Yates and Clapper Testimony & Attacks on French Election Further Prove Need for Independent Commission on Russia Attacks

As more key witnesses testify before Congressional committees it is becoming increasingly clear that only an independent commission can do a credible investigation of the Russian attack on the 2016 presidential investigation. In a new letter to Congress sent today, Common Cause urged Members to convene an independent body with the power and will to follow the investigation wherever it leads.

Fresh Russian attacks on European elections and the testimony yesterday of former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper yesterday, hammered home the need for an independent investigation. President Trump’s continued insistence on Twitter that stories about documented Russian interference in the 2016 elections are “fake news,” heightens the need for an independent commission.

“For purely partisan reasons, some Members of Congress are more concerned about leaks about the Russian attacks on our election than they are about the attacks themselves,” said Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn. “It is time to put the good of the nation before partisan politics. Some in Congress are unwilling to put the integrity of our elections before their own political party. Congress’s current committees leading the investigation lack proper staff, funding, and independence from partisanship to conduct the investigation the American people deserve. Even more disturbingly, some lack the will to seek the full truth and share it with the public.”

In the letter, Common Cause made it clear that an independent, bipartisan commission is the only vehicle for the American people to get a truly independent and fair investigation. The letter points to Republican members of the Intelligence committees attempting to tamp down news coverage of the Russian attack, the lack of staff dedicated to the committees’ ongoing investigation, and Russia’s role in the recent hacking and release of campaign information ahead of France’s presidential election as reasons why Congress must act now to establish an independent special commission.

The letter comes after Common Cause activists delivered thousands of petitions calling for an independent commission to members of Congress during the April recess in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

To read the letter, click here.