United States intelligence agencies are investigating Russian attempts to disrupt the November elections with cyber-attacks created to damage American political institutions and foster public distrust in the political process, it has been reported.
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She continued: “I think it’s quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time [Donald] Trump became the nominee”. Russian President Vladimir “Putin and the team around him certainly believe that there is some benefit to them for doing this”, Clinton said.
“We’ve never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process with the DNC hacks”, she said. “This is like Watergate, only in cyber time”, she said.
A Russian influence operation in the United States “is something we’re looking very closely at”, said one senior intelligence official who, as others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
The possibility of Russian involvement in cyber intrusions that were revealed in July “raises some grave questions about potential Russian interference with our electoral process”, Clinton told reporters on her campaign plane as she flew to a rally in IL.
Clinton, a former secretary of state and a former first lady, has drawn criticism for not holding regular press conferences.
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.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Clinton cited official assessments that Russian intelligence services are behind the recent cyberattacks of computers at the Democratic National Committee. “From my perspective having met with and watched Putin over the years, when I saw his response to that question, it was very clear he’s quite satisfied with himself”, she said. But “we are going to have to take those threats and attacks seriously”.
In flight, Clinton headed to the back of the plane and took over a dozen questions from reporters.
Asked on Monday if she believed the Russian government was trying to help elect her opponent, Clinton paused.
During a 20 minute chat with reporters, Clinton, 68, also dismissed concerns about her health as one of many conspiracy theories that were lobbed against her.
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During the question and answer, Clinton responded Federal Bureau of Investigation notes on her interview with the investigative body and denied that she knew anything about aides wiping her server with a sophisticated program known as BleachBit. “There are so many of them I’ve lost track of them”. She blamed seasonal allergies for a sustained coughing fit at an earlier event in Ohio. “So I pay no attention to them”.
