Nancy Pelosi says Kremlin threat to November election far greater than China: 'Russia is interfering 24/7'
While the run-up to the 2016 presidential election saw serious allegations of Russia meddling in it, the pre-election period in 2020 has seen even worse. The US' intelligence community has recently come up with the alert that a number of countries are threatening the upcoming election and these include Russia, China and Iran. While Russia has been accused of conspiring to see Democrat Joe Biden lose, the other two nations are allegedly in favor of seeing the end of incumbent president Donald Trump's stay in office.
That White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien on Sunday, August 9, warned that any country trying to meddle in the upcoming election will face "severe consequences" makes it evident that Washington is indeed cautious to contain foreign interference in the big election.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has now spoken up on the matter saying the decision on who becomes the next president may not be entirely in the hands of the voters. On Sunday, August 9, the veteran Democratic Congresswoman expressed fear over the role Moscow is playing and differentiated the threat it posed compared to those by Beijing and Tehran. "Russia is active, 24/7 interfering in our election," Pelosi said on CNN's State of the Union program. "They did so in 2016 and they are doing so now."
'China not really involved in presidential election'
According to the 80-year-old California lawmaker, China is suspected to prefer Biden to win the November poll but its election interference threat is "not equivalent". Even during a talk on Fox News Sunday, Pelosi downplayed concerns that China is trying to meddle in the election.
“They try to blanket it with the Chinese, they said, prefer Biden — we don't know that, but that's what they're saying, but they're not really getting involved in the presidential election," she said. The Trump campaign has tried to show Biden as one who is more sympathetic towards China even as the president and his aides have accused it of misleading the world on the coronavirus pandemic that originated on its soil and has infected more than five million in the US.
The intelligence report said Russia is trying a "range of measures" to try and denigrate the presumptive Democratic nominee and what the country sees as an "anti-Russia establishment". It was also alleged that actors linked to the Kremlin were eager to boost Trump's chances of returning to office through disinformation on social media and the country’s television.
In the 2016 election season, Russia was accused of working in favor of Trump’s win that would have put Hillary Clinton, also a Democrat and known for her strong views against Russian President Vladimir Putin, away from power. Trump, on the other hand, has been accused of being soft on Putin and his country even though he has claimed that he has been tougher on Moscow than any of his predecessors.
Pelosi said she believes Russia poses the biggest threat to the upcoming election and more information about its plans for the same needs to come out. The intelligence community's findings got a bipartisan appreciation in the Senate and its select committee on intelligence expected the intelligence and administration to continue with the engagement with the people as the high-profile election nears.
"As long as they tell the whole story about Russia, then they can hide it any way they want," Pelosi, one of the most vehement critics of Trump, said, adding: "This is our sacred right, this is our elections, and in every way, we must make sure the American people remove obstacles of participation and obstacles in terms of intelligence to make sure they know what’s at stake."
Trump recently faced flak at home for allegedly doing little against Russia despite media revelations that the latter offered money to Taliban extremists for killing American troops deployed in Afghanistan.