… As Trump ‘to scrap’ college racial bias policy***
A Republican-controlled Senate panel has said that further evidence has been found to support a US intelligence assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help elect Donald Trump.
The Senate intelligence committee said “information obtained subsequent to publication” of a January 2017 report by US intelligence agencies “provides further support” to the conclusion that Vladimir Putin and his government aimed to discredit Hillary Clinton and boost Trump. No further detail was given.
The discovery was noted on Tuesday in a summary of initial findings from the committee’s review of the January 2017 intelligence community assessment (ICA), which it said was a “sound intelligence product” backed up by evidence.
“The committee finds that the overall judgments issued in the ICA were well-supported and the tradecraft was strong,” a statement released with the summary said. It said Russian cyber-attacks “continued well through the 2016 election”.
Tuesday’s publication by the committee further isolates Trump, who has repeatedly cast doubt on the conclusion that his campaign was aided by Putin and highlighted denials by the Russian president.
A special counsel, Robert Mueller, is investigating possible collusion between Russia and members of Trump’s campaign team. Three campaign aides have pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and Trump’s former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, is in jail awaiting trial on charges of financial crimes.
Trump has nonetheless tried to discredit the inquiry as a partisan “witch-hunt” aimed at damaging his presidency. He is supported by a group of rightwing Republican congressmen led by Devin Nunes of California, the chairman of the House intelligence committee. Mueller is thought to be investigating whether Trump has tried to obstruct his investigation.
The Senate committee said on Tuesday that that during its review, it was consistently told that intelligence analysts were under “no politically motivated pressure to reach any conclusions”.
In the January 2017 report, the CIA and FBI said they had “high confidence” in the conclusion about Putin favouring Trump while the NSA said it had “moderate confidence”. The committee said the difference in confidence levels was “reasonable, transparent, and openly debated” between the agencies.
Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said in a statement that it “sees no reason to dispute the conclusions” of the January 2017 intelligence report. His Democratic vice-chairman, Mark Warner, said: “The Russian effort was extensive and sophisticated, and its goals were to undermine public faith in the democratic process, to hurt Secretary Clinton and to help Donald Trump.”
In the meantime, the Trump administration is set to roll back the Obama-era policies promoting diversity in universities, known as affirmative action, US media report.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions revoked 24 guidance documents on Tuesday, many involving race in schools and affirmative action recommendations.
It comes as Harvard University faces a discrimination lawsuit alleging it limits admissions for Asian-Americans.
In 2016, the US Supreme Court had ruled in favour of affirmative action.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the 2016 opinion, announced his retirement from the top US court last month.
His departure gives President Donald Trump a chance to appoint a justice who more closely matches the administration’s views on taking race into account in college admissions.
The Trump administration is expected to tell schools not to consider race in the admissions process, discontinuing the policy former President Barack Obama adopted to promote more diversity at colleges and high schools.
What does rescinding the policy mean?
Academic affirmative action – known as positive action in the UK- which involves favouring minorities during the admissions process in order to promote campus diversity, has long proved controversial in the US.
The lawsuit against Harvard currently filed by the Students for Fair Admissions alleges that the college holds Asian-American applicants to an unfairly high admissions standard.
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The Justice Department is also currently investigating Harvard over racial discrimination allegations.
In April, it called for the public disclosure of the Ivy League college’s admissions practices.
Harvard argues it “does not discriminate against applicants from any group, including Asian-Americans”.
Asian-Americans currently make up 22.2% of students admitted to Harvard, according to the university website.
The guidelines, jointly issued by the education and justice departments under President Obama, encouraged universities to promote diversity on campuses.
“Learning environments comprised of students from diverse backgrounds provide an enhanced educational experience for individual students,” the guidance reads.
“By choosing to create this kind of rich academic environment, educational institutions help students sharpen their critical thinking and analytical skills.”
The guidance features ways to encourage diversity, including granting admission preferences to students from certain schools based on demographics and considering a student’s race “among other factors in its admissions procedures”.
The Obama-era policy replaced the Bush-era view that discouraged affirmative action.
The Bush-era guidance had been removed from the government website during the Obama administration, but it has since reappeared.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told the Associated Press she would not debate or discuss the matter of race and college admissions.
“I think this has been a question before the courts and the courts have opined,” Ms DeVos said.
But according to a Pew Research Center study, 71% of Americans surveyed in October 2017 have a positive view of affirmative action.
Guardian UK with additional report from BBC
