Last Wednesday, Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Massachusetts) made a short 3 minute appeal to Americans regarding the scandal of Trump's ties to Russia (and the interference of Russia in the 2016 election). He cut to the heart of the matter in that speech -- urging an independent investigation, and calling on all Americans to raise their voices to insure the truth is exposed. Here is a transcript of his excellent talk:Hey everybody, And thank you so much for continuing to raise your voice. Look, we’re going to start with the facts: First, our intelligence agencies have unanimously decided, after their analysis, that Russian government and Russian intelligence agencies deliberately interfered with our Democratic process, to erode faith in our democracy, and to erode our confidence in our institutions. As a result of this interference that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced to recuse himself from an investigation about/into the Trump administration’s contact with Russia. The leader in the investigation, Devon Nunes, of the House Intelligence Committee, was forced out of his position because of his inability to effectively lead that investigation. We’ve seen resignations and dismissals of high-ranking campaign officials and Trump associates from Paul Manfort to Carter Page and of course, Michael Flynn, the former National Security Adviser, after he lied to the Vice President of the United States, who then, based off of that false information mislead, unwittingly, mislead the American public. Far more troubling than those facts, that we know and what we have seen, however, are the dismissals of Sally Yates, then acting (DOJ) Attorney General, “Preet” Bharara, former U.S. Attorney General for New York, and of course, Director James Comey, head of the FBI, the person leading the investigation into Donald Trump and his associates’ interactions and alleged interactions with Russia. Now look, Russia’s goal from the beginning was to erode our faith in institutions and our country, our democracy, and the mechanisms we have, in order to protect our democracy. What we have seen, and every day since then, in all these questions as they continue to swirl, is that they continue to make that success because this administration refuses to come clean and answer basic questions with regards to their own actions, with that of a known adversary and our chief political rival around the world. This is the very least that the American public should expect from their government: · What did you know? · When did you know it? · What are your contacts with the Russian government? · Who in this administration has made contacts with the Russian government intelligence agencies? · What are your business ties to those organizations? · What incentives to you have to, perhaps. be more beholding to Russian interests, than the interests of the American pubic? Let us understand, please, Mr. President, why is it that you continue to cozy up to a Russian government that does not share our values or our interests, while alienating some of our closet allies around the world. We need these answers, and at the point, only an independent commission with the full staff, and support and subpoena power that is necessary, is going to get us to where we need to go. I urge this administration and our Republicans in Congress to stand up and speak out and look at this as it is — as a national security issue.It’s a threat against our democracy, our nation and our values, and it is only through standing up, raising our voices and being united—that we going to be able to repel this threat. Ultimately, this is going to come down to all of you. For the Republicans that have raised their voices, and there have been some, I applaud them and I salute them. For the others that aren’t quite there yet, they need to hear from you. Raise your voices, particularly during a recess period when the House is back home, hopefully conducting those town halls and answering your questions. And if they’re not, make sure you raise your voices so they hear you, they answer—and we can hold our government accountable. Thank you, so much — keep those voices raised.
