Remember Rep. Franks, he who thinks the crime of breaking into a campaign’s computers isn’t all that important? CNN reports his backstep over the weekend:
But in an interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto on “Wolf,” Franks argued that he has been a harsh critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and that his comment was misinterpreted.
“Those comments were completely misconstrued,” Franks told Sciutto, adding that “nobody has been harder on Russian than me.”
Franks did not elaborate further on how his comment had been misunderstood.
Which doesn’t satisfy Steve Benen, who thinks he has some uncomfortable questions for the Rep:
I’d still love to hear answers to the questions I asked last week:
1. If Mexico had broken into RNC computers and Paul Manafort’s email to steal materials, embarrass Republicans, and help put Hillary Clinton in the White House, would Trent Franks have a cavalier attitude about international espionage?
2. If Franks’ own system were targeted in a cyber-attack during his re-election campaign, and his foes published genuine materials stolen from his computer to help elect his opponent, would he be equally quick to declare that the “bottom line” is that the hackers gave voters “information that was accurate”?
But I really think, in view of this WaPo editorial that Steve cites in another post, that Steve’s missed a big, juicy bet. How about this?
If a news organization actively broke into Trump’s personal papers and the IRS computers and found incriminating evidence that Russian governmental forces subverted the elections in a way that clearly favored Trump (and Franks), with Trumps’ knowledge, would Franks still advance these arguments?
Or are they really just self-serving?
Maybe a news organization should try just to find out how honest Rep. Franks is on the subject.
