Dems demand Trump admin officials testify on election security

House Democrats are prodding their Republican colleagues to examine foreign threats to upcoming U.S. elections, raising concerns that the Trump administration is not adequately tackling the threat. 

The top Democrats on four House committees demanded Thursday that their Republican counterparts hold a joint hearing on election security featuring top Trump administration officials.

{mosads}“Election security is a national security issue, and it is time this Congress treated it like one,” the Democrats wrote in Thursday’s letter. “We are concerned that the Trump administration is not doing enough to address vulnerabilities to our election systems.”

The letter was signed by the top Democrats on the House Administration, Judiciary, Oversight and Homeland Security committees. 

Several House and Senate panels have held public hearings on election security in recent weeks, including the House Homeland Security and Oversight committees.

The House and Senate Intelligence committees have also undertaken separate investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election; the House investigation wrapped up earlier this year, and the Senate’s probe is expected to conclude next month.

Still, Thursday’s letter is the latest sign that Democrats don’t believe GOP leaders are doing enough to investigate the issue of election security following Russia’s meddling. 

The letter, which cites President Trump’s comments in Helsinki casting doubt on the intelligence community’s assessment of Moscow’s interference, questions the administration’s moves on election security. 

The Democrats want to hear from several top national security officials, including FBI Director Christopher Wray, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. 

They also want Republicans to request testimony from Tom Hicks, the chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Committee — an independent body convened by Congress that plays a role in helping state officials secure their election systems from cyber threats.

Democrats signaled they want to question Wray on recent reports about the departure of top FBI cyber officials, including the leader of the bureau’s foreign influence task force.

They also wrote that they want to grill Rosenstein on a new Justice Department policy he rolled out last week to address foreign influence operations “in order to understand what specific steps federal agencies are taking to address threats to our elections.” 

House Democrats have been consistently vocal in their criticism of Republicans for what they see as a failure to address election security following revelations about Russian meddling in the election.

Officials say that Russian hackers targeted election systems, such as voter databases and websites, in 21 states before the 2016 election as part of the broader interference plot.

Earlier this week, Democrats on the Oversight Committee tried and failed to subpoena Coats to testify publicly before the committee during a hearing on election security, after Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) declined to invite him to testify that day but offered the prospect of a classified hearing in the future. 

Top Trump officials, including Nielsen, Wray and Coats, briefed Congress behind closed doors on election security in May — though the meeting was sparsely attended. The Department of Homeland Security has taken the lead on engaging with states to test their systems for vulnerabilities and share information on emerging cyber threats. 

Thursday’s letter is signed by Democratic Reps. Robert Brady (Penn.), Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Elijah Cummings (Md.) and Bennie Thompson (Miss.).