News   /   Politics

McConnell rejects bill making reporting foreign assistance to FBI mandatory

Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), makes his way the podium for a weekly press conference following the Senate Republican Leadership luncheon July 16, 2019 in Washington, DC.(FP photos)

US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has come under fire for not repeatedly rejecting election security legislation in recent days, including one that makes reporting foreign assistance to FBI mandatory.

 The Kentucky Republican was decried on social media Saturday, referred to as ”a Russian,” “traitor,” and “accomplice,” to President Donald Trump.

McConnell, who is up for reelection next year, blocked two measures Thursday, one requiring candidates, campaign officials and their family members to notify the FBI of assistance offers from foreign governments and another requires the use of paper ballots as well as funding for the Election Assistance Commission.

“We are not going to let Leader McConnell put the bills passed by the House into his legislative graveyard without a fight. You're going to hear from us on this issue over and over again,” minority leader Charles Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Senator Ron Wyden, a Democratic member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called McConnell “Russia's biggest ally.”

The GOP leader was accused of “abdicating his responsibility to protect American democracy so he can protect a president who unravels it day-by-day” by Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin.

“Mitch McConnell is a traitor. Retweet if you agree. Mitch refused to publicly condemn Russian election interference with President Obama in 2016 and now refuses to protect our voting systems. He’s an accomplice to the biggest traitor in American history—Donald Trump. #MoscowMitch,” said Democratic activist Scott Dworkin on Twitter.

The Washington Post also published an op-ed titled “Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset.”

 “This is a man who prioritizes party over country to the extent that he is helping an adversary undermine our democracy,” MSNBC analyst Richard Stengel tweeted Saturday. “That's not right. It's the opposite of patriotism.”

The Trump supporter defended himself on Twitter, saying "Democrats’ Russian conspiracy theories against President Trump hit a dead end during the Mueller hearing" and "now, like a failed doomsday cult that predicted the end of the world, the liberal grifters need a fresh target: Mitch."

Former special counsel Robert Mueller warned earlier that foreign governments will interfere in the 2020 elections.

The US has accused Russia of meddling in the 2016 presidential election, a claim Moscow has denied.


Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Press TV News Roku