It has long been the position of the US intelligence community that Putin sought "sow discord" in the US as a means of destabilizing the country.
Trump defended his connection to Putin's efforts and Putin himself by claiming Russian interference was all a hoax, by HIRING AN ENTIRE CAMPAIGN TEAM OF RUSSIA-CONNECTED PEOPLE, many now indicated or in jail or pardoned by him, by meeting with Putin personally (with no notes) several times, and by doing almost nothing in response to several problems with Russia.
For four years, Trump basically gave Putin a pass. Now, more Russia truth comes out, this time rom the unfortunate murder of a Judge's son, the potential attempted murder of a Supreme Court Justice, and from the many Trumpian threats leveled at judges:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/esther-salas-sonia-sotomayor-60-minutes-2021-02-19/
Federal judge whose son was killed in attack says gunman targeted Sonia Sotomayor
U.S. District Judge Esther Salas says the FBI found evidence the man who killed her son targeted Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. 60 Minutes reports, Sunday.
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"Threats to federal judges have risen 400% over the last five years to over 4,000 incidents. These include hate mail, phone harassment, protests at their homes and actual attempted murder. The U.S. Marshals, who protect federal judges, are asking for 1,000 more officers at a cost of $250 million. The new bill Salas is supporting is also asking for several million more to upgrade home security systems for judges.
Whitaker also speaks to Senior District Court Judge James Robart, whose temporary block of then-President Trump's travel ban resulted in an unprecedented 40,000 messages, including over a hundred death threats. Critics called him a "dead man walking" and posted his phone number and address on social media. President Trump then inflamed the situation by ridiculing Robart as a "so-called judge."
"When you call someone a so-called judge, what you do is you attack the judiciary… I thought he had a right to attack my decision. I don't think that criticizing a judge is acceptable," he tells Whitaker, adding the threats included harming his family.
Investigators discovered thousands of the threats against Robart looked to be from Americans, but were actually from Russia. This doesn't surprise Suzanne Spaulding, who ran cyber security operations for Republican and Democratic administrations. "If Putin can undermine a significant segment of the population's willingness to accept a court's decision, then he can cause chaos in this country," says Spaulding."
