Schumer demands bipartisan Senate investigation into Russian election interference

Congressional Democrats have been mounting an increasingly intense call for inquiries into Russian interference in the 2016 election. President Obama has ordered an intelligence report on Russian interference, to be delivered before January 20.

Now, following disclosure of the CIA’s assessment confirming such interference, incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is demanding “a full, bipartisan congressional investigation into reports of Russian interference in the 2016 election.”

“Senate Democrats will join with our Republican colleagues next year to demand a congressional investigation and hearings to get to the bottom of this. It’s imperative that our intelligence community turns over any relevant information so that Congress can conduct a full investigation,” Schumer said.

Congressional Republicans have, with precious few exceptions, been disinclined to share their Democratic colleagues’ urgent concerns about interference from a foreign government into our election.

As my colleague Katie Paris noted, they would do themselves, and their country, a service by heeding the advice of their fellow Republican, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who gravely warned: “We cannot sit on the sidelines as a party and let allegations against a foreign government interfering in our election process go unanswered because it may have been beneficial to our cause.”

If there were ever a time for bipartisan agreement, this is it.