Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement regarding the declassified intelligence reportreleased today confirming Russian hacking and propaganda efforts aimed at the 2016 U.S. presidential election:
"The Russian hacking directed by Vladimir Putin in the U.S. 2016 election strikes at the core of our Democracy. I commend President Obama for agreeing to make this information public so the American people can see for themselves what happened. Russia stole, and then selectively and deliberately released information in hopes of furthering its strategic objectives. I believe this will happen again unless those responsible pay a price, which is why I welcomed the sanctions against Russia. But there also needs to be an independent, bipartisan commission designed solely to investigate what happened. If we do not take this seriously, our fundamental Democratic institutions are at further risk of manipulation by foreign powers."
In December, Senator Heinrich sent a letter to President Obama urging him to declassify information relating to the Russian government and the U.S. election.