Conservatives torch Comeys credibility ahead of Senate hearing
Conservatives torch Comey’s credibility ahead of Senate hearing
By Katie Glueck
WILMINGTON, N.C.
Washington will be riveted this week by the drama surrounding former FBI Director James Comey’s expected congressional testimony.
But Republicans elsewhere in the country say they couldn’t care less.
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Nationally, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, operatives and donors have expressed alarm about the complicated, multifaceted issue of Russian involvement in an American election, some of which Comey is expected to speak to this week. Some, like Rep. Mike Simpson, a Republican of Idaho, have vouched for his credibility, especially given reports that he has contemporaneous notes from conversations with Trump.
But at this convention, which offered a snapshot of the Republican grassroots, many considered the broader Russia issue as, at best, a distraction from issues like health care and the economy. And others saw the swirling questions around Russia—including the Comey investigation and coming testimony—as pure partisanship driven by Democrats and the media to undermine the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s victory last November.
“The whole thing with Russia is nonsense,” says Jim Gannon, a GOP activist in North Carolina.
“They’re desperately trying to justify why Hillary Clinton lost other than saying Democratic policies aren’t acceptable to people,” said Gannon. “This whole thing is a pretty desperate attempt at partisan politics. ‘Wow, the Russians swung the election.’ What did they do, come and vote? No.”
U.S. intelligence experts, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, have been adamant that Moscow did in fact interfere with the 2016 campaign, and intelligence officials have said Russia pushed for hacking of Democratic officials’ emails. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied this, saying in a recent interview with NBC’s Megyn Kelly that such an order could have come from anyone, including from Americans.
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