In the News

Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Vice Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, released the following statement in advance of today’s hearing with FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok:

“Today’s hearing is the second hearing the House Committees on Oversight and Government Reform and the Judiciary have held regarding the actions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) before the 2016 election. The Judiciary Committee also held a hearing with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Chris Wray two weeks ago on this very same topic. All in the name of smearing the Department of Justice, the FBI, our justice system, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller and in service to President Donald J. Trump.

Despite the majority’s interest in the events leading up to the 2016 elections, there have been zero transcribed interviews, zero depositions, zero hearings, and zero subpoenas issued relating to Russia’s actions to interfere with the election or the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian officials. There are sins of omission and there are sins of commission. Regarding the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 election, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have committed both.

The complete indifference towards the protection of our election systems against future attacks on free and fair elections in the United States constitutes a sin of omission. On the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Democratic Members have written to Chairman Gowdy requesting he issue a subpoena to compel the White House to produce documents it is withholding relating to former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s foreign contacts. Members have also asked for the Chairman’s assistance in getting documents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) relating to Russian-backed efforts to monitor, penetrate, or otherwise hack at least 21 state election systems during the 2016 election.

Even during the transcribed interview our two committees conducted with Peter Strzok that lasted more than eight hours, Republicans asked fewer than five questions about Russia’s interference with the election. Instead, more than 200 questions were asked about the Special Counsel’s investigation. Republicans asked more questions about Agent Strzok’s extramarital affair than they did about Russia’s interference with the 2016 election.

The sins of commission are even more troubling. The majority in the House, highlighted by the actions taken by these two committees, have developed and executed a concerted attack on the DOJ investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia. They have even called for political purges of the FBI.

It may be difficult to face the truth, but Special Counsel Mueller has secured five guilty pleas and seventeen indictments. And these aren’t low level gophers, as the President would have the public believe. Among those who have pleaded guilty are Trump’s National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is currently sitting 90 miles away from this hearing room, in Northern Neck Regional Jail awaiting trial for conspiracy to launder money, making false statements to the FBI, and other charges in connection with his work advising a Russia-allied political party in Ukraine.

Instead of seeking to discredit the Special Counsel’s investigation as well as the FBI and its agents, the majority in Congress should focus its attention and resources on Russian interference in our elections and our democracy. It is baffling that the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which never found an office or program in the Obama Administration it was not willing to investigate, can now only find the time and wherewithal to undermine a legitimate criminal investigation.

Democrats have repeatedly called for hearings, written letters requesting information from the Administration, and pushed for subpoenas of documents to conduct our oversight duties, only to be rebuffed by the Chairman. We have twice asked the Chairman to hold a hearing on the Trump Administration’s inhumane child separation policy and its inability to reunite babies who have been separated from their parents. Instead, the majority from two committees of the House of Representatives will spend the entire day second guessing the DOJ Inspector General and attacking our justice system.”