Watch: Dem Sen. Schumer Blocks Bipartisan Election Security Hearing Because of SCOTUS
Remember when Democrats spent four years yammering on about election security, foreign interference and Russia, Russia, Russia?
How could anyone forget?
Democrats have spent the entirety of President Donald Trump’s term in office claiming that he and other Republicans conspired with Mother Russia to rig the election.
Apparently Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has forgotten, though.
The New York Democrat shelved his concerns in a tantrum last week when he blocked a motion with regard to election security — all because Trump and Republicans intend to do their jobs and fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the late Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Politico reported Republicans led by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida last Tuesday requested “unanimous consent” for the Senate Intelligence Committee to meet with National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director Bill Evanina, The Washington Examiner reported.
Evanina is leading election security efforts on behalf of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.
Rubio and other Republicans were stopped in their tracks, though, as Schumer apparently found throwing a fit over the high court more important than the one issue he and other Democrats have warned about since 2016.
Earlier in the day, Senate Republicans enraged Schumer and Democrats over the decision to move forward with President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
Later, on the issue of unanimous consent to meet with Evanina regarding an election security update, Schumer made it clear that Democrats would not participate.
“Reserving the right to object because the Senate Republicans have no respect for the institution. We won’t have business as usual here in the Senate,” Schumer said
As if he hadn’t made himself clear, the Democrat barked, “I object,” thus blocking the election interference update from Evanina.
Tantrum: Schumer Blocks Bipartisan Hearing On Counterintelligence Over SCOTUS Objections pic.twitter.com/IMHkNRWpyk
— Scott Sloofman (@ScottSloofman) September 22, 2020
“We invoked the two-hour rule because we can’t have business as usual when Republicans are destroying the institution as they have,” Schumer said later on at a news conference.
“Just a short time ago, Democratic leaders demanded more briefings on election interference,” Rubio said in a statement responding to Schumer’s objection.
“The Senate Intelligence Committee was scheduled to have a briefing today with Director Evanina, who leads our nation’s election security efforts. However, Senator Schumer had a temper tantrum over the Supreme Court and used a procedural move to cancel the Committee’s briefing.”
You’d think, at this point, that putting aside a partisan dogfight would be easy for a man who publicly hinges his entire career on preventing foreign election meddling.
Just last month, Schumer asked ABC News host George Stephanopoulos, “Why does Donald Trump not want to stop Russia from interfering in this election?
He continued, “You have to ask that question. It’s the wellspring of our democracy.”
The Democrat also agreed with Stephanopoulos that Russia’s current election meddling is “so alarming, so chilling, that it should be declassified.”
Of course, that interview from Aug. 9 was when Ginsburg was still alive and helping Democrats to legislate from the bench.
Schumer’s pettiness in blocking the intelligence update shows us where Democrats are with regard to the false narrative that Russia somehow colluded with President Trump.
It also tells us how disingenuous their alarmism is now.
It’s painfully obvious at this point that rogue officials in the nation’s top law enforcement agencies drummed up the Russia narrative, and Democrats have spent four years using it as a pretext to obstruct a duly elected president.
Democrats would probably be on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin now for help in blocking the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett if they thought it was a viable option.
Democrats such as Schumer have made foreign election interference their chief issue in the past.
Now, they suddenly don’t care.
The Russian collusion hoax has always been about obstruction, no matter the cost to taxpayers or the country’s mental health.
Much like children, Democrats are chaotic in temperament and their attention and focus can shift rapidly — especially with regard to shiny things.
The second Democrats found a fight they thought would be more likely to galvanize their base, such as the death of Ginsburg, they threw down the collusion hoax and moved on to the next thing.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
