While most Democrats are incensed over President Trump and his associates' supposed lack of transparency over their past relationship with Russia, at least one congressman is suggesting the problem began with President Obama.
Obama failed to disclose just how serious the Russian interference was in last year's presidential election, Swalwell mused, because it would have given credence to Trump's claims that the race was rigged.
"Because Donald Trump claimed during the election that the election would be rigged, the Obama administration was hesitant to acknowledge to Congress and to the American people that the Russians were interfering," the representative said on CNN Thursday.
Rep. Eric Swalwell: Because Trump claimed the election would be rigged, the Obama admin was "hesitant to acknowledge to Congress and to the American people that the Russians were interfering" pic.twitter.com/Dmr70tN7ZU
— New Day (@NewDay) November 9, 2017
Swalwell, who sits on the permanent select committee on intelligence, hoped to avoid being left in the dark in the future by introducing legislation requiring that Congress be told if interference is occurring in an election. The bill failed, however, after not managing to receive any Republican votes. The representative surmised why.
"I'm afraid they still see any discussion of what Russia did as a delegitimizing of Donald Trump," he said.
Unfortunately, some Democrats and figures in the mainstream media do seem more inclined to want to do just that instead of protecting our election process. The closest they came to finding evidence of collusion came last week, when former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates were indicted for money laundering and conspiracy against the United States.
The problem? The Trump campaign was not mentioned in the indictments.
Soon after that, a former Trump foreign policy advisor, George Papadopolous, was also indicted on having lied to the FBI about his Russian contacts. Trump dismissed him as a "low-level volunteer." Other Trump associates were quick to note that while Papadopolous had suggested that the campaign meet with his Russian contacts, they rejected the request.
So, the search for Russian collusion continues. Ask some Republican legislators, and they'll say you'll find it in the Uranium One scandal, starring the Clintons.