Make Them Hear You! The Russia Trump Connection

Make Them Hear You! is a weekly feature on KGNU, produced by Chris Mohr, letting listeners know how they can have their voices heard on issues up before Congress. You can hear it Wednesday mornings at 8.20am during the Morning Magazine.

Here’s last week’s tweet heard round the world: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama ad my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” The leader of the Birther movement against Obama is now the President, and he wants an investigation of his baseless claim. If he were wiretapped after the government got a warrant, then he may be guilty of pre-election collusion with Russia.

The House Intelligence Committee wants Trump’s Justice Department to produce evidence for this unsubstantiated claim by March 20, and the panel might use its subpoena power to gather information. John McCain said, “I think the president has one of two choices: either retract or to provide the information that the American people deserve.”

James Comey has urged the Justice Department to dispute Trump’s claim. James Clapper, Obama’s director of national intelligence, says nothing matching Trump’s claims had taken place. Kellyanne Conway claims that WikiLeaks has uncovered “microwaves that turn into cameras.”

Republican Representative Devin Nunes said “I have not seen evidence,” His committee plans public hearings as part of its much more serious Russia probe, beginning with one on March 20 at which FBI Director James Comey and Admiral Mike Rogers, of the National Security Agency, are invited. They may even bring in Christopher Steele, whose salacious reports on Trump in Russia caused a scandal.

Trump has praised Vladimir Putin, and even invited the Russians to release any hacked emails they had against Hillary Clinton! Most recently, Trump campaign advisor Roger Stone admits having talked to “Guccifer,” who was directly involved in hacking the DNC emails for Russia. Politico published “Trump’s Russian Ties in Seven Charts,” which show a vast network of connections.

Republican congressman Darrell Issa of California said we need an independent investigation: “You can’t have somebody, a friend of mine, Jeff Sessions, who was on the campaign, and who was an appointee, you’re going to need to use the special prosecutor’s statute and office.” House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz has called for the attorney general to recuse himself from the Russian investigation into Russia’s alleged attempts to meddle in the presidential election.

If you’re concerned about the ever-growing Trump/Putin scandal, you can contact Senator Cory Gardner and ask where he stands on Senate Bill 27, which calls for an independent commission to investigate Russian influence on our election and democracy.