海角大神

The Russia controversy 鈥� one of the most defining issues of Donald Trump鈥檚 young presidency 鈥� has been cast by the president and his supporters as a political 鈥渨itch hunt,鈥�听even while Democrats are all over the news talk shows raising serious questions.

But strip away the听political and media听noise, and what is left is a Congress where both Republicans and Democrats appear resolved to keep Russia in check 鈥� even if that means crossing the president. In fact, observers say this Congress is the most hard-line against Moscow听in decades, mostly because Russia鈥檚 attempts to influence last year鈥檚 US elections are too close to home to ignore.

鈥淲hen we feel like we鈥檙e threatened, and certainly our elections and our cybersecurity are threatened, we go shoulder-to-shoulder,鈥� Sen.听David Perdue (R) of Georgia, one of the president鈥檚 closest allies in the Senate, told the Monitor last week.

That鈥檚 not to say that Congress is acting like a monolith on this issue. The path to sanctions against Russia has been rockier in the House than in the Senate. But this week the House is expected to pass revised听sanctions legislation against Russia, after breaking a logjam over a bill that sped through the Senate last month with a near unanimous vote of 98-2.

At the same time, congressional attention is turning to the president鈥檚 former campaign manager and family members, including son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner. Mr. Kushner appeared听Monday at a closed hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which is investigating Russia鈥檚 attempt to influence last year鈥檚 election and any possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia over the election.

In a 听released Monday morning, Kushner said: 鈥淚 did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government.鈥� He听characterized his contacts with Russia or Russian representatives as minimal and himself as a political novice, flooded by e-mails and other communications in a swiftly moving campaign and transition period.

Kushner described the infamous June 2016 meeting that included himself, Donald Trump Jr., then-campaign manager Paul Manafort, and a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, as 鈥渁 waste of our time鈥� 鈥� so much so, he said, that he emailed an assistant to call his cell phone so he would have an excuse to leave.

Emails from a British publicist to Mr. Trump Jr. show the meeting was originally set up to offer damaging information on Hillary Clinton from Ms. Veselnitskaya, but Kushner鈥檚 written account says he read only that part of an email chain from his brother-in-law that announced a time change for the meeting. 鈥淒ocuments confirm my memory that this was calendared as 鈥楳eeting: Don Jr.| Jared Kushner.鈥� No one else was mentioned.鈥�

Kushner, who expressed 鈥済ratitude鈥� to be able to provide his version of events, will also appear in a private hearing before the House intelligence committee Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee, under the chairmanship of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) of Iowa, is also negotiating with Trump Jr. and Mr. Manafort to have them appear before the committee.

鈥淚t is striking that we鈥檝e got bipartisan, sustained leadership on both the Intelligence Committee and the Judiciary Committee in continuing to pursue investigations,鈥� said Sen. Chris Coons (D) of Delaware, a member of the Judiciary Committee, in a brief interview last week. 鈥淚t is not as divisive as may superficially seem to be the case.鈥�

鈥楿nprecedentedly hostile鈥� toward Russia

Paul Saunders, a former State Department official in the George W. Bush administration, describes US-Russia relations as the worst they鈥檝e been since the early 1980s, when former President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev were in power amid mounting concern about a possible military confrontation in Europe.

The worry today is more over Russian cyberattacks and political interference than a hot war, he says, but in the '80s, the feeling was that relations could improve. Today, the expectation is they may well get worse.

鈥淎ttitudes toward Russia on Capitol Hill are unprecedentedly hostile,鈥� says Mr.听Saunders, a Russia expert at the Center for the National Interest in Washington. He attributes this 鈥減rimarily to anger over Russia鈥檚 interference in the election.鈥�

The White House, which is trying to improve relations with Russia, objected to the Senate sanctions听bill, saying it handcuffs the president鈥檚 ability to conduct foreign policy 鈥� not an unusual complaint for a commander in chief. The bill got bogged down in the House over procedural and policy issues, with plenty of political accusations to go around.

But a revised version emerged over the weekend that was worked out听with lawmakers from both parties and both chambers. The bill has been adjusted to meet some US business complaints and has added sanctions against North Korea to a package that already included sanctions against Russia and Iran.

It would still, however,听make it very difficult for the president to overturn sanctions without congressional approval. The new sanctions against Russia would punish it for its meddling in US elections, its military actions in eastern Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, and human rights abuses.

How the parties have switched stances

Notably, the politics over Russia has 鈥渢otally flipped on its head鈥� from the cold war days, says Jeffrey Mankoff, a Russia specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Democrats have become more hawkish and vocal, demanding more congressional听oversight of the Trump administration vis-脿-vis Russia from the Republican-controlled Congress. They point to a lack of independence from the White House on Russia that caused then-House intelligence chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R) of California, to hand his committee gavel over to Rep. Mike Conaway (R) of Texas, earlier this year.

鈥淚 mean, where are the heroic figures like we had in Watergate?鈥� says听Rep. Gerry Connolly (D) of Virginia. (Editor's note: The congressman's quote has been corrected from an earlier version.)

Many Republicans attribute the drip, drip, drip of bad news on possible Russian collusion with the Trump campaign to media hype, Democratic histrionics, and neophytes in the White House with poor record-keeping and minimal听understanding of government 鈥� political bumpkins, perhaps, but not criminals. Neither do many of their voters think Russia should be a top concern.

鈥淢y state overwhelmingly supports Donald Trump,鈥� said Rep. Mo Brooks (R) of Alabama, when asked by reporters whether the stories about Trump Jr.鈥檚 meeting were becoming a distraction. Russia is just one of 鈥渢housands upon thousands of issues鈥� in his state, he said, and is viewed that way. Still, Congressman Brooks, a member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, supports sanctions against Russia.

In a brief interview with the Monitor, Senate intelligence chairman Richard Burr (R) of North Carolina said that the news churn and politicization of Russia were not affecting the bipartisan nature of his committee鈥檚 work 鈥� though he did admit that 鈥渢he public nature of some of the statements makes it a little more difficult for us to get the witnesses that we need and to do it in the privacy that we鈥檇 like.鈥�

While the committee鈥檚 ranking member, Democrat Mark Warner (D) of Virginia, is a regular on the talk shows, Chairman Burr says he chose 鈥渁 different route鈥� when he started the investigation. He doesn鈥檛 do sit-down television interviews nor does he go over to the White House, because he wants to avoid any appearance of outside influence.听

Indeed, on this day last week, when almost all of his GOP Senate colleagues were at the White House being pressed by the president to pass a health-care bill, Burr was ordering take-out from the Senate's basement听caf茅.

鈥淚 have to stay as open as I possibly can,鈥� he says about the investigation, holding onto his lunch. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to follow this through wherever the intelligence leads us.鈥�