I take issue with Mish on this. First, Lindsey Graham liking Hillary Clinton doesn't prove anything. Secondly, calling to "get rid" of Graham for "pushing for a probe into Russia’s election role" is irresponsible. The idea that a politician can't have legitimate American security concerns because they supported Clinton is seriously flawed. And it seems odd to take a position that the probe is a "witch hunt" before we know anything. And finally, Trump's previous assertion that numerous government agencies and private consultants who identified Russia as the hackers were politically motivated is hard to believe. Oh, and read this: Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House. Is it all fake news? ~ Ilene
Hillary Backer, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, Heads Obama's Witch Hunt on Russia
Courtesy of Mish
Earlier today, president Obama ordered a Russia Hacking Claim Probe.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a friend and backer of Hillary Clinton, heads up Obama’s witch hunt.
Barack Obama has ordered US intelligence agencies to conduct a “full review” of alleged Russian hacking into this year’s election and to issue a report before he leaves office next month.
Lisa Monaco, White House counter-terrorism adviser, said that the review, which would be sent to Congress but which might not be made public, would look at both what happened during the election and would consider “some after-action”.
The review comes as calls for congressional probes into the hacking of the election are increasing.
The growing rumblings over Russia’s role in the election could set up an early confrontation between Congress and the incoming Trump administration, which has called for closer ties with Moscow.
Although the US intelligence community issued a rare public statement in October claiming that Russia had been responsible for the hacks on Democratic politicians and political committees, president-elect Donald Trump has continued to cast doubt on Russia’s role in the hacking.
In an interview with Time magazine this week, he said that he did not believe that Russia had interfered in the election. “It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey. I believe that it could have been Russia and it could have been any one of many other people. Sources or even individuals,” Mr Trump said.
Over the course of the summer, WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and from John Podesta, chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Some Democrats have suggested that the controversies and bad publicity generated by the emails dumps — which only affected their party — contributed to Mr Trump’s victory in the election.
Some Republicans are also pushing for a probe into Russia’s election role, led by Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain. “It’s pretty clear to me that WikiLeaks was designed to hurt Clinton and it could be us tomorrow,” Mr Graham told CNN on Wednesday.
For the more hawkish Senate Republicans such as Mr Graham, the issue of hacking the election could become part of a broader battle with the new president over his approach to Russia, given Mr Trump’s desire to “get along better” with Moscow.
“I’m going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia,” Mr Graham said. “I want [Russian president Vladimir] Putin personally to pay a price.”
Lindsey Graham a Hillary Backer
Just so you know why Lindsey Graham is so upset at Russia, he was a big Hillary fan.
For details, please consider praise for Hillary as noted in Correct the Record .
Here are some notes, going to the actual source, when links provided.
Lindsey Graham in New York Times June 27, 2012: Rock-Star Diplomat
“I think she’s represented our nation well,” Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina, who as a member of the House served as one of 13 managers in the 1998 impeachment trial of Clinton’s husband, told me in an interview in his Senate office. “She is extremely well respected throughout the world, handles herself in a very classy way and has a work ethic second to none.”
When Tripoli fell in August and Qaddafi was killed in October, some of the same officials complained that she, not the president, was getting too large a share of the public credit. “Libya was a good showcase into who she is,” Lindsey Graham told me. “I said at one time during this debate, Thank God for strong women.”
Lindsey Graham in Fox New, May 28, 2007
Fox News: KASICH: “Bay — Bay, you’ve got — you got John McCain who says, and I quote, ‘I have no doubt that Senator Clinton would make a good president.’ Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican, says, ‘She’s smart, prepared, serious.’ John Warner, sort of the dean of the United States Senate, Republican, conservative, says she has a remarkable core of inner strength. These are people who have worked with her for seven years.” [Fox News, 5/28/07]
Lindsey Graham September 15, 2011: speech at Council on Foreign Relations
