Showing that he’s joined forces with Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), 46-year-old House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) signaled he backs their call for more sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ryan believes McCain, Graham and the CIA that Russia tried to influence the U.S. election to favor of President-elect Donald Trump. While offering no proof of Russian hacking, Ryan hinted that he’ll fight Trump’s attempt to reset U.S.-Russian relations. Calling WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a “sycophant for Russia,” Ryan’s statements sound strikingly similar to former Democratic nominee Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton when she called Trump “a Russian puppet” in the Oct. 19 Presidential debate at Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas. Ryan reacted to Fox News’ Sean Hannity’s interview of WikiLeak’s Julian Assange Jan. 3 at Equador’s London embassy.
Wikileaks’ 45-year-old Julian Assange told Hannity that Russia was not the source of his emails published during the 2016 campaign that embarrassed Hillary’s campaign, especially when it came to the Democratic National Committee and her Campaign Chairman John D. Podesta. Ryan pushed back against Hannity’s interview that’s at odds with U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and FBI, insisting Russia was behind WikiLeaks’ data dump. Ryan urged President-elect Trump to “get to speed on what’s been happening,” suggesting that Trump’s misinformed about Russian interference in the 2016 election. Hillary campaign officials, especially Podesta, tried his utmost to interfere with the Electoral College, telling electors nationwide that they had a right to know all the facts regarding Russian influence in the 2016 election before certifying the vote on Dec. 19.
Podesta had no basis to ask electors to demand full CIA or FBI briefing before certifying Trump as the Electoral College winner. Green Party Candidate 66-year-old Jill Stein tried but failed to get battleground states to recount the vote to “guarantee the integrity of the election,” despite the fact she had no proof that vote was compromised. Getting computer experts to talk about the theoretic possibility of Russian vote tampering, Stein continued her bogus efforts to recount the vote until federal judges in Pennsylvania and Michigan ruled she had no legal basis for the recounts. Now House Speaker Paul Ryan joins the conspiracy parade, insisting that Russia interfered with the 2016 election. Interviewed by Trump-bashing conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt, Ryan was asked his opinion of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange. “None, other that I think the guy is sycophant for Russia.”
Once Hannity got a definitive answer from Assange, Ryan started ripping his credibility. “He leaks, he steals data and compromises national security,” Ryan told Hewitt. What Ryan’s referring to is anyone’s guess. Assange dumped email data on Hillary and Podesta, not on national security issues, conflating Assange with 33-year-old self-proclaimed fugitive-whistleblower Edward Snowden. Ryan had no objection to Assange’s data dumps during the campaign while it damaged Hillary. Now that he’s in lockstep with McCain and Graham to sabotage Trump’s U.S.-Russian reset, he finds Assange despicable. After blaming Hillary for running a weak campaign, President Barack Obama jumped on the anti-Putin bandwagon Dec. 23, 2016, expelling 35 Russian diplomats for Moscow’s alleged role in the election. Trump, so far, shows no signs of buying the intel community’s conclusions.
Expected to get an intel briefing on Russian hacking Friday, Jan. 6, Trump said he’s open to hearing from the National Security Agency, FBI and CIA. Trump said he wants to move on to ‘bigger and better” things than dwelling on Democrats and Republicans sour grapes. No matter how much the GOP feigns unity, the “Never Trump” movement continues on Capitol Hill. It’s no accident Ryan, McCain and Graham seek to throw roadblocks into Trump’s plans to reset U.S..-Russian relations. With Democrats and Republicans unified in their contempt for Trump, Trump’s got some tough sledding ahead getting his Cabinet nominees approved. McCain and Graham are poised to block Trump’s Secretary of State pick, former Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson. McCain and Graham can’t stomach the fact that Trump gets to be commander-in-chief—the architect of U.S. foreign policy.
Unless the intel community presents convincing evidence of Russian hacking, Trump isn’t likely to buy into the Cold War hysteria sweeping Capitol Hill. Ripping Putin does nothing but harm U.S. national security. Trump was elected to reset U.S.-Russian relations, not continue President Barack Obama’s Cold War policy, echoed by McCain and Graham. McCain’s former 2008 GOP VP pick Sarah Palin, once on the receiving end of WikiLeaks, now backs the whistleblower site. “I apologize for condemning Assange when he published my infamous [and proven non-controversial, relatively boring] emails years ago,” wrote Palin. She acknowledged the importance of Assange getting the word out during the 2016 race. Winning 304 Electoral votes Nov. 8, Trump earned the right to set U.S. foreign policy. Trump’s detractors on Capitol Hill need to give him a chance.
