Ron Johnson: End of election security briefings not a big deal

Source: Politico | August 30, 2020 | Evan Semones

“This is being blown so way out of proportion,” the Wisconsin Republican said.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Ron Johnson said Sunday that concerns over the end of in-person election security briefings to House and Senate intel committees were an overreaction.

“This is being blown so way out of proportion. I can probably count on one or two fingers the things that are actually classified in those briefings,” Johnson said in a contentious interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.“ “There is no surprise here.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence told House and Senate intelligence committees in a letter dated Aug. 28 that it will still provide written briefings on election security issues. In-person briefings, however, would no longer be provided due to leaks from Congress, according to Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.

When asked by Bash whether he believed Russia was actively working to destabilize the 2020 election, Johnson said he did. But the Wisconsin Republican also said Democratic claims that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia are “doing Putin’s work for him” and took a dig at the California Democrat who is the House intelligence chair.

We know “that foreign actors are trying to influence, trying to destabilize our political system,” Johnson said. “What Adam Schiff did with this false narrative, what the news media did in terms of false Russian collusion with the Trump campaign narrative, a criminal investigation, special counsel — that is what has destabilized our politics.

Critics of Ratcliffe’s change contend that ending the in-person briefings in favor of written statements would prevent members of Congress from questioning people working to ensure the security of U.S. elections.

In a later interview with Bash, Schiff said the written briefings weren’t enough and blasted President Donald Trump for trying to suppress information.

“You can state things in a written report that are not correct, and you can’t be subject to questioning about it,” Schiff said. “When you can hide behind documents or withhold documents and not have to answer questions about it, it lets you conceal the truth. And in this case, concealing the truth is concealing Russians are again intervening to help the president and the reelection.”

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