The Democratic chairman of the US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Adam Schiff, on Sunday accused US Attorney General William Barr of lying when he said that China posed a bigger threat to November’s US election than Russia.
“That’s just a plain false statement by the attorney general,” Schiff told CNN. “What Bill Barr just did in that statement was just flat out mislead the American people.”
Barr, named attorney general by US President Donald Trump last year, on Wednesday told CNN that China was more of a threat than Russia when it comes to alleged interference in the US elections.
Photo: Bloomberg
“I’ve seen intelligence. That’s what I’ve concluded,” he said, without offering details.
US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien made a similar comment on Friday, also without providing details.
Asked if Barr was lying, Schiff said: “That is basically what he is doing, and I hesitate to say that, but it is the reality.”
“Apparently Bill Barr is ready to do anything or say anything to help Donald Trump,” he said.
Barr’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s Democratic rival in the Nov. 3 election, former US vice president Joe Biden, on Friday said he did not agree that China was the biggest threat to the election, and such an assessment was not consistent with intelligence briefings he had received.
Trump, who long touted friendly ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) as he sought to make good on trade deal promises, has made getting tough on China a key part of his re-election campaign, while accusing Biden of being soft toward Beijing.
US intelligence found that Russia orchestrated a cybercampaign to sway the 2016 presidential election Trump’s favor, and there have been reports that hackers might try to influence this year’s election.
US National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina said last month that Russia, China and Iran would all attempt to interfere in the election.
Russia was already going after Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia US “establishment,” he said.
Evanina said his agency assessed that China would prefer that Trump not win re-election.
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