John McCain: Russian hacks threaten to ‘destroy democracy’
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan team of senators Sunday broke with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in demanding the formation of a special cyber committee to investigate Russian interference in the presidential election and to devise a necessary response.
McConnell had backed a congressional investigation into the cyber hacking, but said the probe could be handled by the Intelligence Committee.
However, a team of senate heavyweights — Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) — penned a letter Sunday saying a new select committee is needed to be fully devoted to the gravity of the threat.
“Only a select committee can do it,” Schumer said.
“This is serious business. If they’re able to harm the electoral process, they may destroy democracy, which is based on free and fair elections,” McCain added on CNN’s “State of the Union” noting the US response so far is “totally paralyzed.”
“This is the sign of a possible unraveling of the world order that was established after World War II, which has made for one of the most peaceful periods in the history of the world,” McCain said. “We’re starting to see the strains and the unraveling of it, and that is because of the absolute failure of American leadership.”
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump continues to cast doubt on whether Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee and the private email of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, despite leaked CIA intelligence reports that Russia was behind the intrusion for the purpose of supporting Trump’s election.
Trump’s incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus said the president-elect has been waiting for FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to step forward with evidence.
“If there is this conclusive opinion among all of these intelligence agencies then they should issue a report or stand in front of a camera and make the case. … I think he [Trump] would accept the conclusion if these intelligence professionals would get together put out a report, show the American people that they’re actually on the same page,” Priebus said on “Fox News Sunday.”
CIA Director John Brennan said Friday he’s formed the same conclusions with Comey and Clapper. “There is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature, and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election,” Brennan said in a memo.
A skeptical Rep. Peter King (R-NY) called for an investigation into the CIA’s Brennan for the “hit job” on Trump before the Electoral College meets Monday. He told ABC’s “This Week” that he agrees Russians hacked the DNC, but he called the CIA leaking to a newspaper that Russia interfered with the election to help Trump is “shameful” — because evidence hasn’t been produced.
Meanwhile, Democrats are upset federal authorities didn’t do more to stop Russian hacking into their systems and draw more attention to the Russian intrusion before voters cast ballots.
Outgoing DNC chairwoman Donna Brazile refuted President Obama’s claim that Russian cyber hacking stopped after he told Vladimir Putin to “cut it out.”
“No, they did not stop. They came after us absolutely every day until the end of the election. They tried to hack into our system repeatedly,” Brazile told ABC’s “This Week.”
In his press conference Friday, Obama said he warned Putin personally of cyberhacking consequences while they were attending a conference in China in September.
“And, in fact, we did not see further tampering of the election process,” Obama said. “But the leaks through WikiLeaks had already occurred.”
Podesta, Clinton’s chairman, blasted the FBI for seeming to care very little about his private email account getting hacked and its embarrassing contents leaked online.
“The first time I was contacted by the FBI was two days after Wikileaks started dropping my emails,” Podesta told NBC’s “Meet the Press. “…That was the last time I talked to the FBI.”
He noted the timing of the emails being publicly leaked, saying that on Oct. 7 the damning Trump “Access Hollywood” tape came out.
“One hour later, WikiLeaks starts dropping my emails into the public. One could say … those things might not have been a coincidence,” Podesta said.
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