From the moment that Richard Burr [R-NC] and Mark Warner [D-VA] first announced that, unlike their counterparts in the House, their Committee would get to the bottom of Russian interference with our election and collusion with the Trump campaign, I was skeptical. After all, the Republicans on that committee are all fascists, with the possible exception of Collins [R-ME], and there are even 1 1/2 Republicans on our side of the aisle Manchin [DINO-WV] and Feinstein [HALF-DINO-CA]. It appears I was right.
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s probe into Russia’s election interference is supposedly the best hope for getting the public credible answers about whether there was any coordination between the Kremlin and Trump Tower.But there are serious reasons to doubt that it can accomplish this task, as currently configured.
More than three months after the committee announced that it had agreed on the scope of the investigation, the panel has not begun substantially investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, three individuals with ties to the committee told The Daily Beast.
The investigation does not have a single staffer dedicated to it full-time, and those staff members working on it part-time do not have significant investigative experience. The probe currently appears to be moving at a pace slower than prior Senate Intelligence Committee investigations, such as the CIA torture inquiry, which took years to accomplish.
No interviews have been conducted with key individuals suspected of being in the Trump-Russia orbit: not Michael Flynn, not Roger Stone, not Carter Page, not Paul Manafort, and not Jared Kushner, according to two sources familiar with the committee’s procedures… [emphasis added]
From <Daily Beast>
Chris Hayes provided confirmation by interviewing Michael Isikoff from Yahoo News.
It may well be that nothing will budge until the 2018 election gets close enough to put Republicans in immediate fear of losing their jobs. We must maintain outrage at a high level until then, if need be.
RESIST!!
11 Responses to “Senate Intelligence Committee Stalled”
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The White House just denied a request from the House Oversight Committee for documents on Michael Flynn – yes, I realize that's the House, but they are not going to deny something to the House and then turn around and just hand it to the Senate. I might also point out this was not the House Intelligence Committee, but the House Oversight Committee. Does the Senate have one? I am also fascinated that Yahoo! News is considered credible. My gut feeling is that it may be just this guy. You think threats of election loss will be enought to light a fire under them? I suspect we need to make those election losses ACTUAL, not just potential, before we will see any action.
Yes, this investigation is stalled, and going nowhere.
What a bummer!!!
Thanks, TC
Well, it's time to REPLACE some of them people that are dragging their feet and get someone in there that will investigate that pompous, overblown septic tank of a presidency !!!
Damned sons-of-bitches!
I never expected them to do a full investigation, they are all to afraid. Hopefully, their constituents will light a big enough fire that they will have to make some effort before the next election.
Why is everyone so surprised? Mitch McConnell forced Obama's hand when the first intel came out last September pointing to Russian interference in the election and Obama made the mistake of not starting an investigation then. Since then both the House and the Senate first refused to investigate this fully (not just the hacked DNC e-mails) and only under heavy pressure allowed both Congressional committees to "investigate" a broader scope, but never allowed an independent commission to delve into this.
These committees were never meant to be anything but a facade, a charade to keep the public at bay. It is too obvious that Russia-gate goes beyond Drumpf and his then campaign leaders, now members of his administration and advisory board and that GOP leaders had at the least knowledge of what was going on. So with the GOP ruling the roost there's never going to be an independent investigation and the GOP will continue to do everything to stay in power in 2018, including keeping these committees going, doing nothing.
This also sheds a light on why the Republicans haven't dumped Drumpf yet, even though he's signed most of the decrees and bills they needed him to sign to undo all of Obama's work and even though he's becoming more of a liability each day, even to them. If Drumpf falls on Russia gate, so may Pence, McDonnell, Ryan and many others in the GOP. So now they're delaying investigating ties to Russia as much as possible and let Drumpf run wild in the hope he'll trip on some other scandal or just plain insanity/dementia.
I'm not surprised it's doing nothing. I'm surprised anyone ever thought it might do something!
Nor am I, as I said.
Sorry, I thought by now it would be clear that when I say "everyone", only those people out there in media and pundit land, never in here at PP. Will be more careful in my addressing next time.
Republicans were hot to trot when the investigations involved Hillary — emails, Benghazi etc. But now, it is one, or rather some, of their own and they are dragging things out to avoid controversy. The problem is there is already controversy and their inaction is creating more. The time has come for a special prosecutor to get to the heart of the issues, after all, this is a national security matter. Republicans, or rather Drumpf signed and initiated his first Muslim ban is very short order and that was supposedly a national security matter. Hypocrites! The midterms must signal a US spring where Republicans are unceremoniously turfed from office.
Thanks all. Hugs!