Political Quotes

“I rise today to introduce the Prevent Foreign Interference with Elections Act of 2019. This bill provides enhanced criminal penalties and additional safeguards to prevent foreign interference in our elections. To be clear, there are already laws on the books to prosecute those who interfere in U.S. elections. Indeed, Special Counsel Mueller charged Russian intelligence officers who hacked into U.S. computers and stole documents, for the purpose of interfering in the 2016 presidential elections. Special Counsel Mueller also charged the Russian Internet Research Agency and several of its employees for their role in the social media campaign that was designed to manipulate American voters. This bill, however, makes election interference a separate criminal offense. It makes clear that those who conspire with foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections will be punished appropriately for striking at the bedrock of our democracy, This bill does five main things. First, it explicitly makes it a crime to conspire with foreign nationals to interfere in U.S. elections. Interference can be accomplished through breaking a federal criminal law, such as committing fraud, or by hacking into someone's computer, or by violating federal, state, or local election laws. As I mentioned, this bill simply leaves no doubt that working with a foreign actor to commit these offenses with the goal of interfering in a U.S. election is a crime.…”