McCain and Graham Backing Off Push For Select Committee on Russian Hacking

In the aftermath of the reports that the CIA had assessed Russia was involved in hacking to interfere in the election, a small bipartisan group of senators called for the creation of a special select committee to investigate Russian cyber-attacks.

Well, it appears that the two Republicans in that group are now backing off of that push, largely due to the realization that Senate Republican leadership isn’t going to listen to their requests.

According to Politico, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have come to the conclusion that they’ll have to rely on probes in existing committees when it comes to investigating any threats from Russia on a cyber front.

“We’re just going to move with the individual committees and see how that works. If it doesn’t work, we’ll regroup,” Graham said in an interview

McCain also remarked that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “said he doesn’t think we need it.”

While it appears that Graham and McCain won’t pursue the need for a select committee for now, McCain will still hold a hearing tomorrow about the Russian hacking. And as Politico noted, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) still plans on introducing a bill in the Senate establishing a select committee.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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