FBI to brief Florida lawmakers on election hacking

The FBI will brief Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on election hacking that was detailed in the Mueller report.

Scott spokesman Chris Hartline told The Hill in a statement that “the FBI has reached out and is working on scheduling a briefing with Senator Scott in the next few weeks.”

DeSantis previously expressed frustration that Florida officials don’t know more about the incident.

“They won’t tell us which county it was, are you kidding me?” he said at a Thursday press conference in Miami. “Why would you have not said something immediately?”

Last week, Scott sent a letter to the FBI asking for evidence to corroborate hacking claims made in the Mueller report.

“It is my goal to have free and fair elections with zero fraud, which is why, as Governor, I invested millions of dollars in cyber security, hired additional cyber security staff, and secured election security grants for all 67 counties in Florida,” he said in the letter. “This is a very serious issue that needs the immediate attention of the FBI.”

Scott was serving as Florida’s governor at the time of the election.

The Mueller report, which was released in redacted form last week, said that Russia’s intelligence directorate, known as the GRU, sent “spearphishing” emails that contained malicious software to Florida country officials in charge of administering the 2016 election.