Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray asking for a “defensive counterintelligence briefing to all Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate regarding foreign efforts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.”
In the letter, which is dated July 13 and was announced by Pelosi’s office on Monday, the Democrats wrote, “We are gravely concerned, in particular, that Congress appears to be the target of a concerted foreign interference campaign, which seeks to launder and amplify disinformation in order to influence congressional activity, public debate, and the presidential election in November.”
They continued, “Given the seriousness and specificity of these threats, as members of congressional leadership and the congressional intelligence committees we believe it is imperative that the FBI provide a classified defensive briefing to all Members of Congress and that the briefing draw on all-source intelligence information and analysis, consistent with due regard for the protection of sensitive intelligence sources and methods.”
Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff and Warner send joint letter to FBI requesting all-member counterintel briefing on foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election pic.twitter.com/ITMqwqPacL
— Jeremy Herb (@jeremyherb) July 20, 2020
Pelosi and Schumer asked for the briefing to occur before the upcoming August recess, stating that they want Wray’s office to “outline a plan” by July 20.
The letter was also signed by Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.) and by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)
In early 2020, intelligence officials began warning Congress of Russian interference in the 2020 election. That warning occurred in a classified briefing given to members of the House Intelligence Committee.
The relationship between the United States and Russia has grown even more strained over the past month after reports that the Russians were putting bounties on the head of American soldiers in the Middle East.
That revelation led to some prominent Republicans demanding answers on the reports of Russian bounties, including powerful House Republican Liz Cheney, who tweeted “What has been done in response to protect our forces & hold Putin accountable?”