The Patriot Post® · Russia Hacking Is Obama's Scandal

Jeh Johnson, former secretary of Homeland Security, testified Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee. Thanks to questioning by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), we can add Johnson’s name to the long list of former Obama administration officials and Democrat senators who have conceded that there is no evidence Russia altered any votes during the election and zero evidence of collusion between the president, his campaign and Russia.

Kellyanne Conway recently said that the Left is suffering from a “Russian concussion.” It is obsessed with the desire to reverse the results of the election, an election it thought it had in the bag. It just forgot to ask the American voter.

By the way, Americans do not appreciate the Left’s scorched-earth tactics against the Trump administration. A February Rasmussen poll found that 63% of voters felt it was better for the country if Democrats worked with President Trump rather than against him at every opportunity. Only 29% felt it was better for Democrats to oppose Trump 24/7.

Johnson’s testimony Wednesday reminded me of something that Republicans should have been emphasizing from the beginning. As we all know, there is significant evidence that Russia was trying to cause mischief in the elections, the “crime of the century” if you believe the Left.

Who was the president when this was happening? That was Barack Obama, not Donald Trump.

Who was leading the Department of Homeland Security when this happened? That would be Mr. Johnson, Obama’s appointee.

Who led the Justice Department and the FBI at the time? That would be Loretta Lynch and James Comey, both Obama appointees.

Who was the head of the CIA? John Brennan, also an Obama appointee.

There is a scandal here. Russia tried to intervene in our election to cause discord, and the people on watch at the time were Barack Obama and his appointees.

When Democrats and their media allies huff and puff about how terrible Russia’s meddling was, they ought be asking, “Where was Obama when all this was happening?”

Wednesday news broke that Russian hackers attempted to infiltrate the election systems of at least 21 states. Yet, Connie Lawson, president-elect of the National Association of Secretaries of State, told senators that no one in the Obama administration ever warned state elections officials.

Once again, we see the incompetence of the people who governed us the previous eight years. Yet, somehow it is all Donald Trump’s fault.

Not surprisingly, the president expressed his frustration with this fake news narrative, tweeting Thursday morning: “By the way, if Russia was working so hard on the 2016 Election, it all took place during the Obama Admin. Why didn’t they stop them?”

Another Bombshell

We already knew that the Democrat National Committee was hacked but refused to allow the FBI to examine its computer network to determine who was behind the cyberattack. We learned from Jeh Johnson Wednesday that the DNC also rejected offers of help from Homeland Security when it tried to determine exactly what had happened.

“I pressed my staff to know whether DHS was sufficiently proactive, and on the scene helping the DNC identify the intruders and patch vulnerabilities,” Johnson told members of the House Intelligence Committee. “The answer … was not reassuring… The DNC did not feel it needed DHS’s assistance at that time.”

So the leftists running the Democrat National Committee wouldn’t allow the leftists running the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the alleged “crime of the century”?

A lot of eyebrows were raised by that statement.

During an interview with Fox News, Rep. Gowdy, a former prosecutor, was asked why the DNC refused to cooperate with the FBI and Homeland Security. Gowdy responded:

Let me hazard a wild guess: That there may be something else on that server they didn’t want law enforcement to see? That is where you start… I have dealt in the past with victims that would not cooperate with investigations. Typically, the reason is, there is something else you don’t want law enforcement to see.

Here is the question that every decent journalist and newspaper editorial board should be asking today: What was the DNC hiding from the FBI and the Democrats who ran the Obama administration?

Trump on the Stump

The Left should be very afraid. If Donald Trump is ever able to get up off the mat from the non-stop pummeling by the media and fake news distractions, he could fundamentally transform the political landscape. The president delivered an incredible speech in Iowa Wednesday. Much of what he said would enjoy overwhelmingly support with the American public, if they knew about his remarks.

Specifically, the president Wednesday called for immigration reform that ensures new immigrants “must be able to support themselves financially and should not use welfare for a period of at least five years.”

Does the Left really want to have that fight? We should welcome that fight!

By the way, the Left is seriously divided on the issue of immigration.

When you combine a welfare state like ours with a world in which 150 million people want to come to the United States, that is a prescription for breaking the American taxpayer and America. Where is the compassion in that?

Unfortunately, the president’s remarks were interrupted by demonstrators, and their timing demonstrated the disgusting extremism of the Left. Several minutes into his speech, the president said, “I’d like to also take this moment to send our thoughts and prayers to our courageous friend Steve Scalise.”

Incredibly, that was the moment left-wing demonstrators chose to interrupt Trump’s remarks. The crowd responded with chants of “USA! USA! USA!”

Why It Matters

This week I wrote about the importance of the language and rhetoric we use regarding radical Islamic terrorism and how it impacts public policy. So kudos to Bret Baier at Fox News.

Wednesday, as he was reporting on the Islamic supremacist attack in Flint, Michigan, Baier said that the terrorist was yelling “Allahu Akbar!” He then translated the phrase for viewers and avoided the error that virtually every commentator makes.

Baier noted that the meaning of the phrase is “Allah is the greatest.” Most commentators say “God is great,” which most Americans would agree with. But that wrong translation fails to inform.

“Allah is the greatest” is the war cry Islamists have used for centuries as they conquered infidels and forced them into submission. It is the mantra of Islamic supremacists and it is meant to assert that Islam is the only true faith.

The attacker also said, “You are all going to die.” In other words, we must submit to Islam or, as infidels, we will be murdered.