Campaign Action
"Russian cyberactors were in a position to delete or change voter data."
Through the extreme redactions of the Senate Intelligence Committee's newly released report on Russian election interference in 2016, that's just one of the alarming findings the public has learned about. Here's another: "Election systems in all 50 states were targeted by Russia in 2016."
All. 50. States. There was "an unprecedented level of activity against state election infrastructure" that probed in every single state for vulnerabilities in their elections systems. Even though they did not find evidence that votes were actually changed, in one state—Illinois—"Russian cyberactors were in a position to delete or change voter data." Yay.
Election security was "sorely lacking" in 2016, the report says. Federal attempts to warn states about potential security breaches "did not provide enough information or go to the appropriate people." That might have had something to do with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who refused to allow the Obama administration to go public with the specific identity of the threat to our elections: the Russians.
Meanwhile, McConnell is still at it, personally blocking bipartisan legislation that would help secure the 2020 election. He says that the efforts to do so are "partisan" and coming from Democrats "hyping up a conspiracy theory about President Trump and Russia and who continue to ignore this administration’s progress at correcting the Obama administration's failure on this subject."
The "conspiracy theory" former FBI Director and special counsel Robert Mueller confirmed in his report and under oath before Congress:
Rep. Adam Schiff: "During the course of this Russian interference in the election, the Russians made outreach to the Trump campaign, did they not?"
Robert Mueller: "That occurred."
Schiff: "The campaign welcomed the Russian help, did they not?"
Mueller: "We report indications that that occurred, yes." […]
Schiff: "The president himself called on the Russians to hack [Hillary Clinton’s] emails?"
Mueller: "There was a statement by the president on those general lines." […]
Schiff: "When the president said the Russian interference was a 'hoax,' that was false, wasn't it?"
Mueller: "True." [...]
Schiff: "In short, your investigation found evidence that Russia wanted to help Trump win the election, right?"
Mueller: "I think, generally, that would be accurate."
No hoax. No conspiracy theory. A conspiracy. One which McConnell is apparently a part of. Nothing else explains his refusal to protect the nation.