Russia tried to hijack the US election through “propaganda on steroids”, says a Democratic senator investigating alleged Kremlin political meddling.
As the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing opened, its Republican chairman also warned: “We are all targets of a sophisticated and capable adversary.”
US intelligence agencies believe Russia tried to help Donald Trump win in November by damaging Hillary Clinton.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin again flatly denied the allegations.
In the committee’s opening remarks, ranking Democrat Mark Warner said “Russia sought to hijack our democratic process” by employing a disinformation campaign on social media.
He described it as “Russian propaganda on steroids… designed to poison the national conversation in America”.
Warner said Thursday’s session would examine how Russia may have used technology to spread disinformation in the US, including the possible generation of fake news for voters in key states, such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Embarrassing “stolen information” was released through websites such as Wikileaks, Warner said, to “cause maximum damage to one candidate” – Hillary Clinton.
“They did this with an unprecedented level of sophistication,” he said.
Senator Marco Rubio told the panel that members of his former presidential campaign staff were unsuccessfully targeted by unknown Russian web addresses as recently as Wednesday.
Rubio’s campaign staff had previously been targeted in July 2016.
The lawmakers also suggested Russian influence may have affected Britain’s Brexit vote last year, and warned that forthcoming elections in France and Germany were the Kremlin’s next targets.
Committee chairman Richard Burr, a Republican, said “if we politicise this, our efforts will likely fail”.
But Clinton Watts, a homeland security expert testifying before the committee, said the Russians had successfully exploited US political divisions, reports the BBC.
“They win because they play both sides,” he said.
Watts said pro-Russian social media accounts continue to tweet at President Trump during times they know he is online, hoping he will read and cite fake news reports.
He also testified that several Russians tied to the investigation had been killed in recent months in Russia and in Western countries, adding “follow the dead bodies”.
Former National Security Agency director Keith Alexander also testified on Thursday, saying that Russia was attempting to drive a wedge between US political parties and “destroy our unity”.
Friday, 31 March 2017

Russia ‘tried to hijack US election’
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