DEMS/ELECTION/RUSSIA/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Two leading senators are asserting that President Donald Trump has not focused on the clear threat the Kremlin poses in the 2018 elections, with one Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee contending that Russian hackers may have already targeted most — if not all — sitting US senators. Ratcheting up the push for a more robust US response to Russian interference in the midterms and 2020 elections, Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota are now slated to get a committee vote this month on a bipartisan bill is aimed at shoring up the nation’s election system. But the two senators said their plan has run into hurdles for months — and say the Russian threat is real headed into the midterms. In a joint interview as the primary season wraps up and with the November midterms less than 100 days away, the senators told CNN Wednesday [8-1-18] that there is far more that has to be done — from the White House on down to the states…The comments come as Congress is moving to toughen the US response to Russian aggression in the elections amid growing bipartisan angst that the administration is not moving swiftly enough. After Trump’s handling of last month’s summit with Vladimir Putin was widely panned, Senate Republicans have called for more sanctions on the Kremlin — and more lawmakers are calling for new legislation to force the federal government and states to take more significant action.”
–Manu Raju, “Senators: Trump ‘not paying attention’ to Russian threats in 2018,” CNN Politics, August 2, 2018 3:36 pm