The intelligence community indicated at a Senate hearing today it is more sure than ever that Russia meddled with the U.S. election in 2016.

Does U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton care? Not much. Two Republicans senators, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, seem concerned about foreign election interference. But, from Mother Jones:

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Other than McCain and Graham, the Republican members of the committee shied away from referring to Trump or even the main matter at hand: the Russian hacking. Many asked about other cyber threats and attacks, such as the Chinese hack that penetrated the US government’s personnel system. It was just too awkward or politically incorrect for them to question Clapper and the other witnesses about the Moscow operation and Putin’s intentions. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) even tried to undermine the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia intended to help Trump. “There’s a widespread assumption—this has been expressed by Secretary Clinton herself since the election—that Vladimir Putin favored Donald Trump in this election,” Cotton said. “Donald Trump has proposed to increase our defense budget, to accelerate nuclear modernization, to accelerate ballistic defenses, and to expand and accelerate oil and gas production, which would obviously harm Russia’s economy. Hillary Clinton opposed, or at least was not as enthusiastic about all those measures.” Cotton asked Clapper, “Would each of those put the United States in a stronger strategic position against Russia?” Clapper said that “anything we do to enhance our military capabilities, absolutely.” Then Cotton made his point: “So there is some contrary evidence, despite what the media speculates, that perhaps Donald Trump is not the best candidate for Russia.” He was suggesting that because Trump’s campaign platform had a hawkish military plank, the intelligence community’s assessment was wrong and that Trump was not Putin’s preferred candidate. Clapper did not respond to this argument.

Speaking of China, Cotton issued a statement blasting, not so much China, but Apple for acceding to China and not selling the New York Times app in China.

It’s a sad day when a great American company becomes complicit in Communist censorship of an American newspaper.

It is a sad day to see a U.S. senator demonstrate he’s such a blithering hypocrite. Cotton refuses to talk with — or allow his staff to talk with — news organizations that hold viewpoints counter to his, the Arkansas Times being one. Censoring them, you might say. Sad!

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