Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) defended a senior intelligence official over an assessment released Friday that warned of foreign election interference from Russia, Iran and China.<\/p>\n
McConnell and Rubio also slammed Democrats for their statement claiming William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), of not going \u201cfar enough in alarming the American people” in the assessment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are disappointed by the statement from Senator [Chuck] Schumer, Senator [Mark] Warner, Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi, and Representative [Adam] Schiff about Bill Evanina,\u201d Rubio and McConnell said in a joint statement Sunday, referring to the statement released by the Democrats on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvanina is a career law enforcement and intelligence professional with extensive experience in counterintelligence. His reputation as a straight-shooter immune from politics is well-deserved,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n
The Republicans said that the U.S. is \u201csafer\u201d with Evanina and his team on watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe the statement baselessly impugns his character and politicized intelligence matters. Their manufactured complaint undercuts Director Evanina\u2019s nonpartisan public outreach to increase Americans\u2019 awareness of foreign influence campaigns right at the beginning of his efforts,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Evanina released a statement Friday\u00a0warning that<\/a>\u00a0Russia, Iran and China were targeting U.S. elections through disinformation and hacking efforts.<\/p>\n McConnell and Rubio said the threat still remains, but they are confident that the U.S. is \u201cfar better prepared than four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n