Rex Tillerson and Vladimir Putin meeting in Moscow
Over the past several months, many leaders and institutions have raised questions about the Russian interference in our elections and President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s relationship with Russian dictator President Vladimir Putin. Long before Election Day, we saw indicators of untoward activity between the Trump team and Russian political and business interests. Congress has delayed long enough; they must launch a thorough and bipartisan investigation into the potential ties between our future president and Russia, and they must do so now.
While serving in the Navy, I learned to always investigate smoke. A fire is the most dangerous thing that can happen aboard a ship, and as the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s often fire. Early investigation can prevent the fire from burning out of control and endangering the ship, the crew, and the mission.
Independent of politics or party, we must not let the ship of state go up in flames.
Recent reports confirm that federal law enforcement was granted Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants on Trump campaign operatives. These warrants are typically used as part of ongoing investigations into the activities of foreign spies inside the United States. The proceedings of the investigations themselves are secret, and federal law enforcement does not report on ongoing investigations but this weekend we learned that there is a six agency working group investigating Russian interference in the election. It’s unclear whether those investigations are one in the same.
We have also learned that Lieutenant General (ret.) Mike Flynn, Trump’s choice for National Security Advisor, had several calls with Kremlin officials the day President Obama announced sanctions against Russia as a response to interference in the 2016 presidential election. This seems oddly reminiscent of Nixon’s undermining peace negotiations with Vietnam prior to his election.
Trump nominee for Secretary of State, former ExxonMobil chair and CEO Rex Tillerson, is the recipient of the Russian Order of Friendship, the highest honor Russia can bestow upon a foreign citizen. We have also learned that he and Vladimir Putin are close personal friends. So close, in fact, that when Putin endangered ExxonMobil profits by invading Ukraine, Tillerson chose to lobby Congress on Russia’s behalf rather than leveraging his influence to pressure Putin to stand down. During Tillerson’s confirmation hearing this week in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he clumsily dodged questions from Senator Marco Rubio about Putin’s extensively documented war crimes in Syria and Chechnya. When Tillerson denied Senator Bob Menendez’s (D) assertion that he and his company were essentially in-house lobbyists for Putin, Senator Bob Corker (R) recalled a conversation in which Tillerson directly lobbied in favor of Russia.
Our nation’s leading intelligence agencies have confirmed that state-sponsored Russian entities engaged in activity meant to manipulate the 2016 Presidential election. In fact, the CIA and FBI went so far as to release unclassified versions of their reports that directly attribute Putin and Russia as those responsible for interfering in our election with the express purpose of helping Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
Because the president-elect has flaunted decades of custom, and refused to release his tax returns, we are left in the dark. We have absolutely no idea the magnitude of Trump’s business interests, liabilities, or assets in Russia. We know, courtesy of his son, Donald Trump Jr., that they are significant: “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” This is a pretty big issue considering the fact that Trump has refused to divest from his business interests.
These instances all sound loud warning bells; they are, in fact, smoke alarms warning us to pay attention to the fact that we have no clarity into the motivations, entanglements, and compromises of our incoming president. Congress owes it to every citizen of our nation to investigate the noxious black smoke billowing out of Trump Tower. We must not lose the ship of state to the fire. I served my country for 12 years because I care deeply about the values America is supposed to represent—not so that my commitment to our democracy could be torched by a very clear adversary while a bunch of suits stand by and do nothing.
The question remains, what will Congress do? Some of our leaders initially demonstrated their allegiance to country over politics but then showed their true colors. We've seen Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio buck their party line and attempt to hold Trump and Tillerson accountable for their relationships in Russia but then fall in line over the weekend and today they voted to send his nomination to the full Senate for confirmation next week.
The air is thickening. Representatives Elijah Cummings and Eric Swalwell, as well as over 170 lawmakers, are calling for an immediate bipartisan and independent investigation into the Russian interference in the elections, and Congress must listen. We must clear the smoke of Russian control and undue influence. Congress must claim its role as an equal to the executive, and determine whether it is the fire extinguisher we need to protect our democracy and keep the ship of state afloat.
Shawn VanDiver is a Navy veteran and Director of the Truman National Security Project San Diego Chapter. He's a trained shipboard firefighter and views expressed are his own. Follow him on twitter at @ShawnJVanDiver