WASHINGTON – Virginia First Chamber Mark Warner, the top Democrat of the House of Representatives Committee, called on the intelligence community to release more information about Russia’s attempts to intervene in the 2020 election so that Americans not “involuntarily” used in a “Russian disinformation campaign.”
Referring to the US counterintelligence report earlier this month which found, in part, that Russian agents were working to encourage President Trump, he warned that without further information the Americans could pursue Russia’s goals.
“The intelligence community, 10 days ago, said that the Russians are trying to take an interest in our elections again, that they have a disinformation, misinformation campaign against Vice President Biden,” Warner said during an exclusive interview on “Meet the Press “Sunday.
“It is the responsibility of the intelligence community to explain the facts of what we know about this disinformation campaign. My fears are that there may be Americans who are unknowingly promoting this Russian disinformation campaign and I think they should be informed so that they are not, honestly, agents in operation of this disinformation campaign. “
The bombshell report, released by Director of the National Center for Service and Security Bill Evanina, found that “Russia is using a range of measures to denigrate Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia establishment,” while a pro-Russia Ukranian MP leaks information “to undermine the candidacy of former Vice President Biden and the Democratic Party.”
The report also found that China “prefers that President Trump – who sees Beijing as unpredictable – not win a reelection,” and that Iran “seeks to undermine the American democratic institutions, President Trump, and divide the country. for the 2020 elections. “
But with Russia’s interference during the 2016 election still top-of-mind for many Democrats, Warner focused primarily on Russia’s role during his interview.
Warner and the Senate Intelligence Committee last week released their own report confirming the 2017 intelligence community’s assessment that Russia is intervening in the 2016 presidential election to help President Trump.
The report included a number of revelations, including that Trump campaign president Paul Manafort worked with a “Russian intelligence officer” that Trump likely spoke with associate Roger Stone about WikiLeaks, and an official familiar with the matter told NBC News that the The House of Representatives made criminal referrals from Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon and others to federal prosecutors in 2019.
Warner said Sunday that the bilingual report “showed unusual contacts between Russians and people over the Trump campaign” and urged Americans to read the report for themselves and “draw their own conclusions.”
