Berner letter: Russian hacking

Mitch McConnell is rejecting calls for a bipartisan committee to probe Russian hacks of the U.S. election. The majority leader wants existing panels to do the investigating. Here are several reasons this is a bad idea. Just recently Sen. Jim Risch was quoted on the front page saying, “Americans shouldn’t be surprised by hacking: It’s constant.” As one of the ranking members of the Intelligence Committee, the senator may have received briefings about the Russian hack. I believe his comments are dismissive of the severity of the invasive nature by the Russians. With the transition to a new administration, the existing panels will be working with Cabinet and other administration nominees; they will not be able to give the hacking issue the attention it deserves. Finally there is no assurance that investigations conducted by either House or Senate committees will put politics aside for the good of future elections. After all, the House Oversight Committee vowed to start hearings on Clinton had she been elected but are ignoring any request to conduct ethics investigations regarding the incoming president’s tangled web of foreign business deals.

This story was originally published January 7, 2017 at 11:42 PM with the headline "Berner letter: Russian hacking."