Obama stand-down on Russia probe looks completely partisan: Varney

Months before the 2016 presidential election, the Obama team knew that the Russians were meddling. Our National Security Council had a cybersecurity team in place, looking into it. Trying to figure out, what were the Russians up to?

Then, as the election campaign was in full swing, the national security adviser, Susan Rice, told the team to "stand down" ... stop working on options to counter the Russian attack. The man in charge of our response confirms the "stand down" order. Another member of the team told the Senate this week that he was "incredulous, and in disbelief." He asked: "Why the hell are we standing down." Good question!

We knew they were messing with us, but our defenders were told to stand down ... and we did. Until after the election. Yes, they turned the investigation back on, in December 2016, after Hillary Clinton had lost. Doesn't that sound like they were looking for an excuse for Trump's stunning win?  Obama was still the president and Susan Rice was still the national security adviser. Why not try to blame Russian meddling.

They needed cover,  so fire up the investigation, bring in the "reliable" people at the FBI and make it look like Trump's the bad guy who got Russian help. Hey, the media will buy it! They'll buy anything that supposedly makes Trump look bad.

When Susan Rice gave that stand-down order, Hillary Clinton was widely expected to win. So nothing would come out. It’s like the IRS targeting conservatives: Obama was the president, so nothing would come out.

But it has come out, and it confirms the view, long held on this program, that the Obama team used the machinery of government to beat up its political opponents. That’s not the way this constitutional republic is supposed to operate.