Individual states can decide for themselves if they want to allow Russians to serve as election monitors, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Friday.
Moscow asked the State Department to allow Russians to observe next month’s presidential election. Foggy Bottom mocked the request, but because elections are not federally run, state officials can let anyone they choose to monitor the process.
“So, we’ll leave it to those state officials to render that judgment,” Earnest said.
But after the U.S. intelligence community pinned the hacks of Democratic Party officials’ emails on the Kremlin, Earnest said he does not know if Russia’s request was sincere.
“Well, I think it’s unclear exactly what their intent is with regard to this specific request,” he said.
Moscow could have sent Russian observers to the U.S. as part of the delegation routinely dispatched by the Offices of Security Cooperation in Europe but declined to do so, Earnest said.
“You’d have to ask them why they didn’t take advantage of that opportunity if they were so interested in understanding more about the conduct of a free and fair election … a concept that may not be as familiar to those Russian officials,” he said.
