Wisconsin Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson says he asked for and was denied a briefing by the CIA about Russian tampering in the U.S. election.
President Barack Obama told NPR the intelligence community had concluded the Russian attacks on Hillary Clinton’s campaign email system were part of an effort to influence the 2016 election and that the United States would respond.
Johnson, who chairs the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee, said during an interview on Wisconsin Public Radio that he wants to know more.
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“When I asked for a brief from CIA to see the evidence, they denied it to me,” Johnson said. “I’m not happy for the fact that they denied me a briefing this morning.”
Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan of Madison said Johnson should have asked why he was denied a briefing and needed to more aggressively investigate this issue in the Senate.
“The fact that the Republicans in the Senate and Congress apparently have all grown into puppies who want to roll over and have their bellies scratched rather than be aggressive on something like this is truly amazing,” Pocan said. “I’m just hoping that when we get back in January we’ll take our jobs more seriously.”
Johnson said there should be consequences if Russia hacked into Clinton’s email system.
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