FBI Director Christopher Wray said Friday that Russia still “poses a very significant counterintelligence threat,” when asked about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, CNN reports.
Wray was asked about the Mueller report at the Council on Foreign Relations, and specifically about the special counsel’s description of Russia’s election interference efforts as “sweeping and systematic.” The FBI director said that “everybody has their own adjectives,” but said he agreed that there is a serious threat, although "we did not see in 2018 was any material effect on election infrastructure."
He said that despite this, Russia is still actively trying to influence Americans.
“They use social media … to try and spin us up and pit us against each other and to undermine Americans faith in democracy,” Wray added, according to The Daily Beast. “That’s not just in an election cycle threat. It is pretty much a 365 day a year threat.”
His comments come shortly after White House adviser Jared Kushner downplayed the effects of Russian interference, saying that the Mueller investigation was actually more harmful to the U.S. than the election meddling.
Wray later said that although Russia does pose a threat to American elections, “no country poses a broader threat… than China.”
He added that China’s behavior “goes way beyond fair market competition. This is behavior that violates the rule of law. They have a formal plan in 5 year incriminates … weaving together things like foreign investment together with cyber intrusions and supply chain threats. They’re calculating, they’re focused and they’re persistent.”
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