{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=782", "FairfaxNews: Connolly wants probe of foreign influence on election", "2016-11-18", "2016", "2016-11", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Gerald Connolly", "C001078", "connolly.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Representative Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and 15 members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee today requested an urgent hearing to examine reportedly deliberate attempts by foreign governments to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.\r\nIn a letter sent to Ranking Member Eliot Engel, the Members wrote, \u201cWe cannot ignore these facts merely because Election Day has come and gone. The Committee must understand and be prepared to counter what constitutes a potentially unprecedented intervention by a foreign government into U.S. elections.\u201d\r\nBesides Connolly, the letter was signed by Reps. Brad Sherman, Gregory Meeks, Albio Sires, Ted Deutch, Brian Higgins, William R. Keating, David Cicilline, Ami Bera, Alan Lowenthal, Grace Meng, Lois Frankel, Joaquin Castro, Brendan F. Boyle, Robin Kelly, and Karen Bass.\r\nThe Members noted that, \u201cOn October 7, 2016, the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security released a joint statement saying \u2018The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations.\u2019 The USIC went further to explicitly state that \u201cthese thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process,\u2019 and \u2018only Russia\u2019s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.\u2019 We cannot ignore these facts merely because Election Day has come and gone.\u201d\r\nThe members added, \u201cThe Committee must understand and be prepared to counter what constitutes a potentially unprecedented intervention by a foreign government into U.S. elections.\u201d\r\nhttps://fairfaxnews.com/2016/11/connolly-wants-probe-foreign-influence-election/", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=782"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4811637811362743, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}