The Clinton campaign has broken its silence on the controversy surrounding Russia’s involvement in allegedly swaying the presidential election, demanding on Monday that the CIA declassify all information and give a special intelligence briefing to Electoral College voters.
Last week, the CIA concluded that Russia intervened in the U.S. election to help President-Elect Donald Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Although officials say there is no evidence that Election Day results were manipulated, the intelligence agency believes circumstantial evidence (including the leaked DNC emails that were published online on WikiLeaks during the campaign) suggests Russian meddling in the presidential election.
Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta, asked that the intelligence agencies declassify all the information about Russian influence on the election. “We now know that the CIA has determined Russia’s interference in our elections was for the purpose of electing Donald Trump,” Podesta said in a statement on Monday, December 12. “This should distress every American. Never before in the history of our republic have we seen such an effort to undermine the bedrock of our democracy.”
He continued, “This is not a partisan issue, and we are glad to see bipartisan support in the Congress for an investigation into Russia’s role. We believe that the administration owes it to the American people to explain what it knows regarding the extent and manner of Russia’s interference and this be done as soon as possible. To that end, we also support the request from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee to declassify information around Russia’s roles in the election and to make this data available to the public.”
A bipartisan group of Senators called for a full investigation into the extent of Russia’s influence in a press release on Sunday. The group, which is comprised of both Democrats Charles Schumer and Jack Reed and Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham, said the report should “alarm every American.”
Electoral College members, who will officially vote to elect a new president on December 19, have also been requesting more facts. On Monday, 10 electors — including nine Democrats and one Texas Republican who has vowed not to vote for Trump — released an open letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Podesta said the letter “raises very grave issues involving our national security” and “we support their efforts to have their questions answered.”
Meanwhile, President-Elect Trump has continued to deny the CIA’s conclusion that his campaign was aided by Russian interference, calling the findings “ridiculous” in an interview with Fox News Sunday. On Monday he tweeted, “Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory!” Trump added in a second tweet, “Unless you catch ‘hackers’ in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn’t this brought up before election?”
