McConnell refuses bipartisan demand for a special panel to investigate Russian election interference

Rss@dailykos.com (joan Mccarter) · Tuesday, December 20, 2016, 12:14 pm

Sens. Chuck Schumer, Jack Reed, John McCain, and Lindsey Graham are pushing for a select committee to investigate Russia's interference in the election. Colorado Sen. Corey Gardner is planning legislation to create a select Senate committee on cybersecurity. And here’s where the Republican Senate caucus is splitting, because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says nope, he's not interested and will not allow creation of a select committee on this. “There’s no question that the Russians were messing around in our election,” he told Kentucky Educational Television on Monday night. “It is a matter of genuine concern and it needs to be investigated.”

McConnell added that he believed Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, and Mark Warner (D-Va.), a ranking member of the panel, were “fully capable” of handling the matter.

Burr outlined steps last week that his committee would take to review the intelligence that led U.S. intelligence officials to accuse Russia in October of hacking the Democratic National Committee. The panel would interview government officials from the outgoing Obama administration and incoming Trump administration, using subpoenas to force testimony if needed, he said.

The chairman notably made no mention of the more recent intelligence assessments that reportedly found Russian hacking efforts were aimed at boosting President-elect Donald Trump’s chances of winning the election.

The primary reason for a select, special committee is that it is focused, it has one job. That's the reason McConnell doesn't want it. He wants the fact that the unified intelligence committee says Russia interfered in our election with the purpose of helping Donald Trump to be swept under the rug—just business as usual. Because anything that weakens the incoming administration also distracts from and weakens McConnell in his quest to destroy all the good things.

Harry Reid, as usual, nails this one: "Having been around here a long time, if you want to slow something down, turn it over to committees. […] What would happen is it would go to Armed Services or Intelligence [committees]. [….] By then, months and months have gone by." That is exactly what McConnell wants. If McCain or Graham or Gardner really want this, they're going to have to do more than talk. They're going to have to finally buck McConnell and work with Democrats to obstruct some shit until they get it.

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