GOP senators dig deeper into Ukraine election meddling theory

Source: Politico | December 6, 2019 | Burgess Everett

Three top Republican senators asked for documents related to Alexandra Chalupa and Andrii Telizhenko.

Republican senators are escalating their probe into the 2016 election, requesting interviews with people they believe may be involved with impairing the campaign of then-candidate Donald Trump.

The trio of Republican committee chairmen asked for records and interviews with congressional staffers from Democratic consultant and Ukrainian-American activist Alexandra Chalupa and Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukranian diplomat.

Telizhenko has alleged that he was tasked by Ukraine’s Embassy in D.C. to work with Chalupa to expose dirt on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, part of an effort that some Republicans and Trump allies have likened to the top-down Russian effort to influence the 2016 election in favor of Trump. Chalupa has denied working with Telizhenko, and the DNC says it was not involved in her research efforts.

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While intelligence officials and many Republican senators have said there’s no evidence that Ukraine meddled in the election, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Friday that “there are many unanswered questions that have festered for years.”

“One of the reasons our nation remains so divided is the disconnect between those who are curious about any and all possible foreign interference and those who are not. Those who are curious, have a legitimate and understandable desire to know if wrongdoing occurred,” said Johnson, the Senate Homeland Security chairman.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). did not mince words after the announcement, calling for new election security and sanctions legislation and alleging that “every day that Senate Republicans parrot Putin’s talking points further undermines our democracy—and our national security.”

“When Vladimir Putin says stoop, Senate Republicans are asking: how low? Putin and his intelligence services disinformation campaign team in Moscow couldn’t have cooked up a more useful tool for spreading conjured and baseless conspiracy theories than the one Chairmen Graham, Grassley and Johnson announced today,” Schumer said in a statement.

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Johnson and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) bashed the media for not investigating the matter, with Graham concluding “that to believe that the mainstream media will investigate all things Russia or Ukraine is to hope against hope.” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) has also advanced the theory that Ukraine played a significant role disrupting the election and was contradicted by many of his colleagues; Kennedy has since said he’s done discussing Ukraine.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this week that the matter should be reserved for the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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