Senate Republicans chastised Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for blocking the Senate Intelligence Committee from receiving an election security briefing on foreign interference following the New York Democrat’s “temper tantrum” over the Supreme Court.
“Just a short time ago, Democratic leaders demanded more briefings on election interference,” acting Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Marco Rubio said on Tuesday. “The Senate Intelligence Committee was scheduled to have a briefing today with Director Evanina, who leads our nation’s election security efforts. However, Sen. Schumer had a temper tantrum over the Supreme Court and used a procedural move to cancel the committee’s briefing.”
Rubio spoke on the Senate floor to request “unanimous consent” that the Senate Intelligence Committee be “authorized” to meet on Tuesday with National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director Bill Evanina, “who is also leading the election security efforts on behalf of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.” But Schumer used his power, specifically the invocation of the Senate’s “two-hour rule,” to block the top-secret election meddling update.
“Reserving the right to object — because the Senate Republicans have no respect for the institution — we won’t have business as usual here in the Senate,” Schumer declared. “I object.” Senate Democrats, led by Schumer, are furious that President Trump intends to nominate someone swiftly to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Friday, and that the Republican-led Senate appears to have the votes to confirm the Trump nominee before the election less than two months away.
Evanina released an intelligence assessment in August warning that Russia is “using a range of measures to primarily denigrate” former Vice President Joe Biden, including that “pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is spreading claims about corruption — including through publicizing leaked phone calls — to undermine” the Democrat’s candidacy. The same statement said that China “prefers” that Trump not win reelection and is “expanding its influence efforts ahead of November 2020” in order to “pressure political figures it views as opposed to China’s interests.” The counterintelligence official also said that Iran “seeks to undermine” Trump’s presidency.
Rubio lamented on the Senate floor that “we will not be having the meeting, the hearing, today on the issue of election security with the person leading that effort” and noted that “it’s a priority of many here.” The Florida Republican said Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe was slated to brief the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday about election security threats “and many more topics of great importance that I know a lot of people here have been saying we need to be having briefings over.” He wondered whether Schumer would block that too.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that sources claimed a top-secret CIA assessment from late August stated: “We assess that President Vladimir Putin and the senior most Russian officials are aware of and probably directing Russia’s influence operations aimed at denigrating the former U.S. Vice President, supporting the U.S. president and fueling public discord ahead of the U.S. election in November.”
The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency also issued a joint announcement Tuesday to “raise awareness of the potential threat posed by attempts to spread disinformation regarding the results of the 2020 elections.” In addition, Facebook announced it had taken down dozens of inauthentic accounts based in China, and the social media analysis firm Graphika said a small number of the accounts had focused on the 2020 election, both for and against Trump, although the main focus was Chinese maritime security.
Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska was another Republican who criticized Schumer for his maneuvering to block an election security update.
“Just a few weeks ago, Democrats were demanding intel briefings,” Sasse said. “Now, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is putting partisan politics ahead of secure elections. We know that Vladimir Putin and Chairman Xi are looking to sow more distrust and chaos in America as we turn towards the ballot box. Schumer’s tantrum is short-sighted and despicable.”
Ratcliffe, who has overseen the nation’s 17 intelligence agencies since May, announced in late August that he was replacing election security briefings that were conducted in person with written products over concerns about leaks and politicization, a move which Democrats swiftly and roundly condemned.
Last week, Rubio and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the committee’s Democratic vice chairman, said Ratcliffe told them ODNI would continue providing in-person briefings to their committee.
“Director Ratcliffe reaffirmed that the Senate Intelligence Committee will continue receiving briefings, including in-person, on all oversight topics — including election matters,” Rubio and Warner said. “The Committee will continue to expect timely and complete information from our intelligence agencies.”
Ratcliffe, along with Attorney General William Barr and White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien, have either intimated or outright stated that China, not Russia, poses the biggest threat to the 2020 election, with Democrats insisting that the greatest threat is from the Kremlin.
Microsoft revealed earlier this month that Russian, Chinese, and Iranian hackers were all targeting people and groups tied to the election, and the Treasury Department announced sanctions against Derkach as well as three Russian nationals for supporting the Internet Research Agency, a Russian social media troll farm.
Robert Mueller’s 2019 special counsel report said that Russians interfered in the 2016 election in a “sweeping and systematic fashion” but “did not establish” criminal collusion between Russians and anyone in Trump’s orbit.
