Washington: Pressure is mounting for a broader congressional investigation of Russian cyberattacks aimed at influencing the US election, even as a top aide to President-elect Donald Trump said there was no conclusive evidence of foreign interference.
The effort was being led by a bipartisan group of senators, including Republican John McCain, and Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate Democratic leader, who called on Sunday for the creation of a Senate select committee on cyberactivity to take the investigative lead on Capitol Hill.
![Donald Trump has dismissed reports of Russian involvement in cyberattacks during the presidential election.](/web/20170101032720im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/d/u/s/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtdznv.png/1482175829581.jpg)
"Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American," the senators wrote in a letter to Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, who has said a select committee is not necessary. "Cybersecurity is the ultimate cross-jurisdictional challenge, and we must take a comprehensive approach to meet this challenge effectively."
The developments served to deepen the fissures between high-ranking lawmakers of both parties who see US intelligence reports implicating Russia as the basis for additional inquiries and Mr Trump, who continues to reject the conclusions of those reports.
![Senate Minority Leader-elect Chuck Schumer of New York.](/web/20170101032720im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/8/9/k/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtdznv.png/1482118926593.jpg)
But the developments also put new strain on Senator McConnell. He now faces calls from Senator McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham, two Senate Republicans considered well versed on national security issues, to form a select committee. If he were to reject that appeal, he would be subject to criticism that he was trying to avoid a spotlight on an issue that senators in both parties believe is worthy of more focused scrutiny.
Senator McConnell said last week that while he respects the intelligence agencies' conclusions, the Senate Intelligence Committee is "more than capable of conducting a complete review" itself. He also acknowledged that Senator McCain could conduct an investigation on the Armed Services Committee, an option that remains open should McConnell decide against a select committee.
Those divisions, coming as the Electoral College prepares to meet Monday to ratify Mr Trump's election and the president-elect completes his cabinet choices, all but ensured that the issue would cloud the first months of Trump's presidency, when he will be asking Congress to approve an aggressive legislative agenda.
Several permanent congressional committees have been tasked with examining various aspects of the Russian interference, which has been largely accepted as fact by most members of Congress.
![Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.](/web/20170101032720im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/9/v/a/f/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtdznv.png/1482118926593.jpg)
But in their letter Sunday, the lawmakers argued the issue was too important and complicated for an existing committee to take on properly.
"We share your respect for, and deference to, the regular order of the Senate, and we recognise that this is an extraordinary request," the senators wrote to Senator McConnell. "However, we believe it is justified by the extraordinary scope and scale of the cyber problem."
![Kellyanne Conway walks through the Trump Tower lobby, in New York.](/web/20170101032720im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/9/n/8/z/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gtdznv.png/1482474411437.jpg)
In addition to undertaking a "comprehensive investigation of Russian interference," the senators recommended that such a committee also develop "comprehensive recommendations and, as necessary, new legislation to modernise our nation's laws, governmental organisation, and related practices to meet this challenge".
Select committees, which are typically created to examine a particular issue for a limited time, are rarely formed. The most prominent recent example is the House Select Committee on the attacks in 2012 on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, an inquiry that Democrats have denounced as unduly partisan.
Speaker Paul Ryan said last week that the House Intelligence Committee would continue its own examination of Russian hacking.
Senator Schumer said on Sunday that they intended to avoid such charges of partisanship.
"We don't want it to just be finger pointing at one person or another," Senator Schumer said. "We want to find out what the Russians are doing to our political system and what other foreign governments might do to our political system. And then figure out a way to stop it."
A spokesman for Senator McConnell referred to his earlier comments and said the majority leader would be reviewing the latest letter.
Mr Trump, for his part, has sought to paint the intelligence community's conclusions about the matter as just that — a partisan attack against him. He said last week that the reports were "just another excuse" by Democrats frustrated with the election results that might be used to try to undermine his victory.
Asked on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday what information Mr Trump had received that led him to reject intelligence assessments, Kellyanne Conway, one of Mr Trump's top advisers, insisted that the reports about the hacking were groundless.
"Where is the evidence?" Ms Conway asked, turning the question around. "Why, when CIA officials were invited to a House intelligence briefing last week, did they refuse to go?"
Speaking Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, Senator McCain sought to add urgency to the matter.
"There's no doubt they were interfering and no doubt that it was cyberattacks," he said of the Russians. "The question now is how much and what damage and what should the United States of America do? And so far, we have been totally paralysed."
Senator McCain said he had faith that "reality is going to intercede at one point or another" on Mr Trump, suggesting that the President-elect might come to agree about Russian influence.
The New York Times
0 comments
New User? Sign up