Ben Sasse: 2020 candidates need to know what’s ‘beyond the pale’ with hacked materials
"I think it would be helpful for us to have a shared understanding as we head into the 2020 election, of what campaign operatives should well understand is beyond the pale," the Nebraska Republican said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General William Barr.
Sasse said he believed that he doesn't think "campaigns really understand what the laws are" with receiving or using hacked materials. Sasse offered an example of the Chinese government potentially hacking 2020 candidates and noted that campaigns needed clarity from DOJ on how they should react.
Sasse also asked Barr if campaigns should receive regular counterintelligence briefings about the risk of foreign intelligence services seeking to have influence over candidates and campaigns.
"Absolutely," Barr replied.
The attorney general then elaborated, saying he believed the threat from "China, Russia and so forth is far more insidious than the past" and that most people are "unaware of how pervasive it is and what the risk level is."
Further, Barr said, the risk extends beyond campaigns and more people involved in government should be educated on the issue.
In the letter to the RNC's Ronna McDaniel, DNC Chairman Tom Perez pointed to a claim last month by President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani in which he said there is "nothing wrong with taking information from Russians."
Perez described this as an "affront" to American democracy.
"I urge you to join me in condemning the weaponization of stolen private data in our electoral process," Perez wrote.
A RNC spokesperson, quoting McDaniel, said, "Any breach of our political organizations -- regardless of party -- is an affront to all of us, and we should come together as Americans to prevent it from ever happening again. It's important we do all we can to safeguard our future elections."
Gloss