Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) on Monday called for a "9/11-style commission" to look into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, indicating there could still be evidence Russia "interfered" with voting machines.
Gillibrand appeared on CNN’s "New Day" to promote a bill she is sponsoring with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) aimed to conduct a "deep dive" into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The bill comes in the wake of recent reports that the Kremlin may have purchased ads on Facebook to conduct a social media campaign aimed to promote certain social issues and harm candidate Hillary Clinton. The Democratic senator further asserted her view that Russia may have even tampered with voting machines because she heard "some reports."
"We are going to make sure that this deep dive reveals any vulnerabilities we have," Gillibrand said. "We also have questions: Were voting machines somehow interfered with?"
The comment prompted host Alisyn Camerota to ask for evidence regarding voting machine tampering, since none had previously surfaced. Gillibrand did not have any new information to add, saying she heard there "might have efforts to decommission" machines. She said, however, that the lack of evidence warrants congressional action in order to find any evidence that might exist.
"I just heard some reports that there might have been efforts to decommission or somehow undermine different voting machines in different states, causing lines, causing people to not vote, particular states being targeted," Gillibrand said. "So there are things we need a full investigation of to see if there is any evidence of it, and then what evidence there is, and what can we do to protect ourselves next time."
Camerota did not press the Democratic senator further for sources, and turned to the reports from earlier this month of the Kremlin's possible social media campaign.
"What a travesty of what we are learning with Facebook and these Russian troll farms that were able to advertise on Facebook," Camerota said. "What are you going to do about this?"
"Sen. Lindsey Graham and I have a bipartisan bill to do deep dive, a 9/11 style commission, that will look into how were we hacked?" Gillibrand said. "What were our cyber vulnerabilities, what are our cyber vulnerabilities today, and what can we do to prevent another type of interference in the '18 election?"
Facebook disclosed earlier this month that it had identified more than $100,000 worth of divisive ads on hot-button issues purchased by a "shadowy" Russian company linked to the Kremlin, the New York Times reported. A U.S. government report in January – without specifically naming Facebook – said Russian "trolls," or paid social media users, had posted anti-Clinton messages.
When asked what she would want Facebook to do, Gillibrand said the company's transparency has not been adequate, and that the company is not above the law.
"They're not above the law," she said. "And it is illegal for foreign countries to undermine or participate in our elections, so buying those Facebook ads is illegal. So what we need is more disclosure, more accountability, more transparency. But they have a role to play. We need to have more accountability by the next election."
Gillibrand has been sharply critical of Trump, and delivered profanity-laced remarks about the president in June.