As our petition gets closer to having 300,000 signatures, a group of Republicans are going to pressure GOP leaders to establish a bipartisan select committee to take over the Trump/Russia inquiries and settle the matter once and for all. A select committee doesn’t need the president’s approval! From the Washington Post: Stand Up Republic, a nonprofit organization led by former independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin and his running mate, Mindy Finn, is launching a public campaign aimed at building support among Republicans for consolidating the various congressional Russia-related investigations into one empowered and fully funded select committee. The organization’s ad, which goes live Tuesday with a six-figure television ad buy, makes the case that the Russia issue is too important not to investigate fully. “Trump’s Russia crisis. Secret contacts. Conflicting stories. Mounting signs of hidden ties and shady deals. Fear our president is compromised,” says the narrator. “The values of liberty, justice and honor shaped America. Generations fought for freedom, and presidents of both parties stood against foreign tyrants like Vladimir Putin. Why won’t Donald Trump? Tell Congress to name a bipartisan select committee to get the truth?” There are serious questions about the integrity of the current congressional Trump/Russia investigations, following revelations that the White House worked with Senate committee chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and House committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), asking them to contact reporters to speak on background to knock down news reports about the investigation. But the select committee model has vulnerabilities as well, as explained by Susan Hennessey and Benjamin Wittes on the Lawfare blog last month. The chief disadvantage is that while a select committee can operate without the consent of the president, its membership is determined by congressional leaders and could become hyper-partisan, as happened with the select committee that investigated the Benghazi attacks. “It is essential that the committee be chaired by a person whose commitment to a serious investigation is not subject to reasonable question,” they wrote, suggesting Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) for the job. “And it is essential as well to populate the committee with a membership that will act in a bipartisan fashion.” If you would like to see Congress name a bipartisan select committee to investigate President Trump's ties to Russia, please call Speaker Paul Ryan at (202) 225-3031 or (608) 752-4050 and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at (202) 224-2541 or (502) 582-6304 and communicate the following: 1) Please name a bipartisan select committee to investigate the Russian hacking of our presidential election and President Trump's ties to Russia. 2) Since both Intelligence Committee Chairmen, Senator Burr and Representative Nunes, have close ties to President Trump, I don't believe either can lead a fair and bipartisan investigation into the Trump/Russia concerns. 3) Please make Sen. Lindsey Graham the chair of the select committee because he is committed to a serious investigation. 4) Once named, the bipartisan select committee should subpoena Trump's tax returns to learn about his business and financial ties to Russia and other foreign nations.