Waco Tribune-Herald/InsideSources.com (Op-Ed): Karen Hobert Flynn: Trump allowing election interference to continue

Waco Tribune-Herald/InsideSources.com (Op-Ed): Karen Hobert Flynn: Trump allowing election interference to continue

For its part, the national media must recognize the public needs facts, not spin, not false equivalencies, not Beltway conjectures that ignore the very fragile state of our democracy and the need voters have for truth. And truth is necessary, even for those who refuse the believe it right now. It matters to most of us right now and will matter to everyone eventually if we are to repair our republic and strengthen democracy.

Every eligible voter wants to know that our vote will be counted as cast in a fair election free of outside interference. It’s how we get a say in the future direction of our community, state and nation and is the foundation of our republic. As a self-governed people, we are the only source of power in our Constitution.

Since 2016, Americans are more aware of the many ways outside forces can influence our elections. Some of us demand more clarity from mainstream news media and our elected officials. The media must be the source of the truth and should not be lulled into accepting and perpetuating false narratives.

News stories recently covering briefings to the U.S. House Intelligence Committee that Russia is trying to influence the Democratic Party nomination should raise alarms. On two separate Sunday morning talk shows, senior administration officials attempted to spin evidence firmly established by our intelligence agencies, the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee and the Mueller investigation that the Russian government interfered in our elections in 2016 to both sow chaos and to favor President Trump.

For any objective person following investigations and reports of the intelligence community over the last three years, those statements are dangerous and misleading. Yet established mainstream media figures were lulled into the false narrative and — more dangerously — openly gave it credence and repeated it. Some reporters openly speculated on why Russia might choose Sanders over Trump as opposed to firmly establishing that all evidence pointed to a contrary .

For three years now we’ve called on the administration for a whole government response to the well-documented attacks by Russia in 2016 but that is not the path Trump chose. According to the New York Times, former Department of Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen tried to focus the White House on preparing for new and different Russian forms of interference in the 2020 election. But Trump’s chief of staff told her not to bring it up in front of the president.

Just recently, Trump fired acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire for telling the truth about Russian activity to key members of Congress. Trump was routinely hostile to Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not thwarting the internal investigation into Russian interference and possible connections to the Trump administration.

If President Trump is at all serious about stopping Russian interference, he would stop calling the allegations a “hoax” and stop persecuting or firing government officials trying to do their jobs to protect our democracy from foreign attack. He can’t have it both ways — attempting to quash strategic action taken to counter Russian interference, then claiming to be hard on Russia in working against their election-meddling now.

Trump could ask that the intelligence community de-classify, to the extent possible, any information about attempts to influence or hack our elections by any foreign actor so we don’t learn about these issues from leaks. Voters deserve this information in real time. And the president could act presidential and order a whole-government response to these attacks, inclusive of the intelligence communities, National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security, the Election Administration Commission, the secretary of state and local election officials.

This is what President Obama has acknowledged he should have done and what Trump can do right now if he truly wants to stop Russia’s interference, which we know is happening.

For its part, the national media must recognize the public needs facts, not spin, not false equivalencies, not Beltway conjectures that ignore the very fragile state of our democracy and the need voters have for truth. And truth is necessary, even for those who refuse the believe it right now. It matters to most of us right now and will matter to everyone eventually if we are to repair our republic and strengthen democracy.

Karen Hobert Flynn is president of Common Cause, which since 1970 has been holding power accountable through lobbying, litigation and grassroots organizing. Its mission focuses on solutions “to shift power to the people and away from wealthy special interests and partisan ideologues.”