Maryland Senator Wants More Aggressive Response From President To Russia Cyber Campaign
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Lawmakers on capitol hill are calling on President Trump and his administration to expand the U.S. response to Russian interference in elections.
According to our media partners at The Baltimore Sun, Senator Ben Cardin of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, commissioned and released a 200-page report describing efforts by Russia to influence elections throughout Europe for years. Democrats say many of these countries have made aggressive moves to push back.
Democrats say the Trump Administration does not have a coherent plan to confront Russian cyber campaigns aimed at disrupting U.S. elections. In the report, instead of focusing on the 2016 presidential election, Democrats focused on Russian efforts to interfere with Britain's 2016 referendum to leave the European Union and last year's French presidential elections. They also covered similar campaigns in Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Democrats say Republicans were invited to take part in the report. But, they chose not to.
U.S. intelligence agencies have said they have "high confidence" that Russia orchestrated an influence campaign in the U.S. election. In 2016, officials say efforts included hacking into e-mail accounts of the Democratic Party. Social media companies including Facebook and Twitter have turned over thousands of advertisement. Some have been linked to Russian troll farms.
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