Today, U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ), the incoming Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade Ranking Member, released the following statement in response to President-Elect Donald Trump's recent remarks regarding Russia, allegations of election interference, and potential conflicts of interest.

"I am deeply concerned how the President-Elect continues to parrot Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talking points. U.S. intelligence has confirmed that Russia undertook actions to threaten our democratic institutions, national security, and sovereignty. The willingness shown by our President-Elect to take the word of a foreign adversary at face value in one breath while attacking our Intelligence Community in another is alarming to say the least," said Rep. Pascrell. "As President Reagan said, we need to trust, but verify. The only way the American people can be assured that a foreign adversary did not interfere in our elections is by improving transparency of the next administration by establishing a bipartisan, independent commission to examine the allegations being made in news reports. Let’s take the politics out of this issue. Further, the President-Elect must release his tax returns to show the American people he has no conflicts of interest."

Rep. Pascrell is an original sponsor of HR 356, the Protecting Our Democracy Act. This bill would create a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate foreign interference in the U.S. elections and understand how Russia attacked our democratic institutions so we can ensure it never happens again.