Looking to sabotage 70-year-old President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to reset relations with Russia, President Barack ordered the U.S. intelligence community to initiate a “full review” of alleged Russian hacking in the 2016 election. When Democratic National Committee got its emails hacked, including those of Hillary Campaign Chairman John D. Podesta, Democrats pointed fingers at Russian President Vladimir Putin. Fingering Russia in tampering with the 2016 election, Obama hopes to stop Trump from developing better ties with Russia. Over Obama’s two terms, U.S.-Russian relations headed South, largely due to Putin’s March 1, 2014 annexation of Crimea and backing pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region of Southeastern Ukraine. “We may have crossed into a new threshold,” said White House National Security Adviser Lisa Monaco.
Exposing the inner workings of the Hillary campaign through Podesta’s emails embarrassed the campaign, exposing more than just dirty tricks. WikiiLeaks’ email disclosures showed that former CNN pundit and Democratic National Committee operative Donna Brazile gave Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton questions before the Oct. 9 CNN town hall debate. FBI and State Department preliminary investigation into emails leaks showed “high confidence” that the hacks were ordered at the highest levels of the Russian government. Deputy White House Press Secretary Eric Schultz said the review was “not an effort to challenge the outcome” of the 2016 election. “It’s a huge priority. It’s a major priority for the president,” insisted Schultz, knowing that Trump seeks a major reset in U.S.-Russian relations.
Headed by Trump nemesis Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in the U.S. Senate, Obama’s motives became more evident. Graham, like former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is one of Trump’s biggest critics on Capitol Hill. Getting Graham and Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) involved would interfere with Trump’s campaign promise to improve ties with Moscow. Accusing Moscow of cyber attacks on the DNC or other parts of the U.S. government throws a monkey wrench into plans to improve relations with the Kremlin. “I don’t believe they interfered,” said Trump, referring to Russian hacking in the 2016 election. Hillary accused Trump of being a “Rusian puppet,” when he questioned whether the Russians had access to some 33,000 emails that disappeared from Hillary’s private server. Trump believes those emails implicate Hillary in pay-to-play schemes while running the State Department.
Leading an investigation in the Senate, Graham promises to throw a monkey wrench into Trump’s plans to reset relations with Russia. Trump wants to end U.S. meddling in the Syrian War, supplying arms-and-cash to terrorists seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point . . . Why not get along with Russia,” said Trump McCain and Graham are committed to confrontation with Russia, often ripping Putin an untrustworthy KGB agent. Obama spent the last eight years driving U.S.-Russian relations to Cold War lows. Trump sees Putin as a strategic partner in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS]. Obama spent the last six-years backing the Saudi’s Arab Spring, supplying arms-and-cash seeking to topple al-Assad in Damascus. Saudi-U.S.-Turkey-backed rebels are about to fall in East Aleppo.
Opening an investigation into Russian hacking throws more salt on an open wound to U.S.-Russian relations. Whatever chances Mitt had of becoming Secretary of State, they’ve drastically dropped knowing his grave mistrust of Russia. Mitt once told a debate audience in 2012 as GOP nominee that Russia was America’s biggest geopolitical foe. Trump can’t have a Secretary of State that wants to continue Obama’s Cold War policy with Russia. Romney led the “Never Trump” movement closely aligned with Graham, McCain and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. If Trump picked Romney, he’d find himself forever battling McCain and Graham, both of whom have no interest in resetting relations with Russia. “We’re going to make public as much as we can,” said Schultz, referring to intel that ties cyberattacks to Russian actors, despite offering no concrete proof of Russian involvement.
Opening up an investigation into cyber attacks, Obama tries to sabotage Trump’s campaign promise to work more closely with Russia. If the Senate convenes an investigation, it’s going to make resetting U.S.-Russian relations all the more impossible. Criticizing Putin for invading Crimea and backing pro-Russian forces in Southeastern Ukraine, Obama wants to make Trump’s reset more difficult. Graham chairs a Senate subcommittee on foreign operations and terrorism, planning his own investigation into Russian cyber-attacks. Graham plans to visit Ukraine to get more dirt on Russian meddling in Crimea and Southeastern Ukraine. Showing that Trump’s U.S.-Russian reset has its detractors, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, the Cold War lives on Capitol Hill. Throwing roadblocks in his path, Trump’s Russian reset won’t be easy.
