Democrats seize on Mueller hearings in election security push

Democrats calling for action on election security legislation got a boost from Robert Mueller this week after the former special counsel issued a dire warning to lawmakers about Russia’s intentions for 2020.

Mueller emphasized during Wednesday’s hearings that in addition to interfering in the 2016 presidential election, the Kremlin is laying the groundwork “as we sit here” for a repeat performance next year.

Interference in the last presidential election did not consist of a “single attempt,” but instead entailed a large social media disinformation campaign and hacking operations, the former FBI director said.

“Over the course of my career, I've seen a number of challenges to our democracy. The Russian government's effort to interfere in our election is among the most serious.”

Mueller’s 448-page report, released in April, detailed how Russian actors hacked into the Democratic National Committee, engineered a social media disinformation campaign that favored President Trump and conducted “computer intrusion operations” against those working on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Democratic presidential campaign.

Those findings were bolstered Thursday when the Senate Intelligence Committee released the first volume of its lengthy investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The panel found that “the Russian government directed extensive activity, beginning in at least 2014 and carrying into at least 2017, against U.S. election infrastructure at the state and local level.”

Senate Democrats made quick use of Mueller's remarks by pushing for passage of long-stalled election security bills.

On Wednesday night, just a few hours after the Mueller hearings, Democratic Sens. Mark Warner (Va.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) went to the Senate floor to seek unanimous consent to pass various election security measures.