Last week President Donald Trump said Russia is no longer attacking America’s elections. This week he said he is concerned that Russia will interfere in this year’s elections, to help Democrats.
Tell all that to Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, a highly-respected but highly-vulnerable Senator seeking re-election in a highly-conservative state, in November.
“The Russian intelligence agency behind the 2016 election cyberattacks targeted Sen. Claire McCaskill as she began her 2018 re-election campaign in earnest,” The Daily Beast reports, citing its own forensic analysis. “That makes the Missouri Democrat the first identified target of the Kremlin’s 2018 election interference.”
“McCaskill, who has been highly critical of Russia over the years, is widely considered to be among the most vulnerable Senate Democrats facing re-election this year as Republicans hope to hold their slim majority in the Senate. In 2016, President Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by almost 20 points in the senator’s home state of Missouri,” The Daily beast notes.
Why?
“McCaskill has spoken out forcefully against Moscow, likening Russian election-meddling to ‘a form of warfare’ and calling Putin a thug and a bully.”
And if you’re wondering if this is another, “Russia, if you’re listening,” issue, The Daily Beast reports the hacking attempt occurred in August of 2017. “around the time of the hack attempt, Trump traveled to Missouri and chided McCaskill, telling the crowd to ‘vote her out of office.'”
Image by Kjetil Korslien via Flickr and a CC license