House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Democrats plan to push for an investigation and disclosure of Russian hacking of party emails that they believe may have damaged their prospects in the November election.
And she wants the Obama administration to disclose Russia’s involvement.
Pelosi said she paid for an investigation that determined that parties in Russia were responsible for hacking the emails of the House fundraising arm. Russian hackers are also believed to be behind the disclosure of Democratic National Committee emails prior to the party convention in July. The breach disclosed messages from top party operatives that appear to show the DNC tried to give Hillary Clinton an advantage over her opponent, Bernie Sanders.
“The fact is, something awful was going on,” Pelosi said of the hacking.
She suggested more should be disclosed about the hacking by President Obama, who can declassify the information about the matter, “just by saying it.”
Pelosi called for the investigation as Democrats struggle to recover from a poor election result for their party. Not only did Hillary Clinton lose to Republican Donald Trump, Democrats failed to win back the Senate or pick up seats in double digits as they had predicted.
Many Democrats have pointed to the hacking as part of the reason the party failed to make gains in November.
“I think there should be more information known to the American people,” Pelosi said.
This week, Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee sent a letter to Obama, asking him to declassify the documents related to Russia’s involvement in the hacking.
Pelosi, D-Calif., said Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Panel as well as Rep. Eric Swalwell, a leadership team member who sits on the Intelligence Committee, will issue “some call for us to investigate … to uncover what was happening.”
Pelosi said Democrats will seek information about “what is the role of a foreign government in undermining our election.”
