Senate and House Leaders Call for Inquiry of Russian Hacking in Election

T. Belman. I agree, the CIA can’t be trusted.  Didn’t it falsify a few intelligence reports on Iran? I invite my readers to add to the list of misleading reports. The MSM and the Democratic Party have been saying for some time now that the Russians are doing the hacking and that Putin wants Trump to win. Lt. Col Howard wrote that in fact Putin strongly favoured  Hillary to win. Why not. Look what he has accomplished during the Obama/Clinton administration. Why take a chance on Trump when he could have enjoyed 8 more years of “Obama”?

Secondly, these officials are hypocrites to complain about foreign influence in US elections, when the US through the CIA is constantly trying to influence foreign elections. Also, don’t forget how much Obama tried to prevent Netanyahu from getting elected in the last elections in Israel. As far a Russian hacking and spying, all nations do it on friends and foes alike.

Russia is a shadow of its former self i.e., USSR. It has less than half the population of the US and its economy is no bigger than Italy’s. The only gains it has made since the fall of the USSR, have been made in the last 8 years due to Hillary’s reset and Obama’s passivity. Many in the establishment think of Russia in Cold War terms and believe the US must be for ever vigilant.  I reject this thinking and believe that what is needed now is a partnership with Russia just as Trump does. And I totally reject the criticism of Tillerson based on his friendship with Putin. Tillerson didn’t sell EXXON out in his deals with Putin and he won’t sell the US out.

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER, NYT

WASHINGTON — The top two Republicans in Congress said on Monday that they supported investigations into possible Russian cyberattacks to influence the American election, setting up a potential confrontation with President-elect Donald J. Trump in his first days in office.

“Any foreign breach of our cybersecurity measures is disturbing, and I strongly condemn any such efforts,” said Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, adding, “The Russians are not our friends.”

Mr. McConnell’s support for investigating American intelligence findings that Moscow intervened in the election on Mr. Trump’s behalf could presage friction between the Republicans who control Congress, and who have long taken a hard line against Russia, and the president-elect, who has mocked the findings.

Democrats have used the latest intelligence findings to renew their calls for an urgent inquiry. John D. Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, demanded on Monday that all information about Russia’s meddling be declassified, and that the Obama administration explain what it knows about the hacking and when it knew it.

“We now know that the C.I.A. has determined Russia’s interference in our elections was for the purpose of electing Donald Trump,” Mr. Podesta wrote in a statement. “This should distress every American. Never before in the history of our republic have we seen such an effort to undermine the bedrock of our democracy.”

Three Senate Democrats — Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, Dianne Feinstein of California and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont — called on Monday for the creation of an independent, nonpartisan commission to comprehensively investigate allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

But Mr. McConnell stopped short of calling for a special select committee, saying that the Senate Intelligence Committee was “more than capable of conducting a complete review” of the matter.

While he stopped short of saying whether he agreed that Russia had interfered in the election in support of Mr. Trump, Mr. McConnell said, “We need to approach all these on the assumption the Russians do not wish us well.”

Mr. McCain was less equivocal, saying Monday that there was “no doubt about the hacking” by Russian intelligence services. He called the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and related accounts “another form of warfare” in an appearance on “CBS This Morning” with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the incoming Democratic leader.

And one week before the Electoral College meets to ratify Mr. Trump’s election victory, 10 electors have demanded their own intelligence briefingon Russian efforts to elect Mr. Trump.

For his part, Mr. Trump was dismissive of the intelligence findings and suggested that Democrats were simply stirring controversy. “Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory!” Mr. Trump said in a Twitter post on Monday.

The White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, said that the administration would support a congressional review. He also rejected the notion that the administration had failed to adequately highlight the Russian efforts before the election, saying it had extensively briefed Congress all year about Russian electoral meddling.

“There has been intensive cooperation between the intelligence community and other national security agencies, and members of Congress in both parties, both before and after the election,” Mr. Earnest said. “The briefings have been provided in a variety of settings, both classified and unclassified.”

Even beyond the conclusions of the intelligence community, Mr. Trump’s campaign had widely known and extensive ties to the Russian government. A campaign manager, Paul Manafort, had worked for the Russian-backed government in Ukraine, and Mr. Trump’s choice for national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, had consulted for a Russian-backed media group, Mr. Earnest noted.

Mr. Earnest said that Congress had a “special responsibility” to investigate the ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, because those connections were widely known before the election. He added that, for Capitol Hill Republicans, how to “reconcile their political strategy and their patriotism is something they’re going to have to explain.”