[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5182]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     INVESTIGATE RUSSIA'S INFLUENCE

  (Mr. BROWN of Maryland asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BROWN of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, the Russian cloud over this White 
House and over our democracy is darkening. I rise today to call on this 
body to come together to create a bipartisan, independent commission to 
investigate the full extent of Russia's influence on the Trump 
administration and our democracy.
  Mr. Putin wants to weaken America and our allies, and he views 
democracy and human rights as obstacles to Russia's reemergence as a 
global power.
  After Russia maliciously hacked emails and distributed false 
information to influence our elections for their favorite candidate, 
they have turned their eye to Germany and France. They want to sow 
disunity and weakness among Western democracies and undermine the 
transatlantic alliance.
  Mr. Speaker, we must know the full truth of the Trump 
administration's ties to Putin and the Kremlin. There are too many 
unanswered questions about financial ties, personal ties, and political 
ties. Every new tie we discover is followed by another distorted fact 
from the administration.
  The American people are demanding answers now. This House cannot 
become an accomplice to the administration's desperate efforts to 
divert attention from this investigation. An independent commission is 
now the only way to find out what happened and ensure it never happens 
again.
  Mr. Speaker, we must follow the facts. We can't let ourselves be 
attacked this way ever again.

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