Video of Intel Agencies and What Happened

Like you, I love this great country of ours. When I was elected as a Member of Congress, I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And more importantly, millions who volunteer for our Armed Services have sacrificed, and serve today, in defense of our democracy.

In our 2016 elections, Russia attacked our democracy. It was silent and nearly invisible, but nevertheless it struck the core of our democracy – our free and fair elections.

Our intelligence agencies have concluded with high confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated these cyberattacks in order to influence the 2016 election to favor then-candidate Donald Trump.

This unprecedented attack on the foundation of our republic, this deliberate effort to undermine faith in our democratic process, must not go unanswered. To ignore this evidence is to throw in the towel on one of our most treasured freedoms.

That’s why I introduced the Protecting Our Democracy Act with Rep. Elijah Cummings to set up an independent, bipartisan commission tasked with investigating Russian interference in the 2016 elections. We have no responsibility more important that protecting and defending our democracy.

I’m here to help put this into context. Examining Russia as a country that has committed serious war crimes and human rights violations across the globe, the Trump Administration’s continued and close ties to Russia, and what Russia did to interfere in the 2016 U.S. elections is essential to understand the significance of its attack and what we need to do to ensure this never happens again.