Russians should face consequences

Rubio says Russians should face consequences if they attempt to disrupt election

By Madeline Conway

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Monday that he does not expect that the Russian government will be able to disrupt Tuesday’s election — but if the Russians do try to interfere, they should “absolutely” face immediate consequences.

American intelligence officials believe that the Russians are responsible for a cyber attack targeting the Democratic National Committee, and other experts say they likely also hacked the personal email account of John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Those incidents, which have embarrassed Democrats, have prompted worries that the Russians are attempting to influence the outcome of the presidential election.

Rubio, a Republican favored to win reelection on Tuesday, told the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that the Russians have a track record of meddling in elections elsewhere and generally “either embarrass people or interfere in the media.” But he signaled confidence in the American electoral system’s ability to withstand any attempts.

“I think it’s something we’re going to have to confront,” said Rubio, who is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I do not believe that anyone will be able to disrupt the election tomorrow. American elections are too diffuse. They’re usually run at the county level across 50 states. So there’s basically over thousands of jurisdictions, and I can tell you here in Florida, they’re not going to be able to interfere with our elections.”

Asked if there should be “immediate and obvious” consequences for any efforts to disrupt the election, Rubio replied, “absolutely.”

“And of course, we need to make a compelling and clear case to the American people that that’s what happened,” Rubio said. “You know, we live in an environment today where there’s a lot of skepticism, and whoever, you know, I don’t even want to contemplate that. I really don’t. I would just hope that these things go good.”

He added: “Obviously, I want to win my reelection. And I don’t want Hillary Clinton to get elected. But more important than all of that, in my mind, is that America have elections that everyone can look at and say this is a legitimate election and we acknowledge the results. And so that’s what I expect to see tomorrow.”