There may be nothing there but we have a responsibility as Americans to investigate.
Those in the Congress that refuse to investigate are choosing Party over Country. How can they reasonably argue that there is nothing to investigate?
Before Wikileaks, we had Donald Trump name General Michael Flynn as his intelligence adviser. There was a photo of General Flynn sitting at a table with Vladimir Putin at an appreciation dinner for Russia Today television. Why did Trump choose Flynn? Was it because he might be a contact for Putin himself?
Then, there were the shady Trump recruits, like Manafort, Roger Stone, and Carter Gray that had been working in Russia and the Ukraine. Who did they know? Manafort was asked to be Trump's campaign manager as quickly as he was asked to leave. As soon as word got out that Manafort made a lot of money in Russia and the Ukraine, he immediately quit as Trump's campaign manager. It was then that Trump hired KellyAnne Conway.
As soon as Trump got his Party's nomination, he named Michael Flynn as his National Security Adviser. He began to act as if he was already the President. He visited companies that were going to ship jobs to Mexico and bragged about the jobs he saved for American workers.
All the while, there was a Russian cloud hanging over the Trump campaign. When the intelligence agencies told the American people that the Russians were behind the Wikileaks email story, Trump continued to use the leaked emails to his political advantage. He bragged about how much he "loved Wikileaks".
Then, there was a bombshell report. Michael Flynn had been communicating with Russian officials and was discussing the change in the status of the "sanctions" once they took office. Unfortunately, his conversations were caught on tape. Mike Pence and Reince Priebus both went on TV to explain that the conversations did not involve discussing the "sanctions". But, the FBI had already told the White House that they had the information.
For a couple of weeks, Trump stonewalled the information. Then it went public. Pence said he was not told about it. Flynn had to be fired. There were reports that there had been other communications with Russian officials during the campaign. The Trump White House denied any wrong-doing.
Surrounding all the controversy was the charge that the Russians had involved themselves in our elections process. They may have actually hacked into some computers in a few states? The intelligence agencies reported that indeed, the Russians had tried to influence our election and that they preferred Donald Trump to win the election. The questions still remain.
A few Republican Senators and Congressmen stated their support for an investigation. Many were still not convinced anything illegal or questionable had happened? Finally, they decided that there would be an investigation in the House and in the Senate, led by Congressman Nunes of California and Senator Burr of North Carolina.
As the questions simmered, James Comey, head of the FBI, called a special secret meeting with selected members of the House and Senate. It lasted almost 3 hours. Nobody yet knows what was said behind those closed doors?
Then, we learn that the Trump White House sent the Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, to request the FBI to refute the Russian connection story. Comey refused. The White House seemed desperate to stop the investigation before it went any further.
It was then reported that the Trump White House requested meetings with Nunes and Burr, the leaders of the investigation in the House and Senate. Furthermore, they wanted them to talk to specific journalists, not "fake news" journalists, to get them to spread the word that there was nothing to the Russian connection story. However, nothing had been decided in either of the intelligence committees.
Then the White House went on the warpath against the media. They were called "fake news" They were called the "enemy of the people". In one instance, they locked several media outlets out of a news conference, including the NYTimes and CNN.
Still, there were Republicans that said there was no need for an investigation. Some thought it more important to continue investigating Hillary Clinton.
After all the circumstantial evidence that was played out in front of them, it is unconscionable how anyone could say that we did not need to get to the bottom of this question about Russian involvement in our election process, and also, perhaps involvement in the White House itself? It is unfathomable how they could put this off for another day?
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