Congress is investigating whether any private voter information allegedly stolen by Russian hackers was passed to or used by the Trump campaign, Time reported Thursday.
Ken Menzel, general counsel of the Illinois State Board of Elections, told Time that 90,000 state voter records were obtained through cyberattacks on their system, 90 percent of which contained drivers license numbers and a quarter of which contained the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers. Two anonymous sources close to congressional investigations into Russia’s election interference say lawmakers want to know if any of this stolen data eventually ended up in the hands of Trump’s team.
Time did not specify which of the five congressional committees looking into Russian interference in the election is investigating this specific thread.
This report is the latest indication that Russia’s cyberattacks on the United States’ electoral infrastructure, which include efforts to delete or alter voter data in Illinois and targeted attacks on election systems in 21 states, are becoming a focus of congressional and federal probes into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
CNN reported last week that the House Intelligence Committee wants to speak with Brad Parscale, digital director for the Trump campaign, while the Senate Intelligence Committee reportedly wants to meet with Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, who oversaw the campaign’s data operations. Campaign and transition officials have also been asked to preserve all documents related to Russia and Ukraine.
Federal investigators are scrutinizing the campaign’s data operation to see if Russian intelligence operatives relied on Trump associates or their data to strategically target specific states and demographic groups with “fake news” stories and social media bots, according to CNN.
