Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday his campaign email account was hacked by Russians — adding that the US needs to work together to stop this from happening.
“I do believe the Russians hacked into the (Democratic National Committee). I do believe they hacked into (John) Podesta’s email account. They hacked into my campaign account,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room.” “I do believe that all the information released publicly hurt Clinton and didn’t hurt Trump. I don’t think the outcome of the election is in doubt. What we should do is not turn on each other but work as one people to push back on Russia.”
He added he doesn’t believe that the hacking affected the elections.
“I think Hillary Clinton lost because she wasn’t an agent of change and she tried to disqualify Trump and she wasn’t able to do it,” he said. “This is not a Republican or Democratic issue.”
“They’re trying to destabilize democracy all over the world. Not just here,” he said about the Russians. “Here’s what we should do. We should tell the Russians that on no uncertain terms, you interfere in our elections, we don’t care why, we’re going to hit you and hit you hard, we’re going to introduce sanctions, it’ll to be bipartisan.”
Blitzer asked him about Trump denying that Russia tried to influence the elections.
Graham responded that maybe Trump isn’t being briefed properly on the information, or maybe he doesn’t want to know, adding, “There is no doubt in my mind that the Russians hacked into political systems,” matter.
Graham also said that he wants to know what Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, thinks about the situation.
“Russian hacking during the US presidential election is not a Republican or Democrat issue. It’s an American issue. We must stand together,” Graham tweeted during the interview.
“If you don’t go after Russia for hacking during 2016 election you’re inviting other bad actors (China, N. Korea, Iran, etc.) to do the same,” he added
