General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMueller Report Bolsters Claims That Russia Penetrated Election Systems in Florida
Mueller Report Bolsters Claims That Russia Penetrated Election Systems in Florida
When then-Sen. Bill Nelson warned of this last year, he was mocked by Republicans and the media.
Pema Levy
Reporter
Last summer, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) drew skepticism and ridicule from the media and Republicans when he claimed that Russian hackers had gained access to local election systems in his state. Eight months later, special counsel Robert Muellers report appears to back him up.
In November 2016, the Mueller report states, Russias military intelligence agency, the GRU, sent emails to more than 120 accounts used by Florida county officials involved in election administration. The emails appeared to come from a voting system software vendor and contained an attached Microsoft Word document that, when opened, unleashed malicious software that would permit the GRU to access the infected computera kind of attack known as spear-phishing.
This much was already known. But the report, which details Russian interference in the election that includes the Kremlins attempt to penetrate state election systems, adds one more tidbit: We understand the FBI believes that this operation enabled the GRU to gain access to the network of at least one Florida county government....
Floridas Republican secretary of state categorically denied it. Gov. Rick Scott, the Republican who would go on to defeat Nelson in the Senate race, attributed his comments to confusion. Soon, Republicans were using the comments to attack Nelson, hinting that he had made up the threat. The media was no kinder to Nelson. Reporters on Twitter were dismissive. MSNBC host Chuck Todd dubbed Nelsons comment an unforced error in his campaign. The Washington Post conducted a fact-check of his comments and awarded Nelson four Pinocchiosthe number reserved for the most egregious lieseven though it had no access to the classified information Nelson said backed up his assertion. The Department of Homeland Security said, cryptically, that it was unaware of any new compromises by Russian actors.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/04/mueller-report-bolsters-claims-that-russia-penetrated-election-systems-in-florida/
katmondoo
(6,455 posts)mcar
(42,307 posts)We were robbed.
uponit7771
(90,335 posts)triron
(22,000 posts)femmedem
(8,201 posts)And we need guaranteed new elections when we know that someone was "elected" via cheating.
And we need paper ballots, of course.
spanone
(135,830 posts)Oh, and FUCK CHUCK TODD