Yes, it looks like Mitch McConnell knowingly provided cover for 2016 Russian interference.
This clip is remarkable:
This clip is important because Greg Miller makes clear that not only did McConnell refuse to sign on to a bi-partisan statement condemning Russian interference in the 2016 election, he actually went much further. He threatened that if the CIA disclosed it’s finding that Putin was actively working to elect Trump, then McConnell would in turn blame Brennan and Obama for trying to influence the election. This was a threat and it has not previously been reported, though there have been hints in prior reporting.
Joe Biden said Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stopped the Obama administration from speaking out about Russian interference in the 2016 campaign by refusing to sign on to a bipartisan statement of condemnation.
That moment, the former Democratic vice president said, made him think “the die had been cast ... this was all about the political play.” [...]
a former Obama White House official on Tuesday afternoon echoed Biden's frustration with the Senate majority leader, pointing to the way Obama's White House chief of staff Denis McDonough described the dispute in an op-ed last summer.
“Our administration's interest in making sure the response was bipartisan wasn't for the sake of being bipartisan. It was necessary because we needed the buy-in from state and local election administrators (many of whom were Republican partisans and/or skeptical of federal government),” the official argued in an email. “Unfortunately, as is well documented, Senator McConnell was unwilling to help — only making matters worse.” — www.politico.com/...
It’s important to note that John Cornyn (TX) aided and abetted Mitch McConnell in laying down suppressing fire for the Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election:
In an internal memo to CIA employees last December, CIA Director John Brennan complained that some members of Congress he had briefed about the agency’s assessment that Russia interfered in the US presidential election did not “understand and appreciate the importance and gravity of the issue.”
Brennan’s Dec. 16, 2016, memo did not identify the lawmakers who expressed skepticism about the CIA’s judgment that Russia helped Donald Trump win the election. But three intelligence sources told BuzzFeed News that Brennan’s criticism was directed at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. John Cornyn, the majority whip. At the time, the two Republican lawmakers downplayed the importance of the CIA’s intelligence. Cornyn said it was “hardly news.” —
There’s a long list of senators we need to vote out of office after 2018, but Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn need to be at the top of the list.
It’s worth remembering that senior Republicans knew exactly what was happening, and discussed it in no uncertain terms in private:
“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia. — www.washingtonpost.com/...
— @subirgrewal
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