POLITICUSUSA
Russian hacking of U.S. elections is becoming a big issue in the U.S. Senate race in Florida between incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson and Republican Governor Rick Scott.
One week ago we reported Nelson’s claims that
Florida officials want more information from the U.S. Senate supporting claims made by Senator Bill Nelson that Russian operatives have penetrated some of his state’s election systems.
“Florida officials want more information from US Senate about election hacking claims by Sen. Bill Nelson”
Yesterday we reported that the 2018 reelection campaign of Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) had been hacked by Russians.
Initially when she was asked about this report, McCaskill said she wasn’t ready to respond because she didn’t have enough information yet.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have put forward a spending bill that excludes new money for election security grants to states, causing an outcry from furious Democrats.
Amid a firestorm of controversy about President Trump’s denial of Russian election interference there was an expectation that the House would fund a bipartisan approach that would help states protect themselves from cyber attacks and other threats to election security.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirtsjen Nielsen has been in the hot seat for several months as she has been caught in the middle of Donald Trump’s immigration battles.
In May we reported that Nielsen considered resigning after her boss severely admonished her in front of his entire cabinet for failing to stop illegal border crossings.
While Democrats demanded that President Donald Trump take action against Russia and cancel Monday’s summit with Vladimir Putin, Trump’s response was to attack President Barack Obama instead.
In his first public comment about the indictments of 12 Russian military intelligence officers Trump tweeted from Scotland:
Somehow lost in all the other news headlines over the past two days is a report from the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee that confirms Russian attacks on the U.S. elections systems during the 2016 election cycle. And in confirming what happened, the Committee also explained how the Russian cyber-attacks compromised the systems in 18 states in such a way that vote totals were manipulated in favor of Donald Trump.
James Clapper said the Russians will continue to collect intelligence and interfere in U.S. elections so long as the United States, led by Trump, refuses to "push back."
"James Clapper and others stated that there is no evidence Potus colluded with Russia. This story is FAKE NEWS and everyone knows it!"
Petitioners say: "As the leaders of the free world, we cannot allow an adversary to invade our territory and subvert our republican form of government."
Of all issues implicated by Russian spy measures, Trump's top priority for intel committees is a congressional investigation into NBC.
Trump has only two equally detrimental choices in dealing with the effects of President Obama’s sanctions against Russia. and they're both damning.
If the proposed bill passes, it "would mandate a new select Senate committee on cybersecurity" which would investigate the election-season cyber attack.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest bluntly told the world that the president-elect is making excuses for Russia because Trump directly benefited from Putin's interference in the US presidential election.
"Russia is trying to break the backs of democracies – and democratic movements – all over the world."
"I think [Comey] should be investigated by the Senate, he should be investigated by other agencies of the government, including the security agencies."
"There's overwhelming evidence of Russian hacking of our elections. By denying it Trump has essentially become a propaganda piece for Kremlin"
"GOP Congress spends a year and a half investigating Clinton emails, but refuses to investigate whether Russia is hacking our election? WTF?"