Sen. Coons: “You stated that you fully expect Russia to continue to be engaged in efforts to influence our elections and you expect them to be back in 2018 and in 2020. What more should we be doing?”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned FBI Director James Comey at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on FBI oversight.

“You stated that you fully expect Russia to continue to be engaged in efforts to influence our elections and you expect them to be back in 2018 and in 2020,” said Senator Coons. “What more should we be doing both to defend our election infrastructure and our future elections against continuing Russian interference, and what more are you doing--is the agency doing--to help our allies in countries like France and Germany that have upcoming elections where there is every reason to believe the Russians are actively interfering there as well?”

“I also appreciate the work the FBI continues to do to push back and to strengthen our defenses, but I think there's more to do,” said Senator Coons. “You certainly as you've testified before made a great deal of news just before our own election, and I'm struck that you chose to make public statements about one investigation, and not another. The investigation that we now know was ongoing into the Trump campaign and the investigation ongoing into Secretary Clinton. I'm concerned about what the future practice will be." 

Full video and audio available here.

Senator Coons’ full Q&A, as delivered, is below:

Senator Coons: Thank you, Chairman Grassley, and thank you, Director Comey, for your service and for your return in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. I want to start by asking about a letter--and, Mr. Chairman, I will submit this for the Record if I might--Senator Whitehouse and I in early August last year sent a letter to our colleague, Senator Cruz, who then served as the Oversight Subcommittee Chairman expressing our grave concern about the potential for foreign interference in our upcoming presidential election. We asked for an oversight hearing to consider whether existing federal criminal statutes and court jurisdiction were sufficient to address conduct related to foreign entities posing a threat to our election. We didn't have that hearing, but I'd like to ask you that same question now. Are existing federal criminal statutes sufficient to prosecute conduct related to foreign entities that seek to undermine our elections?

Director Comey: I think so is my answer, but someone smarter than I may have spotted something where there's a gap, but my reaction is we have the statutory tools, it's a question of gathering the evidence and then applying it under those statutory tools. 

Senator Coons: Well, in response to questions from Senator Sasse and Senator Graham earlier, you stated that you fully expect Russia to continue to be engaged in efforts to influence our elections and you expect them to be back in 2018 and in 2020. What more should we be doing both to defend our election infrastructure and our future elections against continuing Russian interference, and what more are you doing--is the agency doing--to help our allies in countries like France and Germany that have upcoming elections where there is every reason to believe the Russians are actively interfering there as well? 

Director Comey: Thank you, senator. I think two things we can do and that we are doing both in the United States and with our allies is telling the people responsible for protecting the election infrastructure in the United States everything we know about how the Russians and others try to attack those systems--how they might come at it, what IP addresses they might use, what phishing techniques they might use--and that we've shared the same thing with our allies. One. Two, to equip the American people and our allies to understand that this is going on. There's a big part about what the Russians did was pushing out false information, echoing it with these troll farms that they use, and I think one of the most important things we can do is tell the American voter this is going on. You should be skeptical, you should ask questions, you should understand the nature of the "news" that you're getting, and we've delivered that same message to our European colleagues and an interesting thing is happening: the marketplace of ideas is responding to this, because it's not a role for government. People are out there using the power of social media to push back against this kind of thing in France, in The Netherlands, in Germany, and I hope it will happen here in the United States where ordinary citizens will see this bogus stuff going on and push back kind of troll armies pushing back the other way so the marketplace of information is better educated frankly. 

Senator Coons: Well, that's an optimistic vision, and I appreciate it. I also appreciate the work the FBI continues to do to push back and to strengthen our defenses, but I think there's more to do. You certainly as you've testified before made a great deal of news just before our own election, and I'm struck that you chose to make public statements about one investigation, and not another. The investigation that we now know was ongoing into the Trump campaign and the investigation ongoing into Secretary Clinton. I'm concerned about what the future practice will be. How has the approach taken, with regards to the Clinton investigation, been memorialized and have you modified in any way FBI Department procedures regarding disclosure of information regarding investigations, particularly close to an election? 

Director Comey: We have not. And, the reason for that is, everything that we did--that I did--was, in my view, consistent with existing Department of Justice policy. That is, we don't confirm the existence of investigations except in unusual circumstances. We don't talk about investigations that don't result in criminal charges unless there is a compelling public interest. And, so those principles should still govern. We also, whenever humanly possible, avoid any action that might have an impact on an election. I still believe that to be true, an incredible and important guiding principle, it's one that I labored under here. Frankly, as I said earlier, I didn't think I had a choice because I could only have two actions before me. I couldn't find a door labeled 'no action.' So, those principles still exist, they're incredibly important. The current investigation with respect to Russia, we've confirmed it, the Justice Department authorized me to confirm that it exists, we're not going to say another word about it until we're done. Then I hope in league with the Department of Justice, we'll figure out, if it doesn't result in charges, what if anything will we say about it and we'll be guided by the same principles.

Senator Coons: Well, director, I do think there was a third door available to you in late last year, just before the election, and that was to confirm the existence of an ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign, which I think was of compelling interest and was an unusual circumstance, an activity by a known adversary to interfere in our election. Had there been public notice that there was a renewed investigation into both campaigns, I think the impact would have been different. Would you agree?

Director Comey: No. I thought a lot about this, and my judgment was-- we have to separate two things. I thought it was very important to call out what the Russians were trying to do with our election, and I offered in August myself to be a voice for that in a public piece calling it out. The Obama administration didn't take advantage of that in August, they did it in October, but I thought that was very important to call out. That's a separate question from do you confirm the existence of a classified investigation that has just started to try and figure out are there any connections between that Russian activity and U.S. persons. It started in late July. And, remember, the Hillary Clinton investigation-- we didn't confirm it existed until three months after it started, and it started publicly. So I thought the consistent principle would be, we don't confirm the existence of certainly any investigation that involves a U.S. person, but a classified investigation in its early stages, we don't know what we have, what is there. So my judgment was consistent on the principles I've always operated under, that was the right thing to do. Separately, I thought it was very important to call out and tell the American people the Russians are trying to mess with your elections. 

Senator Coons: Well, I hope that in the future, that attempt to draw attention to Russian interference in our election, which you've testified you expect to continue, will be effective. Let me ask one last question if I might. There are a lot of ways that the FBI helps state and local law enforcement. One I've been grateful for was the Violence Reduction Network through which the FBI provided much-needed assistance to the Wilmington Police Department--this is my hometown--where we've had a dramatic spike in violence. I'd be interested in hearing how you imagine or how you intend that the FBI will continue to assist local law enforcement in combatting unprecedented spikes in violent crime in a few of our communities, such as Wilmington, where they've happened.

Director Comey: I thank you for that, senator. The VRN--the Violence Reduction Network--was piloted in Wilmington and a small number of other places, and we believe it works. Where the FBI brings to a fight that's primarily a state and local fight our technology, our intelligence expertise, figuring out how to connect the dots and which of the bad guys we should focus on, and then our enforcement, our agents, and their ability to make cases. So we're trying to do what we've done in Wilmington in cities around the country--those cities that are seeing spikes in violence and the depressing fact is about half of America's biggest cities saw another rise in violence the first quarter of this year, and so we're trying to lean forward and do what we've done in Wilmington in those places as well.

Senator Coons: We appreciate your efforts to support local law enforcement. Thank you, director.

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