Intelligence briefings as far as back 2015 should have prompted members to investigate further. Here are the times Republicans sat on their hands instead.
Republicans have been steadily attacking House Democrats’ sweeping investigations into President Donald Trump’s alleged misconduct, claiming the congressional inquiries are a purely partisan overreach.
But when Democrats ramped up their scrutiny of the president after retaking the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections, they encountered a sprawling backlog of missed oversight opportunities. During the first two years of the Trump presidency, the GOP-dominated Congress ignored serious red flags about Russian election meddling and Trump’s ties to Russia, any one of which should have triggered a congressional investigation.
Still, Republicans took no action. Even when confronted with intelligence briefings (as far back as 2015) about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, GOP leaders in the House and Senate declined to assume oversight responsibilities or launch serious investigations.