Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., suggested Friday that Russia is trying to delegitimize U.S. elections.
The vice presidential nominee’s comments came Friday as he and the hosts of “CBS This Morning” discussed reports that Russian hackers have attempted to breach U.S. voter registration databases.
Russian operatives are also believed to be responsible for the recent hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s servers.
“Do you think that the Russians are trying to hack into not only the DNC in order to influence the election? Do they want to see [GOP nominee Donald Trump] elected because they think they will get a better deal with him?” CBS News’ Charlie Rose asked the Virginia senator.
“Absolutely,” Kaine said. “It’s very clear that the Russians were behind the DNC attack.”
Rose asked, “And their motive?”
“At a minimum,” Kaine answered, “it’s to delegitimize the election, at a minimum, it’s that.”
The senator rejected Trump’s recent claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader than President Obama. Kaine also blasted Trump’s comment in July, when the GOP nominee said Russia should turn over Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails if they have them. Politicos and pundits have argued Trump’s remarks were a clear invitation for Russia to meddle in the U.S. election.
“When a presidential candidate encourages crooks to commit espionage against the DNC in a presidential year to gain an edge, we impeached Richard Nixon and he resigned,” the senator said.
“When Donald Trump went on the air publicly and said to the Russians, ‘Hey! Go ahead and hack away and if you find something that helps me out, let me have it.’ We impeached a president for … what he has encouraged Russia to do,” he said.
This isn’t the first time that Kaine has invoked the spirit of Nixon against Trump. Last week, on ABC News, the Virginia senator did the same as he discussed his running mate’s email scandal.
“A president was impeached and had to resign over an attack on the DNC during the presidential election in 1972. This is serious business,” Kaine said, adding Trump “has openly encouraged Russia to engage in cyber-hacking to try to find more emails or materials, and we know that this cyberattack on the DNC was likely done by Russia.”
