“I do not consider the investigation to be corrupt, but I understand the president’s frustration given the outcome that there was no evidence” of a conspiracy between the campaign and Russia, he said.
A new Senate report shows Russian-backed hackers targeted U.S. states through lax security, documenting holes in state networks and by infiltrating voter registration databases.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, halted a bipartisan effort to beef up state election systems ahead of the 2018 election and on Thursday blocked Democrats from pushing forward a House-passed bill to authorize funding for the states.
The bill, known as Securing America’s Federal Elections, or SAFE, Act, is the first of several proposed by Democrats to boost election security as Congress belatedly moves to respond to Russian interference in the presidential election more than 2½ years ago.
Robert Mueller's report on Russia's interference in the 2016 election describes how Kremlin-backed spies installed malware on the network of an unnamed company that "developed software used by numerous U.S. counties to manage voter rolls."
Comments before a House subcommittee by representatives from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security underscored the challenges for federal and state governments in trying to ward off interference from Russia and other countries in the 2020 election.
Dubbed "ElectionGuard," the Microsoft kit will be available this summer, the company says, with early prototypes ready to pilot for next year's general elections.
President Donald Trump has often downplayed Russia's interference in 2016. And his staff told former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen not to bring up election security during her meetings with him. But administration officials insist election security is a priority.
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