“It is not new. Unfortunately, it is something that we will face for a long time, ”Rubio said, adding that she did not know what specific incidents, if any, Biden was reacting to. Rubio is the frontrunner for the Intelligence committee to bite permanently if Republicans retain control of the Senate in November.
Senate Homeland Security President Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) Suggested that Russia has been interfering in Western elections “for decades.”
“Am I surprised if China is probably doing the same? Not at all, ”he told POLITICO.
The Republican Party’s comments came a day after Biden offered his starkest warnings to date against any interference from Russia or other foreign governments like China.
“I am advising the Kremlin and other foreign governments,” said the former vice president. On Monday, three days after revealing that he had begun receiving reports from US intelligence officials such as the alleged Democratic candidate. “If I am elected president, I will treat foreign interference in our elections as an act of confrontation that significantly affects the relationship between the United States and the government of the interfering nation.”
That statement was echoed later during a campaign event where he promised economic sanctions, cyber retaliation and any other action necessary to “counter such a clear attack on our national sovereignty.”
The comments received a warm welcome from one group: Congressional Democrats dismayed at the Obama administration’s muted public response to the Kremlin’s efforts in 2016.
Biden’s statement “was the kind of statement, frankly, that a president would make,” president of the Intelligence Chamber Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) Said Tuesday. “I think it will have a deterrent impact.”
Schiff noted that almost exactly four years have passed since he and California Senator Dianne Feinstein, then the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued her own joint statement on Kremlin election interference “because we couldn’t get the administration at that time to issue a statement of its own. “
“Ironically, it was because they were concerned that they would be perceived as manipulators of the elections by calling for foreign interference,” Schiff said. “Now that never made sense to me.”
More severely, Johnson argued that the Obama administration “did nothing” to stop the 2016 Kremlin attack.
The Obama administration finally called Moscow publicly in October 2016 over Russia’s hacking of computers by the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congress Campaign Committee. But those allegations were drowned out within hours by major news blasts: the revelation of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump boasted of sexually assaulting women and the massive dumping of WikiLeaks emails from the president of Clinton campaign.
Months after Trump’s victory, US intelligence agencies issued a joint statement that the Russians had “developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump,” a conclusion that the Burr committee approved just three months ago.
“We have all learned that we must call foreign interference early and often, if it continues, there must be repercussions, the American people must be informed of it,” Schiff said.
Biden himself has said that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell prevented the Obama administration from speaking bluntly about Russian interference in 2016 by refusing to sign a bipartisan condemnation statement, a charge that the Kentucky Republican has denied.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Democrat of Minnesota), once a presidential candidate in 2020, said Biden’s latest comments show he learned from 2016, especially considering how Russian hackers have stepped up their online operations since then.
He cited last week’s joint announcement by the United States and the United Kingdom that Moscow-backed hackers were trying to steal research into the Covid-19 vaccine.
“If you think they have a limit, they have no limit,” he said.
While welcoming the former vice president’s more assertive approach, Schiff suggested that Biden be more specific when speaking about the types of interference he is warning about.
“We have to be careful to distinguish operations, such as piracy and dumping and covert social media campaigns, paid intelligence operations and that kind of malicious activity, from operations of much more open influence that include editorial writing. and give public speeches and participate in diplomatic efforts, “said Schiff. “We must be careful not to equalize all foreign efforts to influence the American people.”
Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), One of Biden’s main allies, said that “every elected official in the United States is aware that Russia interfered in our 2016 elections” and “it is important that the national leaders of both parties send clear signals: We will not tolerate electoral interference. “
