On Friday, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) reacted to the alleged hacks orchestrated by Russia on multiple U.S. federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.
Kaine argued during MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that the alleged cyberattack shows we cannot count on the President Donald Trump administration to keep Americans safe. However, he touted President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming national security team as “competent” enough to do so.
“It’s outrageous,” Kaine told host Andrea Mitchell. “We’ve invested billions of dollars to protect our critical infrastructure from cyberattacks, but the administration isn’t even really briefing about it. You’re not going to get a straight answer out of them. And as you pointed out, not only as the president not said a word about this — just like he hasn’t said a word about how we’re facing new, greater death tolls every other day from COVID — but he’s threatening the veto the defense bill on his desk, a bill that includes a significant set of bipartisan agreements on improving cybersecurity.
“Why he continues to want to, you know, carry the brief for Russia or refuse to challenge or attack them when they have attacked our country is a subject that I hope we’ll understand one day,” he added. “But I don’t think we can count on this administration to try to keep us safe between now and January 21 on this issue. It’s going to be on the Biden administration to do it. They’re putting a good national security team on the field that is competent and understands that you can’t let an adversary rummage around in your critical infrastructure.”
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