Sen. Angus King: DNI Canceling Election Security Briefings ‘Looks Like a Pre-Cover-Up’

In a Monday interview on CNN’s “New Day,” Sen. Angus King (I-ME) reacted to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence telling the House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence it will no longer give in-person briefings about election security and foreign election interference.

King said the decision to end the briefings “looks like a pre-cover-up.” He reasoned that it looks like the DNI, led by former Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), wants to hide information that could show the “extent” the Russians have been allowed by the President Donald Trump campaign to meddle in the elections.

“New Day” host John Berman asked King, “Why would the intelligence community want us — not just Congress, but you say the American people — to know less about foreign efforts to attack our elections?”

“Well, it’s not the intelligence community, John, it’s the director of National Intelligence, who was a Republican congressman, a big supporter of President Trump. That’s who’s made this decision,” King emphasized. “I’m guessing that there are people, in fact, I’m quite sure there are people in the intelligence community who are astounded and angry about this decision.”

He added, “John, I hate to say this, but it looks like a pre-cover-up. It looks like they don’t want to share the information. They’re covering up information that may or may not — I don’t know what they’ve got or not or what they have or don’t have, but it looks like they’re trying to keep this information from the public so that when everybody goes to vote on November 3, they won’t know to the extent to which they’ve been attempted to be influenced by the Russians or some other country.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent