Dems push for panel to probe Russian interference in election

Two Democratic House members on Wednesday announced legislation to create an independent commission to investigate efforts by Russia to interfere with the U.S. election.

{mosads}The bill comes from Oversight Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee’s CIA subcommittee.

The structure of the nongovernmental panel would be modeled after the 9/11 Commission, and would include 12 bipartisan members.

Specifically, the commission will be charged with investigating Russian hacks of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and former Hillary Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta’s personal email, as well as the scanning of electoral systems in some states and the dissemination of fake news and propaganda.

Cummings and Swalwell on Wednesday attempted to highlight the bipartisan nature of the panel, noting that the majority of members or the chair and vice chair of the panel must be in agreement to issue a subpoena.

“We accept the outcome of the election. We don’t want to relitigate what happened. What we do not accept is that we should leave ourselves vulnerable to this happen again,” Swalwell told reporters.

“This is not a Democratic or a Republican issue. This was an attack on our democracy,” Cummings said.

“Any attempt by a foreign power to undermine our elections is a direct attack on our country, and it should chill every single member of Congress, red or blue, to the core.”

Cummings and Swalwell will spend the next few weeks drumming up support and reintroduce the legislation in January, according to the committee aide.

“We’re working on it,” Swalwell said when asked about Republican support in the House, noting that he had notified Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday. “I’m confident there will be Republicans.”

The legislation comes as President-elect Donald Trump insists Russia was not involved in attacks against various Democratic political targets, despite a public statement from U.S. intelligence officials months ago pointing at Moscow.

Meanwhile, Democrats across Capitol Hill are pushing to keep the issue alive — as is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who on Wednesday said he will spearhead investigations on the matter.

Cummings, along with Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) and five other ranking members, on Tuesday urged the administration to brief Congress on the matter.

Specifically, they requested a classified briefing providing details regarding “Russian entities’ hacking of American political organizations; hacking and strategic release of emails from campaign officials; the WikiLeaks disclosures; fake news stories produced and distributed with the intent to mislead American voters; and any other Russian or Russian-related interference or involvement in our recent election.”

Senate Democrats are also keeping up their pressure on the Obama administration to make more information public about alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. election. A group of Intelligence Committee Democrats including Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has urged Obama to declassify and release “additional information concerning the Russian Government and the U.S. election.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) has also urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold a hearing probing the implications of Russian interference in the election.

In October, the intelligence community publicly blamed Russia for the hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and other political organizations this year, calling the thefts an intentional effort to interfere with the U.S. election process.

Officials stopped short of blaming Russian hackers for the probing of state election systems. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, though, has since said Russian scanning of state election infrastructure was “curtailed” after that statement.

Democrats have characterized the release of the DNC emails as an attempt to bolster Trump’s bid for the White House and have pointed to the president-elect’s warm remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump has fiercely disputed claims that the Russian government was helping his campaign and has repeatedly declined to blame Russia for the attacks.

On Wednesday, he said he believed the intelligence community’s determination that Russia was behind the DNC attack was likely politically motivated.