Sarah Palin hits CIA after Donald Trump bashes intelligence agency: "I can keep an eye" on Russia

Sarah Palin uses a self-deprecating joke to undermine CIA reports of Russian hacking in the US election

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published December 12, 2016 7:58PM (EST)

Former Republican vice presidential candidate, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin endorses Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally at the Iowa State University, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, in Ames, Iowa.  (AP)
Former Republican vice presidential candidate, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin endorses Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally at the Iowa State University, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, in Ames, Iowa. (AP)

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who briefly became an iconic political figure when she was tapped to be the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee in 2008, is weighing in on Twitter about the CIA's official assessment that Russia hacked into the Democratic National Committee in order to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election.

Palin's tweet seems to be consistent with Trump's own spin on the CIA's report, which is that it's "ridiculous" and "just another excuse." That said, it contradicts the conclusion of the head of Palin's own former ticket, Sen. John McCain, who has joined Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham in acknowledging that Russia deliberately interfered in America's presidential election.

“I don’t know what to make of it because it’s clear the Russians interfered,” said McCain on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. “Whether they intended to interfere to the degree that they were trying to elect a certain candidate, I think that’s a subject of investigation. But facts are stubborn things. They did hack into this campaign.”

Although McCain stopped short of agreeing with the CIA that Russia acted in order to help Trump, the notion that Putin wished to see a far-right nationalist elected in America is hardly far-fetched. Russia has lent various support to politicians with that right-wing ideological stripe from Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, as The Atlantic reported in October. A comprehensive list of connections between Team Trump and Putin's Russia was compiled by Time Magazine in August.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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Dnc Hack Donald Trump Elections 2016 John Mccain Sarah Palin Vladimir Putin