Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants to break apart the American Republic,” a senior State Department official warned lawmakers Tuesday.
“Putin’s thesis is that the American Constitution is an experiment that will fail if challenged in the right way from within,” Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Mitchell, the lead diplomat for European and Eurasian Affairs, put the 2016 cyberattacks against the Democratic Party and staged release of private emails into this category. But that interference is just one plank of a wide-ranging effort. If Russia targeted the Democratic Party in 2016, it also supports “fringe voices on the political left,” including organizations that support “the storming of federal buildings and the overthrow of the U.S. government.” Putin’s team integrates those disparate initiatives into a coherent stoking of “chaos” in American society.
[Related: Senate ramps up Russia sanctions threat with dual hearings]
“Accepting this fact is absolutely essential for developing a long-term comprehensive response to the problem,” Mitchell said. “The most dangerous thing we could do is to politicize the challenge, which in itself would be a gift to Putin.”
That was a welcome statement, lawmakers on the panel made clear. Mitchell’s remarks were haunted by President Trump’s hesitance to criticize Putin directly and his frustration that the 2016 election interference might be perceived as undermining the legitimacy of his presidency.
“[Your strategy] was directed by the president; the problem is, the president hasn’t followed it,” Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., told Mitchell. “That’s the concern. There have been times when the president has made this a very partisan issue. We haven’t. He has.”
Mitchell defended Trump’s posture, even as Cardin cited Trump’s performance at his summit with Putin in Helsinki, Finland.
“I’m not going to litigate the specifics of every comment that the president has made,” he replied. “I would point you towards our policies that are directed by the president of the United States. I disagree with your overall characterization that the president hasn’t followed his policies. These are the president’s policies. The president directed a Russia strategy, a strategy for countering Russian influence. The previous administration did not.”
Mitchell didn’t persuade the senators on that point, but the exchange never descended into the partisan acrimony that it might have, in part because the senators persisted in making the distinction between Mitchell and the White House.
“My observation would be that some of the undisciplined comments that the president makes creates just as much trouble for these people as they do for us and the rest of our country,” said Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
And that wasn’t just Republican protectiveness of a witness. “I do understand that there are many within our government who are dedicated to a more assertive approach with respect to Russia that is clear-eyed and well-intentioned,” New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the panel, said at the outset. “At the risk of making their jobs more difficult, I would say that the individuals before us today fall into that category.”
Mitchell reiterated that the administration would put more pressure on Russia if Putin refuses to change his policies. “And I think that’s also clear from our actions of the past year-and-a-half,” he said.
[Opinion: Russia is messing with the US again. Trump needs to counterpunch]
