As the war of words between Hillary and Trump grew increasingly intense.
The onlookers were utterly engrossed.
After Trump accused the Clinton Foundation of illegally accepting donations, everyone was waiting for Clinton and Hillary's counterattack.
Then, the third strike of Clinton's combo punch began.
Just as Trump had targeted him, this time he aimed at the people behind Trump.
With things progressing to this point, if Clinton still couldn't guess that Russia was backing Trump, he'd be a complete fool.
And this counterattack was directed at the "Polar Bear."
On October 18, the National Broadcasting Company cited multiple officials in a report, stating that the CIA had received orders to present a secret cyber warfare plan to the White House.
The operation's goal was to "protect the U.S. election system and ensure Russian hackers couldn't interfere with the November election."
Currently, the CIA had compiled a large number of documents to demonstrate the "underhanded tactics" chosen by Russian President Putin.
This secret plan would ultimately be approved by U.S. President Obama.
Also on this day, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint statement, directly criticizing the Russian government, claiming it had authorized and assisted hackers in infiltrating U.S. networks, intending to influence the U.S. presidential election.
Almost simultaneously, Ecuador's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that due to WikiLeaks releasing a large amount of material that could affect the U.S. election, Ecuador had imposed internet restrictions on its embassy in London.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had been hiding in this embassy since 2012.
[TL/N: He's been hiding there for like 6–7 years, I think. The funny part is he can't leave the embassy because if he does, they'll arrest him.]
In a statement, Ecuador's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "Ecuador respects the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs, does not participate in election processes, and does not support any candidate."
Therefore, Ecuador "exercised its sovereignty by temporarily restricting access to certain communication systems at its London embassy."
On the 18th, WikiLeaks stated on social media that Assange had lost internet access on the evening of the 16th: "We have activated appropriate contingency plans."
Assange denied that the "exposés" related to the U.S. presidential campaign were targeted at Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
He claimed his previous statements had been "misquoted," leading people to believe WikiLeaks was intentionally targeting Hillary.
(PS: The WikiLeaks website registered its domain in 2006 and has exposed over 10 million secret documents in the past 10 years, including classified files on the U.S.-launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as records of the U.S. National Security Agency secretly wiretapping foreign leaders.)
At 9:00 PM on October 18, Russia responded to the U.S. criticisms.
Konstantin Kosachev, a member of the Russian Duma's International Affairs Committee and deputy secretary of the United Russia party's presidium, said: "Russia needs to respond accordingly to the aggressive signals from the U.S. authorities, including using national resources to counter hostile actions. Relevant Russian departments should strengthen the protection of national interests in the information technology field and prevent any hostile acts."
Additionally, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov stated the same day: "The U.S. CIA's plan to attack Russian leaders is 'nearly reckless,' clearly part of the 'hysterical' election campaign in the U.S. Moscow will respond."
In a bar.
Martin, Leonardo, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck sat on the couches, chatting over drinks while watching news about the verbal sparring between the U.S. and Russia on the TV.
"Trump's backers are definitely Russia—it's too obvious. The timing of every email release is way too coincidental." Ben Affleck said.
"So what if it is? Without evidence, there's nothing they can do about it." Matt Damon replied.
"Is our cyber department really going to strike Russia's internet?" Leonardo was very curious about this.
"Actually, the strikes have already begun." Martin, who had insider information, said quietly. "After the second debate ended, our attacks on Russian government networks had already started."
"So, what was the result?" Leonardo asked.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon looked over curiously as well.
"What result?" Martin shrugged. "It's basically just me taking down a few of your websites, and you taking down a few of mine."
"Shouldn't it involve stealing Russia's state secrets from the internet, like in the movies?" Ben Affleck said with a laugh, glancing at Matt Damon.
His good buddy's film The Bourne Identity seemed to tell a similar story.
Martin chuckled. "You're overthinking it. Truly important data isn't stored on networked computers. Even in movies, to steal that kind of classified info, you have to sneak in and copy it with a USB drive."
"The CIA's move this time is just to give Russia's cyber department something to do, so they don't have time to release another batch of Hillary's emails and embarrass that old lady."
"So, it's confirmed that Russia is behind Trump?" Leonardo said. "Does that count as treason?"
"Treason?" Martin laughed. "Our politicians don't care who they're dealing with, as long as they can benefit from it. Even if the other side is aliens about to invade Earth, they'd still go flatter them. If close ties with Russia count as treason, when little Bush first took office, he was chummy with Russia too—I heard he even accepted secret political donations from them."
"What?"
"True or false?"
Leonardo and the others looked incredulous—after all, during the latter part of little Bush's administration, things had gotten pretty heated with Russia.
Martin smiled without saying more.
He had seen more classified files than the current U.S. President Obama, knowing plenty of secrets.
For example, during Obama's first term, Hillary had maintained an extremely good working relationship with Republican Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Not only did they align on many foreign policies, but they had also shared a few romantic evenings.
For instance, in dealing with Russia and Iran—traditional U.S. adversaries or even enemies—Obama preferred releasing goodwill, but as Secretary of State, Hillary and Gates took a much harder stance.
Similarly, on the issue of sending more troops to Afghanistan, Hillary, a fellow Democrat with Obama, still supported the Republican Gates, believing they should continue to be tough, tough, tough.
Another example: the 2010 Cheonan sinking incident.
After North Korea sank the South Korean warship Cheonan, killing 46 crew members, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg initially proposed to the White House deploying an aircraft carrier to the East Sea off North Korea to pressure them militarily.
But the then-Pacific Fleet Commander Robert Willard advocated sending the carrier fleet into the Yellow Sea and convinced then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Gates.
On this issue, Hillary once again sided with the Republicans and the military hawks, believing that on such a serious matter as the North Korean nuclear issue affecting regional security and stability, they should be even tougher.
Clinton and Hillary had long established connections with Republican members.
This was why, in this election, with just a slight maneuver from Clinton, so many Republican insiders turned to stab Trump in the back.
Such relationships weren't built overnight.