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Washington, D.C. – In January, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced the Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines (DETER) Act, legislation that would impose tough sanctions on Russia if it interferes in our democratic process in the future. The bill’s introduction comes as top U.S. officials and experts express growing concern that Russia will again attempt to disrupt upcoming U.S. elections:
 
“CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Russia will target U.S. mid-term elections later this year as part of the Kremlin’s attempt to influence domestic politics across the West, and warned the world had to do more to push back against Chinese meddling.” (CIA director expects Russia will try to target U.S. mid-term elections, Reuters, Guy Faulconbridge, 1/30/2018)

• “U.S. intelligence chief Pompeo said Russia had a long history of information campaigns and said its threat would not go away. Asked if Russia would try to influence the mid-term elections, he said: ‘Of course. I have every expectation that they will continue to try and do that.’” (CIA director expects Russia will try to target U.S. mid-term elections, Reuters, Guy Faulconbridge, 1/30/2018)

“Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that Russia is already trying to influence the U.S. midterm election, warning that it will be difficult for the United States to ‘pre-empt’ it.” (Tillerson warns U.S. is not ‘better prepared’ for new Russian election meddling, NBC News, Alex Johnson, 2/7/2018)

• “Tillerson said Russia was gearing up to meddle in the 2018 U.S. elections following the playbook it used in 2016.” (Tillerson warns U.S. is not ‘better prepared’ for new Russian election meddling, NBC News, Alex Johnson, 2/7/2018)

“‘The reality is that they also turn against Republicans,’ Fly said. … ‘No one in American politics is immune from the reach of these networks.’” (Tracking Shows Russian Meddling Efforts Evolving Ahead Of 2018 Midterms, NPR, Tim Mak, 2/8/2018)

• “Even on Capitol Hill, where bipartisanship is the exception rather than the rule, there’s a bipartisan understanding that Russia meddled in the American political process during the 2016 presidential election.” (Tracking Shows Russian Meddling Efforts Evolving Ahead Of 2018 Midterms, NPR, Tim Mak, 2/8/2018)

“[President] Bush … said there was clear evidence that the Russians had meddled but whether that affected the outcome of the election was another question.”(Russia meddled in U.S election, George W. Bush says, Reuters, Stanley Carvalho, 2/8/2018)

• “‘But they meddled and that is dangerous for democracy,’ he said, adding that Russia had done the same thing during the Cold War and was adept at trying to manipulate opinion in the United States and Europe.” (Russia meddled in U.S election, George W. Bush says, Reuters, Stanley Carvalho, 2/8/2018)

“Jeanette Manfra, the head of cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security, said …in 2016, ‘We saw a targeting of 21 states and an exceptionally small number of them were actually successfully penetrated.’” (Russians penetrated U.S. voter systems, top U.S. official says, NBC News, Cynthia McFadden,William M. Arkin, Kevin Monahan, 2/8/2018)