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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is refusing to answer whether he now "regrets not doing anything when briefed on Russia meddling" or if he trusts popular vote loser Donald Trump less in the wake of the younger Don Trump's public confession of inviting the Russians into the campaign. He simply referred reporters to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
But let's revisit what McConnell specifically has to regret. It's not really that he didn't do anything when briefed on Russia's interference in our election. He actively suppressed that information from becoming public. Greg Sargent takes us back to the summer of 2016, and the briefing the intelligence community provided to the 12 top congressional leaders from both parties.
The meeting devolved into a partisan squabble.
“The Dems were, ‘Hey, we have to tell the public,’ ” recalled one participant. But Republicans resisted, arguing that to warn the public that the election was under attack would further Russia’s aim of sapping confidence in the system.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) went further, officials said, voicing skepticism that the underlying intelligence truly supported the White House’s claims. Through a spokeswoman, McConnell declined to comment, citing the secrecy of that meeting. …
A week later, McConnell and other congressional leaders issued a cautious statement that encouraged state election officials to ensure their networks were “secure from attack.” The release made no mention of Russia and emphasized that the lawmakers “would oppose any effort by the federal government” to encroach on the states’ authorities.
McConnell KNEW what Russia was doing—he knew it before last summer, because he was briefed on Russia's attempts to hack Democrats the year before! This wasn't news to him—he'd had a year to see it unfold. And not only did nothing about it, used his power to cover it up from the American public. He also fought tooth and nail against a select committee to investigate the issue in the Senate this year.
Nothing, nothing is more important to McConnell than partisan wins—not even the legitimacy of the White House, not the legitimacy of our elections, not our whole government. Whether it stems from his deep and abiding hatred of President Barack Obama and desire to undo everything Obama accomplished, or a deep and abiding hatred of any American who isn't a rich Republican, McConnell is willing to undermine everything he has sworn to uphold and protect.