Hillary Clinton, a Democratic senator, and several journalists have said in the past week Russia hacked the United States in order to sway the election. According to President Barack Obama, this is not the case.
“What I can tell you is that the intelligence that I have seen gives me great confidence in their assessment that the Russians carried out this hack,” Obama said during a White House press conference Friday. The reporter asked, “Which hack?” And the president replied, “The hack of the DNC and the hack of John Podesta.” However, President Obama and news reports citing intelligence agencies have not claimed Russia attacked America. (RELATED: War Drums Sound Following Reports Of Russian Hacking To Influence Election)
Despite this, Maryland Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin said on CNN Sunday: “They have interfered in Europe, they’ve compromised the boundaries of European countries, they’ve attacked Europe institutions, and now they’ve attacked America.” He added, “We’ve got to take action.”
Failed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said something similar Thursday. “This is not just an attack on me and my campaign, although that may have added fuel to it. This is an attack against our country. We are well beyond normal political concerns here. This is about the integrity of our democracy and the security of our nation,” Clinton said.
Journalists have been repeating similar claims. Author Doris Kearns Goodwin on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” CNN commentator Kayleith McEnany, Fox News’s Julie Roginsky, and a local broadcaster in New York all said in the past week that “Russia hacked us.”
There was no pushback from the NBC, CNN, and Fox News panels against the idea “Russia hacked us.”
In the form of headlines, the Russian hacking the U.S. narrative also exists. On Wednesday, Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said, “I want [Rex Tillerson] to be briefed by the FBI and the CIA and I want to hear from him if he believes the Russians tried to interfere in our election. If he doesn’t believe that, I would have a hard time voting for him.”
The Hill ran the headline: “Graham: Tillerson must say Russia hacked US to earn his confirmation vote.”