The Senate can perform an important national service by conducting its own investigations into Russia’s intervention in the 2016 presidential elections. The Senate Judiciary Committee is authorizing subpoenas for documents and testimony from key Obama officials to investigate the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe in the 2016 elections. By detailing how individuals inside and outside government wittingly or inadvertently aided the Kremlin campaign to undermine the American election, the country will be better prepared for Moscow’s interference in the November 2020 elections.

The Senate subpoenas will include documents, communications, and witness testimony, preferably in a public setting, and must include both the investigators and subjects of counterintelligence inquiries as well as the content of their communications with Russian operatives. The investigations can reveal important data on how politicians, officials, media, and business people were manipulated to serve foreign interests.