Vice President Mike Pence, in an interview with Axios on Wednesday, made a stunning declaration - twice - that is completely false.
Pence: "Well, the first thing that we all agree on is that, irrespective of efforts that were made in 2016 by foreign powers, it is the universal conclusion of our intelligence communities that none of those efforts had any effect on the outcome of the 2016 election. This is the accepted view.
It doesn't mean that there weren't efforts. We do know there were. There were efforts by Russia and likely by other countries to involve or influence American elections and we take that very seriously.
As we speak, that query and investigation continues to be ongoing, but it's also forward looking. And in my briefings at a variety of intelligence agencies, we have discussed plans going forward to ensure that meddling in our elections by Russians or other powers around the world will be rebutted and we will cotinue to develop the kind of technologies that ensure and maintain the integrity of our electoral system.
Let me say again, it is the universal conclusion of our intelligence communities that there was no impact on the outcome of the 2016 election from any foreign meddling in our elections. And I believe that bears repeating. The American people can be confident about the results of the election in 2016 ...
In fact, the intelligence community report on Russian interference said no such thing.
"We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. The US Intelligence Community is charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities, and actions of foreign actors; it does not analyze US political processes or US public opinion."
If you think about this question, it’s completely obvious that they couldn’t rule in or out the possibility that Russia changed the election outcome. It’s not just impossible for an intelligence agency to determine this. It’s impossible for anybody to determine it. There’s no way to tell what causes people to vote for one candidate, or not at all. Some events seem to move polls one way or another, but even seemingly large movements in polling cannot be pinned down to a single cause with any scientific reliability.
(...)
According to Trump’s own intelligence director, Russia believes that its election maneuver worked. By insisting it did not, and supporting this claim with a provable lie that U.S. intelligence agrees with him, Pence is undermining the case to defend against the next attacks that intelligence officials say are going to come.
Pence: Americans "can be confident" in 2016 election results (Axios)
Mike Pence Says U.S. Intel Found That Russia Didn’t Elect Trump. He Is Lying. (NY Mag)
Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections (pdf)