Lawmakers livid at FBI for keeping Florida targets secret
WASHINGTON — Sending a stern bipartisan message, lawmakers from Florida blasted the FBI and t he Department of Homeland Security last week for refusing to publicly identify which counties had their voter data- bases penetrated by Russian hackers in 2016, as well as other counties which may have had suspicious activity around the same time.
“It is untenable to hold this information classified and to not let the public know,” said Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., after a closed door briefing by FBI officials on Capitol Hill.
“We have very clearly and very forcefully asked the FBI to declassify that information,” said Rep.
Michael
Waltz,
R-Fla., as lawmakers said there was no reason not to let voters in Florida know where the election year cyber intrusions took place.
“I don’t know who the hell tunately, two counties had they think they are to not employees that did click on share that information with those emails, and they gained us,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, limited access.” R-Fla. The outrage was bipar
The penetration of voter tisan, as Florida lawmakdatabases in two counties ers said there’s no reason in Florida occurred after the identity of the counties phishing emails were sent should be a state secret, three to election workers across years after the attempted the state. “They sent these hacking took place. “They to all 67 counties,” said Rep. not only deserve to know Darren Soto, D-Fla. “Unfor- what happened,” Waltz said of voters in his state, “but they deserve to know what we’re doing to protect the elections going forward.”
Both parties stressed there was no evidence that voter databases were tampered with before the 2016 elec- tions after Russians gained access to the two unidentified counties. but they say that’s no reason for the feds to hide the locations of where it occurred. “What we have told them is that it is untenable to hold this information classified, and not to let the public know,” said Murphy.