Russia has not reduced its hacking and cyber activities in the wake of a widening investigation into its meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign, and that is a "real threat to the security of the United States," Sen. John McCain said Thursday.
"As chairman of the Armed Services Committee, I am telling you, they have put a lot of our capabilities in danger in this new cyber warfare arena," the Arizona Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
The senator said he is glad that former FBI Director Robert Mueller was named as a special counsel Wednesday in the Russia investigation, but pointed out that Muller and Congressional committees will have two different but vital missions.
"This is the classic scandal in the nature that there's another shoe that drops every day or two, as you noticed again this morning," McCain said, referring to reports that President Donald Trump's campaign team had several undisclosed contacts with Russians.
"This is the drip system, and that's why it's good to have Mueller doing what he's doing, and it's important for the Congress of the United States to do what they're supposed to do," McCain continued. "One is, Mueller's case, to determine whether criminal behavior has taken place, and then Congress' place what did the Russians do to interfere in our election? And what do we do in order to prevent that from happening in the next election?"
Trump Wednesday morning referred to the continuing investigations as "the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history," but McCain said in his view, a select committee is necessary to investigate the matter.
The senator said he has "great confidence" in the Senate Intelligence Committee and its leaders, Sen. Richard Burr, R-NC and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., but the investigation has reached the size and scope that it requires a select committee.
"It is far different from Watergate in many, many ways," said McCain. "As you know, Watergate started with a break-in. This thing started in a far different fashion."
In this case, "Russians tried to interfere with our election," said McCain. "There is no evidence that they succeeded, but still the attempt should spark reaction on our side, including increased sanctions and other actions we could take."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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