(Washington, DC) – Congressmen C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) today introduced a bipartisan resolution that reaffirms to the American people and the world that the U.S. House of Representatives stands with the American intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections – despite recent assertions from President Trump to the contrary.
At a joint press conference last week following his summit in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump refused to say if he believes American intelligence agencies, as well as his own Director of National Intelligence, who have concluded with high confidence that Putin ordered an influence campaign to undermine the 2016 presidential election. The resolution references the official IC assessment issued January 6, 2017, which states: “Russia blended covert intelligence operations — such as cyber activity — with overt efforts by Russian Government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or ‘trolls.’”
“Our U.S. intelligence community has consistently affirmed that Russia deliberately interfered and influenced the 2016 election. In fact, 12 Russian intelligence officers were just indicted by the U.S. government for compromising our election,” said Congressman Ruppersberger, former Ranking Member on the House Intelligence Committee and the Member who represents the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command. “Instead of taking Putin on, Trump discredited our own intelligence workers. So if he won’t stand up for our country and our democracy, the House of Representatives will.”
“Our nation must never tolerate a Russian autocrat that seeks to interfere in our elections. As a former FBI Special Agent, I support our Intelligence Community, and I stand by their conclusions. Russia sought to undermine our democratic institutions and our 2016 elections. It’s clear that Russia continues to use cyber weapons to sow division and distrust both here and abroad,” said Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, former FBI Special Agent, previously assigned to Ukraine. “We must hold these foreign actors accountable while strengthening the integrity of our Intelligence Community.”
Click here to view the resolution.