INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Democrat Compares Russian Election Meddling To September 11 Attacks

By Damir Mujezinovic
Published on: 13:34 PST, Mar 13, 2019

In an interview broadcast Wednesday, Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley compared Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election to the September 11 terrorist attacks, Raw Story reports.

According to Quigley, Russian election meddling is the “political equivalent of 9/11.” Furthermore, according to the Democrat, even more concerning is President Donald Trump’s reaction to Russia’s meddling in American politics.

“A continued attack on the rule of law. I have often said, what the Russians did was the political equivalent of 9/11. When this is all over, I’m worried that the president’s reaction to what the Russians did will have a longer term, more lasting impact on the rule of law and our country.”

As Inc. reported, in his testimony before the United States Congress, Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that Russians bought $4,700 worth of search engine ads.

Russians spent quite a bit more on Facebook ads, however. As Tech Crunch reported, Russia’s Internet Research Agency spent a total of $46,000 on Facebook advertisements. In comparison, then-presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump spent $81 million.

Online disinformation campaigns are not where Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election ended, according to U.S. intelligence agencies, prosecutors, and the Democrats.

Investigating whether the Trump campaign coordinated with official Moscow during the election is Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

As The Nation‘s Aaron Maté recently pointed out, however, Mueller is yet to accuse an American national of conspiring or colluding with Russia.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Robert Mueller’s team of prosecutors has so far netted dozens of indictments and guilty pleas and raised nearly 100 criminal charges. The vast majority of them, however, pertain to making false statements and financial crimes.

“I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently told the Washington Post, referring to the prospect of Donald Trump’s impeachment.

While Pelosi does not want to impeach Trump, she continues to accuse the president of working for Vladimir Putin. In January, for instance, Pelosi asked, according to The New York Post, “What does Putin have on the President?”

But according to Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley, Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election is reminiscent of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

He is not the first Democrat to make the comparison, however. In fact, many have done so. Former Secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, has also suggested that Russian interference in the 2016 election resembles the September 11 attacks, according to The Washington Post.

In 2018, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal described Russian election interference as a “national emergency,” resembling 9/11.

“We are in a 9/11 national emergency because our country is under attack,” he said, according to The Hill.

Maine Senator Angus King did the same in September 2018. “They used airplanes into towers. Now people can use the click of a computer key in St. Petersburg, Russia, to attack,” King said, as per a report from The Washington Times.

A total of 2,977 people were killed on September 11 2001 in New York City, Washington D.C. and outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania, according to CNN.

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