D21 Sends Letter Following Up on Aug. 10 Call for Senate Ethics Committee Investigation of Senators Johnson and Grassley
Democracy 21 Sends Letter Today Following Up on August 10th Call for Senate Ethics Committee Investigation of Senators Johnson and Grassley
Letter Includes New Report with Detailed Background Information Supporting Request to Determine if Russian Agents are Laundering Biden Disinformation Campaign Through Senators Johnson and Grassley and the Committees They Chair
Democracy 21 sent a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee today following up on the organization’s August 10 letter calling for an investigation by the Committee into whether Russian agents are laundering a disinformation campaign against Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden through Senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley and the Committees they chair.
We stated in the August 10 letter that the Ethics Committee has an obligation to determine as soon as possible — and certainly before the November 3 election — if this abuse is occurring. The August 10 letter further stated:
If Senators Johnson and Grassley are failing to safeguard the committee investigative process, and if Russian agents are therefore to be successful in manipulating a Senate committee to disseminate disinformation to affect U.S. elections, there would be incalculable damage done to the Senate as an institution and more broadly to American democracy.
The Democracy 21 letter today forwarded a report published in Just Security on August 11, 2020 by Ryan Goodman and Asha Rangappa, entitled “How Sen. Ron Johnson’s Investigation Became an Enabler of Russian Disinformation: Part I.”
According to today’s letter, the report “provides detailed background information that supports Democracy 21’s request for an Ethics Committee investigation of this matter.”
Read the full letter here.
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