Network Security

House Democrats beseech Ryan to compel DHS to provide all docs related to Russian cyberattacks on state election systems

A group of leading Democrats asked House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to force the Trump administration to turn over documents related to Russia's cyberattacks on U.S. state election systems.

“We have been trying to work through the committee process, but we have faced two obstacles:  the Trump Administration is refusing to provide the documents we requested, and Republicans appear to have no interest in compelling the Trump Administration to produce them,” the Ranking Members of the Committees on Oversight and Government Reform, Judiciary, Intelligence, House Administration, Homeland Security, and Foreign Affairs, wrote in a letter to Ryan. “Our goal is to obtain the documents collected and prepared by our federal agencies about these Russian attacks in order to take concrete steps to prevent this from happening again. That is our responsibility under the Constitution.”

Lawmakers noted that previous correspondence sent to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., asking for documents related to attacks on election systems in 21 states and a subpoena to compel DHS's compliance, respectively, received little or no response.

“The election happened 17 months ago,” the Democrats wrote. “It is inexcusable that Republican leaders in Congress have done so little to investigate—or address—Russian-backed attacks on our states, despite the fact that we have been asking repeatedly for congressional action on this important matter.  We must be able to evaluate the threat that Russia posed—and still poses—but we cannot do our jobs effectively without obtaining the facts.”

Calling the Trump administration's response “woefully inadequate,” the lawmakers said that to their knowledge it “has not provided any Committee in the House of Representatives with these classified documents about Russian-backed attacks against state election systems.”

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