House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said in an interview on Hill.TV’s “Rising” on Thursday that Russia attempts to cyberattack the U.S. on a daily basis.
“I think what people need to realize is that the reason why we have a counterintelligence capability in this country is to ensure that our major adversaries … the high-value adversaries like China, Russia … even Iran, North Korea, these are adversaries who are actively targeting Americans every single day,” Nunes told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton on Wednesday.
“The place they look first are political organizations,” he continued. “Another place they look at is our defense infrastructure, financial sectors. These are all targets that are hit every single day, which is why the irony about all of this about the Russians stealing secrets from the Democratic Party is really not news.”
“The Russians are invading across the board into private companies to the highest levels of government. They are trying to attack this country on a daily basis.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller is in the process of probing Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election, including the hacking of Democratic organizations and leaking of information through WikiLeaks.
Mueller earlier this month announced the indictments of 12 Russian intelligence officers in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
The hacking operation reportedly started in March of that year and was carried out by two Russian intelligence units targeting cyber operations and leaking hacked information.
Mueller has now charged 32 people in his sprawling probe, five of whom — including three Trump associates — have pleaded guilty.
— Julia Manchester
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