the threat from Russia, the officials did not hesitate in directly blaming the Russian government as the primary culprit behind the interference campaign.”
-Michael D. Shear, “The Russian Threat ‘Is Real,’ Trump Officials Say, Vowing to Protect U.S. Elections,” The New York Times online, August 2, 2018