The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Protesters call for independent probe of Russian meddling in election
NEW HAVEN >> An independent investigation is needed to determine the scope of Russian involvement in the U.S. presidential election, according to the more than 60 protesters who gathered Sunday on the New Haven Green.
The rally was sponsored by CT Shoreline Indivisible, a part of the Indivisible Movement formed after President Donald Trump’s election.
The goal is to resist Trump’s policies that we think are dangerous to democracy,” said Guilford resident Cathy Cassar, who planned the event.
“We want to hold our representatives responsible and make sure they do what we want them to do because they represent us,” Cassar said.
One of those issues that threatens democracy is Russian influence in U.S. elections and how involved the Trump campaign was in that effort, Cassar said. U.S. intelligence officials have said that Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the interference with the goal of electing Trump over Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had a poor relationship with Putin dating back to her days as secretary of state under former President Barack Obama.
There needs to be an independent investigation into the alleged interference similar to the investigations undertaken both after the 9/11 attacks and the Watergate cover-up, Cassar said.
“We really think it’s very important to have a bipartisan commission investigate this just like they did after 9/11,” she said. While there are ongoing investigations on Capitol Hill, there needs to be more done, she said. “It needs to be more open to the public,” she said. “The Senate is saying it will do a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation but that is not necessarily open to the public and the findings can be swept under the rug.
“There are even Republicans calling for it,” she said, which amplifies the importance of the issue.
“There’s an investigation going on now, but it’s behind closed doors,” Cassar’s husband, Ken, said. “We want it to be bipartisan and transparent.”
New Haven resident Karen Thayer said she saw the event posted on Facebook and wanted to hear what the protesters had to say.
“I don’t know what to think about it,” she said of the possibility of Russian involvement in the presidential election. “If it’s true, I think that it really is big. I remember Watergate, and I would think this would be even worse because it involves not only another country, but Russia. That is really crazy to think could be true.“
Thayer’s daughter Elizabeth, 27, a graduate student at UConn, said, “I don’t think people understand the magnitude of what that means and they are content to just ignore it, especially if they are Trump supporters. It’s time that people wake up to what is going on. We can’t afford to just let what’s going to happen happen with this administration.”
The 60-plus protesters started out at the corner of Church and Chapel streets and made the circle around the New Haven Green, waving signs referencing Trump and Putin, urging Trump to release his tax returns to see if he does have deals with Russia and encouraging people to contact their senators and congressmen, all of whom are on break this week and most back in their home districts.
As the group began the march, one man stood by watching. “I don’t understand why they do this,” said the man, who said he came to the US from a Middle Eastern country but declined to be identified. “What is the protesting accomplishing? It’s a waste of time.”
But for Cassar, the rally was an important response to what is going on in the country right now. “This is one of the instances where we have to fight to save our democracy,” she said. “This is getting scary.”