Political Junkie

Political Junkie

Get breaking news stories and important updates around the 2016 Presidential Election race

 

U.S. Official Says Russia Still Using Social Media to Divide America

At a convention for state secretaries of state on Saturday, Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristjen Nielsen said that U.S. intelligence officers are still seeing "persistent Russian efforts using social media, sympathetic spokespeople and other fronts to sow discord and divisiveness amongst the American people, though not necessarily focused on specific politicians or political campaigns.”

Nielsen also told the state secretaries of state that they have not seen any signs that Russia is targeting the midterm elections with the same "scale or scope" as when it targeted the 2016 presidential election. 

The announcement by Nielsen comes a day after 12 Russian military intelligence officers were indicted for allegedly hacking into the Democratic National Party, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in their attempts to sway the 2016 presidential election. 

The convention of state secretaries of states generally highlights issues like voter registration, devices to count ballots and election security issues and has taken on a new urgency following fresh allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election. A bipartisan U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee backed findings from U.S. intelligence agencies that said Russia acted in favor of Trump and against his opponent Hillary Clinton. 

The report from the committee found that Russian hackers targeted at least 21 states ahead of the election and are believed to have breached voter registration systems in Illinois. 

Trump has never repudiated Russian President Vladimir Putin over meddling in the 2016 election despite the findings of every U.S. intelligence agency. 

Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin Monday in Finland in an anticipated meeting. 

“All I can do is say, ‘Did you?'” Trump said days ago at a news conference in Brussels. “And, ‘Don’t do it again.’ But he may deny it.”

Photo: Getty Images


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