[U].S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and four other Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday that would create a nonpartisan commission to investigate alleged Russian meddling into the 2016 presidential election.
The makeup of the so-called Commission to End Russian Interference in United States Elections would be determined by the Republican and Democratic leadership teams in the House and Senate. The body would have access to a vast trove of intelligence data, including classified information, and would also hold subpoena power.
The commission would produce a public report in 18 months, which would include relevant facts involving the alleged hacking as well as recommendations on how to best prevent future meddling in American elections.
“For the last 20 years, as chairman or ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I have worked to protect the voting rights of all Americans,” Leahy said in a statement Wednesday. “But the right to vote – the foundation of our democracy – is undermined if a foreign country can interfere with our democratic process.”
Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency have concluded that the Russian government was involved in the hacking of political email accounts in an effort to help elect Republican Donald Trump president.
The hacked material, much of which was leaked to the public and disseminated by the press, included email correspondence from accounts associated with the Democratic National Committee, as well as from John Podesta, who served as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
President-elect Trump cast doubt on the intelligence agencies’ conclusion in a series of tweets on Wednesday, and a number of congressional Republicans have downplayed the need to form an independent commission or committee to investigative the hacks.
The “Intelligence” briefing on so-called “Russian hacking” was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
Julian Assange said “a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta” – why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
The Leahy-backed commission is being pitched as a more thorough and fair alternative to piecemeal investigations by standing congressional committees, which are all chaired by Republicans, which hold majorities in both the House and the Senate.
“We need an accounting – a serious, independent, and bipartisan investigation of attempted Russian interference in the American presidential election,” Leahy said Wednesday. “This is larger than any one candidate or any one election. We must ensure our elections are protected from foreign influence.”
The Senate legislation follows a similar proposal introduced by House Democrats in December. The House bill did not gain traction, and with no current Republican co-sponsors on the Leahy legislation, it also appears unlikely to get broad bipartisan support.
Politico reported Tuesday that a separate, more modest push by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain to establish a select committee to investigate the hacking wasn’t embraced by the majority of their conference, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“We’re just going to move with the individual committees and see how that works,” Graham told Politico. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll regroup.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee, of which McCain chairs, will hold its first hearing on the Russian meddling on Thursday.
While many congressional Republicans have balked at establishing a new investigative body to investigate the hacking, a group of former top intelligence officials called for such action in a letter obtained by BuzzFeed on Wednesday.
Among those who signed the letter are former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul and former Congressman and 9/11 Commission Vice Chair Lee Hamilton.
“To understand fully and publicly what happened, how we were so vulnerable, and what we can do to protect our democracy in future elections, we the undersigned strongly encourage the Congress to create an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate efforts by the Russian Federation to influence or interfere with the U.S. presidential election in 2016,” the letter states.