McCain: Congress doesn't have 'credibility' to handle Russia probes

[JudyM]

Source: The Hill

Congress no longer has the credibility to independently tackle a probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and President Trump and his associates' ties to Moscow, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday.

"It's a bizarre situation, and what I think, the reason why I'm calling for this select committee or a special committee, is I think that this back-and-forth and what the American people have found out so far that no longer does the Congress have credibility to handle this alone," McCain told MSNBC's Greta Van Susteren. "And I don't say that lightly."

McCain's comments come amid an increasingly bitter feud that erupted between members of the House Intelligence Committee earlier Wednesday, after the panel's chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) claimed that he had seen evidence that the U.S. intelligence community incidentally surveilled members of Trump's transition team.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/325330-mccain-congress-doesnt-have-credibility-to-handle-russia-probes

[GP6971]

1. Empty statement

He probably won't support a Special Prosecutor.

[jrthin]

2. You know him well. That's

My take too.

[trc]

3. I bet he will

This is the kind of shit he fought against while in the military. McCain is an old cold warrior and this crap with Russian seems to piss him off. And he hates Trump for the loser getting captured comment.

[DesertRat]

8. I think that he will

He has nothing to lose. He's most likely not going to run again and he has a chance to be a hero again.
Remember. the heroes of Watergate were the Republicans who put country above party. My hopes are that McCain (and maybe Graham) will do the same.

[kairos12]

14. Exactly. When it comes to a vote he won't do it.

[cstanleytech]

16. I think in the end he will have no choice unless he wants to be seen as a collaborator with Russia

in this whole affair but the real question is will the special prosecutor be a special prosecutor or a "special" prosecutor.

[Mc Mike]

19. And though McCain is Goldwater-right-wing and lacking in integrity, he might

see a clear threat to himself and his own power is posed by dRumpf.

Still, weasel words, special 'committee' instead of special 'prosecutor'.

[LiberalLovinLug]

33. Seems to be his game

He's the party spokesman for the 'rational, reasonable, but stanch conservative". (His brand used to be "The Maverick" but never mind, that was before.) He gets away with statements another Republican would be tarred and feathered for. But its all a grand setup from the grand old party. Because in future, when he endorses some sham one-sided committee, it will all seem so obviously acceptable if its coming from such an ethical warrior meme he's built for himself.

[dalton99a]

4. Ok, grandstanding grandpa

[Skittles]

5. the GOP does not have the credibility to handle ANY probes

they are CORRUPT and ALWAYS PUT PARTY ABOVE COUNTRY

[TomCADem]

6. McCain: 'Bizarre' Behavior By House Intel Committee Leaders

You always hope that some Republicans can on occasion act responsibly...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mccain-bizarre-behavior-by-house-intel-committee-leaders/ar-BByBGyC?ocid=spartandhp

After high-stakes back and forth between the top Democrat and Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain labeled their conduct "bizarre" on Wednesday and said partisan fighting had cost Congress its credibility to investigate Russian interference the election.

"No longer does the Congress have credibility to handle this alone, and I don't say that lightly," McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told MSNBC's Greta Van Susteren.

McCain renewed his call for a congressional select committee or independent commission to investigate the matter — a step Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have so far resisted taking.

Earlier in the day, Devin Nunes, the Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, announced that he had new evidence showing communications of President Donald Trump's transition officials may have been incidentally collected by U.S. intelligence surveillance.

[milestogo]

7. That's a pretty strong statement.

[Grizzled Ol Granddad]

10. I Agree

And, for once, I'm rooting for the guy I enthusiastically voted against in '08.

[JudyM]

21. Welcome to DU, GOG!

[Grizzled Ol Granddad]

22. I Was WAITING For Someone to Call Me That!!!

THANK YOU!!!!!

[JudyM]

24. Ha, my pleasure, it was nothing...

[Grizzled Ol Granddad]

25. I Do Have to Warn You, Though: Stay Away from MAGOG

That guy is bad news!

[JudyM]

28. ?

[LovingA2andMI]

9. Every Now And Then.....

John McCain says the right thing and on this one, he's right on point. Congress has NO BUSINESS WHAT-SO-EVER handling an investigation against Cheeto. It is HIGH TIME for an INDEPENDENT PROSECUTOR and NOW!!!

[FakeNoose]

23. McCain didn't actually say he wanted an independent prosecutor

He said the Senate shouldn't be investigating this.
He wants it to be turned over to a House of Representatives investigating committee.
Well OK fine, it's still going to be run by the GOP in any case, since they have majority in both houses.
Right Senator McCain?

No, it's not fine! It should be investigated by a completely unrelated, non-political group.
Like maybe, how about a REAL independent prosecutor - not Comey for sure!

[LovingA2andMI]

30. He didn't say....

He's not open to an Independent Investigation or Committee, either. So with that, a deal might can be made.

[SchrodingersCatbox]

31. John McCain is very good at SAYING the right thing

It's the actually DOING part where he loses interest

[Lakerstan]

11. McCain isn't a fan

This is a GREAT article that explains a lot about the Manafort relationship, but has some good information about why McCain may not be a fan of the whole Manafort, Davis, Stone clan...

Snip..

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/04/paul_manafort_isn_t_a_gop_retread_he_s_made_a_career_of_reinventing_tyrants.html


In 2005, John McCain received a call from a staffer on the National Security Council. There was a problem, the staffer told the senator. The man orchestrating McCain’s presidential campaign was Paul Manafort’s partner, a lobbyist named Rick Davis. The administration wanted the senator’s help dialing back the duo’s work in Ukraine, two top McCain aides told me. By promoting enemies of the Orange Revolution, they were undermining American policy.

The call came after Manafort and Davis had already drawn McCain into their eastern escapades. It wasn’t just Ukraine. That year, the pair had consulted on behalf of pro-independence forces in the tiny principality of Montenegro, which wanted to exit Serbia and become its own sovereign republic. On the surface, this sounded noble enough, so noble that McCain called Montenegro’s independence the “greatest European democracy project since the end of the Cold War.”

A report in the Nation, however, showed that the Montenegrin campaign wasn’t remotely what McCain described. The independence initiative was championed by a fantastically wealthy Russian mogul called Oleg Deripaska. Deripaska had parochial reasons for promoting independence. He had just purchased Montenegro’s aluminum industry and intended to buy broader swaths of its economy. But he was also doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin, on whose good graces the fate of all Russian business ultimately hangs. The Nation quoted Deripaska boasting that “the Kremlin wanted an area of influence in the Mediterranean.”

Manafort and Davis didn’t just snooker McCain into trumpeting their client’s cause; they endangered him politically, by arranging a series of meetings with Deripaska, who the U.S. had barred from entering the country because of his ties to organized crime. In 2006, they steered McCain to attend a dinner with the oligarch at a chalet near Davos, where Deripaska speechified for the 40 or so guests. (The Washington Post reported that the oligarch sent Davis and Manafort a thank-you note for arranging to see the senator in “such an intimate setting.”) Seven months later, Manafort and Davis took McCain to celebrate his 70th birthday with Deripaska on a yacht moored in the Adriatic.

Not everyone within the McCain camp felt comfortable with this relationship. One group of aides pushed hard for McCain to fire Rick Davis for sullying the senator with the firm’s muck. McCain intended to do just that. The senator had backed the cause of Ukrainian democracy and he couldn’t stomach his top aide’s firm working to undermine it. What’s more, aides had come to McCain with the rumor that Deripaska had purchased an apartment in Trump Tower for Davis and Manafort. But in the moment, McCain lost his nerve, as his aides have recounted the episode. Davis supplied a tear-filled soliloquy that saved his job. “Rick’s plea somehow worked—and that was the root of the divisions that tore apart the campaign,” one of McCain’s top advisers told me.

[ProudLib72]

12. He talks a good talk

But I don't see him calling for a special committee. McCain always seems to be about 80% there but never willing to commit to the remaining 20%.

[BootinUp]

13. Que Benny Hill theme song

[ffr]

15. Things are all going in the direction of a funnel. tRump may want to pull the ejection handle soon

and seek asylum from Putin here fairly quickly. He'd be smart to do so, but I think he'll double-down that this is all fake news.

If tRumpcare goes down tomorrow, it'll prove that the resistance is an official movement for the United States and his agenda may be doomed, as Carter's was in the 1970s.

[grantcart]

17. The people who think that McCain won't support a special prosecutor may be overlooking two things

a) McCain is 80 and never going to run again

b) Has a clear reason to give payback to the GOP that continued to primary him every time he turned around.

I bet he will.

[wishstar]

20. He is only one not concerned with needing Repub money to win another election

All those Repoub congresscritters are only concerned with their 2018 election prospects and keeping their money infusions

[Sunlei]

18. To little ,way, way to late Senator McCain. You let Republicans rape the shit out of America &

helped dump the body of evidence.

[riversedge]

26. Thank you Sen. McCain

[HoneyBadger]

27. He is calling out 2 branches of government as corrupt, Executive and Legislative

Well hello Judicial, this is your moment.

[JudyM]

29. What would that look like, though? They can't issue a decree, need to have a case brought to them

but what form could that take? Would be great if someone could figure it out.

If this doesn't sort itself out ethically, we may need an international court of justice to steep in.

[SCVDem]

32. Congress doesn't have 'credibility

The second fact is that congress is run by republicans.

Political ads just write themselves.