President-elect Donald Trump's biggest obstacle in getting Congress in line with his policies could be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
McConnell quickly endorsed Trump in the presidential election once he became the Republican nominee, but has recently diverged from Trump. The president-elect dismissed the allegations of Russian interference in the recent election as "ridiculous," but McConnell said Monday that he had "the highest confidence in the intelligence community and especially the Central Intelligence Agency," where the report surfaced, according to The Wall Street Journal.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, who refused to campaign with Trump during the election, mirrored Trump in his assessment that the U.S. intelligence community was being manipulated.
"Exploiting the work of our intelligence community for partisan purposes does a grave disservice to those professionals and potentially jeopardizes our national security," Ryan said, according to the Journal.
McConnell also signaled his commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and to defending the Baltic states if the need should arise.
"I think the majority leader showed a personal, firm commitment to the independence of the Baltic States, period," Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told the Journal after a bipartisan breakfast with a delegation from several Baltic countries, hosted by McConnell.
If McConnell and Trump clash over Russia, it could affect Trump's cabinet nominees. His choice for Secretary of State, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, could prove too controversial to get confirmed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His ties with Russia, specifically his relationship with President Vladimir Putin, could lead to a vote on the Senate floor.
"Mitch McConnell could still bring that nominee before the Senate," a senior Senate Republican aide told the Washington Examiner.
The committee will vote on whether to issue a positive or negative report on Tillerson to the Senate. Even if they issue a negative report, McConnell could use his power as majority leader to save Trump's nominee.
"It could go onto the executive calendar with a negative report from the Foreign Relations Committee in Tillerson's case, and the report from the committee would be, 'hey, we don't think this is the guy that you should vote for,'" the senior aide added. "And Mitch McConnell could still bring that nominee before the Senate with the recommendation [from the committee] that it be voted down, effectively."
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