Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday he expects Russia will try to interfere in U.S. elections for decades to come, describing Moscow as having long presented a threat to American elections — not just in 2016.
Pompeo told The Hill’s editor-in-chief Bob Cusack that “of course” the Russians continue to represent a threat to U.S. elections. But he dismissed the notion that the threat is somehow new or more severe following Moscow’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election as detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
“It goes without saying they were a threat to our elections in 1974, they interfered in our elections in the ’80s,” Pompeo said during an event at the Council on Foreign Relations hosted by The Hill’s Newsmaker Series.