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On 20 December 2016, Occupy Democrats posted an article (under the headline McConnell Just Blocked a Bipartisan Panel from Investigating the Russian Hacks) heavily implying that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had interfered with an investigation of reported Russian hacks during the 2016 election election cycle because the alleged hacks had favored the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump. The article referenced an interview McConnell gave on 19 December 2016 in his home state of Kentucky, which aired on PBS affiliate Kentucky Educational Television. In the interview, McConnell told host Bill Goodman that he does support a bipartisan investigation into Russian hacks, but believes the existing Senate and House intelligence committees (which are bipartisan) are capable of handling it. Two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, co-signed a letter to McConnell, along with Democrat senators Chuck Schumer of New York and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, calling for a special bipartisan panel to investigate Russian cyber attacks and saying that cyber security cuts across multiple topics and thus is too complicated for the standing committees to handle: McConnell's statements in a public television interview do not by themselves block the panel from forming, but his comments likely signal his intention of doing so. However, McConnell also said that the issue is a serious one, and it will be investigated in Congress: McConnell is on the record saying that U.S. intelligence reports present a serious issue. He broke with Republican President-elect Donald Trump by saying he has the highest confidence in the intelligence community.
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