Washington, D.C. (March 6, 2018) – Today Congressman Stephen F. Lynch (D-Boston), the Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on National Security, sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, urging him to combat foreign disinformation and propaganda campaigns using funds that were allocated to the State Department for that purpose.

In 2016, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) was allocated $120 million over two years to counter foreign efforts to threaten U.S. national security and interfere in U.S. elections. The Center, however, has yet to spend any of the allocated funds.

“In order to combat Russian and other foreign interference in future U.S. elections, Congress in December of 2016 expanded the mission and mandate of the Global Engagement Center (GEC) within the State Department to ‘counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts’ that threaten our national security as well as the national security interests of U.S. allies and partners,” wrote Congressman Lynch. “Regrettably, the State Department has failed to maximize its use of these critical resources.”

According to a recent report by The New York Times, the State Department “has yet to spend any of the $120 million it has been allocated since late 2016 to counter foreign efforts to meddle in elections or sow distrust in democracy” and “not one of the 23 analysts working in the department’s Global Engagement Center – which has been tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaign – speaks Russian.” This is despite assessments by the U.S. intelligence community that Russian President Vladimir Putin “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election” and that “Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed at the US presidential election to future influence efforts worldwide.”  

Efforts to meddle in U.S. elections were also detailed in a February 16, 2018 federal indictment against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian organizations. The indictment detailed a widespread campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election that included identity theft, bank and wire fraud, and illegal political advertisement purchases.

“During a February 6, 2018 interview with Fox News, you cautioned that Russia is already undertaking attempts to interfere in the upcoming 2018 U.S. federal elections,” Congressman Lynch wrote to Secretary Tillerson. “You also stated, ‘I don’t know that I would say we are better prepared, because the Russians will adapt as well.’  The full use of the authority and resources at the disposal of the State Department for the purpose of countering foreign interference in our elections would significantly enhance our ability to address this continuing national security threat.”

Click here to read the letter.

Washington, D.C. (Mar. 15, 2018)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on National Security, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis expressing grave concerns about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan under the strategy President Trump announced last summer, as well as the alarming escalation of efforts by the Trump Administration to retroactively classify information relating to the war.

“The Trump Administration’s increased secrecy about the 16-year war in Afghanistan—America’s longest war that has cost 2,400 lives and nearly a trillion dollars—comes as President Trump’s new strategy for Afghanistan appears to be foundering badly,” the Ranking Members wrote.

On August 21, 2017, President Trump announced his new strategy for Afghanistan after frequently touting his broad military acumen during the campaign, stating for example:  “There’s nobody bigger or better at the military than I am.”

“Unfortunately, President Trump’s new strategy for Afghanistan does not appear to be improving conditions on the ground,” the Ranking Members wrote.  “To the contrary, in January, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani warned about the increasingly dire conditions across the country and in the capital, Kabul.”

BBC also reported in January that “About 15 million people—half the population—are living in areas that are either controlled by the Taliban or where the Taliban are openly present and regularly mount attacks,” and Taliban fighters “are now openly active in 70% of Afghanistan.”  In addition, in just over two weeks in January, three strikes in Kabul killed 128 people.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain also raised concerns about President Trump’s strategy, stating,  “this committee, and the Congress more broadly, still does not know many of the crucial details of this strategy.  This is totally unacceptable.  I repeat, this is totally unacceptable.”

Cummings and Lynch also expressed concern that the Trump Administration is retroactively classifying information about our nation’s military efforts in Afghanistan.

“Now, more than six months after President Trump announced his new strategy in Afghanistan, we are gravely concerned that the Administration is retroactively classifying information that used to be available to the American people,” they wrote.  “We believe it is completely inappropriate to abuse our nation’s classification system to conceal the policy failures of the Trump Administration.”

The Ranking Members first wrote to President Trump about these retroactive classifications on November 17, 2017, but they received no response.  Instead, the Pentagon subsequently classified additional categories of information that the Obama Administration routinely released to the public, including the actual and authorized strength figures for the Afghan security forces and the percentage of trained and untrained personnel.

“Instead of reversing this retroactive classification policy, the Trump Administration has now doubled-down to classify even more information about the war in Afghanistan.”

Cummings and Lynch requested that Mattis provide documents and information on these matters by March 28, 2018.

Click here to read today’s letter.

Washington, D.C. (Apr. 12, 2018)—Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on National Security, sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein requesting documents relating to a report that someone at the Department of Justice (DOJ) attempted to improperly classify a key document relating to the Russia investigation.

On Tuesday, Rachel Maddow revealed that MSNBC has obtained handwritten notes taken on March 30, 2017, by Dana Boente, who served in several top positions at the Department of Justice, memorializing a telephone conversation he had that day with FBI Director James Comey.  These notes relate to a troubling conversation Director Comey had with President Donald Trump, who urged him to lift the “cloud” of the Russia investigation and “to get out” that the President was not under criminal investigation.

“Although President Trump has called Director Comey a liar, these contemporaneous notes offer direct and potent corroboration of Director Comey’s testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on June 8, 2017, that President Trump asked him to ‘lift the cloud’ of the Russia investigation and ‘to get it out’ that the President was not under investigation,” Cummings and Lynch wrote.

Rachel Maddow also obtained a letter sent to Mr. Boente on January 17, 2018, from E.W. Priestap, the Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division of the FBI, indicating that someone at the Department of Justice appears to have improperly tried to classify Mr. Boente’s notes—without ever consulting him—despite the fact that there was no classified information contained within them.  The letter states:

“(U)  This letter serves as confirmation under my authority as a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Original Classification Authority (OCA) that your handwritten notes derived from your March 30, 2017 conversation with former FBI Director James Comey are UNCLASSIFIED.

“(U)  Understanding that your notes were marked as TOP SECRET by an employee of the Department of Justice without your consultation, this letter memorializes a duly authorized OCA finding that the contents of your notes are not TOP SECRET (or classified at all).”

“It is unclear why anyone at the Department of Justice improperly sought to classify these notes,” Cummings and Lynch wrote.  “However, if these reports are accurate, it appears possible that someone at the Department of Justice may have attempted to prevent the public release of these notes by misusing the classification process, but that career officials at the FBI intervened to reject this effort.”

Under Executive Order 13526, Classified National Security Information, officials may not abuse the classification process to conceal information that may be incriminating:

“In no case shall information be classified, continue to be maintained as classified, or fail to be declassified in order to: (1) conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; (2) prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency; (3) restrain competition; or (4) prevent or delay the release of information that does not require protection in the interest of national security.”

Click here to read the letter.  

Washington, D.C. (Apr. 12, 2018)—Today,  Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on National Security, sent a letter requesting documents from Stephen Calk—the banker who allegedly loaned Paul Manafort $16 million in exchange for promises to name him to a top position within the Trump Administration.

Cummings and Lynch first wrote to the Department of Defense in February seeking documents regarding troubling press reports that Manafort offered Calk a top position in exchange for the loans.  In response, the Defense Department provided two key facts:

• First, DOD reports that, eight days after the President’s election, the Army’s Chief of Staff “had the opportunity to engage Mr. Calk on November 16, 2016, when he provided remarks at a Business Executives for National Security (BENS) luncheon in Chicago.”

• Second, DOD reports that “Army administrative personnel recall receiving a telephone call from Mr. Calk sometime in November of 2016 regarding the confirmation process in general.”

“This new information provided by DOD appears to confirm at least part of the underlying allegation, which is that you were actively inquiring with the Pentagon within days of the presidential election about a high-level position that would have required the advice and consent of the Senate,” Cummings and Lynch wrote to Calk.  

“DOD’s letter does not explain why you were inquiring about the confirmation process,” Cummings and Lynch wrote.  “DOD’s response was also limited in that it apparently focused only on your communications with the Department of the Army rather than all DOD elements. The letter states that ‘the Army was not involved in any personnel decisions regarding Mr. Calk, and did not engage in any communications regarding Mr. Calk with Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, or other individuals affiliated with President Trump's campaign.’”

“For these reasons, we now request information directly from you about why you were seeking that information and whether your actions were related to a quid pro quo with President Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort,” the Members concluded.

The members requested documents relating to communications between Calk and any member of President Trump’s campaign, the Trump Transition Team, and the Department of Defense, and all loans discussed, applied for, reviewed, or granted to Mr. Manafort by The Federal Savings Bank.

Click here to read today’s letter.

Washington, D.C. (April 17, 2018)—Today, Rep. Stephen F. Lynch and Rep. Maxine Waters, the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, and Rep. Steve Pearce, Chairman of the Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee, requesting the Committee and Subcommittee hold hearings to examine an alleged quid pro quo arrangement between Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and banker Stephen Calk.

“We are writing to respectfully request that our Committee holds both Full Committee and Terrorism and Illicit Financing Subcommittee hearings to examine issues relating to disturbing reports that Stephen Calk, the CEO of Federal Savings Bank in Chicago, made loans of up to $16 million to President Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, in exchange for promises to name him Secretary of the Army,” wrote Reps. Lynch and Waters.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Calk’s company loaned Manafort millions “as part of a quid pro quo arrangement to secure Mr. Calk a job in Mr. Trump’s administration.” In response to a request for information from Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Lynch, who serves as the Ranking Member of the National Security Subcommittee, the Department of Defense confirmed that Calk called Army administrative personnel in the days following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election to inquire about the confirmation process for presidential appointees.

“Although Mr. Calk ultimately was not given a position with the Department, reports that he was being considered for a high-level and highly sensitive national security position within the Trump Administration as part of a quid pro quo with Mr. Manafort raise serious concerns that, completely apart from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, warrant scrutiny by our Committee,” wrote the members.

Reps. Lynch and Waters are requesting that Calk testify before the Committee and Subcommittee.

Click here to read today’s letter.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Stephen F. Lynch (D-Boston), the top Democrat on the House Subcommittee on National Security, released the following statement in response to President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the JCPOA:

“President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear program puts the world at greater risk of nuclear proliferation and seriously damages U.S. standing in the world. One of the central benefits of the JCPOA is to place International Atomic Energy Agency monitors inside former nuclear research and development centers within Iran. The participation of IAEA inspectors during the dismantling and decommissioning process at the Fordow and Natanz fuel enrichment facilities, as well as the disassembly of the heavy water reactor at Arak, virtually froze the ability of Iran to threaten the region and the world with nuclear conflict. It is noteworthy that according to the IAEA, Iran has maintained full compliance with the JCPOA since its inception.

“President Trump’s repudiation of the agreement ostensibly allows Iran to resume nuclear weapons development. Meanwhile, President Trump’s threat of U.S. sanctions against Iran has been greatly diminished by the fact that the U.K., France, Germany, China, and Russia appear to be unwilling to support similar sanctions. They will continue to trade with Iran as long as they remain in compliance with the JCPOA.

“President Trump’s action was extremely ill-advised without coordinating with our allies. This decision strengthens the hardliners in Iran, weakens the United States’ relationship with longtime democratic allies, and ultimately makes the world a more dangerous place.”

Washington, D.C. (May 9, 2018)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on National Security, sent a letter requesting that Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy issue a subpoena to compel the Department of Justice (DOJ) to produce documents it is withholding relating to the improper classification of handwritten notes taken by top Justice Department official Dana Boente memorializing his conversation with then-FBI Director James Comey about President Donald Trump.

“It is unclear who at the Department of Justice tried to improperly classify these notes, but it is an abuse of the classification system to try to classify information merely to conceal information from the American people for political reasons, and the Department of Justice is obstructing our investigation into this abuse by withholding these documents from Congress,” they wrote.

“Our Committee has jurisdiction over federal records and has previously investigated abuses of the classification system to improperly conceal information from the American people,” the Ranking Members added.  “As you once stated on national television during the Benghazi investigation: ‘[T]here is an over classification to protect people’s reputations and careers.  And that is not a legitimate reason to classify a document, just because you are worried that it may hurt feelings or impact your career’.”

On April 10, 2018, Rachel Maddow revealed that MSBNC had obtained a copy of Mr. Boente’s handwritten notes documenting his conversation with Director Comey.  These notes are contemporaneous evidence corroborating a conversation in which Director Comey conveyed to Mr. Boente that President Trump asked Director Comey to lift the “cloud” of the Russia investigation and “to get out” that the President was not under criminal investigation.

She also obtained a letter from the FBI showing that the Department of Justice improperly classified Mr. Boente’s notes—without his consultation and without adequate justification. 

On April 11, 2018, the Ranking Members wrote to the Justice Department requesting that it produce documents relating to this matter by April 26, 2018.   The Department has not respond to that letter and has not produced any of the requested documents.

The Ranking Members are asking Gowdy to subpoena all documents and communications from within the Justice Department, with outside officials, and others relating to efforts to designate as CLASSIFIED any information contained within the handwritten notes of Mr. Boente, as well as communications and documents sufficient to show which officials at DOJ were involved in the decision.

Click here to read today’s letter.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congressman Stephen F. Lynch (D-Boston) today announced that Mya Tomlinson of Norwood, Mass. has won this year’s Congressional Art Competition in the Eighth Congressional District of Massachusetts. The annual competition is open to all high school students across the country. The winning piece of artwork from each Congressional District will be displayed in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. for one year.

This year, artists from across the Eighth Congressional District submitted artwork that included photographs, paintings, pencil sketchings, and collages, among other mediums. The judges selected a piece entitled “American Dream” by Mya Tomlinson, a student at Norwood High School. Mya’s piece was created using color pencil and markers and will be flown to Washington, D.C. to be displayed in the U.S. Capitol.

“Mya is an incredibly powerful and talented artist, and I congratulate her on winning this year’s Art Competition. Mya told us that her piece, which includes vivid drawings of important African-American leaders in our nation’s history, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, and President Barack Obama, depicts her patriotism and reflects the importance of civil rights,” said Congressman Lynch. “Thank you to all the students who submitted artwork this year. It was wonderful to see the talent and dedication of so many artists across the Eighth Congressional District.”