Trump officials refuse to say whether Trump has even been briefed on election security

Despite his party’s lack of action on election security legislation, Trump appears not to have had a comprehensive election security briefing for the upcoming elections.

At a Congressional briefing Wednesday, House lawmakers pressed Trump officials on whether he has received such a briefing, to which they refused to answer, according to CNN, who cited five sources. The report said the officials, who were not named, sidestepped the question and claimed Trump receives regular briefings. 

Without a comprehensive briefing on election security, Trump may not fully know the depth of foreign attempts to hack U.S. elections. But such ignorance is not surprising coming from someone who said he would happily accept politically damaging information about his 2020 opponents from foreign actors.

And such election attacks are already underway.

In the same briefing, Trump officials, including the head of the FBI, “made it clear there are active threats,” AP reported, quoting Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) She stressed that the threats need to be taken seriously. 

However, Trump isn’t the only one to blame for mishandling election security. 

Democrats have already passed legislation in the House that would strengthen election system infrastructure and improve voting rights, but the bill has been dead in the Senate, thanks to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. 

McConnell has claimed the legislation would give too much control of local and state elections to the federal government. However, according to other reports, McConnell refuses to consider the legislation as discussing election security makes Trump feel insecure regarding his 2016 victory. 

Choosing to protect Trump’s feelings over protecting our democracy is apparently one hill McConnell is willing to die on.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.