Robert Mueller has left the stage, but Democrats are unwilling to let his investigation die. President Trump is right to say congressional Democrats simply want a do-over of the investigation.
Why are they so obsessed with the question of Russian meddling? It’s probably because they find solace in the myth that Russian President Vladimir Putin teamed up with Trump to rig the 2016 election. That’s the only explanation they can accept for 2016.
There’s a more charitable explanation, of course: Perhaps Democrats are truly concerned about the threat posed by Russian meddling. If this is true, there’s something to do that is far more productive than a do-over. They should act to protect the 2020 presidential and congressional elections from new Russian attacks.
First, Democrats should work with Republicans to shore up America’s defenses. Congress should pass legislation offering expedited federal security clearances to state officials responsible for election protection and other related responsibilities. This would create a legal pathway so that when 2020 arrives, a process exists to ensure the seamless transmission of classified intelligence material to those who need it most. It would enable state governments to protect the integrity of their elections better. It would also, if necessary, allow for the establishment of joint federal-state election defense task forces that could obstruct or ameliorate intrusions at their source.
Second, Congress should make it clear we will impose real harm on Russia if we find it meddling again. Specifically, pass a bill to sanction Russia’s primary energy export businesses Gazprom, Rosneft, and Lukoil. The bill might qualify that these sanctions would only enter force if the director of national intelligence issues a finding, which Congress could mandate he do in each four-month window of 2020, that Russia is engaged in hostile election interference.
This would send a robust signal to Putin that he cannot evade repercussions for future aggression.
Third, a challenge for Democrats who say they really care about combating Russia: Facilitate the export of liquefied natural gas to Europe.
Russia fears that American companies will one day provide more gas, more cheaply, to more Europeans. Russia’s energy export model, which is bound to a policy of blackmailing Europe, would collapse. Democrats have long opposed liquefied natural gas exports, siding instead with refiners who favor less free trade. But shouldn’t they care more now about combating Putin’s influence in Europe?
Fourth, Democrats should immediately call for sanctions not simply of Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin’s ringleader of Russian active measures targeting the 2016 elections and American civil society, but of employees, businesses, and facilitators associated with Prigozhin.
The list would include hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Still, it would be supported by intelligence findings and the moral cause of punishment in response to the 2016 election attacks. Sanctioning those around Prigozhin would make the costs of attacking America much more personal. Consider, for example, that if a previously unnamed agent of election interference is named, sanctioned, and barred from U.S. business dealings, and from business dealings with close U.S. allies, he or she will have better reason to reconsider joining a second round of election attacks in 2020.
Democrats must stop whining and start acting. Russia’s 2016 election attacks were encouraged by President Barack Obama’s hesitant response to Russian aggression in Syria, Ukraine, and and cyberspace. Those attacks escalated in 2016 as Obama showed he would not impose serious consequences on Putin. If Democrats want to prevent the same from occurring in 2020, they should act aggressively now.
