Sworn Senate testimony by former President Obama’s cybersecurity coordinator has Trump-haters out on a shaky limb with their hysteria over Russia.  Christian Datoc reports in the Washington Examiner:

Michael Daniel confirmed Wednesday that former national security adviser Susan Rice ordered him and his staff to "stand down" in 2016 in regard to Russian attempts to meddle in the 2016 election.

Daniel, special assistant to former President Barack Obama and White House cybersecurity coordinator, told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee that quotes attributed to him in the book, Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump, were an "accurate rendering of the conversation" he had with Rice and his staff.

Daniel's staff reportedly responded to the order in "disbelief."

Don’t forget that in his second term, Obama was able to be “flexible” on Russia, as he assured Demitri Medvedev he would be in March 2012. So Russia was not seen as a big threat. It was only after Trump’s election shocked Dems and required an excuse that “Russian meddling” became a matter of concern.  The subsequent efforts to de-legitimize the 2016 election of Donald Trump led such luminaries as the Washington Post editorial board to label Russia’s efforts a ‘cyber Peral Harbor’ and indignantly accuse President Trump of “refus[ing] to face reality.” Trump-hating politicians such as John McCain and Jeanne Shaheen were only slightly less hysterical, terming them an “act of war,” something only a cowardly president would ignore.

In effect, they are now accusing Obama of ignoring an attack equal to that which led America to declare war on japan and Germany and massively mobilize to achieve complete victory.  And, according to the Washington Post yesterday, that was not a betrayal, but a “mistake.”

Former Obama administration officials warned President Trump on Wednesday to learn from their mistakes and respond forcefully to Russian interference, urging him to make sure Moscow knows exactly what the U.S. will do if the Kremlin attempts to interfere in another election.

“The Russians, and particularly this Kremlin, watch what we do more than what we say — so active deterrence measures would have perhaps been more effective,” former assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “We know that they may very well do this again, so now we need to be planning what the retaliation will be — and we need to be signaling it.”

Nuland spoke to the intelligence panel alongside former cybersecurity coordinator J. Michael Daniel, and both said the Obama administration’s approach to countering Russia had been too fractured and too timid to compel the Kremlin to rethink its actions.

“Timid” is a good word for Obama’s willingness to stand up to those who do threaten America’s interests and security. Except, of course, when he supported those efforts -- as when he sent billions of dollars to Iran’s mullahs. The current need to emphasize Russia as an omnipotent malefactor in order to impugn President Trump’s legitimacy is now causing former Obama administration officials to cast doubt on the courage and wisdom of their boss. And if he responds to this criticism, he opens a door that he would rather keep closed.

The Russiagate conspiracy scenario is collapsing of its own weight as the Mueller investigation has yet to allege any such crimes.  If it incidentally ends up turning Obama officials against their former boss, then at least it will not have been totally useless.

Leigh Blackall's visual commentary (via Flickr) eems apt.: