In a letter released Thursday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., questioned the Trump administration’s commitment to election security and pressed administration officials to communicate more clearly with Congress about the issue.
In the letter addressed to top Trump administration officials–Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray–Nadler pulled no punches.
“It remains apparent, however, that this Administration has no coordinated strategy to respond to attacks on our elections–and that the Trump White House has shown little interest in this grave threat to our democratic system,” said Nadler, who serves as ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee and will likely take over as chairman in the next Congress.
“The problem persists despite the intelligence community’s repeated warning that multiple foreign powers are engaged in robust ‘ongoing campaigns’ to attack our elections,” the congressman said.
Nadler urged Whitaker, Nielsen, and Wray to respond to the Committee’s request for briefings, information, and document preservation relating to “defensive and proactive election security efforts.”
“Today, I write to express my continued concern with the security of the American electoral process–and to ask you to provide answers to our questions before the end of the 115th Congress,” Nadler wrote.
He went on to criticize a lack of communication between those tasked with securing elections and Congress, saying that Congress learns “more often through press reports than from your agencies” much of its information surrounding election security.
In a nod to Democrats taking control of the House, Nadler wrote: “In the next Congress, our Committee will examine existing vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure, the threats posed to that infrastructure by foreign actors, and any systemic impediments to our voting rights.”
Nadler concluded his letter by listing out all unanswered or incompletely answered letters from the House Judiciary Committee and requested complete responses by Dec. 31, 2018.
