Sen. Dianne Feinstein — the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee — is asking Chairman Chuck Grassley to hold hearings on Facebook data use reports and compelling Cambridge Analytica to testify before the panel.
The request comes following revelations that Cambridge Analytica, the data firm used by the Trump campaign in 2016, improperly harvested private data from more than 50 million Facebook users.
According to a report from the New York Times and The Observer of London, Facebook became aware of the problem more than two years ago but did not act or acknowledge it. Facebook said Friday it suspended Cambridge Analytica from the platform.
In a letter to Grassley, Feinstein asks him to seek testimony from Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix, whistleblower Chris Wylie, and Professor Aleksandr Kogan.
Earlier Monday, Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., urged Grassley, R-Iowa, to hold a hearing with Facebook, Google, and Twitter — who have already been under intense scrutiny by lawmakers for how Russia used the platforms to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
According to Feinstein, D-Calif., she has already sent letters to Cambridge Analytica, as well as people named in various media reports connected to the data firm, including Trump campaign officials Brad Parscale, Dan Scavino, and Steve Bannon.
“These requests have been ignored, and the committee has taken no additional action,” Feinstein wrote in a Monday letter to Grassley. “I urge the committee to get to the bottom of these questions by holding hearings on these matters, compelling the production of documents as well as the attendance of relevant witnesses.”
She added: “The American people need to know how this happened, who knew about it, why steps were not taken sooner to bring it to an end, and what can be done to protect their privacy.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is currently investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and has had several hearings on it over the past year.
Last week, Grassley defended his panel’s probe.
