he was the director of national intelligence, dan coats. russia has been the most aggressive foreign actor. no question. they continue their efforts to undermine our democracy. we continue to see individuals affiliated with the st. petersburg based internet research agency. creating new social media accounts, masquerading as americans and then using these accounts to draw attention to the divisive issues. eric: how our local officials protecting us?we are joined now with steve, the executive director of board of elections to join is not from philadelphia where you know that the national association of secretary of states noticed the big summer conference and you know this is at the top of the agenda. first, your reaction to the fact that russians have been indicted for hacking. we are very pleased that the indictments were issued. it certainly brings a little bit of closure from our
against the u.s. he accused russia of continuing to undermine u.s. democracy, adding, quote, we are just one click away on the key board from a similar situation repeating itself, a reference to the 2016 election hack. this week s justice department indictments says half a million u.s. voters had their data stolen by the russian military intelligence hacker who managed to get into various state election boards, florida, georgia, and iowa voters were especially targeted according to the indictment by the justice department. eric? arthel? arthel: i will take it, jennifer griffin, thanks, jen. thank you. eric: thanks jennifer. for more on this and the status of nato, let s bring in a research fellow at the foundation for the defense of democracies. welcome. first of all, you know, the president s criticism of nato got a lot of headlines. do you think that that undermines the atlantic alliance, or does it ultimately strengthen its resolve and cooperation? ultimately, no, and if we look
election. specifically, they are accused of hacking and releasing e-mails from the clinton campaign, the dnc, and the d triple c. both the deputy attorney general and the white house taking care to point out one particular feature of the indictment, the fact that it doesn t include accusations that any american citizens committed any crimes. experts say the reality is that the russians are highly unlikely to extradite any of their officials to the u.s. for prosecution. we confront foreign interference in american elections. it s important for us to avoid thinking politically as republicans or democrats. and instead to think patriotically as americans. and in the wake of the indictments release, condemnation of the administration s handling of election meddling has been swift and indeed bipartisan. these indictments are clear proof that the russian investigation is not a witch hunt. my hope would be that the president and his allies would cease and desist from calling the muelle
standpoint and i think it sends a message to similar perpetrators out there, other hackers, that this type of criminal activity will not be tolerated. we are very pleased with that. eric: what is experience been like for your department? i mentioned the residence that had their stuff and all 76,000 voters as a board has said. but can you clarify your asking because the indictments had about 500,000? people may have been breached? the indictment deleted to a possibility of 500,000. we determined through our own investigation, it was somewhere around 76,000. we feel that what they may have been referring to when they say 500,000 is individual pieces of data that were hacked into. they were accessed improperly.
instead, to think patriotically as americans. in the wake of the indictments released, condemnation of the administration handling of election meddling has been swift and indeed, bipartisan. these indictments are clear proof that the russian investigation is not a witchhunt. my hope would be that the president and his allies would cease and assist from calling the mueller investigation a witchhunt. in a statement from john mccain, it says in part quote - despite repeated warnings from the nations top intelligence and military leaders, the commons efforts to weaken the institutions have continued unabated with insufficient action taken by the administration. this special counsel bombshell comes just 2 and a half days before the president is slated to meet with vladimir putin one on one in helsinki. it is a high-stakes summit with top-tier national security issues on the agenda. but now, many democrats are calling for president trump to cancel the summit in response