Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are asking Attorney General Jeff Sessions to tell them how the Department of Justice is working to stop interference by foreign governments in future elections.
Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee last month that he had not yet ordered a review of laws that need to be updated to protect elections from foreign interference. “We are not anywhere near where I would like us to be yet,” he said.
“You have a responsibility to do everything in your power to ensure that our elections are free, fair, and void of foreign influence,” the Democrats wrote to Sessions.
Before the end of the November hearing, Sessions told Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., he would return and brief the committee on such efforts. But now, Democrats are asking Sessions return no later than Dec. 14 to brief them on whether there is an existing department review, and what statutes need updating before the next election.
Democrats also want to know if the Justice Department has found any new vulnerabilities in the federal election system, and steps taken to address them.
“After your recent appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, we remain deeply concerned about the security of our next federal elections,” the Democrats wrote in a Friday letter.
In January, the U.S. intelligence community agreed that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, as ordered by President Vladimir Putin.
