Citing investigations by the US Senate and the US intelligence community about foreign in interference in the 2016 presidential election by Russia, presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden has issued a statement that he would consider such interference as an “adversarial act.”
Today, I am putting the Kremlin and other foreign governments on notice: If elected president, I will direct my administration to impose substantial and lasting costs on those who interfere with American elections. https://t.co/s9rEY92TQK
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 20, 2020
“If elected president, I will treat foreign interference in our election as an adversarial act that significantly affects the relationship between the United States and the interfering nation’s government,” Biden stated.
Biden said he would direct USIC agencies to publicly disclose all efforts to undermine US sovereign elections, as well as leverage all available pressure to punish those involved.
“These costs could include financial-sector sanctions, asset freezes, cyber responses, and the exposure of corruption. A range of other actions could also be taken, depending on the nature of the attack,” Biden posted. “I will direct our response at a time and in a manner of our choosing.”
After the 2016 elections, US intelligence agencies signed off on a joint report, prepared by the FBI, the CIA and the NSA, that Russia intentionally used its resources to sway voters to support Donald Trump. President Obama implemented a number of sanctions on Russia, which were eased by Trump after his inauguration.
Congress then passed a series of sanctions, which took another act of Congress to force Trump to implement months after passage.