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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThis Senator Is Hell-Bent on Getting Out the Truth About Trump and Russia (David Corn- Mother Jones)
Last edited Sun Feb 5, 2017, 10:45 PM - Edit history (1)
Reposting from Editorials and Other Articles from Friday. It got a lot of recs but then got lost in the weekend news. I didn't see any other postings on what Senator Wyden is saying about Trump and Russia and think it is really important info, especially with Pelosi now calling for a probe into blackmail.
"Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden says the Obama administration should have released more information before the election.
One of the most important men in Washington, DC, these days is Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon. Sure, all senators are big shots. Even Democrats in the minority. But Wyden is in a special position: He can guarantee for the public whether or not an ongoing and (for now) behind-closed-doors investigation examining Vladimir Putin's operation to subvert the 2016 electionsand any possible ties between Donald Trump's circle and Russiais conducted thoroughly and legitimately.
(snip)
One cause of this seeming quietude is that after several weeks of political controversy regarding how best to investigate the matterwith Democrats joined by a small number of Republicans (that is, Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Marco Rubio) calling for a robust inquirythe Senate intelligence committee agreed to initiate its own probe. (The House intelligence community shortly followed suit.) After first being reluctant to include possible Trump-Russia ties in the investigation, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the Senate intelligence committee chair, relented. (Burr, no coincidence, was a member of the Trump campaign's national security advisory council.) But now that the intelligence committees are supposedly on the caseand with the FBI not discussing whatever inquiries it may be holding on this frontthe controversy (or scandal!) has been nudged to the back burner. This often happens in Washington: a secret investigation is launched, the story goes dark. (When Trump had a call with Putin after his first week in office, there was no indication from the White House that the new president had said anything to Putin about the Russian covert interference in the election. A senior Trump administration official told the Washington Post the chat had been "pleasant."
Enter Wyden. For the public, at this point, there is no way to tell if the intelligence committee is doing a good job investigating these dicey issues. Republicans on the committee certainly have an interest in not embarrassing, inconveniencing, or delegitimizing Trump. So it's up to Wyden and the other Democrats on the committee to monitor the probe and inform the citizenry if it ends up being a whitewash. And Wyden has already indicated that there is information on Trump-Russia ties within the US government that ought to be declassified, that he will push to keep the committee's inquiry on track, and that he will press to make as much of its findings as public as possible. In early January, during a rare public hearing of the Senate intelligence committee, which focused on the intelligence community's recently released report concluding Putin's regime had mounted the hacking to help Trump, Wyden pressed FBI Director James Comey on whether he would declassify information the bureau had obtained related to possible Trump-Russia connections and "release it to the American people" before Trump was inaugurated. No, Comey said, adding, "I can't talk about it." Wyden noted he was worried that if such information was not unveiled by then, it might never bemeaning, the incoming Trump administration would lock it up. And with this questioning, Wyden signaled that the FBI did indeed possess information on this subject.
Wyden failed to squeeze this material out of the FBI before Trump became president. But now he is in a position to tell the public if the Republican-led intelligence committee is doing an honest job with its all-important inquiry. A few days ago, I interviewed Wyden in his office and asked him about his role in this all-important project.
More:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/ron-wyden-intelligence-committee-russia-trump-investigation
This statement is very important: "People normally think things are classified and buttoned up for national reasons. I find it's far more likely to be political security than national security."
So glad to know what's going on with this and that Wyden is on it. Lots of us have been afraid it would get swept under the rug. Wyden is fighting for us. He's my senator and is definitely one of the good guys.
triron
(21,984 posts)Thanks for posting here.
dmr
(28,344 posts)There is so much we've learned. So much we've heard about. So much we suspect, and way too much that is unknown.
Putin is very dangerous, and I'm worried about those who delve into this. This includes Senator Wyden and his staff. You go messing with Putin, he'll get you one way or another.
Thanks for posting this link. Somehow I missed MJ's email and Corn's tweet, which isnt hard to do when so much passes through, lol.
I wonder if Congress has the authority to subpoena Trump's tax records. Not that Repubs there would even try, (although you know they would if it were Hillary).
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)I hope the people here who spent the better part of last year trying to take lame shots at Oregon, for whatever reason, are paying attention now.
blue neen
(12,319 posts)I saw Merkley on MSNBC the other night talking about the stolen Supreme Court seat. He was amazing.
Amaryllis
(9,524 posts)grateful we have good senators and tell them thank you, and keep voting against the swamp creatures! Funny thing was the day I saw this article, I was planning to call and ask if anyone was staying on Russia or if it was getting swept under the rug. Then I found the article and instead called and asked them to thank Wyden for his doggedness on this.
Interesting that David Corn seems to be the only one tracking this.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,164 posts)I still love ya Obama, but you played way too nice.
I know you believed right to the end (or desperately wanted to) in that there was no blue America, no red America but you were wrong. You were in charge of keeping America safe. Instead, while you still held power, you helped Trump by publicly backing Comey and saying he was an honorable man, instead of calling him out and demanding the info be released. You didn't want to go out on a distasteful note, and avoid any hint of being portrayed as partisan or worse, the 'angry black man', but this moment in history transcended that concern, or should have.
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)They will investigate tRump-Putin ties, but they won't release any info or act on that info that delegitimizes tRump? So what is the point? Ok, if Wyden goes ahead an leaks any info, then the repukes will pounce on him for it, call it fake news, and bury it under the rug. What is Wyden's end game? Just how does he plan on moving on this evidence? Wait until tRump is completely disavowed by the repukes in congress? And what about the repukes in congress who are in on the scheme: McConnell, Ryan, etc? How does Wyden plan on denouncing them? This is a very dangerous situation.
of rapacity
(2 posts)Impressive turnout at Wyden's town hall this past Saturday (2/4/17) at LBCC (Albany, OR).
...where Sen. Wyden publicly stated his commitment to getting to the very bottom of the Russian involvement
and interference in the past election.
He was spurred on by a boisterous crowd of support. Wish I could attach pics!!
fun n serious
(4,451 posts)Now why the fuck did we elect Dennis Richardson?!!