"He ignores the Mueller report and our intelligence agencies or in the alternative feels the Russians were on the side of the Republicans in 2016 and just might be again in 2020,” Sen. Dick Durbin said. | Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo Congress Durbin: McConnell ignored election security because GOP benefited from Russians

Sen. Dick Durbin suggested Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wasn’t putting election security legislation up for a vote because Republicans benefited from Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The Democratic whip’s remarks come after McConnell declared in a floor speech Tuesday “case closed” on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.


“There are two possibilities,” Durbin said. “He really doesn’t believe it, he doesn’t think the Russians were involved in 2016. He ignores the Mueller report and our intelligence agencies or in the alternative feels the Russians were on the side of the Republicans in 2016 and just might be again in 2020.”

Durbin added that he hopes that “that latter possibility is so remote as to being impossible.”

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McConnell fired back at Democratic criticism in his floor speech Tuesday morning, blasting Democrats for mocking Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and then-former Governor Mitt Romney for warning about the danger of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Maybe stronger leadership would have left the Kremlin less emboldened. Maybe tampering with our democracy wouldn’t have seemed so very tempting,” he said.

McConnell also added that Congress has taken action on election security by appropriating millions of dollars to states to improve their election systems.

