Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee have asked the Trump administration to corroborate the president’s recent comment accusing China of interfering in the 2016 U.S. election.
Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Kamala Harris of California sent a letter Tuesday addressed to Dan Coats, the administration’s director of national intelligence, after President Trump claimed during a recent television interview that China “meddled” in the 2016 race.
Following up on a related request sent earlier this month, the lawmakers asked Mr. Coats to address whether the president’s latest claim accusing China of election interference in 2016 is “consistent” with conclusions reached by the U.S. intelligence community.
“Please provide additional detail and supporting intelligence publicly to the greatest extent possible, and to Congress to the extent necessary to protect sources and methods,” the senators wrote.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence received the letter and plans to respond accordingly, an agency spokesperson told The Washington Times.
Federal agencies including the ODNI, FBI and Department of Homeland Security warned last week that Russia, China and Iran are actively conducting influence campaigns against targets including next month’s midterm races, raising concerns in the wake of officials previously concluding that Moscow authorized similar efforts against the 2016 U.S. election.
Russia mounted a multi-pronged attack against the 2016 race and particularly Mr. Trump’s former presidential campaign rival, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, U.S. officials previously concluded, but multiple federal probes into the race have failed to yield any publicly released evidence suggesting China acted similarly.
“They meddled,” Mr. Trump said about Russia during the “60 Minutes” interview aired over the weekend. “But I think China meddled, too. And I think other countries ….” Mr. added. “And I think, frankly, China is a bigger problem.”
The senators who signed the latest letter to Mr. Coats — half of the intelligence panel’s six Democrats — made a similar request earlier this month after Mr. Trump said that China was attempting to meddle in the Nov. 6 midterm elections.
China previously denied attempting to interfere in next month’s midterms.
The ODNI, FBI and DHS subsequently said in last week’s joint statement that Russia, China and Iran are actively attempting “to undermine confidence in democratic institutions and influence public sentiment and government policies,” including through activities that “may seek to influence voter perceptions and decision making in the 2018 and 2020 U.S. elections.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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