russian president Vladimir Putin interfered in the 2016 presidential election because he feared the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton the “more”, Representative nancy pelosi saying.
Speech At the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) on Monday, Pelosi, the California congresswoman and former House speaker, joined Clinton to speak on global politics and national security. Clinton, who served as secretary of state under the former president’s administration Barack Obama, become practicum teacher at SIPA in January.
Asked by Clinton what she considers to be “the biggest threats and challenges facing our democracy,” Pelosi first took the time to thank her counterpart for his past political service.
“It was his clarity and position to [Putin] that made him turn around and illegally secure his campaign against her,” Pelosi said. .”
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty
After the 2016 presidential race, US intelligence found that Putin had ordered a campaign of interference meddling in the election and undermining Clinton’s candidacy against the former president donald trump. Russia’s cyberattacks included hacking into the Democratic National Committee’s server for emails and documents in hopes of generating negative publicity against Democratic officials like Clinton.
Since then, some experts have theorized that the interference could have been caused by a long term grudge against Clinton. During her time at the State Department, Clinton publicly criticized Russia’s 2011 vote in which Putin was re-elected, claiming that the process was “neither free nor fair.” according to a report of political In 2016, Putin blamed Clinton’s attacks for the protests that broke out in Moscow after the Russian election, saying at the time that the protesters had “the support of the US State Department.” to undermine his presidency.
A clip of Pelosi’s comments on Monday was posted on Twitter by NCR Investigation, an account administered by the Republican National Committee. The video directed users to a link on the committee’s website that included examples of times when Democratic officials questioned the results of the election
Nancy Pelosi and election denier Hillary Clinton are currently discussing “Vladimir Putin’s interference in our democracy because Hillary Clinton was the person he feared the most.” pic.twitter.com/XkQF9hwiUO
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 3, 2023
Trump, who defeated Clinton in 2016, has repeatedly cast doubt on claims that Putin interfered in the election. In 2018, the former president told Reuters that he had “great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
“He just said it’s not Russia,” Trump continued. “I’ll say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be like this.”
Dan Coats, Trump’s former director of national intelligence, previously supported the claim that Russia played a role in the 2016 election. Before taking office, Coats had pledged to support investigations into Russian influence, saying it was “something I view with great concern.
Trump had also asked Coats, along with former INC Director mike pompeoto deny that there was any connection between his campaign and Russia’s interference in the investigation, but the former intelligence director dismissed the application.
news week has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.