McCain will hold a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday on “foreign cyber threats” that is expected to center on Russia. Intelligence officials — including Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Marcel J. Lettre II and U.S. Cyber Command and National Security Agency Director Michael S. Rogers — will testify, and some Republicans are hoping they will present evidence that Russia meddled in the elections.
“The point of this hearing is to have the intelligence community reinforce, from their point of view, that the Russians did this,” Graham said. “You seem to have two choices now — some guy living in an embassy, on the run from the law for rape, who has a history of undermining American democracy and releasing classified information to put our troops at risk, or the 17 intelligence agencies sworn to defend us. I’m going with them.”…
CIA veterans said the level of open hostility is extraordinary. “I can’t think of any transition during my career as seemingly fraught as this one,” said John Rizzo, the CIA’s former acting general counsel…
Republicans are staking their hopes on the idea that once Trump takes office, he will come around to their point of view on the Kremlin. “It’s good to question our intelligence community. I have no problem with him being skeptical. But just listen with an open mind,” Graham said, offering Trump unsolicited advice for his Friday briefing. “When General Mattis said ‘Give me a pack of cigarettes and a cold beer; I can get more information than waterboarding,’ that impressed the president-elect,” Graham added, referencing Trump’s pick for defense secretary, James Mattis. “I’m hoping after Friday he will be more convinced.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member