Democrats and Republicans clashed over election security less than two weeks before voters head to the polls after new intelligence showed Iran and Russia attempting to meddle in the process.
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Chris Wray announced at a surprise press conference last week that Russia and Iran were using voter registration information to send spoofed emails to harm President Trump, who Democrats say benefited from Russian election interference.
“We would like to alert the public that we have identified that two foreign actors, Iran and Russia, have taken specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our elections,” Ratcliffe said. “First, we have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran and, separately, by Russia. This data can be used by foreign actors to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos, and undermine your confidence in American democracy.”
For four years, Democrats have accused Trump of colluding with Russia to win the 2016 election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi often accuses Trump of using the presidency to help Russia for personal reasons. “All roads lead to Putin,” Pelosi has claimed.
Democrats viewed Ratcliffe’s press conference as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to make it appear as though other countries were an equal or greater security threat.
Last month, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said China “had the most massive program to influence the United States politically.” U.S. intelligence officials reported in August that Iran and China favor Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in the 2020 election and are working to help him win while Russians were meddling on Trump’s behalf.
Democrats believe Russia is the bigger influence, working on behalf of Trump.
“Everything we have seen in the public domain does not justify the statements that we heard yesterday,” Pelosi, a California Democrat, said during a press briefing in the Capitol one day after Ratcliffe’s announcement. “We don’t want any foreign interference in our elections from anyone. We think intimidation in the election is wrong, foreign or domestic. So, to give equivalence to one country and another when we know that Russia has for a long time, 24/7, in the past election and this one, is trying to undermine our election.”
Pelosi left the press conference to meet for a private briefing with Ratcliffe, who was expected to update her in a classified setting on the latest security threats.
She gave Ratcliffe a vote of no confidence after the meeting.
“I think we have to be very careful about any statements coming out about the election from the intelligence community at this time,” Pelosi told reporters gathered in the hallway near the classified briefing.
Democrats are also angry about Ratcliffe’s move in September to declassify a CIA request that the FBI investigate whether then-candidate Hillary Clinton sought to detract from her own email scandal by “stirring up” allegations that Trump was colluding with Russia.
The CIA request was sent to then-FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump later fired, and then-Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat who served as a CIA officer, wrote to Ratcliffe to complain about the declassification of the CIA request and Ratcliffe’s assertions that appear to equate China’s threat to U.S. elections with Russia’s.
“Your actions appear intent at distracting from the primary threat to our democratic process posed by Russia, and instead amplifying claims about China’s influence efforts,” Slotkin wrote. “My primary concern is that you are seeking to bolster a future case by President Trump, if he loses, that Chinese interference caused his loss.”
Republicans, meanwhile, seized on the declassified information as further evidence that Trump was framed by the Obama administration and that Wray has been concealing evidence that would have exonerated Trump from the 2016 accusations.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, appearing on Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News, said the FBI has been withholding information seized from laptops owned by Hunter Biden that include information alleging corruption involving his father, Joe Biden.
“Before this election takes place, these questions need to be answered before the American public,” McCarthy said. “Did the FBI have this computer? Did they know of this again? Are they repeating the same bad behavior as before?”
Across the Capitol, senators battled over election law.
Senate Democrats Thursday made a failed effort to pass an election interference bill aimed primarily at sanctioning Russia, a move meant to put pressure on Republicans.
The measure has some key bipartisan support but lacks support from top GOP leadership members, who believe it strips too much autonomy from the executive branch to issue and lift sanctions.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said the measure is “highly partisan” and Sen. Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican who blocked the Democratic bill, argued that Congress and the Trump administration have already taken major steps to sanction bad actors and protect the integrity of U.S. elections.
“The argument that this administration and this Senate have done nothing is simply false,” Crapo said.
