Edition of the Washington Post writes:
Wednesday, June 21, the Department of homeland security, the United States announced that the Russian government hackers tried to hack computer voting system in 21 States.
On Tuesday, June 20, at a hearing of the house Committee on intelligence, a former head of the Ministry Jay Johnson (Jeh Johnson) said that the intervention of Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin, was “unprecedented in scale and scope of what they did.” These are the indications he gave one day after the statement by the press Secretary of the White house Sean Spicer (Sean Spicer) that he does not know, does the President trump that Russia did not interfere in the presidential election in 2016.
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The unwillingness of the President to recognize the role of Russia in American elections, combined with the reluctance of Secretary of state to consider tougher sanctions against Russia — the shameful retreat from the declared principles by the Republican administration, who claimed that Hillary Clinton was too weak against Russia — continues to puzzle observers. In addition to the need to pay Russia for its support in the presidential election and certain financial transactions involving family members of trump, on which Russia may report (that is, start to blackmail), we can’t think of any other reasons why the trump, who wants to “win” and once again make America great, behaving so quietly in the face of Russian threats.
CNN reports:
Russia has canceled a meeting between senior US officials and Russia, where they were to discuss ways of solving problems existing in relations between the two countries. This announcement was made right after the US announced the extension of sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities in response to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
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Given the fact that this appointment was canceled by the Russian side, the administration and Congress now in any case she can not give up, it will signal that such a minor step as a cancelled meeting, just enough to bring them down. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already made up his mind about President trump: if trump will postpone or try to avoid the imposition of sanctions, Putin immediately decides that trump is a simpleton who can be manipulated. (And this is quite a reasonable conclusion, given the fact that he is willing to pull the hands of Russia and interference in elections, and that he gave the Russians highly classified information, the disclosure of which Israel has not given its permission.) Trump may believe that denial of the intervention of Russia serves its interests and promotes its political aims, but Putin considers it a weakness or just sheer stupidity.
Unfortunately, now it seems that the Republicans of the house of representatives are simply trying to stall for time, after complaints Secretary Rex Tillerson (Rex Tillerson) sanctions. The publication the Hill reports:
A member of the house of representatives Kevin Brady (Kevin Brady) said that some members of Congress consider this bill a violation because the Constitution requires that bills dealing with state revenues, was tabled only in the House of representatives.
“The house of representatives will no doubt be in compliance with the requirements of the Constitution. The Senate may take this bill, to modify it, then upload it in the House of representatives and to move in this direction,” said Brady in an interview with reporters on Tuesday, June 20.
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All this is more like a pretext with which the House of representatives wants to reassure the White house and save yourself from having to vote against the bill on sanctions. This once again confirms the validity of the assumption that Republicans are much more interested in how to protect trump from the consequences of the Russian investigation, than to protect US from the Russian threat. “Since the intelligence community told us that Russia attacked our democracy, it’s been five months, and Paul Ryan (Paul Ryan) and the Republicans of the house of representatives so nothing was done, said a former state Department official Max Bergmann (Max Bergmann). — Instead of supporting the bill on anti-Russian sanctions approved by the senators from both parties, Paul Ryan, who became aware of the intervention of Russia a year ago, plays into the hands of Putin blocking the bill in the House of representatives. A weakness that the Republicans are demonstrating in the face of Russian aggression only provokes new attacks on America. They need to take immediate tough sanctions against Russia.”
The minority leader in the Senate Charles Schumer (Charles E. Schumer) was also subjected to sharp criticism of Republicans. “Make no mistake, allegations of violation of the Constitution is just an excuse on the part of the Republicans of the house of representatives, who invented it to protect the President, which demonstrates the excessive softness in relation to Russia, — he said. This administration is too zealous trying to initiate the process of removing the sanctions — that’s the point. Many Americans from all over the country asking why is this happening? Just yesterday, a White house spokesman stated that he never discussed with the President of Russia’s intervention in our elections.”
He warned: “the United States should not be afraid to cooperate with Russia, but we cannot turn a blind eye or, worse, to reward Putin after he conducted an attack on our democratic institutions. That’s why the Senate passed this package of sanctions, sending the President to Trump a strong signal about the need to maintain sanctions against Russia. Our response to the attack of Russia against our democracy must support both parties, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and in the House of representatives”. According to Schumer, statements by the Republicans about the violation of the requirements of the Constitution do not hold water.
Schumer is right, and the Republicans — from the President to ordinary members of the party will look weak and indecisive if they don’t support anti-Russian sanctions. Moscow is closely monitoring their actions.
