There is no excuse for not having an independent commission on Russia
By Jennifer Rubin March 5 at 12:45 PM
-snip- several paragraphs about: Denis McDonough: McConnell 'watered down' Russia warning in 2016 @ https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142003878
Not surprisingly, McConnell disagrees: “McConnell spokesman Don Stewart accused McDonough on Sunday of having a selective memory. At the time, Stewart pointed out, the administration did not want to publicize the Russia connection, and McDonough even wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that he had asked Democrats to avoid calling out Russia publicly ‘mainly to avoid politicizing the issue.’ ”
McConnell’s defense raises serious questions.
First, McConnell hasn’t actually addressed the allegation: Did he water down the letter or not? Surely there must be a paper trail (electronic or otherwise) that can clarify. What was the original version? Who proposed changes, and why? If McConnell did insist on changes, were they reasonable? McConnell’s answer — Democrats were hesitant to raise the issue — actually would have been addressed if there had been a bipartisan statement with a robust declaration that Russian propaganda, including stolen emails from its cut-out WikiLeaks, was an unacceptable attack on American sovereignty.
Second, one reason we have not gotten to the bottom of the Russian plot and our response to it is that Republicans have refused to authorize an outside commission in which a nonpartisan accounting of events and recommendations for the future could be laid out. That is what happened after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. At that time, a Republican president and vice president agreed to be interviewed, as did senior officials of previous administrations. As a result, the public — and historians — got an exhaustive analysis of the rise of al-Qaeda, its plan to attack the United States, the lapses that allowed the attack to occur, as well as the recommended policy and organizational changes needed to protect the country.
In the case of the Russia plot, there is no such nonpartisan effort. The president has attacked the legitimacy of the special counsel; the Republicans have refused to join Senate Democrats in their extensive report on the Russian effort to disrupt and discredit Western democracies. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has made a mockery of the oversight process, by launching a smear campaign against the FBI and introducing phony counterattacks (e.g., Obama “wiretapped” Trump Tower).
The inability of Republicans to both put country over party and to produce a credible account of events will damage our ability to reach a consensus on Russia’s assault on our democracy and to implement measures that will increase confidence in our election system. Their present refusal to conduct themselves in the same spirit as Republicans did in the wake of 9/11 serves Vladimir Putin’s aim of weakening and demoralizing democracies. Their dereliction, in addition to their ongoing defense of an unfit president, will be their legacy. History won’t treat them well.
full column
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/03/05/there-is-no-excuse-for-not-having-an-independent-commission-on-russia