On Sunday, Congressional Democrats called for an intelligence report investigating the threat of foreign interference in the 2020 United States general election to be shown to the public. The officials said they have the right to be informed of the documents' details more than they had in 2016.
Russian interference
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the American people have the right to know what foreign entities, such as Russia, are doing to threaten the integrity of the United States and its political scene. Pelosi noted that citizens have the right to determine who their next president will be and not Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to USA Today, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, William Evanina, issues a statement on Friday that wrote foreign parties would continue to conduct both covert and overt influence methods to sway the preferences and perspectives of American voters to suit their agenda.
Evanina's statement added foreign states would also attempt to shift US policies, spread chaos and confusions within the country, and undermine the confidence of citizens that they have placed on the democratic process of voting.
The director said the primary concerns for foreign parties involved included China, Russia, and Iran. Evanina added Russia was conducting attempts to boost President Donald Trump's presidency while China and Iran were doing what they can to bring him down.
However, Pelosi said Russia's move to aid Trump's reelection was a more significant concern than the threat of China and Iran. The House Speaker said the threats were not equivalent and said Russia is continuously working to interfere with the US elections. Pelosi noted they did so in 2016 and are doing it once again and said China may be supporting Joe Biden but have not involved themselves as much as the Kremlin have.
Director Evanina's statement wrote that Russia is creating multiple networks that attempt to slander presidential candidate Biden. However, while the document did not detail the interference in specific terms, it said that some Kremlin-linked entities are working to showcase Trump's presidency on social media platforms and Russian television.
Multiple international threats
Robert O'Brien, Trump's national security adviser, said on Sunday that the US government is taking any threat to the general elections very seriously. The adviser noted China has been conducting cyberattacks and phishing attempts in relation to the US's election system, as reported by ABC News.
O'Brien said the US government would not stand for the threats and will take necessary actions to keep them out of the elections, whether it was China, Russia, or Iran.
Other Congressional Democrats, including Pelosi, have expressed their concern that several intelligence agencies have been keeping specific information from the public about the actual threat that foreign identities have on the US elections.
Senator Richard Blumenthal said the facts were horrifying, adding he believes American citizens have the right to be given the information and has called for the immediate declassification of the documents.
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