Mueller Report Bolsters Claims That Russia Penetrated Election Systems in Florida [View all]

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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 Mueller’s report appears to back him up.

In November 2016, the Mueller report states, Russia’s 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 computer—a 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 Kremlin’s 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.”...

Florida’s 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 Nelson’s comment an “unforced error” in his campaign. The Washington Post conducted a fact-check of his comments and awarded Nelson four Pinocchios—the number reserved for the most egregious lies—even 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/