Pelosi: REMINDER: "McConnell ran interference for Trump during the [2016] campaign to stop Obama fro [View all]

[riversedge]

Nancy Pelosi Verified account @TeamPelosi
56m56 minutes ago

REMINDER: "McConnell ran interference for Trump during the [2016] campaign to stop Obama from warning the country about things Trump was lying publicly about." #FlashbackFriday

Link to tweet

The Rachel Maddow Show / The MaddowBlog

Does McConnell regret doing nothing about the Russian attack?


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/does-mcconnell-regret-doing-nothing-about-the-russian-attack
07/12/17 10:01 AM


By Steve Benen

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appears principally focused on passing a regressive health care plan this summer, but with the Russia scandal intensifying, NBC News’ Kasie Hunt asked the Kentucky Republican a good question yesterday.

HUNT: Mr. Leader, you were briefed on this intelligence report surrounding Russian meddling back in the fall before the election. And there was a decision not to put that out in public. Now there are emails that show that Donald Trump Jr. was aware that this may have been damaging information from the Russian government. Do you regret your course of action?

MCCONNELL: What I have a lot of confidence in is the Intelligence Committee handling this whole investigation. Senator Burr and Senator Warner have ball control, and we’ll hear from them later.

There is no meaningful relationship between the question and the answer – the Intelligence Committee’s investigation is unrelated to McConnell’s personal culpability – but I’m glad Kasie asked anyway because I continue to believe this angle to the story is underappreciated.

As The New Republic’s Brian Beutler noted yesterday, “McConnell ran interference for Trump during the campaign to stop Obama from warning the country about things Trump was lying publicly about.”

That’s true. As we discussed last month, the Obama White House, swayed by the evidence compiled by U.S. intelligence agencies, wanted bipartisan support to pushback against Russian intrusion, and in mid-September, the then-president dispatched counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco, then-FBI Director James Comey, and then-Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to brief top members of Congress.............................................

McConnell seems reluctant to reflect on this now, but he still owes the public an explanation.