As the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, I wanted to share some quick thoughts on reports that the…

As the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, I wanted to share some quick thoughts on reports that the Trump campaign was hacked, potentially by foreign malign actors: (Thread🧵)

First, the Intelligence Community should move with great alacrity to declassify and disclose any appropriate information it has concerning the potential foreign nature of this interference. Transparency is still our best deterrent against foreign influence operations.

In 2016, the Intelligence Community moved much too slow to properly identity the hacking and dumping scheme carried out by Russia to divide Americans and benefit the Trump campaign. In fact, it would do so only after it was disclosed to the public by Senator Feinstein and me. The IC has since made improvements, but should act quickly here.

Second, we should all condemn any foreign interference in our elections, no matter which party it harms or helps, Democrats or Republicans. No equivocation.

In 2016, the Trump campaign welcomed Russian interference, took advantage of it, and then sought to deny it, much to the detriment of the country.

We are still waiting on additional information here, but whether this apparent hack was another example of foreign interference or not, it must be rejected by all parties and leaders.

Third, as I urged in 2016, the press needs to treat any information hacked and dumped through foreign interference operations with great skepticism and always disclose the provenance of the materials they report on — so the public knows where the information comes from and understands the motivation behind it. I have consistently warned that foreign adversaries can insert misinformation into real documents to sow chaos.

Finally, it shouldn’t be considered partisan to say that only Americans should decide American elections. We all must reaffirm our commitment to this sacred principle.