Conyers & House Judiciary Dems Join More Than 150 Members of U.S. House In Effort to Create Independent Commission to Investigate Foreign Interference in U.S. Elections
Washington, DC - Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) along with House Judiciary Committee Democrats, joined Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-15), the Ranking Member of the CIA Subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD-07), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to reintroduce the Protecting Our Democracy Act to establish an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate foreign interference in the 2016 election.
“There is clear consensus that Russia indeed hacked email systems in order to influence the U.S. 2016 presidential election,” said Ranking Member Conyers. “Americans should be concerned by this covert effort to undermine confidence in our electoral process. It is our responsibility to insist on a complete, bipartisan, and transparent commission to investigate these facts and recommend an appropriate response.”
The bill would create a 12-member, bipartisan, independent commission empowered to interview witnesses, obtain documents, issue subpoenas, and receive public testimony to examine attempts by the Russian government or others to use electronic means to influence, interfere with, or undermine trust in last year’s U.S. elections. The commission would examine any similar efforts by any other foreign governments or entities and would issue a final report with recommendations to Congress and the President within 18 months of enactment.
The 12 members of the independent commission would be appointed within 90 days of enactment of the Swalwell-Cummings bill by the Speaker of the House (3), Senate Majority Leader (3), House Minority Leader (3), and Senate Minority Leader (3). The commission would choose a chair and vice chair of different parties. No federal officers or employees would be eligible to serve on the commission. Appointees would be prominent U.S. citizens with national recognition and significant depth of experience in governmental service, law enforcement, armed services, law, public administration, intelligence gathering, foreign affairs, cybersecurity, and federal elections.
The legislation was originally introduced at the end of the 114th Congress by Rep. Eric Swalwell and Rep. Elijah Cummings. Since then, it has received the support of more than 150 Members of the House of Representatives, including: House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr.; Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee; House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi; and Democratic members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
In December 2016, Ranking Member Conyers and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) calling for safeguards to be put in place to ensure the investigation into Russian hacking is made a top priority and is completed in a thorough and bipartisan manner throughout the Presidential transition. Conyers and Jackson Lee also called for DOJ and the FBI to be transparent in their investigation of Russian hacking, by releasing copies of all relevant investigative materials regarding the investigation to the House Judiciary Committee, in the same way it did during its investigation of Secretary Clinton’s private email server. Full text of the letter is available here.