Your argument that 3 key agencies plus the DNI are enough to rely on and the other 13 are not needed is an incredible misdirection. The people skeptical of the Russian hacking story never claimed there were 17 intelligence agencies saying Russia did it. It was the mainstream media that peddled this inflated number. Day after day, thousands of times they used this number to browbeat those who wanted proof or expressed any skepticism about the Russian hacking theory. Then, oops, they were forced to admit 17 was really 3. You want us to forget that the proponents of the “Russia did it” fairy tale were caught in such a gross exaggeration. Otherwise you would have to admit that those who told such a big fib may not be reliable and well there goes your whole “trust them- they say they’re telling the truth this time “ argument.

The people who have been making the hacking allegations have the burden of proof. They haven’t come close. We have press leaks asserting 3 intelligence agencies think Russia did it, but we have not seen the leaders of those agencies testify publicly under oath and produce the evidence they have. We got so much more from Colin Powell about Iraq and it turned out not to be true. Now we get nameless sources with zero evidence and you plead with us to believe. What I actually have difficulty believing is that you are gullible enough to believe it yourself.