Jackson Lee: “The indictments announced today put the lie to the President’s disingenuous claim that the Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election was a hoax invented by Democrats. That claim now lies in ruins. The only remaining question outstanding is whether members of the Trump campaign team joined in, or aided and abetted the massive conspiracy documented in the indictments. Congress must investigate this matter immediately and also pass H.R. 3654, legislation that will protect the independence and integrity of Special Counsel Mueller’s Russia investigation.”

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a senior member of the House Committees on Judiciary and Homeland Security, and Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations, released the following statement today in response to the announcement by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has obtained indictments against 13 Russian nationals for conspiring to defraud the United States by interfering in the 2016 presidential election with the express objective of electing Donald Trump:

“The investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller is beginning to lay bare the full breadth and depth of Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election. I encourage all Americans to read the indictment to understand the full extent of Russian interference into our election.

“The indictment released by the Special Counsel is deeply, deeply troubling, charging a wide range of serious crimes, including: criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States; wire fraud; bank fraud; and aggravated identity theft. Moreover, the charges allege that the Russians were engaged in a sophisticated and extensive campaign to sow discord and division within our citizenry by amplifying and exaggerating political divisions within our society.

“The Special Counsel’s indictment of these Russian nationals also makes clear their intentions: to produce, purchase and post advertisements on social media expressly advocating for the election of then-candidate Trump or expressly opposing Clinton. The indictment describes how these Russians manipulated another of our most sacred rights – the 1st Amendment right to peaceably assemble — by staging sham political rallies in order to deepen domestic divisions. These rallies were strategically held in battleground states. In one telling example, the Special Counsel indicates that shortly after Election Day, Russian-controlled social media accounts used false U.S. personas to organize a rally in support of then president-elect Trump, while simultaneously using false U.S. personas to organize rallies protesting the election results.

“The indictments reveal the extent to which all Americans have been targeted in information and cyberwarfare for the aim of throwing our country into chaos and selecting our president for us. The Russians did this by manipulating hundreds of social media accounts to give the impression that Americans were posting these items, when in fact it was the Russians.

The time for the Congress to discharge its constitutional obligation to conduct oversight role and investigate Russian interference in our electoral systems and our social media companies has long since passed. With less than nine months until the 2018 midterm elections, the time to ensure that our elections are protected from interference by hostile foreign states and actors is now.

“Additionally, given the President’s frequent publicly reported efforts to scuttle the Special Counsel’s investigation, it is more urgent than ever for Congress to debate and pass by vet-proof margins legislation I introduced to protect the independence and integrity of Special Counsel Mueller and his investigation. Specifically, H.R. 3654, the “Special Counsel Independence Protection Act,” which is co-sponsored by more than 100 Members of Congress, insulates a Special Counsel from interference and arbitrary action by the President by permitting the removal of a Special Counsel only where each of the following conditions are met:

1. The attorney general files an action in federal district court in Washington, D.C., and files a contemporaneous action with the House Judiciary Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee; and

2. A panel of three federal judges sitting in Washington, D.C., finds removal appropriate based on a finding of misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest or other good cause.

“Companion legislation has been introduced in the Senate. I call upon Speaker Ryan to bring this legislation to the floor immediately so that we can protect the integrity of our nation’s law enforcement institutions and help the American people learn how and the extent to which our last federal election was compromised by a hostile foreign power intent on repeating its active measures operations in the next and subsequent American elections.”