Director Rob Reiner newday 9-19
Reiner: Russia has attacked our country
01:04 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

Reiner and Frum told CNN that they felt compelled to act on the news of Russia's alleged involvement in the 2016 election

They want to make information on Russia more accessible to Americans

Washington CNN  — 

Film director Rob Reiner and Atlantic senior editor David Frum are teaming up to promote a group that aims to widely share information about Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election and its ongoing threat to US institutions.

The Committee to Investigate Russia’s website, InvestigateRussia.org, launched on Tuesday and includes a video featuring actor Morgan Freeman.

Reiner and Frum, who are both members of the group’s advisory board, told CNN that they felt compelled to act on the news of Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election.

“It occurred to me that, you know, we’ve heard this cliche our whole lives. When our country is attacked, politics stops at the water’s edge. This is the first time that that didn’t happen,” Reiner told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota and John Berman on CNN’s “New Day” Tuesday morning.

He continued: “So I started reaching out to people who are patriots and not necessarily my political stripe to say we’re all together in this. Our country is attacked. Democracy is on the brink – if we’re going to survive, we need to come together as Americans and understand what happened.”

Frum was a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump. Reiner is a lifelong liberal who backed Hillary Clinton during both of her failed White House bids and hosted a fundraiser for her at his Los Angeles home in 2015.

Other members on the advisory board include James Clapper, a former Director of National Intelligence; Charlie Sykes, a conservative commentator; Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; and Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Frum and Reiner emphasized on CNN that Russia news should be more available to Americans, which is the goal of their committee. The nonpartisan group will have Russia material available for its visitors, as well as a daily newsletter and breaking news updates.

“If you get your news from social media, especially Facebook, not everyone included among the Trump critics is very careful. And so there are false stories are spread,” Frum told CNN. “People need to know – what is the state of play? What is known? What is guessed at? And what is probably untrue?”

CNN’s David Wright contributed to this report.