McConnell calls Russian election involvement ‘significant issue’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday said Russia’s efforts to meddle in the United States’ presidential election are “a significant issue” that Congress plans to investigate. 

“We are going to look at Russian involvement in the U.S. election,” McConnell told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“It’s a significant issue. … We know they were messing around with it. We don’t think they had any impact on the outcome, but obviously we’re not going to ignore something like that.”

{mosads}The intelligence community concluded in a report released publicly last month that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign to help Donald Trump win the White House. The report noted that it did not analyze the impact Russia’s actions ultimately had on the presidential race.

McConnell said he does not think setting up a special committee to investigate former national security adviser Michael Flynn is necessary.

Flynn resigned earlier this week following reports that he misled White House officials, including Vice President Pence, in regards to a conversation with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.

Following the resignation, Senate Democrats are calling for a special committee or independent investigation into Flynn, who discussed sanctions placed on Moscow by the Obama administration with Kislyak prior to Trump’s inauguration. 

“I don’t think we need a select committee. We know how to do our work.  We have an Intelligence Committee,” McConnell said in reference to Flynn. 

“Over on the Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham has got a subcommittee that’s going to take a look at it. I don’t think we need to go through setting up a special committee.”