By Katherine Gregg Journal Political Writer
PROVIDENCE — U.S. Rep. David Cicilline scored a victory this week in the drive by House Democrats for a probe into Russia’s reported interference in the 2016 presidential election.
It remains unclear where it may lead in the GOP-controlled House, but the Rhode Island Democrat convinced colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee to add a few words to an annual bill spelling out the committee’s role in “oversight” of the executive branch and its specific goals this year.
The chairman, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., originally offered an amendment that said: “The Committee will continue to conduct oversight into allegations of misconduct by Executive Branch officials. The Committee will also continue to conduct oversight into allegations of leaks of classified information.”
With Cicilline’s addition, the final plan also says: the committee will conduct oversight into “allegations of improper interference with our democratic institutions or efforts to improperly or illegally interfere with our elections.”
“I’m pleased that Republicans and Democrats were able to find common ground on this important issue today,” said Cicilline.
“Russia’s interference in the 2016 election cannot be allowed to repeat itself. All of us have an interest in protecting the integrity of our democracy. It’s critical that we remain vigilant, and prepared to confront and thoroughly investigate any foreign interference, no matter which party finds itself under attack,’’ he said.
Since the amendment “guides the committee’s actions, it won’t be taken up by the full House or Senate. It’s put into effect [because] the committee approved it,’’ Cicilline spokesman Richard Luchette explained.
Earlier in the day, Cicilline took a lead, according to his office, in sending in a letter from House Democrats to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., requesting that he bring President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, before the committee to testify under oath about “his own contacts with the Putin regime.’’
Cicilline’s moves — along with those of his fellow Democrats — come days after Flynn’s resignation amid leaked revelations that he discussed sanctions against Russia with Russia’s U.S. ambassador before Trump took office. House Republicans have shown little interest in pursuing any investigation of the Flynn controversy.
In other news out of Washington, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. joined Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats in asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review whether President Trump and his staff “followed appropriate protocol for handling sensitive national security materials at Mar-a-Lago and other locations. They also asked for a review of taxpayer costs related to President Trump’s stay at his private club.’’
“We are deeply concerned by recent reports that the President, his staff, and the Japanese Prime Minister discussed national security matters on ‘full view to fellow diners,’ and reviewed potentially sensitive national security material in apparent violation of security protocols,” the senators wrote Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. “In addition, we are concerned about the expenditure of taxpayer funds at Mar-a-Lago by the Secret Service and other government officials associated with the President.”
Even though “President Trump’s attorney has said he would voluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments to the U.S. Treasury, it’s unclear how the President or the Club has accounted for this visit, how the profits from future foreign visits will be addressed, or if the President has met or will meet this promise,’’ their letter said.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., meanwhile, co-sponsored a bill dubbed the “Outsourcing Accountability Act’’ to require publicly traded companies to disclose their total number of employees in each state and country in which they have operations. “This legislation will make it easier for the public and investors to discern which companies are hiring American workers and which companies are shipping jobs overseas,” Reed said.