This is the guarantee that picks up the tab for two out of three older people in nursing homes. 4,000 seniors in oregon each day. Were going live to the capital for a News Conference with nancy pelosi regarding russias influence on the 2016 president ial campaign. This is just getting underway. That oath was tested when the u. S. Intelligence committee concluded that russia interfered in the 2016 elections and will do so again. One year from today the community made that revelation. Since then, more information about the scale of russias rising threat to our democracy has emerged. The unprecedented attacks requires a whole of government response. The American People deserve a comprehensive and fair investigation into the totality of russias attacks on our system. Yet the republican controlled house continues to block democrats efforts to investigate the attack. Last week i sent a letter calling on speaker ryan to let the investigation continue but received no response. Today the house has held one full Committee Public hearing on the most significant finding of the report. The continued vulnerability of our elections to foreign interference. House republicans must show leadership and join democrats to find answers to the multitude of vital unanswered questions. Nothing less than the strength of and integrity of americas democracy and National Security are at stake. That is what we take an oath of office to support and defend the constitution and American People. Im pleased to be joined this afternoon by leadership of the committees of jurisdiction. Ill yield now to representative thompson. Thank him for his great leadership in protecting our system and protecting our Homeland Security. Mr. Thomas . Thank you, very much, madam leader. As most of you know, at some point the Trump Administration finally acknowledged that there had been russian interference in the election. There have been over 21 states that have been documented in being hacked. Before that, secretary jeh johnson declared our election System Critical infrastructure. With that Critical Infrastructure designation, it put dhs in the middle of looking at whats going on. When you start looking at whats going on, its obvious from the information that russia has been a bad actor in this process. On the Homeland Security side we have attempted a number of times to get our committee to hold hearings, to listen to witnesses, to do those things that members of congress should do in order to do their job. However, we have yet to have one formal hearing on our election system and the compromising that occurred. More importantly with that is after this futile attempt to get the committee to move forward we convinced leader pelosi that maybe we need to form an Elections Task force to look at this issue. Because it wont go away. We know from all indications that the next election, which is upon us within a year, there is potential russian actors, but also theres a 2020 election upon us. Up to this point theres nothing thats gone forward with it. Now im happy to say that our task force have looked at a number of opportunities. Weve had a number of witnesses to come to before the task force. Very shortly, well be producing the report from that Elections Task force. I believe it will crystallize, more importantly, watt hat we h to be faced with. As important is the fact that states have said we need financial help in order for this to go forward. So weve prefiled legislation that will provide resources to states to acquire the proper election equipment. But thats a first step. We look forward from the Homeland Security side to working with our colleagues on making sure that our election infrastructure is secure. Thank you. Thank you very much. Im here today as a Ranking Member of the Financial Services committee to basically talk about what we have done to find out more about this president and his financial dealings. And so i and other democrats on the Financial Services committee called upon the chairman of the committee to utilize to investigatory powers of the committee to scrutinize the suspicious financial dealings of President Trump and his family members and his associates. It is very clear that donald trump has something to hide when it comes to his finances. That trump has something to hide. When it comes to his finances. Why does trump refuse to reveal his tax returns to the public . Why was Deutsche Bank, a bank that has been fined for russian Money Laundering and many other violations of law willing to lend hundreds of millions of dollars to trump after his bankruptcies, when no other bank would lend to him . Why are so Many Properties owned, licensed or branded under trumps name, sold to Russians Associated with criminal activity or to secretive shell companies, which are known for facilitating Money Laundering and masking foreign influence . But despite the urgency of learning whether this president is somehow compromised, committed republicans have turned down all of our requests for cooperation at every turn. In march of last year, i and Committee Democrats wrote to chairman hensarling to request that the Committee Use the full range of its investigative powers to examine Deutsche Banks russian Money Laundering operation, and assess the integrity of the United States department of justices Ongoing Investigation into the scheme, given the Trump Administrations conflicts of interest in the matter. And attorney general sessions communications with the russian ambassador. Chairman hensarling did not reply. In july, i introduced a resolution of inquiry, directing the treasury secretary, that is secretary mnuchin to crime documents regarding the financial and business dealings of President Trump, his family members, his associates, including those are russia, and to uncover any evidence of Illicit Activity that may have compromised the president. The measure was blocked by committee republicans, along party lines. In august, i and other Committee Democrats wrote again to chairman hensarling to request that he use his unilateral subpoena authority to request documents from Deutsche Bank related to the 2011 russian mirror trading scheme, and any internal reviews of the personal accounts of President Trump and his associates. Chairman hensarling has refused to cooperate with the requests. As part of our efforts, i and other Committee Democrats have also sent letters to the treasury department, Deutsche Bank, and Deutsche Banks external counsel. But none of them have cooperated with our request. I recently wrote a letter from 171 members of congress to Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein to express our support for the investigation being conducted by special counsel, robert s. Mueller. Its time for republicans in congress to stop covering up for this president , stop the attacks on the critically important work of special counsel mueller, and start doing real oversight on behalf of the American Public. And with that, i will yield to representative nadler. Thank you very much, maxine. One year ago this week, the director of National Intelligence confirmed that russia had interfered with the 2016 president ial election. Since then, we have learned that at least 21 states were target of russian hacking, and the attorney general admitted at our hearing, the Judiciary Committee hearing, he has no plans to respond. That President Trumps former National Security adviser and his former Campaign Foreign policy adviser have both pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about their contacts with russia, and that the fbi director was fired for investigating, quote, this russia thing, unquote. The republican majority has responded, not by investigating the wrongdoing, but by advocating their oversight responsibility and trying to undermine the special counsel. Why else would they reject 11 resolutions of inquiry requesting information about these charges . Why else would the majority ignore the 48 oversight letters we have written . Why else would the white House Counsel have worked so hard to prevent the attorney general from recusing himself from the investigation, as we learned last week . Now that mr. Muellers investigation appears to be closing in on the white house, the republicans have decided to attack him. They argue there is a conflict of interest when the rules, in fact, have been scrupulously applied. They complain about bias by the fbi when the one agent they point to was removed. The republicans now besummer much the reputation of robert moo mueller, a decorated war veteran, even no he they previously praised his integrity and twice unanimously confirmed him as fbi director. They complain about the role of the fusion gps dossier and the initiation of the investigation, when we now know that it was admissions by mr. Trumps own Foreign Policy adviser, mr. Pap drop allows that resulted in the investigation. The continued failure of department of justice and the department of Homeland Security to act to protect the integrity of our future elections, starting this year from hacking and attacks by the russians or anyone else is a disgrace and a disservice to the constitution and to the American People. Accordingly, i am proud to join my colleagues today in asking the republicans to finally allow the house to fulfill its constitutional oversight role. The American Public deserves no less. Now im happy to introduce congressman gerry connolly. Thank you, mr. Nadler. In my religious tradition, there are two kinds of sin. Sins of co mission, something you do you should not, and sins of omission, something you should do that you did not do. And in the russia thing, here in congress, we see both kinds of sin. So we see an active attempt to discredit an Ongoing Investigation headed by a man of impeccable credentials and unimpeachable a virtue. We see the firing of the fbi director and the calls for the head of the deputy fbi director. We even see attempts to unsee the attorney general, because of his recusal. A recusal required because he didnt tell the full truth at his own nomination hearing before the United States senate. When you watch these sins of commission, what you see is a strategy, which is, hey, look over there. Dont look over here. And we cant be fooled by that as a country. Our country is at stake. This is about foreign adversarial influence in our electoral process. It goes to the heart of being a democracy. And the calls were asking for involve standing up for your country. Are you willing to put your country ahead of your party . Or are you going to be an enabler and an quantitatiequivoa rationalizer because you can get political gain out of it at enormous cost to our republic and the democratic process. And then there are sins of omission. I served with Elijah Cummings on the oversight reform committee. A committee that issued subpoenas at the drop of a hat. A committee that denied the fifth amendment rights of an irs employee. A committee that actually voted to censure the then attorney general of the United States. A committee that started the benghazi hearings, questioned the credentials of the honor of two incredible public servants. Who did an exhaustive examination of the events and facts involving benghazi. That didnt stop them. They went on to have a special committee and spent millions of dollars headed by now the chairman of my committee. Sins of omission. But you know what . They seem to have forgotten or cant find that subpoena pen any more. They seem to have forgotten how to have a hearing on arguably the most important, extensional issue facing the United States. The interference of russia in our electoral process. Not a single hearing at the full committee level. No interest. Look over there. And so we are here today to call upon our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, stand up for your country. This isnt about partisan politics. This is about protecting our beloved country. And Everybody Needs to be counted. And its not about a partisan game. It is about protecting the interests of the person electorate. Thank you for having me here today. And it gives me great pleasure to introduce my colleague and friend, the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs committee, elliot engel. Thanks, gerry. And let me say, its good to see everyone here. Im elliot engel, and gerry mentioned before, the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs committee. A year has gone by since our Intelligence Agency shined a light on russias scheme to interfere with the 2016 elections. A year has gone by, and there have been no consequences whatsoever for those who attacked american democracy. A year has gone by, and nothing has been done to russia to stop it from doing this again. And we know the russians are trying. The cia director pompeo, former member of the house, said as much on tv over the weekend. Our ambassador to russia, jon huntsman, Foreign Affairs committee met with him this morning, confirmed it again when he briefed members of our committee. Putin views 2016 as a successful operation. Russia got what it wanted, and so far has acted with impunity. Why wouldnt they do it again . So my question for Republican Leaders is simple. What are we going to do about it . What steps are we going to take to protect our democracy before americans go back to the polls . Or are we just going to leave the door open to another attack . You see, it doesnt matter to me whether they tried to help donald trump or hillary clinton. The fact of the matter is, i dont want the russians interfering in our democracy. And no american representative should. And the house of representatives has been silent. And thats not acceptable to anybody. We passed new, tough sanctions last year on a bipartisan way out of the Foreign Affairs committee on to the floor. And the sanctions held russia accountable for election interference. So far, these tools have sat on the shelf. The president has done nothing with this legislation. And so we passed it, but we havent implemented it. Thats absolutely unacceptable. So its time to do more. Last year, i introduced a bill with my friend, gerry connolly, of virginia. We call it the secure our democracy act. And it would go even farther with sanctions, specifically going after anyone who played a role in the election interference from the year 2016 onward. We should move that bill. Or we should find some other way to prevent another scenario like what we saw in 2016. And if Republican Leaders are not willing to do what it takes to protect our election system, they need to explain why. The clock is ticking, and russia is coming for us again. Thank you. I thank our distinguished chairman, the Ranking Members of the committees of jurisdiction. As we have discussed, congressman engel of new york, the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs committee, congressman nadler of new york, Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee. Congresswoman Maxine Waters of california, the Ranking Member of the Natural Services committee. Congressman thompson, Ranking Member of the Homeland Security committee. Elijah cummings isnt with us, but he joined our colleagues in signing a letter and instead we have the vice Ranking Member of the oversight and the. Name has changed. Gerry connolly, who is also a member of the Foreign Affairs committee. They were joined by congressman bob brady, Ranking Member of the House Administration committee in sending a letter to the speaker, and in the letter, they asked for, and they say, we are extremely concerned by the intelligence committees warning that russia may attempt to the Intelligence Community is warning that russia may attempt to interfere with future elections, including the upcoming midterm elections. And we are deeply troubled by the lack of action by the Trump Administration, and the House Republicans in responding to this core threat to our democracy. I thank them for sending that letter, asking for action. And in the letter, they say, as members, we take a solemn oath to support and defend the constitution and protect the American People. The failure of House Republicans to take strong and swift action in the face of russias assault on our democracy is beneath the dignity of this oath. The strength and integrity of our democracy, the rule of law, and our Democratic Institutions hang in the balance. And hence, they ask for action. I thank them for their leadership on their committees and for their presentations today. Im sure theyll be pleased to take any questions that you may have on this subject. How hopeful are you that ryan will respond to your call to action. If you had to put a number to it . On a score of what to what . How about a percentage . We havent heard back yet. But i want the purpose of our coming together today in this week, one year from before now was when the Intelligence Community put forth this challenge. I have no doubt that if the democrats were in power, we would have taken action to protect our electoral system. I have no doubt if the democrats were no in power, the republicans would be urging that action. But that is not what they are doing, as congresswoman waters have said. For some reason, they are protecting the president. And we want to know we just want to know get the facts. This is only about getting the facts about our election so we can protect them. I hope that the odds are very high that the speaker will respond. And i hope that the public visibility that our colleagues have sent and the actions that the American People are calling for will motivate him to respond in a positive way and honor his oath of office to support and defend the constitution of the United States. Does anyone want to say anything about that . Let me add one thing. He is the republicans have shown they have circled the wagons around the president , thats obvious. Theyre trying to discredit the special prosecutor, thats obvious. And the fbi, the institutions of government in charge of investigation. Theyre throwing lots of things against the wall. Hillary all kinds of things. Uranium 1, to try to distract from the main event. But the key is, one key, i should say, is not whether there was collusion last year, which is what the special prosecutor is investigating, but the key is, we were attacked by the russians. The Intelligence Community and military extras have been warning for years that a war can be waged against this country by cyber warfare, not by what we traditional consider military force. That started. We were attacked. The Intelligence Community says were going to continue to be attacked. And what were talking about today, one of the things we are talking about today is, we have to defend ourselves. The administration, by refusing to acknowledge the attack, is refusing to do anything to defend ourselves. Imagine if the day after pearl harbor, president roosevelt said, were not sure who did that, and therefore we cant defend in the future against it. We are saying that this administration, congress, must make the administration defend us against the continuing attack, continuing warfare against american democracy by a foreign adversary. Yes, sir. You mentioned what democrats would do, were you in power if you were in power next year. Is it fair to expect these committees would take some of the actions you have talked about wanting to take today, and what could we expect in terms of an investigative efforts next year, if you were in control . First of all, i hope we dont have to wait until next year for congress to take action to protect the integrity of our elections. In our country. We have very important election coming up. But every election is important. And theyre happening across the country, starting pretty soon. But you would expect in everything that we do, openness, integrity, something that unifies our country, rather than divides our country. Bipartisanship and how we would go forward in honoring our oath of office. Yes, sir. So it seems like most of the investigation on the russian interference has been focused on the impact on the president ial election. A few moments ago you were expressing concern about the impact it could have potentially on mid terms later this year. How real is that concern, and do you see signs of any sort of impact on the special elections that we have had this year, and whether its been the doug jones race in alabama, is there any indication that russia was interfering in that type of race when they could focus on something singular . And if not, where is the concern they are going to pluck out a bunch of members that represent smaller constituencies . May i just say, the evidence is about what they did in the last election. Were about the future in all of this. And thats why were calling for the action. Well, and i think in all the Intelligence Briefings weve had on this subject, its been publicly acknowledged that russia interfered. That they did certain things. Now, to the extent that we can identify 21 states that in some form or another had russian participation in their electoral system, is correct. The challenge for us is, every state has an individual system. Theres no uniform system. And as congressman nadler also talked about, because you have those individual systems, we have started looking at how we as members of congress can incentivize those states to do certain things to protect their systems. And so part of it is legislation that weve introduced on the Elections Task force side, is to provide some moneys for states to incentivize them to shore up their systems and protect them. But you know the russians are unique. They are aggressive. And what we have to do is be equally as unique and aggressive in defending ourselves. So im optimistic that if we can get the Republican Leadership to work with us, that we can come up with a bipartisan solution. But at this point, its all democrats pushing to come up with solutions that we all know the russians created from a problem standpoint. The russians have trolling farms that are operative right now, and that are trolling some of our members. We also have a report that i heard about yesterday thats going to be revealed about how the russians have interfered with, hacked into election systems in other countries, and how they do it. So first of all, we cannot believe that somehow they are going to stop the interference, because somehow they think its the wrong thing to do, and they shouldnt be doing it. Secondly, i think its important to understand that the president of the United States must show his opposition to russia, their interference, and their lying. I am still bothered by the president of the United States saying that when he talked to putin, putin said they didnt do it. And so as if thats an answer. It is important for the president of the United States to provide the leadership, to say that were not going to tolerate it. We cannot be friends with. We are not going to cooperate with. And we are not going to tolerate this kind of interference in our elections. I have not heard that from this president yet. Can i just say to your question, we just had elections in the commonwealth of virginia. And you im sure followed the fact that there was one election th that, upon recount, we had a onevote margin. And the next day a court ruled actually, the invalid ballot was valid, making an exact tie. Now, had there been interference, evidence of interference in that election, the entire system would have come down in terms of Public Confidence in the result. And although its a tied election that gets determined by statute by pulling a name out of a bowl, the fact of the matter is, the public had confidence in the recount, and in the validity of the ballots cast. When you have this kind of comprehensive foreign interference in an election, you risk all of that. And when you risk that, you risk the legitimacy of Democratic Institutions. Thats whats at stake, and thats why its so important to get at the heart of it and to make sure as mr. Nadler and ms. Waters said, to protect themselves against it. I just want to add one clarification. Theres a difference obviously, one type of interference is sbeeinterferingh the physical electronic machinery of counting votes or registering voters, et cetera. And thats where we know there were attempts in 21 states. Completely different. And thats one thing. And as far as we know, they didnt succeed in actually affecting the physical count of ballots cast. But secondly, what were really talking about is interfering with the Election Campaign in various ways, by all the things youve heard about. We do know in direct answer to your question, that the russians last year interfered not only in the president ial race, but in congressional races, as well. In over 20 congressional races. How much that affected, if anything, is unknowable. We know they interfered with artificial you know, with bots and fake facebook, and all of this stuff. In at least 20 congressional races. They did that last year. There is nothing to say they wont do it again in 50 congressional races. And thats what we have to protect ourselves from. And not only congressional. Who knows, maybe its a sheriff somewhere. Dog catcher. Yeah. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. The governor of washington state, jay inslee, is scheduled to deliver the state of the state address today at 3 00. Actually, a little after 3 00. And well have it for you live here on cspan3 when it gets under way. Live coverage. Until then, some of this mornings washington journal. The remainder of the washington journal today. Were going to be talking with senators and congressmen on the