John Bolton Questions if Russia Hacking Claims Are a ‘False Flag’ Operation

JOHN BOLTON, appearing Sunday on Fox News:

BOLTON: "That's why I say we have to know the facts here. It's not at all clear to me just viewing this from the outside that this hacking into the DNC and the RNC computers was not a false flag operation. Let's remember what FBI director James Comey said dealing with Hillary's home brew server. He said 'We found no direct evidence of foreign intelligence service penetration, but given the nature of this we didn't expect to,' meaning a really sophisticated foreign intelligence service would not leave any cyber fingerprints. And yet people say they did leave cyber fingerprints in the hacks regarding our election. So the question that has to be asked is why did the Russians run their smart intelligence service against Hillary's server but their dumb intelligence services against the election?"

SHAWN: "When you say false flag, that's a very serious charge. False flag by whom? Here is The Washington Post. The Post reported 'The CIA has concluded individuals with close ties to the Russian government hacked the e-mails. Intelligence officials have determined that Russia's goal was to help Trump win rather than simply undermine confidence in the election.' Are you actually accusing someone here in this administration of trying -- in the intelligence community of trying to throw something?"

BOLTON: "We just don't know, but I believe that intelligence has been politicized in the Obama Administration to a very significant degree."