Sunday, August 2, 2020
Biden eyes major foreign policy shifts if he wins
Idiot for president, really ?? |
WASHINGTON
(AP) — Should former Vice President Joe Biden win the White House in
November, America will likely be in for a foreign policy about-face as
Biden reverses, dismantles or severely curtails many of President Donald
Trump’s most significant and boldest actions.
From
the Middle East to Asia, Latin America to Africa and, particularly,
Europe, and on issues including trade, terrorism, arms control and
immigration, the presumptive Democratic nominee and his advisers have
vowed to unleash a tsunami of change in how the U.S. handles itself in
the international arena.
With
few exceptions, Americans could expect Biden to re-engage with
traditional allies. Where the iconoclastic Trump has used blunt threats
and insults to press his case, Biden, a former senator, would be more
inclined to seek common ground.
Historically,
U.S. foreign policy hasn’t changed drastically as the presidency
shifted between Democratic and Republican administrations. Allies and
adversaries stayed the same and a non-partisan diplomatic corps pursued
American interests.
That
changed with Trump. Under his “America First” policy, he viewed both
allies and the foreign policy establishment with suspicion, while
speaking warmly of adversaries like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and
Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
But
Trump found it hard to make swift changes. Academics often say that
American foreign policy is like an aircraft carrier: easy to order a
wholesale change of direction from the bridge but far more difficult and
time-consuming to alter course.
Trump
saw that when he was unable to extricate the U.S. from the Iran nuclear
deal for more than year. His well-publicized withdrawals from the Paris
Climate Accord and the World Health Organization won’t actually become
final until after the Nov. 3 election, if ever. His decision to redeploy
thousands of troops from Germany could take years.
Trump’s
initial problems may have reflected a lack of governmental experience
by both him and his top advisers. That created a steep learning curve
that was complicated by their intense distrust of national security
institutions.
Biden, with his Senate and White House experience, may be better positioned to deliver on change swiftly.
Biden told reporters Tuesday in Delaware that he knows “how to get things done internationally.”
“I
understand the national security and intelligence issues,” he said.
“That’s what I’ve done my whole life. Trump has no notion of it. None.”
Biden’s
campaign also has assembled an experienced team of foreign policy
advisers: Jake Sullivan served as deputy assistant to President Barack
Obama and policy planning director at the State Department. Nicholas
Burns had high-level foreign policy positions under Presidents George W.
Bush and Bill Clinton. Tony Blinken was deputy secretary of state and
deputy national security adviser to Obama.
Susan
Rice, national security adviser and U.N. ambassador under Obama, is a
finalist for vice president. If she isn’t selected, she could become a
key adviser if Biden wins.
The Trump campaign casts Biden’s foreign policy experience as a weakness.
“Joe
Biden’s record of appeasement and globalism would be detrimental for
American foreign policy and national security, and after decades of the
status quo, President Trump has made it clear that the United States
will no longer be taken advantage of by the rest of the world,” deputy
press secretary Ken Farnaso said in a statement.
For
decades, the first and often only foreign policy shift that new
presidents of both parties directed on their first day in office, and
Trump was no exception, was abortion-related.
Like
clockwork, Republicans enacted the so-called “Mexico City” language —
known by opponents as the “global gag rule” — to prohibit the use of
U.S. foreign assistance for abortion-related services. Democrats
rescinded it and should Biden win, he has promised to follow suit.
But
he’s also pledged to demolish other Trump policies on Day One. They
include reversing Trump’s ban on immigration from mainly Muslim
countries, restoring U.S. funding and membership to the WHO and halting
efforts to oppose the Paris Climate Accord. He’s promised to call top
NATO leaders and declare of U.S. foreign policy, “We’re back” while
convening a summit of major heads of state in his first year.
One
area that will require more nuance is China, which Trump has placed at
the top of his foreign policy agenda and on which he has painted Biden
as weak.
After
previously boasting of warm ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Trump
has relentlessly attacked China, blaming it for the coronavirus outbreak
that threatens his reelection prospects.
Biden
has been slower to directly criticize Trump’s recent actions against
China, but his campaign questions whether the president will eventually
undermine his administration’s tough actions of late by personally
striking softer tones toward Beijing
“The
administration has a history of talking very loudly but not producing
results,” said Jeff Prescott, a campaign foreign policy adviser,
Biden
also has said he would immediately restore daily press briefings at the
White House, State Department and Pentagon, events once deemed critical
to communicate U.S. policy that the Trump administration has all but
abandoned.
Biden and his surrogates say they intend to act quickly on the following:
-
Middle East: Restore assistance to the Palestinian Authority that the
Trump administration has eliminated as well as to agencies that support
Palestinian refugees. Biden hasn’t said he will reverse Trump’s
recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital or return the embassy to
Tel Aviv.
-
United Nations: Restore U.S. membership in U.N. agencies such as the
U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and possibly the
U.N. Human Rights Council.
-
Europe: Tone down rhetoric Trump has used to berate and insult European
allies. Biden can be expected to try to warm relations among NATO
partners.
- Africa: Try to raise America’s profile on the continent, which has become a new battleground for competition with China.
-
Asia: Revert to a traditional U.S. stance supporting the presence of
American troops in Japan and South Korea. Biden has also criticized
Trump’s personal relationship with Kim.
-
Latin America: Cancel Trump administration agreements that sent
asylum-seeking immigrants to Mexico and other countries while they await
court dates. Biden has also promised to divert funding away from the
southern border wall and use it on other priorities, though the Trump
campaign notes that the former vice president in past comments hasn’t
committed to halting all new border wall construction. Biden also wants
to restart Obama-era engagement with Cuba.
___
Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
Despite virus threat, Black voters wary of voting by mail
DETROIT
(AP) — Despite fears that the coronavirus pandemic will worsen, Victor
Gibson said he’s not planning to take advantage of Michigan’s expanded
vote-by-mail system when he casts his ballot in November.
The
retired teacher from Detroit just isn’t sure he can trust it. Many
Black Americans share similar concerns and are planning to vote in
person on Election Day, even as mail-in voting expands to more states as
a safety precaution during the pandemic.
For
many, historical skepticism of a system that tried to keep Black people
from the polls and worries that a mailed ballot won’t get counted
outweigh the prospect of long lines and health dangers from a virus
that’s disproportionately affected communities of color. Ironically,
suspicion of mail-in voting aligns with the views of President Donald
Trump, whom many Black voters want out of office.
Trump
took it a step further Tuesday, suggesting a “delay” to the Nov. 3
presidential election — which would take an act of Congress — as he made
unsubstantiated allegations in a tweet that increased mail-in voting
will result in fraud.
“I
would never change my mind” about voting in person in November, said
Gibson, who is Black and hopes Trump loses. “I always feel better
sliding my ballot in. We’ve heard so many controversies about missing
absentee ballots.”
Decades
of disenfranchisement are at the heart of the uneasy choice facing
Black voters, one of the Democratic Party’s most important voting
groups. Widespread problems with mail-in ballots during this year’s
primary elections have added to the skepticism at a time when making
Black voices heard has taken on new urgency during a national reckoning
over racial injustice.
Patricia
Harris of McDonough, Georgia, south of Atlanta, voted in person in the
primary and said she will do the same in November.
“I
simply do not trust mail-in or absentee ballots,” said Harris, 73, a
retired event coordinator at Albany State University. “After the primary
and the results were in, there were thousands of absentee ballots not
counted.”
In
Georgia, roughly 12,500 mail-in ballots were rejected in the state’s
June primary, while California tossed more than 100,000 absentee ballots
during its March primary.
Reasons
vary, from ballots being received after the deadline to voters’
signatures not matching the one on file with the county clerk. Multiple
studies show mail-in ballots from Black voters, like those from Latino
and young voters, are rejected at a higher rate than those of white
voters.
In
Wisconsin’s April primary, thousands of voters in Milwaukee said they
didn’t receive absentee ballots in time and had to vote in person. Lines
stretched several blocks, and people waited two hours or more.
In Kentucky’s June primary, more than 8,000 absentee ballots were rejected in Jefferson County, which includes Louisville.
Many
people in Louisville’s historically Black West End neighborhood voted
in person because they didn’t receive an absentee ballot or simply
wanted to vote in a way that was familiar to them, said Arii
Lynton-Smith, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Louisville.
“That’s
particularly why we knew we had to have the poll rides as an option,”
she said, referring to groups offering voters free transportation to
polling places. “It’s not as easy to do an absentee ballot and the
things that come along with it than it is to just go in person.”
Mistrust by Black voters runs deep and is tightly bound within the nation’s dark past of slavery and institutional racism.
Black
people endured poll taxes, tossed ballots, even lynchings by whites
intent on keeping them from voting. Over the decades, that led to a deep
suspicion of simply handing off a ballot to the post office. Black
people were the demographic least likely to cast votes by mail in 2018,
with only 11% using that method, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By
comparison, 24% of whites and 27% of Latinos reported voting by mail
that year.
“For
Black folks, voting is almost like a social pride because of the way
they were denied in the past,” said Ben Barber, a researcher and writer
for the Institute for Southern Studies in Durham, North Carolina.
Among
the places where Black voters say they have had to overcome
institutional obstacles is Shelby County, Tennessee, which includes
Memphis. In the past, voters have received ballots for the wrong
district, and groups have sued to challenge the security of electronic
voting machines, invalidation of voter registration forms and failure to
open polling places near predominantly Black neighborhoods.
The
Rev. Earle Fisher, senior pastor at Abyssinian Missionary Baptist
Church in Memphis and a prominent Black civil rights activist, is one of
the plaintiffs in a state lawsuit calling for mail-voting access for
everyone. He said he’s not pushing his community to vote by mail but
wants to ensure it’s an option given the health dangers.
To
ease doubts, he wants voters to be able to drop off their ballot at a
polling place so they won’t have to worry about the post office
delivering it on time.
“I
would like to see every righteous and creative method and measure
taken, but we are up against a voter suppression apparatus that
oftentimes is orchestrated by, or at least sustained by, people who are
elected or appointed to office,” Fisher said.
Trump has made clear he believes widespread mail-in voting
would benefit Democrats. He has alleged — without citing evidence —
that it will lead to massive fraud, and the Republican National
Committee has budgeted $20 million to fight Democratic lawsuits in at
least 18 states aimed at expanding voting by mail.
The
extent to which Black voters adopt it in November is likely to be
dictated by the coronavirus. As infections surge, there are signs more
Black voters may be willing to consider the option. In Detroit, for
example, about 90,000 requests for mail-in ballots have been made so far
— the most ever, City Clerk Janice Winfrey said.
How
well the option is promoted also is important. In 2018, Democrat Stacey
Abrams’ campaign mailed 1.6 million absentee ballot requests to Georgia
voters during her unsuccessful bid for governor, emphasizing that it
was a safe, easy way to vote.
Record
numbers of Black voters voted by mail in that election. That shows they
will embrace the process if they hear from friends and family that it
works, said Lauren Groh-Wargo, Abrams’ campaign manager.
NAACP
President Derrick Johnson praised how Abrams was able to bridge that
gap but said this year is different. The model can’t be replicated
nationwide before Nov. 3, he said.
“Stacey
did a good job in the four years leading up to 2018 to build out a
program to get it done,” Johnson said. “The runway between now and
November isn’t long enough to get it done.”
___
Associated
Press writers Piper Hudspeth Blackburn in Frankfort, Kentucky; Nicholas
Riccardi in Denver; and Adrian Sainz in Memphis contributed to this
story.
Mark Levin slams Democrats for treatment of AG Barr, calls Obama a 'pathological liar'
"Life, Liberty and Levin" host Mark Levin appeared on "Watters' World" Saturday and criticized Democrats for their treatment of Attorney General William Barr during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, calling it a "disgrace."
"I've
never seen a senior official of any administration ever treated like
that," Levin said. "This hearing should have been [about] how do we come
together as a nation to put down rioters who were trying to overthrow
the country. Marxists, anarchists, whether they're Black Lives Matter or
Antifa. But that's not how it works. The Democrat Party is all in on
this radical hardcore agenda. And so they're beating up on the attorney
general."
During the hearing, Barr clashed with several Democratic committee members who asked him questions only to cut him off when he tried to answer. At one point, he sarcastically described Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., as "a real class act" after Nadler initially denied Barr a five-minute break.
Levin said Democrats are "trying to soften him up and ruin his reputation when that information comes out" from U.S. attorney John Durham's investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.
The host also had strong words for former President Barack Obama's speech at the funeral of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., where accused President Trump of voter suppression.
"Look, Barack Obama is a pathological liar. They're trying to set the stage for a close election of one or two battleground states, that it's systemic racism," Levin said. "They've been laying this foundation for months and months and months."
Levin blamed Obama for the nation's racial divide.
"You're one of the great reasons in this country where there is a huge racial divide. And you could have been a great leader," Levin said. "You could have a great leader, the American people of all races. But you couldn't put aside your community activism."
During the hearing, Barr clashed with several Democratic committee members who asked him questions only to cut him off when he tried to answer. At one point, he sarcastically described Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., as "a real class act" after Nadler initially denied Barr a five-minute break.
Levin said Democrats are "trying to soften him up and ruin his reputation when that information comes out" from U.S. attorney John Durham's investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.
The host also had strong words for former President Barack Obama's speech at the funeral of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., where accused President Trump of voter suppression.
"Look, Barack Obama is a pathological liar. They're trying to set the stage for a close election of one or two battleground states, that it's systemic racism," Levin said. "They've been laying this foundation for months and months and months."
"You're one of the great reasons in this country where there is a huge racial divide. And you could have been a great leader," Levin said. "You could have a great leader, the American people of all races. But you couldn't put aside your community activism."
Susan Rice's 'Benghazi baggage,' F-bombs would make her 'lightning rod' as Biden VP pick
Former national security adviser Susan Rice would be a “human lightning rod” if selected to be Democrat Joe Biden’s running mate, a Washington Post columnist wrote Friday.
Rice, who is reported to be among the shrinking list of Biden vice presidential contenders, has the advantage of a longstanding close relationship with the former vice president, unlike any of the other names on the list.
But Biden's want for “familiarity and comfort” are luxuries the nation doesn’t have time for in this singular time of crisis, Post columnist Dana Milbank writes.
Despite Rice’s impressive resume -- Rhodes scholar, Oxford, U.N ambassador, national security adviser -- she has serious Benghazi baggage and a polarizing ability to make fast enemies. She had to withdraw from consideration as former President Barack Obama's secretary of state because she was unlikely to get the Senate confirmation votes, Milbank writes.
If she joined the Biden ticket, Milbank writes, she would be a distraction for the Democrats in a time when voters want calm -- and would be an easy target for Republicans.
Then-national security adviser Susan Rice listens to reporters questions during a news briefing at the White House in Washington, March 21, 2014. (Associated Press)
“It’d be a good move for Republicans,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., agreed last week. “I don’t think she’ll wear well over time.”
Milbank notes that Rice has been known to be unpleasant in interpersonal situations.
"Her F-bombs are legend," he writes, and has rarely refrained from using other rude language or gestures when criticizing political opponents.
She once referred to Graham as a "piece of sh--," during a popular podcast, and once raised her middle finger to Richard Holbrooke, a former U.S. diplomat who died in 2010, Milbank recounts.
But the author says he was more concerned about Rice after hearing hesitancy to support her from among her former Obama administration colleagues.
“It was the latest reminder that Rice has a history of turning allies and opponents alike into enemies,” he writes.
Rice is also the only serious candidate for the position who hasn’t run for elected office.
Milbank concludes that Biden should make use of her experience if he wins the White House – just not as vice president.
“Biden’s greatest appeal is the hope of relief he offers from government-by-insult and rule-by-rage,” he adds. “He shouldn’t squander it.”
Biden said Tuesday he will announce his running mate this week.
Biden has pledged to choose a woman as his running mate and is vetting several women of color as racial injustice protests continue across the country.
Other women in consideration include Sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Karen Bass.
Rice, who is reported to be among the shrinking list of Biden vice presidential contenders, has the advantage of a longstanding close relationship with the former vice president, unlike any of the other names on the list.
But Biden's want for “familiarity and comfort” are luxuries the nation doesn’t have time for in this singular time of crisis, Post columnist Dana Milbank writes.
Despite Rice’s impressive resume -- Rhodes scholar, Oxford, U.N ambassador, national security adviser -- she has serious Benghazi baggage and a polarizing ability to make fast enemies. She had to withdraw from consideration as former President Barack Obama's secretary of state because she was unlikely to get the Senate confirmation votes, Milbank writes.
If she joined the Biden ticket, Milbank writes, she would be a distraction for the Democrats in a time when voters want calm -- and would be an easy target for Republicans.
Then-national security adviser Susan Rice listens to reporters questions during a news briefing at the White House in Washington, March 21, 2014. (Associated Press)
“It’d be a good move for Republicans,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., agreed last week. “I don’t think she’ll wear well over time.”
Milbank notes that Rice has been known to be unpleasant in interpersonal situations.
"Her F-bombs are legend," he writes, and has rarely refrained from using other rude language or gestures when criticizing political opponents.
She once referred to Graham as a "piece of sh--," during a popular podcast, and once raised her middle finger to Richard Holbrooke, a former U.S. diplomat who died in 2010, Milbank recounts.
But the author says he was more concerned about Rice after hearing hesitancy to support her from among her former Obama administration colleagues.
“It was the latest reminder that Rice has a history of turning allies and opponents alike into enemies,” he writes.
Rice is also the only serious candidate for the position who hasn’t run for elected office.
Milbank concludes that Biden should make use of her experience if he wins the White House – just not as vice president.
“Biden’s greatest appeal is the hope of relief he offers from government-by-insult and rule-by-rage,” he adds. “He shouldn’t squander it.”
Biden said Tuesday he will announce his running mate this week.
Biden has pledged to choose a woman as his running mate and is vetting several women of color as racial injustice protests continue across the country.
Other women in consideration include Sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Karen Bass.
Saturday, August 1, 2020
Trump says he’ll act to ban TikTok in US as soon as Saturday
NEW
YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump said he will take action as soon as
Saturday to ban TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video app that has been a
source of national security and censorship concerns.
Trump’s
comments came after published reports that the administration is
planning to order China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok. There were also
reports Friday that software giant Microsoft is in talks to buy the app.
“As
far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,”
Trump told reporters Friday on Air Force One as he returned from
Florida.
Trump
said he could use emergency economic powers or an executive order to
enforce the action, insisting, “I have that authority.” He added, “It’s
going to be signed tomorrow.”
Reports by Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal
citing anonymous sources said the administration could soon announce a
decision ordering ByteDance to divest its ownership in TikTok.
There
have been reports of U.S. tech giants and financial firms being
interested in buying or investing in TikTok as the Trump administration
sets its sights on the app. The New York Times and Fox Business, citing
an unidentified source, reported Friday that Microsoft is in talks to buy TikTok. Microsoft declined to comment.
TikTok
issued a statement Friday saying that, “While we do not comment on
rumors or speculation, we are confident in the long-term success of
TikTok.”
ByteDance
launched TikTok in 2017, then bought Musical.ly, a video service
popular with teens in the U.S. and Europe, and combined the two. A twin
service, Douyin, is available for Chinese users.
TikTok’s fun, goofy videos and ease of use has made it immensely popular,
and U.S. tech giants like Facebook and Snapchat see it as a competitive
threat. It has said it has tens of millions of U.S. users and hundreds
of millions globally.
But
its Chinese ownership has raised concerns about the censorship of
videos, including those critical of the Chinese government, and the
potential for sharing user data with Chinese officials.
TikTok
maintains it doesn’t censor videos based on topics sensitive to China
and it would not give the Chinese government access to U.S. user data
even if asked. The company has hired a U.S. CEO, a former top Disney executive, in an attempt to distance itself from its Chinese ownership.
ADVERTISEMENT
U.S.
national-security officials have been reviewing the Musical.ly
acquisition in recent months, while U.S. armed forces have banned their
employees from installing TikTok on government-issued phones. Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo said earlier this month that the U.S. was
considering banning TikTok.
These
national-security worries parallel a broader U.S. security crackdown on
Chinese companies, including telecom providers Huawei and ZTE. The
Trump administration has ordered that the U.S. stop funding equipment from those providers in U.S. networks.
It has also tried to steer allies away from Huawei because of worries
about the Chinese government’s access to data, which the company has
denied it has.
The Trump administration has stepped in before to block or dissolve deals on national-security concerns, including stopping Singapore’s Broadcom
from its $117 billion bid for U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm in 2018 in an
effort to help retain U.S. leadership in the telecom space. It also told
China’s Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. to sell off its 2016 purchase of gay
dating app Grindr.
Other countries are also taking action against TikTok. India this month banned dozens of Chinese apps, including TikTok, citing privacy concerns, amid tensions between the countries.
___
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking aboard Air Force One and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
Foreign threats loom ahead of US presidential election
NEW
YORK (AP) — As the Nov. 3 presidential vote nears, there are fresh
signs that the nation’s electoral system is again under attack from
foreign adversaries.
Intelligence
officials confirmed in recent days that foreign actors are actively
seeking to compromise the private communications of “U.S. political
campaigns, candidates and other political targets” while working to
compromise the nation’s election infrastructure. Foreign entities are
also aggressively spreading disinformation intended to sow voter
confusion heading into the fall.
There
is no evidence that America’s enemies have yet succeeded in penetrating
campaigns or state election systems, but Democrat Joe Biden’s
presidential campaign confirmed this week that it has faced multiple
related threats.
The former vice president’s team was reluctant to reveal specifics for fear of giving adversaries useful intelligence.
Because
of such secrecy, at least in part, foreign interference largely remains
an afterthought in the 2020 contest, even as Republicans and Democrats
alike concede it poses a serious threat that could fundamentally reshape
the election at any moment. Biden’s campaign is increasingly concerned
that pro-Russian sources have already shared disinformation about
Biden’s family with President Donald Trump’s campaign and his Republican
allies on Capitol Hill designed to hurt the Democratic candidate in the
days leading up to the election.
When
asked directly, the Trump campaign refused to say whether it had
accepted materials from any foreign nationals related to Biden. Trump
was impeached last year after being caught pressuring Ukrainian leaders
to produce damaging information about work Biden’s son did in the
region, even though repeated allegations of corruption against the
Bidens have been widely discredited.
Wisconsin
Sen. Ron Johnson, a key Trump ally and chair of the Senate Homeland
Security Committee, denied having accepted any damaging materials on
Biden from foreign nationals even after at least one Ukranian national,
Oleksandr Onyshchenko, told The Washington Post he had shared tapes and
transcripts with Johnson’s committee and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani. House
Democrats announced Friday they have subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo for documents he turned over to Johnson’s panel.
“It
does a disservice to our election security efforts when Democrats use
the threat of Russian disinformation as a weapon to cast doubt on
investigations they don’t like,” Johnson spokesperson Austin Altenburg
said.
The
2020 campaigns and party committees have been receiving regular
briefings from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center,
whose director, Bill Evanina, released a rare public statement last week
confirming Russia’s continued work to meddle in the U.S. election.
Evanina
said that Russia, as part of an effort to weaken the U.S. and its
global standing, has been spreading disinformation to undermine
confidence in American democracy and “to denigrate what it sees as an
anti-Russia ‘establishment’ in America.”
The
threat is not limited to Russia. China, a target of escalating
condemnation across the Trump administration in recent weeks, has been
looking for ways to affect American policy, counter criticism of Beijing
and pressure political figures it views as opposed to Chinese
interests, Evanina said, while Iran has been involved in circulating
disinformation and anti-American content online.
Trump’s
team reported no specific foreign threats against the president’s
campaign, but campaign general counsel Matthew Morgan highlighted the
Republican Party’s yearslong effort to install various voter ID
requirements across the country — including photo verification,
signature matching and witness requirements — as an important tool to
block foreign interference.
“Contrary
to their narrative, the Democrats’ efforts to tear these safeguards
apart — as they sue in 18 states across the nation — would open our
election system up to foreign interference,” Morgan said. “That’s why
we’re fighting back — to protect the sanctity of our election system.”
Despite
Morgan’s argument, there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in
U.S. politics, whether by American voters or foreign nationals.
And
there is no evidence, as Trump repeatedly charges, that an increased
reliance on mail balloting this fall leaves the electoral system
particularly vulnerable to outside meddling. The president pointed to
those baseless claims this week to suggest delaying the election,
something that can’t be done without support in Congress, where
Democrats and Republicans alike rejected the notion.
There
is ample evidence, however, that foreign powers are trying to sow
confusion by spreading misinformation in addition to seeking to hack
into political campaigns, as Evanina said last week.
Former
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, a Republican, described Trump’s
warnings about mail voting “absurd” and “ridiculous.”
“He
should be far more forceful and far more direct in condemning foreign
interference,” Ridge said in an interview. “The enemy is not within.”
Foreign interference played a significant role in the 2016 election, of course.
U.S.
intelligence agencies determined that Russian operatives seeking to
boost Trump’s campaign hacked into the Democratic National Committee’s
servers and later shared damaging messages with WikiLeaks while running a
covert social media campaign aimed at sowing discord among American
voters.
All told,
the Justice Department charged 25 Russian nationals in a covert effort
to spread disinformation on social media and in the hacking of
Democratic emails. While Trump has downplayed the threat of Russian
meddling, he authorized a 2018 cyberattack against the Russian troll
farm known as the Internet Research Agency.
Lest
there be any doubt about continued foreign interference in 2020, U.S.
officials confirmed this week that Russian intelligence services have
been using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation
about the politically charged coronavirus pandemic.
Virginia
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence
Committee, said in an interview that foreign adversaries “never stopped
trying to interfere with our election process.”
He
noted that the foreign meddling includes some new tactics compared to
2016. He noted, for example, that the Internet Research Agency is
operating under a different name.
Warner
declined to be more specific about 2020 interference, which has been
discussed in classified briefings. He said he has a “huge concern” that
voters don’t appreciate the true nature of the threat.
“The
idea that we could be headed into Labor Day without the American public
being officially put on notice seems grossly inappropriate,” Warner
said.
___
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.
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