Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:55 am
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called on members of both parties to come together to condemn and investigate yet another Russian effort to influence the presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor.
During an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday, the California lawmaker responded to the alarming new report that Russia was caught hacking Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company on whose board Hunter Biden served.
According to The New York Times, “Russians could be searching for potentially embarrassing material on the Bidens — the same kind of information that Mr. Trump wanted from Ukraine when he pressed for an investigation of the Bidens and Burisma, setting off a chain of events that led to his impeachment.”
“I do find it deeply disturbing, and I would hope that maybe both parties can get out ahead of this, even if the president won’t, and condemn any Russian effort to influence the next election,” Rep. Schiff said.
Video:
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) says the intelligence community did not inform him or his committee of Russia’s latest attempt to interfere in American elections. He only found out about it from The New York Times. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/tNyHy7wlvZ
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) January 14, 2020
Schiff said:
This is, indeed, exactly what Bob Mueller warned about in his testimony that the Russians would be at this again. Director Wray has said the same thing, and they appear, if this reporting is correct, to be in the midst of another hacking and potentially another dumping operation designed to influence another election in Donald Trump’s favor. It is clear if that’s the case that once again they have a favorite. They don’t want Joe Biden, it would appear from this target, and this would help Donald Trump. And I think the other thing that’s apparent from this, if this reporting is correct, is the message that Vladimir Putin has gotten is not to stay out of American elections but you’re welcome to get involved in American elections as long as it helps Donald Trump. It seems to be the message that President Trump has conveyed, at least the message that Vladimir Putin has received. So we’re going to start by finding out what our intel agencies know about this. I have to say, Rachel, I’m a bit distressed to see this for the first time in a newspaper report. If the intel community is aware of this, that should have been brought to our attention by now. But I don’t find it surprising. I do find it deeply disturbing, and I would hope that maybe both parties can get out ahead of this, even if the president won’t, and condemn any Russian effort to influence the next election.
The House Intelligence Committee chairman only found out about the latest attack from news reports
What’s also disturbing about the latest Russian effort to influence into the presidential election is that the intelligence community did not inform the House Intelligence Committee chairman about the discovery.
As Rep. Schiff said on Monday, “If the intel community is aware of this, that should have been brought to our attention by now.”
Donald Trump has spent the last three years essentially welcoming Russia to interfere in another election so long as it helps him win the White House again.
As it’s happening in real-time, it’s time for members of both parties to condemn and investigate Russian meddling before they steal another election from the American people.
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