The American people deserve answers to questions that have been dogging this Administration since the election.  Common Cause has been arguing for months for an independent investigation of President Trump’s connections to Russia and possible collusion between his presidential campaign and Russian efforts to disrupt last year’s election.

The president has now made the case for us. His impulsive, reckless decision to share classified information with Russian officials last week, a day after his untimely firing of FBI director James Comey as the bureau probed “this Russia thing,” amounts to a closing argument for an independent inquiry into his conduct.

We’re encouraged that there now are bipartisan calls from Capitol Hill for a fuller accounting from the White House concerning the president’s disclosures to the Russians. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-TN, has acknowledged that the administration is “in a downward spiral.” Even House Speaker Paul Ryan, arguably the president’s most important congressional ally, wants “a full explanation of the facts.”

But in official Washington’s poisonous partisan atmosphere, it’s clear that White House statements and congressional investigations will never provide answers that will inspire bipartisan confidence. Only an independent investigation by a bipartisan panel of distinguished Americans can produce an accounting on which Americans can fully rely. Congress should move immediately to create a commission with a mandate to get to the truth.

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