Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s perceived lack of enthusiasm to combat Russian interference in the 2016 election changed spy chief James Clapper’s opinion of the top Republican.
According to David Rohde’s recently published book, In Deep: The FBI, the CIA and the Truth about America’s “Deep State,” McConnell repeatedly told the Obama administration he did not have time to be briefed on Russian interference. In late summer 2016, President Barack Obama asked intelligence officials to brief the four top Democrats and Republicans in Congress on the election meddling before it became public. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi quickly received the briefings, the book said.
“When Clapper called McConnell to set up the briefing, he did not respond. McConnell finally received the briefing in early September,” Rohde wrote.
Clapper, the director of national intelligence from 2010 to January 2017, said he was surprised that some Republicans, particularly McConnell, did not take election interference more seriously.
“All the previous dealings I had with McConnell, I thought he was a patriot, he cared about the country,” Clapper told Rohde. “But for whatever reason, we were on two different planets when it came to this Russia deal.”
When Clapper and a handful of other intelligence officials briefed lawmakers again in January 2017 on Russian interference, McConnell was quiet.
“He was very dour. He didn’t ask any questions,” Clapper said. “Ryan asked a couple questions. Richard Burr, he asked a couple questions and evinced that he was interested. Senator McConnell not so much.”
Clapper has long criticized the Republican response to Russia’s election meddling. In his own book, Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence, Clapper said Republican leaders turned him away when he asked them to sign a joint statement condemning the foreign interference before the 2016 election.
“House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said they would not support a bipartisan statement that might hurt their nominee for president,” he wrote. “I was disappointed but not surprised. It seemed they had decided by then that they didn’t care who their nominee was, how he got elected or what effects having a foreign power influence our election would have on the nation, as long as they won.”
A spokeswoman for the Republican leaders denied that account.
“Mr. Clapper has his facts wrong,” the spokeswoman told NPR at the time. “What was discussed with the White House staff in September was a letter to the states warning against attacks during the election, which was quickly drafted and sent on September 28th.”
A report released earlier this year from the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee noted that McConnell had reservations about the intelligence community’s findings but faulted the Obama administration for not taking stronger action against Russia.
