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Rand Paul Says 'We all' Meddle in Elections, Old Time Magazine Cover Makes His Case

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Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul contended earlier this week that many nations, including the United States, seek to meddle in other countries’ elections, which is well-illustrated by a Time magazine cover from the 1990s when the U.S. sought to sway the outcome of a Russian political race.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Paul said cyber-intrusions into other countries’ elections are common.

“We all do it. What we need to do is make sure our electoral process is protected,” Paul said. “They’re not going to admit it in the same way we’re not going to admit we were involved in the Ukrainian elections or the Russian elections.”

Paul told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer the following day, “But I would put this in perspective. Dov Levin looked at this from the Carnegie Mellon Institute and he looked at it from 1946 to 2000. And he found 81 times that the U.S. involved themselves and meddled in elections of foreign countries 36 more times than the Soviet Union did.”

“It doesn’t make it right, but I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again,” he added. “Any country that can spy does and any country that can meddle in foreign elections does. All countries are doing this.”

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A 1996 Time cover highlights how Americans sought to swing the outcome of Russia’s election that year.

“Yanks to the Rescue: The Secret Story of How American Advisers Helped Yeltsin Win,” the cover reads.

Yeltsin was first elected president of Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

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Do you think multiple countries meddle in other countries' elections?

As the country struggled to transition from a communist to a capitalist economy, Yeltsin’s popularity fell, placing his re-election in 1996 in jeopardy. Shortly before the election it appeared Yeltsin’s Communist Party rival, Gennadi Zyuganov, could win.

“For four months, a group of American political consultants clandestinely participated in guiding Yeltsin’s campaign,” Time reported.

Their activities included polling, focus groups, negative ads “and all other technique of American campaigning to help Boris Yeltsin win.”

Among the advisers were key President Bill Clinton campaign aides, with then-campaign consultant Dick Morris, acting as a conduit to the White House.

Clinton himself endorsed a $10.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund in the midst of the election season, which Yeltsin used to bolster his popularity, using it for social spending and the payment of back wages and pensions, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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The Guardian’s Owen Jones recounted that Yeltsin ran an unscrupulous campaign, which helped precipitate the rise of Vladimir Putin’s regime a few short years later.

The United States has intervened in the elections of several other nations, including Israel’s in 2015.

The Obama administration’s State Department sent $350,000 in U.S. taxpayer money to the Israeli group OneVoice. The group turned around and used the money to build a voter database, train activists and hire a political consulting firm with ties to then-President Obama’s campaign, The Washington Times reported.

These activities all set the stage for an anti-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu campaign, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations documented in a bi-partisan report.

Owens chronicled other times the U.S. has intervened in efforts to determine the leadership of other countries, including Italy in 1948, Iran in 1953, Chile in 1973 and Honduras in 2009.

Trump stated on Tuesday that he accepted the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia did meddle in the 2016 U.S. elections but argued their actions were not determinative in the final results.

“While Russia’s actions had no impact on the outcome of the election, let me be totally clear: I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” Trump said. “There was no collusion at all.”

The intelligence community did not find evidence of Russia hacking into the actual voting systems in the United States.

Paul believes the country’s primary focus should continue to be on protecting the votes cast.

He told Blitzer, “What I would say instead of making this about everything’s about Trump and accusing Trump of collusion with the Russians and all this craziness, that’s not true, we should try to protect the integrity of our elections.”

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Randy DeSoto has written more than 2,000 articles for The Western Journal since he joined the company in 2015. He is a graduate of West Point and Regent University School of Law. He is the author of the book "We Hold These Truths" and screenwriter of the political documentary "I Want Your Money."
Randy DeSoto is the senior staff writer for The Western Journal. He wrote and was the assistant producer of the documentary film "I Want Your Money" about the perils of Big Government, comparing the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Randy is the author of the book "We Hold These Truths," which addresses how leaders have appealed to beliefs found in the Declaration of Independence at defining moments in our nation's history. He has been published in several political sites and newspapers.

Randy graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a BS in political science and Regent University School of Law with a juris doctorate.
Birthplace
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Nationality
American
Honors/Awards
Graduated dean's list from West Point
Education
United States Military Academy at West Point, Regent University School of Law
Books Written
We Hold These Truths
Professional Memberships
Virginia and Pennsylvania state bars
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Entertainment, Faith




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