Six Days After Bustos Letter, Emmer Still Silent on NRCC’s Intended Use of Stolen Information
It’s been 6 days since DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos challenged NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer to join her in pledging to never use hacked or stolen materials in campaigns, and Republicans’ silence on the issue has not escaped media notice.
The Washington Post reported on this issue this morning, saying “Democrats are rallying around a pledge not to reference hacked documents in the 2020 contest.” Yet NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer and his fellow Republicans have remained shamefully silent on the issue.
Maybe that’s because, back in the 2016 election, they used information that Russian Intelligence stole from the DCCC to attack a Democratic Candidate in Florida’s 18th Congressional District.
Maybe it’s because the Congressional Leadership Fund, Republican leadership’s Super PAC now led by GOP Leader McCarthy, used information stolen by the Russian government to attack a Democratic candidate in Florida’s 26th Congressional District.
Or perhaps it’s because they hoping that maybe, just MAYBE, President Trump will once again ask for Russia’s help in attacking our democracy… After all, the Trump Campaign and the RNC are also STILL refusing to reject hacked information.
But one thing we know for sure, their silence is deafening and this isn’t going away anytime soon.
“We hope NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer had some time over the weekend to kick back, relax and give some thought to whether he wants to be remembered for enabling Russia’s infiltration of our democracy by using stolen information,” said DCCC Communications Director Jared Smith. “This shouldn’t be a hard thing for Washington Republicans to answer, but given their history of using data hacked by Russian Intelligence agencies for political gain, it’s not surprising they refuse to rule out doing it again.”
Below is the pledge the DCCC hereby committed to and challenged the NRCC to also commit to:
- We will not participate, aid or encourage hackers or foreign actors in any attempt to influence American elections.
- We will never seek out stolen and/or hacked information for use in any operations.
- We will never use known stolen and/or hacked information, or promote or disseminate stolen and/or hacked materials to the press, regardless of the source and will report any receipt of, or offers to receive, stolen and/or hacked information to law enforcement.
- We will not support any campaign or allied groups that use known stolen and/or hacked information, or promotes or disseminates stolen and/or hacked materials to the press, regardless of the source and will encourage all campaigns to report any receipt of, or offers to receive, stolen and/or hacked information to law enforcement.
- Any foreign actors attempting to participate, operate, influence or contact the committee or any of our campaigns will be reported to appropriate law enforcement immediately.
- We call on the chief election officers in all states to ensure the most robust fortification and protection of elections systems leading up to, and during, the 2020 election.
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Below is the full text of DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos’ letter to NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer. You can view a signed copy here:
Dear Chairman Emmer,
I write you today in the hope that we can reach an agreement on an issue of critical importance to our democracy. With the release of the Mueller Report last week, Americans were reminded, in great detail, about how our democracy was attacked during the 2016 Presidential Election. Regrettably, in at least two instances, this information was used by Republican campaigns for political gain.
For example, in Florida’s 18th Congressional District during the 2016 election, information was stolen from the DCCC and released by Russian Intelligence through Guccifer 2.0. Later in the year, the NRCC used that stolen information to attack the Democratic candidate.
There is no question that agents of the Russian government and other bad actors will attempt to infiltrate both the DCCC and NRCC to steal information for malicious use again in this upcoming election.
Protecting our democracy must be a priority for all Americans as we head into the 2020 election – that begins by ensuring the sanctity of our election process. As the heads of two major party organizations in our nation, we have an obligation to send a clear and unified message that Democrats and Republicans reject foreign interference in our elections.
In this spirit, I am asking the NRCC to join the DCCC in committing to the following pledge:
- We will not participate, aid or encourage hackers or foreign actors in any attempt to influence American elections.
- We will never seek out stolen and/or hacked information for use in any operations.
- We will never use known stolen and/or hacked information, or promote or disseminate stolen and/or hacked materials to the press, regardless of the source and will report any receipt of, or offers to receive, stolen and/or hacked information to law enforcement.
- We will not support any campaign or allied groups that use known stolen and/or hacked information, or promotes or disseminates stolen and/or hacked materials to the press, regardless of the source and will encourage all campaigns to report any receipt of, or offers to receive, stolen and/or hacked information to law enforcement.
- Any foreign actors attempting to participate, operate, influence or contact the committee or any of our campaigns will be reported to appropriate law enforcement immediately.
- We call on the chief election officers in all states to ensure the most robust fortification and protection of elections systems leading up to, and during, the 2020 election.
We hope you will agree to these principles for the sake of our democracy. If you have suggestions about how we could strengthen this pledge, I would welcome a dialogue with you.
Kind Personal Regards,
Cheri Bustos
DCCC Chairwoman
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