RUSSIAN ATTACKS: Demand Congress Defend Our Country and Election Systems

Trump Administration & Federal Government Working Group C2A

THE ISSUE

Despite the Mueller investigation recently issuing 13 indictments against Russians accused of conspiring to interfere with “US political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016,” Trump continues to refuse to implement sanctions against Russia that were overwhelmingly approved by Congress last summer. After delaying their implementation in October, Trump now says he won’t implement them at all, an announcement that came on the same day that C.I.A. Director Mike Pompeo said that Russia will target the 2018 midterm elections. This move, combined with an entire year of denying the unanimous findings by the intelligence community that Russia interfered with our elections, numerous attempts to derail probes into the attacks, and a total lack of policy or plans designed to prevent a future attack demonstrate that this administration and its supporters are either unable or unwilling to defend our country and its democratic systems. Unless Congress immediately steps up to provide critical checks and balances, we are headed for heightened attacks as well as a constitutional crisis in which one branch of government circumvents the rule of law and upends the separation of powers. Senate Intelligence Committee Members Susan Collins and Angus King have so far only expressed concern about the administration’s soft-on-Russia stance, with King describing the sanctions delay as “disturbing” and Collins describing the failure to implement them as “perplexing.”

THE ACTION

Call and email all three of your members of Congress. Tell them:

1. All sanctions against Russia must be implemented immediately. They should urgently pursue every pathway towards that goal, including drafting new legislation that defines the sanctions’ implementation as mandatory.
2. The Mueller investigation must continue unimpeded. They should co-sponsor one of the bills protecting the Mueller investigation (HR 4669 for the House and S 1735 for the Senate), and speak out forcefully against those who seek to undermine the investigation or the FBI.
3. A strategy for preventing continued attacks on our elections systems must be developed and implemented immediately. Collins and King should push the Intelligence Committee to draft recommendations based on its investigation into Russian interference and push for their swift implementation.