File:Thompson, Smith, Cummings, Conyers, Engel, Hoyer, Schiff Joint Statement Calling for a Comprehensive Investigation of Russian Interference in the 2016 Election.png

English: Thompson, Smith, Cummings, Conyers, Engel, Hoyer, Schiff Joint Statement Calling for a Comprehensive Investigation of Russian Interference in the 2016 Election

Dec 13, 2016 Press Release

(WASHINGTON) – Today, House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA), House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD), House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY), House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) released the following joint statement in response to news reports about intelligence assessments of Russian interference in the 2016 election, and comments by the House Republican leadership downplaying the need for a thorough investigation:

“All Americans should be deeply concerned by the reports that Russian agencies have interfered with a U.S. election. As Speaker Ryan noted, ‘any foreign intervention in our elections is entirely unacceptable.’

“The first duty of the United States government is to safeguard the American people and the integrity of our free society from attacks by foreign adversaries. Cyberattacks on our political institutions are direct threats to their integrity and are just as menacing as attacks on our economic, physical, and military infrastructure.

“Given the gravity of these unprecedented attacks by a foreign state, we need a congressional investigation that is truly bipartisan, that is comprehensive, that will not be restricted by jurisdictional lines, and that will give the American people a complete and full accounting of what happened consistent with safeguarding our national security.”