McConnell: ‘Indisputable’ Evidence That Russians Tried To Affect 2016 Election

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) asserted Tuesday that there is “indisputable” evidence that Russians hacked the 2016 U.S. election, a position in direct contradiction to the uncertainty President Donald Trump expressed on the subject at his joint presser with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

“Over the last few years, there is the annexation of Crimea, the invasion of eastern Ukraine, not to mention the indisputable evidence that they tried to impact the 2016 election,” McConnell said. “So make no mistake about it, I would say to our friends in Europe, we understand the Russian threat and I think that is a widespread view here in the United States Senate among members of both parties.”

McConnell also emphasized the importance of America’s NATO allies, another quiet repudiation of the President who spend his European trip insulting many of those countries.

“I want them to understand that in this country there are a lot of people in both parties who believe that these alliances painstakingly built in the wake of the end of World War II are important and we want to maintain them,” he said.

He concluded by commenting on measures Congress could take to prevent further Russian election hacking.

“Well, I mean, there’s some possibilities. Sen. Rubio, for example, has got a bill that targets the 2018 elections, the cycle we’re right in now with, as I understand it, potential penalties if the Russians do it again,” he said. “There’s a possibility we might well take up legislation related to this. In the meantime, I think the Russians need to know that there are a lot of us who fully understand what happened in 2016 and it really better not happen again in 2018.”

Watch below:

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for tena tena says:

    That’s not what you said to Obama when he called you to a meeting before the election about this.

    Feeling some heat, huh? Just wait, it is going to get so much hotter.

  2. AP is announcing Trump has made a statement to the effect “I accept U.S. intelligence agencies conclusions on Russian meddling.”

    He then choked on some bile and passed out.

  3. "I think the Russians need to know that there are a lot of us who fully
    understand what happened in 2016 and it really better not happen again
    in 2018.”

    That’ll stop 'em, Mitch! They’re sweating in the Kremlin now!

  4. Sort of ignored the elephant in the party so to speak.

  5. “But they didn’t stop us from stealing a Supreme Court seat then, and by God they won’t stop us now either,” he added.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

93 more replies

Participants

Avatar for valgalky23 Avatar for alliebean Avatar for zandru Avatar for srfromgr Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for trnc Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for inversion Avatar for yskov Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for riverstreet Avatar for katwillow Avatar for reggid Avatar for tena Avatar for morrigan_2575 Avatar for ljb860 Avatar for news247 Avatar for j.dave Avatar for drtv Avatar for seamus42 Avatar for vtrc Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for captain_america

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: