Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is going one careful step beyond House Speaker Paul Ryan over the question of whether and how to investigate Russian interference in the U.S. election. Where Ryan was content to issue a frowny statement about how interference is “unacceptable” through a spokesperson while dodging the question of investigations, McConnell on Monday tepidly backed some level of investigations, but opposed calls for a select committee:
Calling the allegations of Russian meddling “disturbing,” McConnell said the intelligence panel should take the lead, dismissing calls by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and others for a special select committee to review the matter.
He said the Intelligence Committee is “more than capable of conducting a complete review of this matter.”
“We’re going to follow the regular order. It’s an important subject and we intend to review it on a bipartisan basis,” he said.
Any points McConnell might have gotten for going that step beyond Ryan and kinda sorta backing investigations were preemptively wiped out when he blocked a statement publicizing Russian interference before the election. Personally standing in the way of the public knowing how their vote is being manipulated before the election is not something you wipe out by saying sure, okay, now that it’s too late to do anything about it, I won’t stand in the way of investigating the thing I didn't want voters to know three months ago.