Florida echo report - Senator Rubio was muzzled about Russia intervention

The FBI believes “at least one Florida county” was successfully infiltrated, the report said. Reported by Steven Lemongello

Senator Marco Rubio R-Florida

ORLANDO SENTINEL - Rubio knew about election hacking but was restricted in what he could say in Nelson's defense

When U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson was castigated by his Republican challenger, Gov. Rick Scott, last year for saying Russian hackers had broken into Florida voting systems, Nelson’s colleague, Marco Rubio, was aware of the breach.

But Rubio couldn’t defend Nelson because a spokesman for the senator said he wasn’t allowed to divulge classified information.

Rubio, R-Miami, declined to be interviewed for this story.

Nelson, D-Orlando, warned last year about successful hacking attempts in 2016, but said he could not identify which county or counties had been penetrated, saying the information was classified.

No other senator backed him up, and Scott and fellow Republicans attacked Nelson for what GOP campaign emails called his “alarming claims” and “extremely reckless behavior.”

Scott went on to defeat Nelson in the November election by just 10,033 votes in one of the closest and most expensive statewide races in Florida history.

The Mueller Report stated that in November 2016, Russian intelligence officials “sent spear phishing emails to over 120 email accounts used by Florida county officials responsible for administering the 2016 U.S. election.” 

The FBI believes “at least one Florida county” was successfully infiltrated, the report said.

The emails contained an attached document with malicious “Trojan” software that would have permitted Russian intelligence to access the infected computer, the report stated.

Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee initially denied that any county was infiltrated, adding that the FBI had not told the state what county or counties it believed were hacked.

But Rubio on April 26 confirmed to the New York Times that such an intrusion occurred. 

Last week, Rubio said the hacking reached beyond the Sunshine State, telling news station NY1 that “the federal government has information not specific to Florida … and is unable or unwilling to personally tell the individual counties that are affected what’s happened to them for fear of losing access to that information, intelligence information in the future.”

He added that while hackers couldn’t directly change “the outcome of the election,” they were in a position “to change voter databases.”

Rubio’s office said he was made aware of the 2016 attempts as early as May 2018.

While he couldn’t reveal any classified information, he has been active in pushing measures to combat hacking. He introduced the Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines, or DETER Act, in April to prevent foreign governments from interfering with elections.

Rubio also introduced an amendment to provide security clearances to state and local elections officials, which did not become law but did spur Homeland Security to begin providing such clearances.

Nelson also said he was constrained as to what he could say about classified information. But he said in a statement to the Orlando Sentinel that Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chair Mark Warner, D-Virginia, asked him and Rubio in June 2018 “to send a letter to the 67 county Supervisors of Election to warn them of Russian intrusion in Florida.”

Nelson’s statement added, “The Mueller report makes clear why we had to take that important step as well as my verbal warnings thereafter.”

"It's clear that the election security concerns raised by Senator Nelson were legitimate,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Stewart Boss said, blaming Republicans for “car[ing] more about playing partisan political games and mudslinging for their own gain than protecting the integrity of Florida's elections against foreign interference.”

Scott’s office has said he and Gov. Ron DeSantis have set up a meeting with the FBI in the next few weeks to discuss the hacking, and U.S. Reps. Stephanie Murphy and Michael Waltz have also requested a briefing for the state’s 27 members of Congress.

The identity of the county or counties infected has still not revealed. More than 50 counties used software from VR Systems, the company impersonated by the hackers.

slemongello@orlandosentinel.com