Senate intelligence committee reaffirms intel on Russian interference in 2016 election

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-intel-russia-report-fourth-volume

Now, this is pretty old news by now, but I think there's some interesting points to this event.

1. The committee specifically concluded that the intel community assessment that Putin personally interfered with the 2016 election for the purpose of helping Trump win was well supported by properly assessed evidence.

2. This committee is chaired by a Republican senator: Richard Burr of North Carolina.

3. On this committee, the Republican senators outnumber the Democrats 8-7 (most notably including Marco Rubio).

Do you think this could represent a schism in the Republican party forming as the election draws near? The timing right before the election could be difficult for Trump as this gives a lot more ammo to Biden.

Considering how radically different Trump-style conservatism is from more traditional Republicans (Bush, McCain, Romney, etc.) I think we may be witnessing split in the Republican party coming to fruition similar to how the Democrats are split by leftist liberals and neo-liberals. What do you make of this?

 

The two pillars of the GOP are voter suppression and a reliance of Russian aggression.

I don't believe that are enough "conservatives" left to even challenge the Confederate/Nazi flag waving, Russian loving, Trump sycophants to divide the party. They are pretty much all the extreme Right wing fanatics we see on TV every day.

 

Let me see, seven months away from the election...............yeah, makes sense. The left have to get their excuses in line, make sure to blame everything else and remain blind to the real problem. Perhaps Hillary can write another book.

 

See what I mean.

 

I'm not understanding what you mean, could you clarify? This was led by a Republican chaired and Republican led Senate committee.

7 months away is exactly my point, I suspect the more traditional conservative Republicans may be trying to distance themselves from Trump and his style of conservatism.

 

I'd also like to point out that avoiding devolution into a more base form of partisan politics is precisely the reason I chose a fox news article covering this story to link.

 

Well, if you're not a fan of Trump you should sure hope there's enough traditional conservatives left!

 

I could hope until the cows come home, but the reality is that the party is completely dominated by the deplorables and the few actual conservatives are either silent or vilified by the rest.

 

I really don't give a hoot which news network first aired this nonsense, because that's all it is. Here's our tax dollars hard at work once again.

Never in the history of this nation has the intelligence community been found to be so corrupt and politically biased than in this Presidents term. I for one wish that all of it would be completely exposed for what it truly is and for someone to have the sack enough to do something about it.

 

See, I think this is where you may be straying from the point a bit. This isn't a story, it's an objective fact that a committee led by Republican senators released a report confirming that the intelligence community did in fact act properly and investigate by protocol without corruption.

Now if you want to keep going down this path, please write to the following senators on how you feel they acted corruptly and made a mistake confirming the intel gathered:

• Richard Burr (R), North Carolina, Chairman
• Jim Risch (R), Idaho
• Marco Rubio (R), Florida
• Susan Collins (R), Maine
• Roy Blunt (R), Missouri
• Tom Cotton (R), Arkansas
• John Cornyn (R), Texas
• Ben Sasse (R), Nebraska
• Mark Warner (D), Virginia, Vice Chairman
• Diane Feinstein (D), California
• Ron Wyden (D), Oregon
• Martin Heinrich (D), New Mexico
• Angus King (D), Maine
• Kamala Harris (D), California
• Michael Bennet (D), Colorado

You may also include Mitch McConnell, as he is a member of this committee by virtue of his office and let this confirmation be published.

The point is, I'm not trying to talk about how corrupt or not any of these people are, I'm hoping to have a discussion on the apparent split growing between establishment Republicans and Trump.

 

Straying from the point? Hardly. My point is that the whole thing is hogwash and most people know it. Facts? Phhhht. Too many in high places would do well to finally get to the facts on a host of subjects.

Here's another piece from the same news source that puts into words my own feelings on the situation:

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/house-senate-russian-meddoing-dueling-reports-fred-fleitz

 

I appreciate you bringing up that article. Although I don't personally agree with the writer's analysis, I did find this particular passage interesting:

"Third, it is well known that Sen. Burr has been an extraordinarily weak Senate Intelligence Committee chairman. Some on Capitol Hill quip that the CIA oversees Burr, not the other way around.

Burr basically has allowed Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., to run the committee. Burr refused to cooperate with President Trump’s attempts to name a new director of national intelligence last summer because of Warner’s objections."

This is exactly what I'm trying to discuss here. Is it concerning to you as a conservative to see Republicans split with Trump like this? How does this make you view Burr, and by extension of overseeing this committee, Mitch McConnell?

 

I certainly wouldn't call it a coup. A few people on a committee? I think you're over analyzing this and reading into it something that is not there.

 

Not a coup necessarily, but a distancing. It seems at least GOP senators have some confidence in the intelligence community.

 

The plain fact is Donald Trump never colluded with the Russians. You Democrats can come back with all of your crap. I have read all before, and I’m going to ignore it because you really don’t have the best interests of the country at heart. You are only playing partisan games.

The Democrats allege that Vladimir Putin favored Trump. I think that Putin is much more interested in stirring up political trouble in The United States to weaken us. If that is his aim, then he has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

This current line of argument is one example of the foolishness that goes on in Washington. The country is big economic trouble and all the fools in the House and Senate can do is argue over this nonsense or show us the ice cream they have in their freezer.

I wish that we had term limits so that we could flush out the whole lot of them.

Term limits for the President have been blessing, and they would be a blessing for Congress. Let these people go back to their districts and find out what it’s like to earn an honest living in the everyday work instead of shoving manure in “La La Land East” a.k.a Washington DC.

 

Bush, Romney and McCain ....

They are either dead or have left the GOP. If you can vote for Hillary Clinton, you are no longer a Republican.

 

Unlike the Democratic Party, many Republicans are actually firm in what they stand for.
The only reason that D. Trump is hated, even within his own party, is because he is an outsider- he hasn't made his career in politics. With Dems, there's a lot of leeway between what you are: you can be a moderate Dem, or a full-on (so-called) Socialist like 'Nard Sanders. This is exactly why they nominated Biden, thus avoiding a party split.

 

Now, the argument here is not that Putin and Trump colluded, but rather that (exactly as you said) Russia would like to cause chaos. I'm not interested in proving or disproving Trump's innocence.

Let's walk through the importance of this using only factual events only:

1. The Senate Intel committee is majority Republican, and has Senator Burr as chairman.

2. As Senate majority leader, Senator McConnell also oversees this committee.

3. The committee report clearly states that the report on Donald Trump's campaign being aided by Russian interference (not necessarily with Trump's knowledge/complicity) was appropriately vetted and well evidenced.

Now, again, I'm not interested in the content of the report. I'm interested in how Republican leadership including big names like Richard Burr, Marco Rubio, and Mitch McConnell signed off on the report's accuracy and lack of political bias in investigation.

I'm interested in the politics involved in what I perceive as a growing schism within the Republican party. Does this in your mind make the senators involved traitors to the party? That's a bit extreme but I am curious.

Finally, I just want to add I totally agree with you on congressional term limits.

 

A bit off topic, but it is my opinion that the Democrats actually furthered their split by not nominating Bernie. The progressives are the swing vote while the neo-liberals who prefer Biden will vote party lines no matter what.

Not to say Bernie supporters will go to Trump, but there's a decent portion that will likely now vote 3rd party or abstain.

 

@GeneWright, why do you want to bring up this whole stinking issue again? The Democrats used it to harass and distract the President for three years, and wasted millions of tax dollars. We went through an unjustified and distracting impeachment trial. What else do you need to do with this political fiction?

Vladimir Putin tried to interfere in the 2016 election. That is a fact. It’s well established. Please, give it a rest. If you supporting Biden or some alternative, tell us why you support that candidate. Let’s move forward.