Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that two counties were hacked during the 2016 presidential election.
DeSantis met with the FBI last week, which briefed him on the findings in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report indicating Russia was able to hack into at least one Florida county’s computer network. But after his briefing, DeSantis said two networks were breached.
“Two Florida counties experienced intrusion into the supervisor of election networks,” DeSantis said. “There was no manipulation or anything, but there was voter data that was able to be got. Now, that voter data I think was public anyways, nevertheless those were intrusions. It did not affect any voting or anything like that.”
[Related: William Barr: Yes, Russia interfered, but Trump didn’t collude]
Gov. DeSantis on Fla. counties’ election hacking: “I recently met with the FBI concerning the election issues mention in the Mueller report,” DeSantis said. “Two Florida counties experienced intrusions into supervisor of elections networks.” https://t.co/H06rKzORXI pic.twitter.com/0h4bJKLXS6
— Spectrum Bay News 9 (@BN9) May 14, 2019
DeSantis said he was told by the FBI not to release the names of the counties that were breached, but elections officials in those counties were made aware of the hacking.
“I would be willing to name it for you guys but they asked me not to do that so I’m going to respect their wishes,” DeSantis said.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is also slated to be briefed on the matter soon.
When former Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., claimed last year that Florida was targeted by a Russian hacking effort, Scott — who was then governor and running a tight race against Nelson — said the claim was “irresponsible” to make without providing proof. Scott defeated Nelson in Florida’s 2018 midterm election.
Prior to the election, the Washington Post gave Nelson four ‘Pinocchios’ for claims he made that Russia was still engaged in the elections systems in 2018. After news broke today people on social media came to Nelson’s defense, but the Post’s fact checker Glenn Kessler pushed back on those claims in a Tuesday tweet.
“Nelson claimed the Russians were in the systems in 2018. No evidence has ever emerged to prove that. People kept mixing up 2016 and 2018. There’s been little debate about 2016,” Kessler said.
No, he didn’t. Nelson claimed the Russians were in the systems in 2018. No evidence has ever emerged to prove that. People kept mixing up 2016 and 2018. There’s been little debate about 2016. https://t.co/6K4bWppFmb
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) May 14, 2019
Mueller’s 448-page report was released last month and indicated that Russian operatives interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein penned a four-page summary of Mueller’s investigation in March that cleared Trump of both colluding with Russia and obstructing justice.
