Former CIA Director Brennan: "With every last ounce of devotion to this country, resist"

During the House Intelligence Committee’s hearing on the investigation, Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA) asked Brennan to explain — not just to the committee, but to all Americans — why it matters that we get the full truth of what happened in the 2016 election.

Considering how egregiously the White House has obstructed the investigation, and how Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress have tried to slow-walk their own investigations, it is a fair question.

Watch every word of this Brennan answer — why every American should care about Russia interfering with the very foundation of our democracy pic.twitter.com/AXP9GN114b

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) May 23, 2017

HECK: I now pose it to you, sir. Not for my sake, but for America’s sake. As someone who has devoted your entire life to public service, in your own words, please tell my constituents, my neighbors, why they should care. Not just here in Washington, D.C., but in Washington state, and Texas, and Connecticut and points in between. Why should they care? Why do you care, sir?

BRENNAN: Because for the last 241 years, this nation and its citizens have cherished the freedom and liberty that this country was founded upon. Many, many Americans — brave Americans over the years — have lost their lives to be able to protect that freedom and liberty.

They’ve lost their lives also to protect the freedom and liberties of other countries and other peoples around the world. Our ability to choose our elected leaders as we see fit is, I believe, an inalienable right that we must protect with all of our resources and all of our authority and power.

And the fact that the Russians tried to influence that election so that the will of the American people was not going to be realized by that election, I find outrageous and something that we need to, with every last ounce of devotion to this country, resist. And to try to act to prevent further instances of that.

And so, therefore, I believe that this is something that’s critically important to every American. Certainly it’s very important to me, for my children and grandchildren, to make sure that never again will a foreign country try to influence and interfere in the foundation stone of this country, which is electing our democratic leaders.

Our democracy depends on finding the full truth of what happened during our election and ensuring that it can never happen again.