Rounds: 'There will be hell to pay' if Russia meddles again
GOP Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota has warned "there will be hell to pay" if the Russians once again try to interfere in the upcoming US midterm congressional elections.
“We have to have the ability to keep track of and to prove to people that these are honest elections and that an outside power didn’t do it,” Rounds said in an interview in New York. “Part of the way we do that is to let the Russians know that if they mess with that stuff there will be hell to pay.”
“They did their best to influence the 2016 elections,” Rounds said, referring to Russia.
"We are in the process of preparing now," he added when asked about preventative measures to secure elections. "And part of it is convincing people that it is actually happening."
The comments come after US prosecutors announced Friday that Russia plotted to interfere in the election through social media propaganda aimed at helping Trump defeat his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
US Justice Department's special counsel Robert Mueller also indicted 13 Russians and three Russian companies. They were charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election.
This is all while US President Donald Trump says he never said the Russians did not meddle in the 2016 US presidential race but once again claimed his campaign never colluded with Russia, and that the real “collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems.”
I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said “it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.” The Russian “hoax” was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018
In a storm of tweets sent from his Mar-a-Lago resort Saturday and Sunday morning Trump also accused a long list of opponents and organizations for not doing enough to deter Russia — all while undercutting his own national security adviser who said Saturday that the interference is now “beyond dispute.”
If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018
Trump’s most surprising target was national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who spoke at length at a conference in Munich about threats posed by Russia.
“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!” Trump tweeted.
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