Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said potential Russian meddling in the USA election is a serious threat that must be addressed quickly and firmly.
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Hillary Clinton has accused Donald Trump of being “fixated” with dictators as she warned of the threat of Russian interference in the USA election.
U.S. intelligence officials are being quoted in the Washington Post today as confirming a major investigation ongoing “looking very closely at” allegations, which appear to primarily be driven by top Democratic Party officials, that Russian Federation might be trying to “influence” the USA election.
The news media, Clinton critics and others have argued that Clinton has not held a full-fledged press conference in roughly 275 days.
“This is something of concern for the [the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Jr]”, said Charles Allen, a former long-time CIA officer who has been briefed on some of the issues. She cited President Barack Obama’s remarks that the US has extensive capabilities, both for defense and offense, and that all nations should guard against igniting a cyber cold war.
Clinton said the Russian hacking was “almost unthinkable” and compared the intrusions into a variety of Democratic bodies to Watergate, the infamous break-in of the Democratic National Committee in 1972 by aides close to then President Richard Nixon.
Recently, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said he favors designating the various voting systems used in the country’s 9,000 polling places as “critical infrastructure” – in other words as vital to the nation’s safe functioning as nuclear power plants and electrical power grids.
On the Russian president, Clinton said it was “very clear [Putin] is quite satisfied with himself” for the intrusions. But “we are going to have to take those threats and attacks seriously”.
The Democratic presidential nominee expressed serious concerns about “credible reports” of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin becoming involved in the electoral process.
During her press availability with reporters, Clinton also took questions about the notes the Federal Bureau of Investigation released about her use of a personal email server during her time as secretary of state, the Clinton Foundation, trade and her health. During the question and answer session on her plane, she also had to step away because of persistent coughing. “But I want to tell you again, I don’t know anything about it, and on a state level Russian Federation has never done this”. “That was not something I was aware of and I think the fact point out that there was no connection”. She blamed seasonal allergies for a sustained coughing fit at an earlier event in Ohio.
“I’m not concerned about conspiracy theories”, she exclaimed. “There are so many of them I have lost track of them. And so I pay no attention to them”.
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Administration officials said they are weighing their response.
