Dan Kildee: “I thank Mr. Perlmutter for yielding, and I want to just underscore a point he made in his opening remarks. This is…”

“I thank Mr. Perlmutter for yielding, and I want to just underscore a point he made in his opening remarks. This is fundamentally about a principle that we hold pretty dear in this country, and, that is, our freedom. Our freedom is rooted in the assumption that our democratic systems actually work, that the process of democracy has integrity, and that the choices that people make are not the subject of interference by some foreign power. We know that Russia interfered in our elections. There are only two people I can think of who have denied that repeatedly. One of them is President Trump; the other one is Vladimir Putin. Everyone else, including our Republican colleagues and our intelligence community, acknowledges that the Russians interfered with our elections. Five people have acknowledged that they committed crimes as a result of the investigations taking place; 12 other--15 others indicted. Why on Earth would we not allow the investigation that is taking place right now to determine the extent of that interference in order to prevent it from ever happening again? Why would we not insist that we protect that principle of democracy and that foundational principle of freedom by letting this process complete? What are they afraid of? That is the question: What are they afraid of? That is why I am glad Mr. Perlmutter initiated this effort, and I will continue to stand with him as he does it.”