Pelosi to Ryan: Don’t use hacked documents in campaigns

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi asked House Speaker Paul Ryan in a Tuesday letter to oppose any efforts from Republicans or Democrats to use leaked documents published online as fodder for the 2016 campaign. “We must come together to say that defending our democracy from Russia’s meddling is more important than any advantage or disadvantage in this election”, she wrote this week.

A GOP aide said Ryan can not control campaign ads by Republican committees that by law are barred from consulting with the party’s candidates.

According to ElectionProjection.com, the GOP is expected to lose some seats in the House, but to retain their majority.

Federal officials have been investigating electronic break-ins into Democratic Party computers by people that private cybersecurity analysts have blamed on Russian intelligence agencies.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday GOP leaders will move to formally punish House Democrats for staging a sit-in over gun control in June.

Hacked documents released earlier this summer revealed internal communications and phone numbers from Democratic House members. Bernie Sanders for the presidential nomination.

AshLee Strong, a spokesperson for Ryan, told reporters after Wednesday’s press conference that Republicans were conducting “robust review process” of the sit-in that included interviewing the Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives as well as members, some of whom were directly involved.

A spokeswoman then cited an ad attacking Democratic congressional candidate Randy Perkins, who is running for Rep. Patrick Murphy’s seat in Florida.

DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Lujan said in a statement of his own that “NRCC’s use of documents stolen by the Russians plays right into the hands of one of the United States’ most risky adversaries”.

McCarthy said “a number of rules” were broken when House Democrats staged a 25-hour sit-in on the lower chamber’s floor demanding a vote on gun control.