Nearly every day for the past several weeks we have been confronted with new facts or allegations related to President Trump and his associates’ ties to Russian officials. Accordingly, the FBI, and both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have initiated three separate investigations. Sadly the House Committee efforts already have been compromised by Chairman Devin Nunes inappropriate briefings to Trump and Paul Ryan.

At the same time, the president’s refusal to release his tax returns has further fueled understandable concerns about possible conflicts of interest, potential criminal actions, and even serious threats to our national security. The bad news is that Congress has yet to put the interests of our country above party and take the actions necessary to address these issues and the increasingly fragile trust Americans have in our government.

The good news is that Dave Reichert, our 8th Congressional District Representative is a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee — which has the legal authority to compel Trump to release his tax returns.

Unfortunately, Representative Reichert has voted against proposals that would require the president to provide this critically-vital information, arguing that there is no indication of any irregularities and accepting Trump’s assertion that “he has no business ties or loans from Russia.”

No? How about Donald Jr’s 2008 statement that “Russians make up a disproportionate cross section of our assets and we have money pouring in from Russia.”

We deserve better Congressman.

Steve Thompson

Sammamish