St. Mary’s City, MD – As United States Senator Ben Cardin [Md. – D] stepped to the microphone at St. Mary’s College of Maryland Friday, March 3, he noted that he has more staff in his office coming out of the college than anyplace else.
“That’s the truth,” he said.
“I wouldn’t want to be guilty of any fake news,” Cardin quipped.
The senator was at the college to discuss U.S.-Russian relations and he couldn’t have picked a more timely topic. He said he waited during the president’s State of the Union address last week for an explanation of accusations that Russia tampered in the recent presidential election and that the new president has business ties with the former Soviet Union.
“I wanted to know if he would fill in the blanks,” Cardin said. “I heard about the Trans-Atlantic Partnership. I heard about American foreign policy. There wasn’t one word spoken about Russia, despite the fact that Russia attacked us in our November election by trying to compromise the credibility of the election and influence its outcome.”
While he pointed out that the actual vote count was not affected by the tampering, there is evidence that Russia may have tried to tamper with recent elections in Australia, France and Montenegro and are flexing their muscles in the Ukraine.
“The Ukraine has enough problems without Russia,” Cardin noted.
He said Russian excursions into Georgia and other East European nations is a violation of the sovereignty of democratic countries.
“Russia is expanding its footprint,” he stressed.
Cardin said he introduced a bill in the senate to set up a special committee to “see what Russia is doing.
“Every day, there seems to be more actions,” he said. The fear, he added, is that Russia is going to invade our democratic institutions, “to attempt to bring down our democratic institutions.”
The Senate, he added, is seeking to counter those antics.
“We are the policy area of government,” Cardin stressed. “The bottom line is, we have an obligation to protect the national security of our people.”
He encouraged the audience to continue to be vigilant as citizens.
“Stay engaged,” he encouraged.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com