Stefanik steps up concerns FBI downplaying Iranian ‘election interference’ – Washington Examiner
Elise Stefanik, the House Republican Conference Chairwoman, has raised alarms about the Biden administration allegedly minimizing Iranian efforts to interfere in the 2024 presidential election. As a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, she has expressed concern that the FBI is downplaying Iranian hacking attempts related to the Trump campaign, suggesting a political bias within the agency. She criticized the FBI for operating like “an arm of the Democrat Party” and indicated that the Biden administration had prior knowledge of Iranian hacks that suggested a potential effort to manipulate the election outcome. In August, it was revealed that Iranian hackers gained access to documents from the Trump campaign and shared them with Biden’s team, which led to calls from both Stefanik and others for the FBI to disclose more information regarding the hacking incident. Stefanik claims that nearly four months after the investigation began, the FBI is not providing basic information, implying that it may be concealing significant facts about the situation.
Stefanik steps up concerns FBI downplaying Iranian ‘election interference’
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is magnifying concerns that the Biden-Harris administration is playing political games with Iranian attempts to influence the 2024 presidential election.
As a senior member of the powerful House Intelligence Committee, Stefanik has worried that the Biden administration’s FBI is downplaying Iran’s move to hack former President Donald Trump due to political bias.
She increased pressure on the federal agency on Tuesday, saying, “The FBI has functioned like an arm of the Democrat Party,” in comments to Fox News Digital.
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“I believe there was politicization from the Biden-Kamala Harris administration, that they were notified prior to the Trump campaign to tip the scales,” she continued.
Near the beginning of August, the Trump campaign learned that Iranian hackers had distributed its documents gleaned from a data breach to President Joe Biden’s campaign in June and July when he was still running for reelection. Hackers then sent leaked materials, including a 271-page dossier about Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), to major media outlets. At the time of the revelations in August, the FBI had been aware of the hacking attempts for over a month and had launched an investigation into the matter back when the data breach started in June, per the Washington Post.
In a statement to the public in August, the FBI said: “The [intelligence community] is confident that the Iranians have through social engineering and other efforts sought access to individuals with direct access to the Presidential campaigns of both political parties.”
“Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the U.S. election process,” the agency continued as it noted that Iran is trying to shape the outcome of the presidential election.
Stefanik and other top political leaders, including Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), have helped lead calls demanding that the FBI reveal more about the extent, timing, and knowledge of Iran’s hack into the Trump campaign.
In August, Schiff argued that the agency “moved much too slow to properly identify the hacking and dumping scheme carried out by Russia” in previous elections and urged it to “act quickly here.”
But Stefanik said Wednesday that nearly four months after it opened its investigation, the FBI is still stonewalling “very basic, easy” questions about the Iranian hack.
“I’m one of the longest-serving members on the House Intelligence Committee. When the FBI won’t answer questions, it’s because you’ve hit on something and they’re hiding something. They are corrupt to the core,” she said.
Stefanik’s words come after she wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal suggesting that “anti-Trump political bias has corrupted the Biden administration’s FBI’s decision-making” regarding the Iranian data breach.
“Today, on the eve of the presidential election, the FBI is doubling down on its politicization and corruption,” Stefanik wrote on Sunday.
However, the FBI said it “does not play in partisan politics and has proactively informed victims of the threats posed by this regime while also publicly bringing attention to their actions.”
Iran is not the only foreign nation targeting U.S. presidential campaigns. A Chinese hacking campaign, dubbed the “Salt Typhoon,” has infiltrated the Trump and Harris campaigns. The FBI confirmed the data breach earlier this month, saying the Chinese hackers had also targeted congressional staffers for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), as well as other members of the Biden administration.
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