EJ Montini

opinion columnist

I wouldn't count on him to do it, but he should. If the Russians rigged our presidential election, Donald Trump should resign.

In the meantime, at the very least the President-elect of the United States should not live in a state of denial. He should want the best information he can get, without fear or prejudice.

So if it turns out that Russian hacking, now confirmed by the CIA, influenced the American presidential election – the beating heart of our nation – Trump should resign.

If his love for his country is bigger than his ego (What are the odds?) that’s what he would do. Not to hand over the presidency to Hillary Clinton, but to hand it to the House of Representatives (controlled by Republicans).

GOP wants truth. What does Trump want?

A number of leading Republicans – even staunch Trump supporters – want investigations. More importantly, they want answers. Truth. Trump doesn’t seem concerned about that.

That position is not just foolish, it’s reckless.

As Michael V. Hayden, the director of the NSA and the CIA under President George W. Bush, told The New York Times, “To have the president-elect of the United States simply reject the fact-based narrative that the intelligence community puts together because it conflicts with his a priori assumptions — wow.”

Meantime, Sen. John McCain, one of those pushing for answers, said in an interview Sunday, “Facts are stubborn things.”

He said the Russians have interfered with the electoral process and he wants to get to the bottom of it.

He’s right.

In a bipartisan joint statement in which McCain is joined by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democrats Sens. Charles Schumer and Jack Reed the group said, “This cannot become a partisan issue. The stakes are too high for our country … we will seek to unify our colleagues around a goal of investigating and stopping the grave threat that cyberattacks conducted by foreign governments pose to our national security.”

Trump skipped intelligence briefings

The president-elect should be just as determined to get to the truth.

Instead, Trump supposedly has skipped a number of intelligence briefings and acted as if he has more faith in what the Russians say than reports from our FBI and CIA.

Those agencies and the members of Congress they report to – Democrats and Republicans – firmly believe the Russians meddled in our democratic process.

That has to be unacceptable.

Trump seems less worried about the country than his own ambitions, however. He dismissed the Russian hacking on a Sunday morning interview. He called it "ridiculous."

A position only possible by a president-elect who hasn't attended his intelligence briefings.

Montini: In which I stop picking on this great-grandma from Show Low