Republican Russia hawks, including Florida senator Marco Rubio, suffered from the Kremlin’s early attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election, an expert told lawmakers Thursday.
The Kremlin’s election-meddling campaign ramped up in August 2015 and featured methods like hacking, leaks, and information warfare, Clint Watts, a former FBI special agent, told the Senate Intelligence Committee. Watts testified during the panel’s first hearing of its probe into Russian election interference. Those measures adversely affected several GOP candidates, Watts said.
“[Russian active measures] were in full swing during both the Republican and Democratic primary season and may have helped sink the hopes of candidates more hostile to Russian interests long before the field narrowed,” Watts said. “Senator Rubio, in my opinion, you anecdotally suffered from these efforts.”
Rubio, a leading voice in the Senate for cracking down on Russian aggression, looked up at Watts and appeared taken aback.
The Florida senator did not provide comment on Watts’s estimation after the hearing.
However, he revealed during the committee’s second hearing Thursday that former members of his presidential campaign team were twice unsuccessfully targeted by entities in Russia, in July 2016 and this Wednesday.
“Within the last 24 hours, at 10:45 AM yesterday, a second attempt was made, again against former members of my presidential campaign team who had access to our internal information,” he said. “Again targeted from an IP address from an unknown location in Russia.”
Watts later told reporters that a number of other Republican candidates were affected by Russian information warfare.
“It was about propping up Trump to the detriment of other candidates,” he said. “At times when they had a shot, they would publish an article that was detrimental.”
“Just search the names: Graham, McCain, Rubio, Jeb Bush.”
Watts stressed that the Kremlin chooses targets based not on party lines, but on its interests.
“It’s solely based on what they want to achieve in their own landscape, whatever the Russian foreign policy objectives are,” he said. “[If] President Trump for example wins and turns against, they will turn against President Trump as well.”
Kremlin efforts to undermine political officials who are adverse to Russian interests have not ceased, he added.
“This past week we observed social media campaigns targeting Speaker of the House Paul Ryan hoping to foment further unrest amongst U.S. democratic institutions,” Watts said.
Watts said that the Kremlin was engaged in active measures as early as 2009 and began its attempts to manipulate the election in August 2015.
“Russia’s new and improved online active measures shifted aggressively toward U.S. audiences in late 2014 and throughout 2015,” he said.
By summer of 2016, those measures included fake news reports, social media trolls and bots, hacking, and leaks, he said.
A January intelligence community assessment concluded that Russia waged a cyber and disinformation campaign to undermine faith in the democratic process, discredit Hillary Clinton, and help Donald Trump’s campaign.
FBI director James Comey said last Monday that his agency has been conducting a Russia probe since July that includes potential coordination between the Trump team and Russia.
The Senate intelligence committee is conducting a probe that includes a review of the January intelligence community report, links between Russia and U.S. political campaigns, and the extent of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
This post has been updated.
