Press Release
Posted:
Washington – Today Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05), a former member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement after the President and Vladimir Putin held a bilateral meeting and joint press conference in Finland where the President denounced the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in our elections in 2016.
“For the full eight year term I served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I came to know members of the intelligence community as some of our finest and most devoted public servants. It is downright shameful that the President would publically berate their work while standing next to an adversary who deliberately interfered in our elections. Republicans, Democrats, and non-partisan intelligence professionals alike have all agreed that this interference was real and orchestrated at the highest levels of the Russian government,” said Thompson.“The President had an opportunity to stand up for our values as a nation and he failed miserably. He should realize that Putin is not our friend and stand with our nation and our government, including leaders of his own party like Speaker Ryan, in denouncing Putin and implementing critical security measures to protect the independence of our next election. The President must also allow Special Counsel Robert Mueller to complete his investigation. The stakes are too high to stand side by side with our nation’s adversary.”