Senate Republicans: No reason for Biden to 'sound the alarm' on Russia

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/21/senate-republicans-no-reason-for-biden-to-sound-the-alarm-on-russia-377030

Senior Senate Republicans are rejecting Joe Biden's amped-up public warnings about Russian interference in this year's presidential election, saying foreign adversaries' efforts to meddle in U.S. democracy are nothing new after the Kremlin's hacking operation four years ago.

Senate Homeland Security Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) suggested that Russia has been interfering in Western elections “for decades.”

“Does it surprise me if China's probably doing the same thing? Not at all,” he told POLITICO.

The GOP comments came a day after Biden offered his starkest warnings to date against any interference by Russia or other foreign governments like China.

“I am putting the Kremlin and other foreign governments on notice,” the former vice president said Monday, three days after disclosing that he had begun to receive briefings from U.S. intelligence officials as the presumptive Democratic nominee. “If elected president, I will treat foreign interference in our election as an adversarial act that significantly affects the relationship between the United States and the interfering nation’s government.”