During his trip to Latin America Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Fox News that U.S. officials are already seeing signs of Russia attempting to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections.
And there’s not a whole lot the U.S. can do to stop it, he said.
“I don’t know if I would say we are better prepared because the Russians will adapt as well,” Tillerson told Fox News Tuesday. “If the point is, if it’s their intention to interfere, they’re going to find ways to do that. We can take the steps we can take, but this is something that once they decide they are going to do it, it’s very difficult to preempt it.”
Despite that assessment from his State Department chief, President Donald Trump last week refused to implement new congressionally-approved sanctions against the foreign power. The White House claimed the threat of sanctions was enough to serve as a deterrent.
The White House did comply with one demand from Congress by releasing a list of 114 Russian politicians and 96 “oligarchs” who have grown in power under Russian President Vladimir Putin. In response Putin called the list “hostile.”
