Did Russia really hack the election? President Barack Obama is planning to find out with a “full review” of any cyberattacking that occurred during the course of the 2016 presidential election.
He wants an answer by Jan. 20, the date President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn in.
“The president has directed the intelligence community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election process. It is to capture lessons learned from that and to report to a range of stakeholders,” White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Adviser Lisa Monaco said on Friday. “This is consistent with the work that we did over the summer to engage Congress on the threats that we were seeing.”
The news comes after repeated requests from House and Senate Democrats who feel left in the dark about information related to Russia’s alleged digital interference with the election.
Members of the House oversight and government reform committee even went so far as to send a letter to Obama and post it on Medium earlier this week asking Obama administration officials to brief Congress on any intelligence related to Russian efforts to influence the election.
“We are deeply concerned by Russian efforts to undermine, interfere with, and even influence the outcome of our election,” the Dec. 6 letter says. “This Russian malfeasance is not confined to us, but extends to our allies, our alliances and to democratic institutions around the world.”
They’ve been taking their mission to Twitter too.
.@RepCummings: The American people deserve information about these threats and the actions their government is taking to address them
.@RepCummings: Elections are a core American value and any foreign interference with our elections should be of the greatest concern
To #ProtectOurDemocracy, we call for a fact-based, independent, bipartisan-appointed commission on foreign interference in 2016 US election.
Seven Senate Democrats did the same thing, sending a letter to Obama asking for information concerning the Russian government’s involvement in the election be declassified.
Showing just how serious they are about taking action, Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Swalwell even introduced the Protecting our Democracy Act to establish a “National Commission on Foreign Interference in the 2016 Election.”
Some Senate Republicans have also expressed interest in launching a probe to investigate and Russian interference.
The White House has said there’s no evidence of any hacking with actual vote tallies, but Swalwell and others are continuing efforts in light of previous administration announcements which said “Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized” attacks on the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations.
The Washington Post reported late Friday that the CIA has “concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency,” but the assessment has not been made public or shared widely in Congress.
Monaco said Congress will receive a report on what Obama’s review finds.
Some praised Obama’s action while others are more skeptical.
Credit: The San Diego Union Tribune
Do you believe Russia could have been involved with attempts to hack the Democratic National Committee and other factors in the election? Tell us in the comments below.
