ACLU Statement on Public Release of Fusion GPS Senate Judiciary Committee Testimony

January 9, 2018 5:15 pm

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WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) released today a transcript of the testimony from Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, given during a closed-door committee hearing on August 22. Simpson’s research firm hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who investigated the relationship between Russia and then-candidate Donald Trump and his campaign.

Christopher Anders, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington Legislative Office, had this reaction:

“The public release of this testimony is an important step forward in the fight for transparency over an investigation that goes to the very heart of our democracy. The American people have the right to participate in democracy by seeing key witnesses testify and reading key documents — in fact, democracy depends on informed citizens. Sen. Feinstein took a principled stand by releasing the transcript. The hearing should never have been closed in the first place, and it should not have taken more than four months to get the transcript released. The ACLU urges Congress to stop slamming the doors shut on Americans who want to follow and understand the most consequential investigation in decades.

“Congress must open its locked files and let the American people in on what has been a needlessly secret process. Every American has the right to read the ‘top five’ closed-door interview transcripts on Russia and the Trump campaign. The top five are the locked-away testimony of Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Corey Lewandowski, Paul Manafort, and Carter Page. Congress should not be hiding its investigation from Americans who want to be informed citizens participating in American democracy.”

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