On November 29, 2016, seven democratic and one independent member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee (Sen. Feinstein did not sign the letter) requested that President Obama declassify and release to the public information concerning the Russian Government and the U.S. election. It’s a rather extraordinary request and makes me feel that this is more serious than I even imagined. Especially this part of the letter:
“We are conveying specifics via classified channels.”
I don’t know how Obama would take this request. On the one hand, Obama is an institutionalist (I see the absence of Feinstein’s signature in the same vein). But Obama promised transparency since before his inauguration. If a powerful country has compromised our election process, you’d think Obama would recognize the need for transparency.
The next day after the Dem Intel letter was sent to Obama, a petition mirroring the Intel Committee request appeared on We the People, the White House petition website. Here’s a link and the pertinent text:
There is evidence that Russia purposefully interfered with the 2016 United States Presidential election. In October, the US Director of the NSA and the Secretary of Homeland Security asserted a "nation-state" made a clear effort to interfere with the election. On 11/30, The Guardian reported that seven US senators wrote a letter to President Obama requesting that related information be declassified, stating, "We believe there is additional information concerning the Russian government and the US election that should be declassified and released to the public. We are conveying specifics through classified channels." All Americans deserve to know the extent to which the electoral process and the election count was interfered with by a foreign government.
I signed it. It’s got over 5K signatures out of the 100,000 needed before the end of December.
Go sign!