Washington, DC – Today Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement:
“This morning, I was briefed by the leadership of the intelligence community and have reviewed their full report, which carefully documents the Russian hacking of democratic institutions and individuals, and their dumping of documents during the presidential campaign. The report makes it clear that the Russian intervention was directed by Putin himself, and was designed not only to sow discord in the United States, but was also motivated by the desire to help Donald Trump’s election chances by discrediting Secretary Hillary Clinton. These conclusions are well-supported by the evidence and the report should put to rest any uncertainty as to Russian responsibility for this unprecedented interference in our internal affairs. As a nation, we must resolve to impose further consequences both public and private that will deter the Russians from seeking to undermine our democracy in the future and the report issued today will inform the thorough investigations that Congress must now undertake to ascertain the extent of what happened and how, and what steps we need to take to protect our government. “
“The President-Elect’s statement that the Russian hacking had ‘absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election’ is not supported by the briefing, report, or common sense. It is one thing to say that there was no tampering with vote tallying – which is true – it is another thing to say that the daily dumping of documents disparaging to Secretary Clinton that was made possible by Russian cyber operations had no effect on the campaigns. The consequence of these disclosures was hugely beneficial to the President-Elect and damaging to the Clinton campaign, just as the Russians intended. Whether they had a decisive impact on the outcome will never be known and was certainly not the subject of the intelligence community’s analysis, but that they were of great consequence is undeniable.”
“Today the Congress certified the election. This report should not be taken to re-open the election, but to make sure this never happens again. President-Elect Trump received the same briefing congressional leaders did this morning, and I hope that he acts appropriately in the face of this clear-cut, Russian malicious activity against America. That starts by accepting the facts. The President-Elect must not obfuscate or distract, but deal honestly with the truth of what happened, and will continue to happen in the U.S. and against our allies, unless we put an end to it. Russian influence operations are not only a clear danger to the United States, but to liberal democracies around the world.”
