FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday Russia is still trying to meddle in U.S. elections and dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to form a joint task force to probe Kremlin-linked interference ahead of the 2016 election.
“The intelligence community’s assessment has not changed,” Wray said during an interview at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. “My view has not changed, which is that Russia attempted to interfere with the last election and that it continues to engage in malign influence operations to this day.”
[Opinion: The Russians, or someone else, could really hack the 2018 midterm elections]
“We haven’t quite seen an effort to target specific infrastructure this time, but certainly other efforts, which I call malign influence operations, are very active, and we could just be a moment away from it going to the next level,” he continued. “To me, it’s a threat we need to take very seriously and respond to with fierce determination and focus.”
Putin’s offer regarding a collaborative approach to the investigation into 2016 was “not high on our list of investigative techniques,” Wray said.
Wray added that he had a “professional” relationship with President Trump and referenced his strong “spine” when asked whether he had threatened to resign over congressional demands for information.
“I am a low-key, understated guy, but that should not be mistaken for what my spine is made of,” he said. “I’ll leave it at that.”
