In an Aug. 25 briefing for Harry Reid, then the top Democrat in the Senate, Mr. Brennan indicated that Russia’s hackings appeared aimed at helping Mr. Trump win the November election, according to two former officials with knowledge of the briefing.
The officials said Mr. Brennan also indicated that unnamed advisers to Mr. Trump might be working with the Russians to interfere in the election. The F.B.I. and two congressional committees are now investigating that claim, focusing on possible communications and financial dealings between Russian affiliates and a handful of former advisers to Mr. Trump. So far, no proof of collusion has emerged publicly. [...]
But Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican majority leader, resisted, questioning the underpinnings of the intelligence, according to officials with knowledge of the discussions.
Why was Sen. McConnell, in particular, skeptical of the intelligence community's conclusions? Why did he believe he was better situated to understand the scope of Russian hacking, and its dangers, and possible ties to members of the Trump campaign team, than was the national intelligence community—to the point of blocking the public warning that intelligence community and the administration wanted to make until it had been, in McDonough's words, "dramatically watered down?" Why did he warn Obama that, if the White House made public the original, non-watered-down versions, he would publicly call that effort partisan?
Like McDonough, we simply don't know. McConnell has never offered a substantive accounting for his obstructions and, as of yet, other national lawmakers have shown little interest in exploring them.
But Sen. Mitch McConnell was presumably given the precise same information, by the CIA director, that Democrats like Adam Schiff, Dianne Feinstein, and Harry Reid had received; McConnell was apparently alone in both his skepticism and his insistence that the matter not be elevated to the extent that the Brennan and others desired.
It remains a curious episode, to say the least. We should not crudely presume that Sen. McConnell was attempting to thwart a more aggressive public warning of Russian actions simply because McConnell had been informed those efforts were aimed at helping his own party and hurting his ideological opponents. But if he has another explanation, he might want to offer it.
Comments are closed on this story.