Biden says that when McConnell refused to join bipartisan statement condemning Russian interference

[MelissaB]

2. Biden says that when McConnell refused to join bipartisan statement condemning Russian interference ahead of the election, they decided Obama couldn't speak out -- "the die had been cast ... this was all about the political play"

Link to tweet

1. Biden says when the intel reports about Russian interference were coming in during summer of 2016, they worried about going public: “The president and I would sit there literally after the PDB, after everyone had left the room, and say, ‘What the hell are we going to do?’”

2. Biden says that when McConnell refused to join bipartisan statement condemning Russian interference ahead of the election, they decided Obama couldn't speak out -- "the die had been cast ... this was all about the political play"

3. "Can you imagine if the president called a press conference,"on Russian hacking during campaign, "What do you think would have happened?Would things have gotten better, or would it further look like we were trying to delegitimize the electoral process, because of our opponent?"

4. Biden says re Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, more intel came in right after election day: "Had we known what we knew three weeks later, we may have done something more."

Speaking at @CFR_org, @JoeBiden says current conflict with Russia isn't a second cold war - "this is just basically about a kleptocracy protecting itself"

Link to tweet

[DBoon]

1. kleptocrats of rhe world unite

The Marxist slogan of the old ussr has turned on its head

[triron]

2. Thanks Joe for your candidness.

But kinda late.

[Wwcd]

5. Indeed.

[Wwcd]

3. True. Intel & messages moved fast & time was not in their favor

I want McConnell destroyed & stripped of everything he owns & all he claims to have accomished.
He played this game early on wirh the SC nominee, knowing full well, what & who was sponsoring the coup.
He is the most evil of minds, personified.

Completly on board with the coup against the US Govt yrs ago.

[LisaM]

4. Really? The same McConnell who stalled Obama's SCOTUS nominee, because he clearly

had reason to believe that the election was being meddled with, and they just needed to run out the clock on Obama?

I'm sorry, I feel that they should have connected some of those dots and done something. At the very least, they should have corralled Comey so that he didn't influence the election the other way.

[Wwcd]

6. Hard to convince those of us who saw it and had only our leaders to rely on to intervene.

I don't know of the point to where nothing could have been done.
They held the power.
Something doesn't add up.
That's all I do know.

[triron]

39. I have a queasy feeling about this as well.

[Caliman73]

23. Anything they would have done, unless they had Putin and Trump on tape, together...

explicitly saying "Okay Donald, we are going to hack the election and install you as president and then you will pay us back with policies toward Russia that are beneficial to me and you"; would have been seen as a political act to sway the election and would have created chaos.

People need to understand that Politics and Law are sometimes separate things. They had intelligence indicating that Russia was meddling in the election, but they did not have Legal Proof that there were any crimes being committed. Interference by the sitting President into the election would have sent shockwaves through society.

What specifically would you have had them do? "corralling Comey" would have been seen as interfering with an FBI investigation, which is what Trump is on the hot seat for doing now. How else should they have reacted that would not have thrown the entire system into turmoil without full legal proof of wrong doing?

[LisaM]

24. I don't think sitting by and doing nothing in the name of being politic was any help.

If the New York FBI office was influencing Comey, I think that Obama should have at the very least met with Comey to discuss it. I likewise don't see that they needed McConnell to sign off on any warnings to the public that Russia was interfering with the election.

McConnell certainly didn't seem to have any issues with making blatant political moves, particularly regarding Merrick Garland. In fact, I think Obama should have done more to promote his nominee and he should have used his bully pulpit to do so. I can't believe that Obama and Biden were really that certain Hillary was going to be elected. They had two clear instances of massive forces being arrayed against her, not just her, but against our country, really. Obama was elected to do things like choose Supreme Court justices. McConnell was thwarting the will of the people.

[malaise]

7. Truth will out

LOCK THEM ALL UP!

[SWBTATTReg]

26. Amen! NT

[GeorgeGist]

8. In hindsight, it sounds kinda reckless.

[kentuck]

9. We have known that all along...

They thought it would have hurt Hillary's chances of winning and would have looked like nothing but a cheap political trick.

[gratuitous]

10. I'm not impressed

If doing the right thing is contingent on someone else's support or backing, then you've lost your nerve. You're in the White House for a reason, and if the heat's too much to take for telling the truth about our country being under attack, step aside for someone who will fearlessly advocate for the United States. If you can't preserve, protect and defend the Constitution because Mitch Fucking McConnell might say mean things, then consider another vocation.

[RandomAccess]

14. I agree. IMO, they should have completely exposed McConnell

They should've gotten their facts and info together to the utmost possible extent, gotten some of their topmost intel people on stage with them, and exposed everything, MOST OF ALL McCONNELL. I would prefer not to endanger humint lives, but even that if necessary.

Would it have cost Hillary the election? Well, what did we get WITHOUT a far more robust and muscular approach?

I wonder if they had any idea -- or could've found out at that point -- about Russian-tied donations to McConnell, Ryan, et. al.?

There were many good things about Obama and damn I miss him. But if Democrats don't get over their FEAR of the "bad things" Republicans can -- and will -- say about them, we'll be forever sunk.

[Duppers]

32. Truth!

[triron]

38. I really doubt it would have hurt Hillary's chances.

After all Trump was getting mucho help from the Russians.

[BannonsLiver]

20. Who cares if you're impressed or not?

Typical back seat driver, Monday morning quarterback BS.

[kentuck]

27. Why the personal attacks?

???

[BannonsLiver]

30. Calling someone a MMQB isnt a personal attack.

Everybody thinks they have all the answers for what could have been done. Here’s the reality: they don’t have the fucking answers.

But hey let’s go ahead and pin it on Obama anyway.

[Duppers]

31. It was a bad call.

I've always respected President Obama but he and VP Biden made the wrong call there.

Fox Lies should not have our government intimidated as they did. If the roles had been reversed, the Republicans would not have hesitated to have gone public with evidence.

[gratuitous]

33. Indeed

I far prefer President Obama to his predecessor and his successor, but the administration wasn't flawless.

[Faux pas]

11. Die had been cast?

How about dye?

[oasis]

13. "I have set my life upon a cast and I will stand the hazard of the die".

Richard III, act 5 scene 4

[Faux pas]

16. Ah

it's been a while since I read Richard the 3rd. Lol in fact, it was 1966! Thank you for the clarification oasis

[bdamomma]

12. I think McConnell and Ryan

were part of this too, the infiltration of Russian influence in the election. McConnell and Ryan were getting paid off and whoever else was apart of this. Just my opinion.

[RandomAccess]

15. Rohrbacher, RNC, NRA to name a few

ETA: Plus, the Russians had made significant inroads into the Evangelical community as well. They love Putin's anti-gay, "pro-family values" shtick.

[CrispyQ]

17. Big mistake on their part, imo.

"...or would it further look like we were trying to delegitimize the electoral process, because of our opponent?"

What is this "further" stuff about? What else was the Obama administration being accused of doing to delegitimize the electoral process? The media was totally in it for Trump, giving 24x7 coverage to his rallies & harping on the HRC email thing & the Clinton foundation. What further ways would the Obama administration have looked bad?

Basically, who gives a fuck if McConnell accuses you of politicizing something? Once again, the dems were weak. This has been a dem leadership weakness for a long, long time - worried about how they look instead of doing what's right. Now that the GOP is taking a hatchet to Obamacare, & our government in general, I wonder if they have any regrets?

[BobTheSubgenius]

18. Thank you for saving me some typing.

Exactly the way I feel...especially about the Turtle part. That loathsome reptile was and is already blaming Democrats for everything bad thing that's ever happened.

[pnwmom]

19. I think Biden is too gabby.

And that's one of the reasons I don't support him for President. It's up to Obama to say why he took or didn't take actions -- not Biden. And it wasn't a "we" decision. It was Obama's.

[Hekate]

21. Obama did make a point of consulting Biden often, iirc

[pnwmom]

22. Of consulting him, right. But they weren't co-Presidents, though Biden might want

to paint that picture.

[Hekate]

25. True...

I'm still not going to vote for Uncle Joe in any primaries.

[John Fante]

28. Conservative patriotism.

As authentic as Chico Marx's Italian accent.

[Pachamama]

29. Sounds like Uncle Joe might need to have a conversation with Robert Mueller....

....help fill in some of the blanks on what GOP leaders like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan did and didn't do...

[Hassler]

34. RICO Time

The entire GOP is complicit: Nunes, Ghouliani, Putinbacher, Lyin rAyn, McConartist, all of them. RICO time. Lock. Them. All. Up.

[gopiscrap]

43. welcome to DU

[czarjak]

35. I knew Obama should have declared Marshall Law...

All hell would have broken loose, but that's what should have happened.

[hueymahl]

36. In hindsight, that was a terrible decision

It should have come out, one way or another. Let the chips fall where they may - could not have been worse than the shitshow we are in now.

[samnsara]

37. THIS is what we should be worrying about...not some damned

...well you know.....

[No-Bozos]

40. Despicable and loathsome

Next to the dunder head in the big chair, to me McConnell is the most despicable and loathsome creature in DC. Not far behind are the rest of the arse lickers protecting and enabling our dummy in chief.

The truth is going to come out. There is no way to stop this train. The above group is on the wrong side of history and I will take great satisfaction when they eventually come to terms with it.

BTW - this is coming from a Protestant white male in my sixtie's. I most definitely do not share the "conservative" values now practiced by the GOP and the Right in general. I refuse to drink the Kool-aid.

[leanforward]

41. I can respect their decision.

Likewise, with what we (the public and journalist) know now, maybe it was better that Hilary lost. This statement can be another topic.

I'll key on one item I've read about. A $2 million donation to "the turtles" super PAC. Anybody know the date of that contribution? Of course we know when our leaders had their bipartisan get together and the decision not to go public with a statement of russian interference.

The entire last year of President Obamas administration was hamstrung by "the turtle". I would not be surprised if there was not some other BS going on with some of the GOP leaders.

Do I like their decision not to go public. NO. But, I also believe their decision did make for a smooth transfer of power has been positive. No violence.

It is evident that there is a conspiracy between the russians and the GOP idea of democratic capitalism. One, to diminish the world influence of the these United States of America, and two, to enrich the capitalist or the one to five percenters (Basically, a return to a share croppers style of employment).

It goes back to the enemy of my enemy is my friend. That's what the GOP has done.

We, as a country, need to go back toward democratic socialism. The one percenters will still live well and the rest of us will live better, without hunger and a dry and warm place to live.

[NNadir]

42. In a just world, Trump won't be in the White House in 2020. He'd be in prison with the other...

...corrupt traitors who have tried to sell their country for personal gain.

[librechik]

44. Profiles in Caution

thanks for being so kind as to not yell fire in a burning building because it is a theater.

I'm sure a lot of political careers were saved that day our country burned to the ground.

[triron]

45. Yet even after the election there was this pretense of a 'fair election'.

Americans can't be trusted to know their election has been compromised.