Washington, DC – Last week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting the Bureau provide a defensive counterintelligence briefing before August to all Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate regarding foreign efforts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
“We are gravely concerned, in particular, that Congress appears to be the target of a concerted foreign interference campaign, which seeks to launder and amplify disinformation in order to influence congressional activity, public debate, and the presidential election in November.”
The full letter can be found here, and the text is below:
We write to request that the Federal Bureau of Investigation provide a defensive counterintelligence briefing to all Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate regarding foreign efforts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
We are gravely concerned, in particular, that Congress appears to be the target of a concerted foreign interference campaign, which seeks to launder and amplify disinformation in order to influence congressional activity, public debate, and the presidential election in November.
Given the seriousness and specificity of these threats, as members of congressional leadership and the congressional intelligence committees we believe it is imperative that the FBI provide a classified defensive briefing to all Members of Congress and that the briefing draw on all-source intelligence information and analysis, consistent with due regard for the protection of sensitive intelligence sources and methods.
Due to the ongoing nature of these threats, we ask that the FBI provide this briefing prior to the August recess at the earliest possible opportunity, and that your office outline a plan for the briefing by Monday, July 20.
We appreciate your prompt attention to this important request.
U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Senate
Adam B. Schiff Mark R. Warner
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Select Committee on Intelligence
CC The Honorable John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence
The Honorable Gina Haspel, Director, Central Intelligence Agency
The Honorable Paul M. Nakasone, Director, National Security Agency
RetroRedo on July 21st, 2020 at 01:15 UTC »
The request was precipitated by information that Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin was using his position on the Senate Homeland Security and Foreign Relation committees to propagate Russian disinformation. Senator Johnson was one of the Republican Senators who spent the Fourth of July in Moscow in 2018.
Monkey_poo on July 21st, 2020 at 01:14 UTC »
This is not okay.
Enjolras55 on July 21st, 2020 at 01:11 UTC »
So guess what this is about...
Senator Ron Johnson has been actively laundering materials from foreign governments to spread disinformation, and using them in his committee hearings as he tries to continue investigating Hunter and Joe Biden.
In other words, he's directly helping countries like Russia harm the United States.