A.G. Gancarski
Sen. Bill Nelson has been in the news in recent weeks for claiming that “Russians are in the records” of local supervisors of elections, and that they are “continuing” with tactics employed in 2016.
Gov. Rick Scott and Secretary of State Ken Detzner meanwhile have said there is no proof for the claim, with Scott wondering if/why Nelson has divulged classified information.
Detzner wrote a letter last week to Nelson asking for information, with Scott demanding that Nelson come clean. Detzner also wrote the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security with the same request.
FBI and DHS, on Tuesday, asserted there was no proof of current interference.
“We have now received their response, which continues to offer no evidence or information to corroborate Senator Nelson’s claims,” asserted the Secretary of State’s office.
“Secretary [Kirstjen] Nielsen and Director [Christopher] Wray are very clear in their response that ‘…we have not seen any new or ongoing compromises of state or local election infrastructure in Florida…’ The letter also made clear that, ‘DHS and the FBI will continue to notify any victim of a successful cyber intrusion into their election network in any jurisdiction nationwide’.”
The Nielsen/Wray letter doesn’t rule out the possibility of interference, asserting that “all 50 states and every local jurisdiction could be a potential target this election season, whether through malicious cyber operations or influence operations.”
As well, the letter notes that “Russian government actors have previously demonstrated the intent and capability to conduct malicious cyber operations.”
Regarding the letter from Detzner to Nelson, thus far there has been “zero response.”
Nelson spox Ryan Brown asserted that “there’s nothing in this letter that contradicts what Sen. Nelson said he was told a few months ago, and what he and Sen. [Marco] Rubio have tried to warn about in order to guard against Russian meddling in our elections.”
Brown also noted Scott’s politicization of the dust-up.
“The governor of Florida has a security clearance and could have quickly and directly received information, answers and posed any questions instead of engaging in these confusing and partisan histrionics of the past week.”
Gov. Scott, meanwhile, has offered a statement via his campaign.
“Late last night, DHS and the FBI confirmed once again that Russians have not penetrated our elections systems like Bill Nelson claimed a few weeks ago to reporters. We take threats like this very seriously and have made major investments to fight these types of attacks. Floridians are voting, with more than one million ballots already cast in our primary election,” Scott said.
“It is irresponsible and reckless that Bill Nelson would attempt to undermine the voters’ confidence in their county elections systems by making confusing statements while campaigning and then walking away with absolutely no explanation. Even worse, he’s done so with no evidence, potentially revealing classified information, and with a constantly shifting explanation for his bizarre remarks,” Scott added.
“Bill Nelson has either been deeply confused or very dishonest – and an alarming possibility exists that he is both on this issue. Bill Nelson’s confusion has caused chaos and he should be transparent with the state, Florida voters and the hardworking election supervisors about his unfortunate decision to undermine voters’ confidence in our election systems,” Scott concluded.
