FBI confirms investigation into Trump team links with Russia
Monday was a big day for the investigation into Russian interference in the US presidential election. FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers appeared before the House Intelligence Committee to answer (or, in many cases, decline to answer) questions about Russia’s actions, the hacking, the Trump team’s conduct, and of course all the leaks that brought this information into the public eye.
The hearing lasted over three hours, and was by turns revolutionary, tedious, bizarre and surreal. One Democratic Representative compared Vladimir Putin to a tarantula sitting at the heart of the Trump campaign; another mentioned Donald Trump’s attack on the cast of Hamilton – possibly the first time a Broadway musical has ever made it onto the formal record of a congressional hearing. On the Republican side, the prize for the weirdest statement goes to K. Michael Conaway (R-TX), who launched into an extended football metaphor to make his point.
But in all the obfuscating and monotony, there were some key revelations, and a number of other points worth noting. Here they are in order of importance.
* The FBI is investigating the Trump campaign’s links to Moscow officials in the context of Russian’s influence on the election. This is huge. The confirmation from Comey has turned what began as a fringe conspiracy theory into a national conversation. Until the investigation is closed, Trump’s White House will be tainted with the possibility of corruption and collusion.
* Trump isn’t listening. Midway through the hearing, the president tweeted from the official @POTUS account: “The NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence electoral process”, along with a video clip. In fact, neither Comey nor Rogers had said anything of the sort. When one of the Democratic Representatives read the tweet aloud, both intelligence officials denied that had been their conclusion.
* There is no evidence to support Trump’s paranoid claims that Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower during the campaign. Comey, who was for the most part incredibly reticent when answering questions, was abundantly clear on this point. Rogers backed him up. Both men displayed evident discomfort with the allegations, and went out of their way to stress that it would have been impossible for a president to order that kind of surveillance on a US citizen even if they wanted to. When it came to answering questions on White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s accusation that Obama asked the British intelligence agency GCHQ to wiretap Trump, Rogers seemed visibly angry as he refuted it, and noted that such a claim could have risked damaging US relations with its allies.
* There is an extensive trail of evidence connecting key members of the Trump campaign with Russian government officials, Russian money, and Russian hacking. Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CT) went through it in detail, stringing together a series of meetings, phone calls, money transfers, hacks, boasts, and policy changes that paint a damning picture. Of course, as Schiff conceded, it could all be a coincidence that Trump surrogates held undisclosed meetings with Kremlin officials, were paid thousands of dollars, promoted a pro-Russia policy platform, and seemed to know about the hacked documents before they were released to the public. But it could also not be a coincidence, and that it is crucial to investigate. (You can read Schiff’s full timeline here.)
* Republicans weren’t playing ball. Barely a single question asked by the Republicans on the Committee related to the conduct of Trump campaign officials or the actions of the Russians. Instead, the focus was on leaks leaks leaks. Is leaking illegal? Who had access to the leaked information? Did Comey and Rogers think the leaks were damaging to their agencies’ efforts? Why weren’t they taking the leaks more seriously? Could the source of the leaks actually be the Russians themselves? Time and again a Republican Representative would try to reframe the staggering implications of collusion with the Russians as secondary to the issue of the leaks. They tried to paint the subjects of the leaks, in particular former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn who was forced to resign over his inappropriate contact with the Russian ambassador, as the real victim. There were also allegations that the Obama administration was to blame for Russia’s hostile attitude to the US, and a request that Comey and Rogers investigate the Clinton campaign’s to links to Russia. This was a clear message that congressional Republicans are not prepared to take this seriously, even if it emerges to the president conspired with a hostile foreign power.
* Despite attempts to deflect, the hearing has cast a shadow over all White House business for the immediate future. That includes the confirmation of Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch. Gorsuch’s Senate confirmation hearing was going on at the same time. Among the points raised against Gorsuch were his support for a company that fired a truck driver for leaving his vehicle in subzero temperatures, and a letter from a former student alleging he once said women “intentionally manipulate” their employers by getting pregnant. It has been pointed out that the Republican-led Senate refused to even hold a hearing for Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, and that the administration who nominated Gorsuch is under an FBI investigation. Expect a long fight.