Zombie collusion? Clinton pounces on latest ‘Russian meddling’ report to rally the troops, because it worked so well in 2016

Hillary Clinton has seized upon the latest claim that Russia is ‘interfering’ in the 2020 election to renew her assault on US President Donald Trump, while a lack of evidence casts even the vague report into doubt.

Clinton crowed an ‘I told you so’ in response to an NBC reporter’s tweet suggesting Trump had desperately wanted to keep the latest installment in the never-ending ‘Russian meddling’ soap opera under wraps. Accusing the president of “taking Russian help for himself,” she exhorted her followers to keep “Putin’s Puppet” from securing a second term.

“He knows he can’t win without” Russian assistance, the former secretary of state snarked, lapsing into the familiar refrain she has sung – with only a few interruptions – since losing the 2016 election.

Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire’s office reportedly briefed the House on the alleged "Russian meddling threat" last week, ensuring the whole world was aware that ‘Russian collusion’ was back on the menu for 2020. Trump was said to have sent Maguire packing over the indiscretion, furious that his enemies in the House, fresh off (and embittered by) their botched impeachment, would use it against him.

Clinton’s detractors on social media were quick to mock her ‘Groundhog Day’-like reliving of the 2016 election. “Can someone call a mental health professional for her?” one tweeter joked.

Others pointed out any number of reasons Russia might not want another four years of Trump.

But Clinton’s fans were also out in force, eagerly piling on with the conspiracy theories.

Efforts to get to the bottom of precisely what it was claimed the Russians were actually doing to help Trump in 2020 have come up empty. CBS reporter Catherine Herridge said the ODNI officials who briefed the House on the alleged meddling had no “signals intelligence” or any tangible material to offer as proof. The response was more than a little redolent of the “17 intelligence agencies” – which morphed into three, then became hand-picked agents from three – who had insisted, citing classified information the public simply wasn’t permitted to see, that they had proof of a Kremlin-directed influence campaign intervening on behalf of Trump in the 2016 election. The unclassified section of their report – which included a lengthy discussion of RT programs long off the air – did not inspire confidence, however.

Perhaps having learned their lesson, intelligence officials speaking to the New York Times claimed that Russians weren’t doing all the influencing themselves this time – instead, they were conning gullible Americans into repeating their talking points. “Undermining confidence in American election systems” (not exactly rocket science after the Iowa caucuses and 2016 in general) and “sowing doubt over close elections and recounts” would be two dead giveaways that one was dealing with a victim of Russian influence operations, the officials said.

While Clinton is not officially running for president in 2020, she has dropped countless hints that she’ll “never say never,” and her presence has been rumored on the periphery of several Democratic candidates’ campaigns. A possible vice president run with billionaire and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg was not officially denied. 

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