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Opinion How to avoid a repeat of 2016 and the Ukraine extortion plot

Columnist|
July 21, 2020 at 2:36 p.m. EDT
President Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 25, 2019. (Evan Vucci/AP)

A Russian flunky in the Ukraine parliament has bragged about sending information seeking to incriminate former vice president Joe Biden to the Trump campaign and to a Senate committee headed by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), neither of which will even comment on the matter. If this sounds like deja vu all over again, that’s because it is — unless Democrats put an end to it.

The New York Times reports:

Top congressional Democrats warned in a cryptic letter they released on Monday that a foreign power was using disinformation to try to interfere in the presidential election and the activities of Congress, and demanded a prompt briefing by the F.B.I. to warn every member of Congress. . . .
They contend that the Russian-linked information is being funneled to a committee headed by Senator Ron Johnson, the Wisconsin Republican who is investigating Mr. Biden and his son, who was once paid as a board member of a Ukrainian energy company. While neither Mr. Johnson’s inquiry nor much of the information in question is new, the Democrats’ letter is an attempt to call attention to their concern that the accusations are not only unfounded but may further Russia’s efforts to interfere again in the American presidential election.

This might also explain Biden’s public warning to Russia on Monday not to interfere with the U.S. election. The effort to smear Biden suggests a foreign-influence operation is underway. Per the Times:

Behind the congressional Democrats’ warning are the efforts of a Ukrainian lawmaker, Andriy Derkach, who was educated in a K.G.B.-backed school and was, until recently, closely aligned with a pro-Russian political faction in Ukraine. In May he released tapes of what he said were fragments of telephone conversations between Mr. Biden, then the vice president, and Ukraine’s president at the time, Petro O. Poroshenko. . . . [T]he accusations emanating from Mr. Derkach and others about Mr. Biden and his son, Hunter, have either been debunked or not been substantiated by any independent sources.

House Democrats wrote to the FBI on July 13, warning that Congress (not specifically mentioning Johnson) is being targeted by foreigners seeking to manipulate our election. It is not clear if the FBI is looking into the Derkach matter, although the agency has certainly been put on notice. In essence, Democrats are suggesting that a Russian ally is using Johnson to run a smear of Biden. Such a foreign-based campaign makes even some Republicans a tad nervous. Politico reports:

In December, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who was chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time, privately told Johnson that his inquiry could aid Russia, according to two congressional sources familiar with the meeting. And Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned in February that any derogatory information coming out of Ukraine about any American should be vetted by intelligence agencies because “Russia is playing us all like a fiddle.”

The Biden camp, for its part, has highlighted the Trump administration’s refusal to even respond to inquires about use of a foreign smear campaign. But responding to these developments is a balancing act for the Biden campaign, which must remain vigilant and not give more air to false accusations.

If the Biden campaign feels hamstrung, perhaps Democrats in Congress need to be less guarded. Democrats should consider any of the following:

  • Call FBI Director Christopher A. Wray to testify publicly about the matter. (To the extent he cannot comment publicly, a closed-door session still has value.)
  • Pressure Johnson to disavow any efforts to cooperate with a Kremlin-backed stooge.
  • If Johnson attempts to hold hearings or otherwise air the smears, demand he explain any and all contacts between his office and Russian-backed individuals.
  • Introduce legislation reaffirming that it is a crime to solicit or receive foreign assistance, including foreign information, for use in a federal election.

This is also a test for the media, which in 2016 seized upon the WikiLeaks email dump and wound up doing the Kremlin’s work for it, spreading the contents without aggressively pursuing how they were obtained and what connections existed between the campaign and the Russian cutout operation, WikiLeaks.

The Times, Politico and Newsweek have to date appropriately focused not on the content of the discredited smears but on the potential connection between the Kremlin’s favorite Ukrainian and both Johnson and the Trump campaign. That said, they should not relent in demanding to know whether Johnson’s committee and the Trump campaign have received information from foreign sources or if they will refuse to use it.

How important will any of this be in the presidential election? A host of other issues — such as the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and Trump’s own lack of credibility — are certainly going to be more important to voters than a ham-handed attempt to regurgitate already debunked smears. But any influence on the electoral process should be viewed as a threat, and Biden should directly challenge Trump’s willingness to rely on foreign propaganda — just as he was in the original Ukraine scandal. The issue highlights precisely why Trump should have been impeached and cannot be trusted with another four years in office.

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Evelyn N. Farkas: Russia is interfering in our elections again. And Trump supporters are emulating Russian tactics.

Editorial Board: Trump won’t discourage Russia from interfering in 2020, so Congress has to

Suzanne Spaulding: Enough finger-pointing on Russian interference. Here’s how to prepare for 2020.

Jeffrey H. Smith and John B. Bellinger III: Foreign interference in elections is unacceptable. Congress must make it illegal.

The Post’s View: Republicans shouldn’t make the same mistakes Obama did on Russian interference

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