— by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA-28), Ranking Member, Intelligence Committee Ranking Member
“Today’s actions begin the important process of holding Moscow accountable for its blatant meddling in
our democracy. The personnel and economic sanctions announced by the Administration and other steps it
should take without acknowledgement are vital to imposing costs on the Kremlin and ensuring that any
nation that contemplates interfering with our democracy will know that they will pay a heavy price for
doing so. By targeting the Russian’s intelligence services and the companies that support them specifically,
the Obama Administration is sending the correct message that diplomatic niceties will not dictate our
response to an overt cyber attack now or in the future. We must evaluate the success of our response using
only one critical metric — has it dissuaded Russia from further interference and bad conduct– and I
believe that other, more punitive measures will need to be undertaken.
“The decision by the Russian leadership to steal and then dump emails damaging to the Democratic
National Committee and the Presidential campaign of Secretary Clinton was an unprecedented effort to
interfere in our democracy. We can never know if the Russian dirty tricks campaign was decisive in
tipping the outcome of the Presidential election, but make no mistake — Putin’s real target was not the
Clinton campaign or one political party, but our entire system of governance. And in the absence of a
forceful and unified response, Russia, and other malicious actors, will be emboldened to take further
malign action.
“Today’s sanctions and other steps also reinforce our nation’s commitment to democracy, civil liberties and
the rule of law across the globe. The accountability of western leaders to their citizenry is something that
the people of Russia can only dream about. In the absence of genuine political freedom and representative
democracy in their own country, Putin has resorted to undermining the confidence of others in their
governments and institutions. Germany, which holds national elections next year, and other countries that
Russia deems hostile to its interests, must be protected from the cynicism and creeping authoritarianism
emanating from the Kremlin.
“In coming days, the Administration will make public their report to the American people about the
Russian cyber actions during our elections. It’s my hope that this report will spur my colleagues to join
efforts to conduct a bipartisan and bicameral investigation through the Intelligence Committees, so we can
uncover and make public the full scope of the Russian activities and the motivations behind them. Only
through a truly nonpartisan and comprehensive investigation can we ensure that we are not victim to such
pernicious foreign interference in our elections.”