Homeland Security Finally Admits 21 State Election Systems Were Hacked By Russia (DETAILS)

Even though the Trump administration continues to stonewall and lie about Russian efforts to undermine the 2016 election, a new report from Politico says that the Department of Homeland Security has notified 21 states that Russian hackers targeted their election systems a year ago.

According to Politico:

“DHS notified the Secretary of State or other chief election officer in each state of any potential targeting we were aware of in their state leading up to the 2016 election.

“Democratic lawmakers have pressed DHS for months to tell states if they were targeted as part of what intelligence officials said was a Kremlin-ordered campaign to undermine the 2016 U.S. elections. The department resisted, saying it regularly kept victim information secret when it worked with partners in various critical infrastructure sectors, such as banking or health care.”

And this hacking took place on multiple fronts:

“In addition to probing state election systems, U.S. officials say Russian hackers are responsible for stealing and strategically leaking internal documents from the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign in an effort to help elect President Donald Trump.”

The states which were potentially compromised, DHS revealed, are:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Homeland Security was quick to assure voters that no vote counting systems were affected, but considering that they’ve had this information since June and waited to release it at the end of September, the veracity of the department–especially under a Trump administration–seems questionable.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner (D), who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee which is investigating the Russia matter, said he was disappointed it took so long for DHS to inform states that were targeted by hackers:

“It’s unacceptable that it took almost a year after the election to notify states that their elections systems were targeted, but I’m relieved that DHS has acted upon our numerous request.

“We have to do better in the future. Our elections are the bedrock of our democracy, and DHS needs to notify states and localities in real-time when their systems are targeted.”

Friday evening at a political rally in Alabama, President Trump again tried to downplay Russian interference in the election and any role he or others in the administration might have had in the matter, calling it a “hoax.” Which only serves to raise more questions about the legitimacy of this president.

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