Leading House Democrats lashed out at President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for “irresponsibly” comparing Russian and Chinese attempts to influence U.S. elections, saying the Department of Homeland Security does not support that claim.
The top Democrats on the House Armed Services, Homeland Security, Oversight and Government Reform, Judiciary and Administration committees said they received an unclassified DHS intelligence assessment on election security last week in response to recent allegations by Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence that the Chinese pose a greater threat to U.S. politics than Russia does.
On Wednesday, the Democrats said DHS provided little evidence to support that argument.
“Nothing we have learned through this [DHS election intelligence] update supports the president’s or vice president’s recent claims or changes our view that their statements on this issue are driven by partisan politics rather than the facts,” Reps. Adam Smith of Washington, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Jerrold Nadler of New York and Robert A. Brady of Pennsylvania said in a statement.
Last week, Mr. Trump said during a TV interview that Chinese meddling in U.S. elections “is a bigger problem” than Kremlin interference, which has been well documented since the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
And in a major speech this month at the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, Mr. Pence said Russian meddling “pales in comparison” with Chinese activity, which he called “an unprecedented effort to influence public opinion.”
The Democrats added that the White House remains unable to stand up to the Kremlin and punish Russia for the 2016 interference, an argument they have made since the start of Mr. Trump’s presidency.
“No amount of foreign interference in our elections is acceptable,” they said. “However, conflating the interference by Russian and Chinese actors is irresponsible and demonstrates the White House’s partisan approach to the unprecedented Russian actions to undermine our democracy.
“It is reprehensible that two years after the 2016 elections, President Trump and Republicans in Congress have failed to tackle Russian election interference with any credibility.”
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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