MARK WARNER

Serve your constituents, not your party

A key part of President Joe Biden’s plans to fight major ransomware attacks and digital espionage campaigns has been languishing for more than eight months.

U.S. Capitol Police were ill-prepared for the thousands of protesters who descended on Capitol Hill during last year's insurrection.

According to Sen. Mark Warner, our state’s two U.S. senators and 11 members of Congress meet monthly to talk about how to address their state’s needs.

Two years have passed since Congress directed the creation of an intelligence center to lead efforts to stop election interference by foreign adversaries.

What qualifies as middle class? To Bob Menendez, it's everyone earning below $550,000. Bernie Sanders disagrees. The stakes are blue-state tax breaks.

Thousands of intelligence officers could soon face dismissal for failing to comply with the U.S. government’s vaccine mandate, leading to concerns from Republican lawmakers about potentially hurting agencies considered critical to national security.

Some lawmakers saw the election results as a warning about finishing the social spending and infrastructure packages.

As the first statewide tests of a new political reality, Virginia and New Jersey send a signal early in a presidential term — much as Iowa and New Hampshire do in a presidential campaign.

The CIA says it will create a top-level working group on China as part of a broad U.S. government effort focused on countering Beijing’s influence.

It would be the token of all tokens: a $1 trillion coin, minted by the U.S. government, then cashed in to flood the treasury with cash and solve a political impasse over suspending the debt limit.

Wednesday could be one of the most consequential days of President Joe Biden's first term in office.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is warning that he could vote against the $3.5 trillion budget package, if more money isn’t added for housing assistance to close the racial wealth gap in the current House version of the bill, Axios has learned.Why it matters: Warner’s threat is another indication that the proposal will face a variety of obstacles before the House and Senate can agree to a top line number, how that money is spent on specific programs — and how to pay for it all.Stay on top of the latest

Congressional Democrats are weighing a raft of taxes that would target CEO pay and big U.S. companies that buy back shares.

Virginia's senators and the Fredericksburg area's two representatives in Congress react to the deadly attack in Kabul.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration has received notification that the Department of Defense has authorized the use of Marine Corps Base Quantico to house Afghan refugees, as well as a national guard installation in central Virginia.

Democratic-led congressional committees are vowing to press President Joe Biden’s administration on what went wrong as the Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan.

Senate Democrats on Monday promised that they would investigate how and why the U.S. military departure from Afghanistan was bungled, even as most in President Biden’s party said that they supported his decision to pull American troops out of the country.

President Joe Biden set out to build back more than roads and bridges in his big infrastructure bill.

The Senate has moved closer to passing a $1 trillion infrastructure package after lawmakers from both parties voted to clear a key procedural hurdle.

Senate Democrats from across the party's political spectrum seem near the unanimity they’ll need for the crucial first step toward their $3.5 trillion infrastructure vision.

President Joe Biden is praising the Senate for edging the bipartisan infrastructure plan closer to passage.

A police officer has died after he was stabbed several times in the neck outside the Pentagon on Tuesday, sources confirmed with NBC News.

Authorities have released few details about the incident. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said on Twitter that a Pentagon police officer was killed "in a senseless act of violence."

After much delay, senators have unveiled their $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Senators and the White House are locked in intense negotiations to salvage a bipartisan infrastructure deal.

Senators are racing to seal a bipartisan infrastructure deal as soon as Monday, as pressure is mounting on all sides to show progress on President Joe Biden's top priority. Heading into a make-or-break week, key senators and staff spent the weekend trying to reach a final agreement. One major roadblock is how much money should go to public transit.

"If we have to do a small carve out on filibuster for voting rights - that is the only area where I'd allow that kind of reform," Warner said.

Lawmakers racing to seal a bipartisan infrastructure deal early this coming week are hitting a major roadblock over how much money should go to public transit.

Lawmakers racing to seal a bipartisan infrastructure deal early this coming week are hitting a major roadblock over how much money should go to public transit, the group’s lead Republican negotiator said Sunday. As discussions continued through the weekend, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said both sides were “about 90% of the way there” on an agreement. “We have one issue outstanding, and we’re not getting much response from the Democrats on it,” he said.

GOP's Portman says Senate infrastructure deal '90 percent' done, held up by mass transit

The "Cyber Incident Notification Act" is a response to the recent attacks on SolarWinds and Colonial Pipeline.

Bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress by Senators Mark Warner, Tim Kaine and First District Rep. Rob Wittman would designate the historic Northern Neck as a “national heritage area,” allowing for

Virginia will direct $700 million drawn from pandemic relief funds to boost broadband access and help close the digital divide for some of the poorest regions of the state.

Warner positioned the initiative as an opportunity for Virginia, recently ranked the top state for business by CNBC, to attract more jobs to the state.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pressuring lawmakers to reach agreement by next week on a pair of massive domestic spending measures.

President Joe Biden visited the U.S. Capitol in search of Democratic support for his multitrillion-dollar domestic agenda.

Biden's appearance at a caucus lunch comes hours after the lawmakers announced they had reached an agreement on a multitrillion-dollar budget resolution.

Biden said he would know more Sunday about who was responsible, but no statement was forthcoming Sunday or Monday.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

We applaud Sen. Warner’s leadership on much-needed infrastructure legislation. After all, if Washington is going to spend a trillion dollars, there should at least be something tangible to show for

The highly-anticipated UFO report is 'rather inconclusive'

President Joe Biden has announced a bipartisan agreement on a pared-down but still huge infrastructure plan.

President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators have reached an agreement to significantly boost infrastructure spending, though considerable hurdles remain before the blueprint unveiled Thursday becomes reality.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

The dilemma surrounding ransomware payments has left U.S. officials fumbling about how to respond to such demands.

Details of the bipartisan deal have not yet been released, and it isn't yet clear how the measure will be paid for.

Congressional Democrats are eyeing a $6 trillion infrastructure package that goes far beyond roads and bridges.

A bipartisan senators’ group working on a $1 trillion infrastructure compromise has now doubled in size, expanding to 21 members.

The Rapid Recovery Program will disburse nearly $1.3 billion in funds to community development institutions to help small businesses.

The White House is assessing a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan put forward by a group of 10 senators.

The tentative deal faces a steep climb in both parties. Democrats want tax hikes, while Republicans are likely to balk at fresh spending.

Republican senators emerged from a series of closed-door, bipartisan talks Thursday boasting of reaching a "tentative" deal on infrastructure, yet their Democratic counterparts wouldn't go that far. Why it matters: Members of the s0-called G20 group of 20 senators appear to be the last, best hope for a bipartisan agreement, but the split in where the talks stand highlights the ongoing gulf between the parties on roads, bridges and more.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insight

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said he expects the business community to be receptive to the legislation.

The Protecting the Right to Work Act (PRO Act), which would undermine many businesses in Virginia, is currently is being cosponsored by just about every Democrat in the U.S. Senate

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

While President Joe Biden pitches his infrastructure plan to the American public, the real work of delivering his legislative agenda takes place behind the scenes.

Virginia leaders offered these comments Wednesday following the death of former U.S. Sen. John Warner:

The Republican was elected to the Senate in 1978 and served five terms.

The mother told deputies her son suffered from a cognitive disorder that caused him to fall, but doctors believe his injuries were caused by abuse.

An Alabama man has been charged with sexual battery after police say he crawled into bed with a woman who was staying at a Miami Beach hostel.

Sen. Mark Warner is calling for legislation that would require private companies to report cyberattacks to the government.

Top U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials testified before the Senate about worldwide threats facing the nation.

President Joe Biden is promoting his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan directly to Americans with an appeal to think big.

The short answer for many security experts and federal officials is that it can’t — at least not without some significant changes. Ad“The SolarWinds hack was a victory for our foreign adversaries, and a failure for DHS,” said Sen. The FAA initially told the AP in mid-February that it had not been affected by the SolarWinds hack, only to issue a second statement a few days later that it was continuing to investigate. Federal officials said that amount is only a down payment on much bigger planned spending to improve threat detection. The hosting services of Amazon Web Services and GoDaddy were used by the SolarWinds hackers to evade detection, officials said recently.

Washington — The Senate unanimously confirmed William Burns as the next director of the CIA on Thursday, weeks after the Senate Intelligence Committee advanced his nomination. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines also welcomed Burns' confirmation. William Burns speaks during his confirmation hearing to be director of the CIA before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, February 24, 2021. CIA) nominee for U.S. President Joe Biden, speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021. CIA Deputy Director David Cohen has served as the agency's acting director.

The effort showed how social media and other technology can be leveraged to spread misinformation so quickly that those trying to stop it cannot keep up. Straka said via email that nothing from the #WalkAway Campaign ”encourages people not to vote.” He declined further comment. Democrats blame misinformation efforts for helping Trump win larger-than-expected shares of Latino support in normally reliably blue areas. AdNow researchers will be watching to see if misinformation — especially that meant to discredit COVID-19 vaccines — spreads among congressional districts. So far, Congress isn't investigating Spanish-language misinformation to see if its origins spread beyond Latin America.

Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON – Many questions remain unanswered about the failure to prevent the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The Capitol Police also did its own intelligence assessment warning that Congress could be targeted on Jan. 6. Four House committees are probing what went wrong with that data collection, including the House intelligence committee. “I don’t want our committee’s examination to be about Trump or about Jan. 6,” Warner, D-Va., said in an interview. Thousands of National Guard troops still guard the Capitol, which is now surrounded by fencing and barbed wire and closed off to the public.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner on Biden's supply chain executive order Senator Mark Warner joins CBSN's Lana Zak to discuss President Biden's latest executive order to strengthen American supply chains. He also weighed in on the growing domination of big tech companies and next week's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the SolarWinds hack.

But the North Carolina Republican’s vote to convict former President Donald Trump should not have come as a shock. AdWith Burr retiring at the end of his term in 2022, it’s a vote that could end up defining his career. Exactly a year later, as the Russia investigation was wrapping up, Burr’s time leading the committee came to an abrupt end. He sided with most Republicans in a vote to dismiss the trial, creating an expectation he’d also vote to acquit. AdSo when Burr stood up to vote for Trump's conviction, many in the chamber wondered if there would be other surprises.

AdThe reaction reflects the severity of a hack that was disclosed only in December. The administration has also proposed expanding by 30% the budget of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, or CISA, a little-known entity now under intense scrutiny because of the SolarWinds breach. The breach was discovered in early December by the private security firm FireEye, a cause of concern for some officials. AdRight after the hack was announced, the Treasury Department bypassed its normal competitive contracting process to hire the private security firm CrowdStrike, U.S. contract records show. “In practical terms, what that meant is they weren’t invited in because no department or agency wants to look bad,” he said.

Ad“This is a sophisticated actor who did their best to hide their tracks,” she told reporters at the White House. It will take us some time to uncover this layer by layer.”U.S. authorities have said the breach, disclosed in December, appeared to be the work of Russian hackers. “This isn’t the only case of malicious cyber activity of likely Russian origin, either for us or for our allies and partners,” Neuberger added. Intelligence agencies did not detect the breach because they largely have "no visibility into private-sector networks," and it was launched within the U.S., Neuberger said. The Biden administration supports changes to “culture and authorities” that prevented the hack from being detected on the federal civilian systems, she added.

The White House says a senior national security official is leading the U.S. response to a massive breach of government departments and private corporations discovered late last year. The announcement that the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emergency technology, Anne Neuberger, has been in charge of the response to the SolarWinds hack follows congressional criticism of the government effort so far as disorganized. Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emergency technology, was in charge of remediating the hack, identifying issues with the federal government's response and launching a study aimed at preventing similar incidents, the White House said. In a letter released Tuesday, leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee blasted the Biden administration for what they said was a lackluster reaction to the SolarWinds hack. Also on Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing with cybersecurity experts to discuss the SolarWinds hack and other issues.

A new Democratic bill would make it easier for targets of harassment to sue social media platforms that host abusive or harmful content. The "SAFE TECH Act," led by Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and backed by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, would amend the shield that protects tech platforms from liability for their users' posts. Instead, the SAFE TECH Act would clarify that Section 230 immunity would not apply in several cases. The SAFE TECH Act, on the other hand, opens up the ways platforms can be sued for hosting certain types of content.

President-elect Joe Bidens pick for national intelligence director Avril Haines speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. (Joe Raedle/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Avril Haines as director of national intelligence, giving President Joe Biden the first member of his Cabinet and placing the first woman in charge of the nearly two-decade old agency. In her confirmation hearing Tuesday, Haines made clear she intends to end the Trump administration's practice of pressuring officials to shape their analysis to the president’s liking. “When it comes to intelligence, there is simply no place for politics — ever,” she told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “The last four years have been hard on the intelligence community,” said Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee after Democrats took the majority on Wednesday.

Now Biden will have to do it with President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial beginning potentially as soon as his first day in office. “We’re going to have to move simultaneously in a whole bunch of areas.”Biden has so far stayed largely out of public deliberations over Trump's impeachment for inciting a riot. So let him do his job — and let the Senate do their work,” said California Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat. And there’s the prospect they could further exacerbate the already fraught atmosphere on Capitol Hill, politicizing Biden’s agenda and making it tougher for him to get support from winnable Republican senators. And Democrats on Capitol Hill are barreling ahead as well, refusing to accept the prospect that impeachment will deter them from their legislative goals.

FILE - In this Nov. 24, 2020, file photo President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines speaks at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)WASHINGTON – A confirmation hearing for President-elect Joe Biden's pick for national intelligence director has been postponed until next week, according to leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Avril Haines, a former CIA deputy director and former deputy national security adviser in the Obama administration, was to have appeared Friday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The hearing was announced Wednesday, setting Haines up to be the first of Biden's picks to face a Senate committee for confirmation. “We are disappointed the hearing was delayed, particularly given the urgency to have national security leaders in place in this time of crisis.

Now Biden will have to do it with President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial beginning potentially as soon as his first day in office. “We’re going to have to move simultaneously in a whole bunch of areas.”Biden has so far stayed largely out of public deliberations over Trump's impeachment for inciting a riot. So let him do his job — and let the Senate do their work,” said California Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat. And there’s the prospect they could further exacerbate the already fraught atmosphere on Capitol Hill, politicizing Biden’s agenda and making it tougher for him to get support from winnable Republican senators. And Democrats on Capitol Hill are barreling ahead as well, refusing to accept the prospect that impeachment will deter them from their legislative goals.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holds a news conference on the day after violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. “It has been an epiphany for the world to see that there are people in our country led by this president, for the moment, who have chosen their whiteness over democracy,” Pelosi said. Pelosi says, “The complicity, not only the complicity, the instigation of the president of United States, must and will be addressed.”___1:25 p.m. Flight attendants have expressed concern that their flights could be carrying supporters of President Donald Trump who took part in Wednesday’s violent protest and siege of the U.S. Capitol. ___2:25 a.m.Democrats in Congress are laying the groundwork to impeach President Donald Trump.

The U.S. government on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, said a devastating hack of federal agencies is likely Russian in origin and said the operation appeared to be an intelligence gathering effort. The assessment was disclosed in a rare public statement from the FBI and other investigative agencies. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)WASHINGTON – Top national security agencies confirmed Tuesday that Russia was likely responsible for a massive hack of U.S. government departments and corporations, rejecting President Donald Trump's claim that China might be to blame. The agencies made clear the Russian operation was “ongoing” and indicated the hunt for threats was not over. Even so, the announcement puts the imprimatur of national security agencies, albeit belatedly, on information that members of Congress had clamored for the White House to make public.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)WASHINGTON – A proposed COVID-19 relief bill is expected to get backing from President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell but it won't include $1,200 in direct payments to most Americans, a Republican senator involved in the bipartisan talks says. “President Trump has indicated that he would sign a $908 billion package — there’s only one $908 billion package out there and it’s ours,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Sunday. While favoring the $1,200 checks, Biden said the emerging compromise was "immediately needed” and that additional assistance could follow later. On Sunday, lawmakers involved in the negotiations said the direct payments would have to wait until after Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20. The direct payments, he said, will be a task for Biden.

The $908 billion aid package to be released Monday would be attached to a larger year-end spending bill needed to avert a government shutdown this coming weekend. “This is not a stimulus bill, it’s a relief bill,” he said. While favoring the $1,200 checks, Biden said the emerging compromise was "immediately needed” and that additional assistance could follow later. On Sunday, lawmakers involved in the negotiations said the direct payments would have to wait until after Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20. The direct payments, he said, will be a task for Biden.

The Kentucky Republican made the announcement after President-elect Joe Biden called upon lawmakers to pass a downpayment relief bill now with more to come next year. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resumed talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about a year-end spending package that could include COVID relief provisions. Lawmakers' bipartisan effort comes after a split-decision election delivered the White House to Democrats and gave Republicans down-ballot success. Pelosi and Mnuchin were discussing COVID relief and other end-of-session items, including a $1.4 trillion catchall government funding bill. Pelosi and Mnuchin grappled over a relief bill for weeks before the November election, discussing legislation of up to $2 trillion.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected a proposed bipartisan coronavirus stimulus package Tuesday amid months of congressional inaction on curbing the economic damage from the outbreak. "We just don't have time to waste time," he told reporters in response to the roughly $908 billion plan put together by bipartisan members of the GOP-controlled Senate and Democratic-held House. It would put $16 billion into vaccine distribution, testing and contact tracing, funnel $82 billion into education, and put $45 billion into transportation. Pelosi and McConnell have not yielded ground from their respective $2.2 trillion and $500 billion aid bills. Mnuchin also said he would look over the bipartisan plan put out Tuesday, according to Pelosi.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Democrats once dominated Koochiching County in the blue-collar Iron Range of northern Minnesota. But in this month's presidential election, President Donald Trump won it with 60% of the vote. Though Democrats’ rural woes aren’t new, they now heap pressure on Biden to begin reversing the trend. In clinging to their majority, House Democrats lost rural seats, notably the one held for 30 years by Rep. Collin Peterson in western Minnesota. For now, Democrats' future in rural America rests largely on how Biden is viewed there, Heitkamp said.

Daines’ first election in 2014 broke a Democratic lock on the Senate seat that had lasted more than 100 years. The six-term congressman from northern New Mexico defeated Republican Mark Ronchetti, a former television meteorologist, and Libertarian Bob Walsh. ___10:15 p.m. TuesdayFormer Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville has recaptured a Senate seat for Republicans by defeating Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in Alabama. Reed cruised to victory over Waters, an investment consultant who mounted earlier unsuccessful campaigns for state Senate and U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Warner defeated Republican challenger Daniel Gade in a low-key race in which the incumbent had a massive cash advantage.

New microtargeting billsRep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., introduced even bolder legislation focused on digital ads earlier this year. It will indefinitely suspend election ads after polls close on Nov. 3 and ban ads seeking to delegitimize election results. Many Democrats believe individuals should have the right to sue companies they believe violate their digital privacy rights. Lawmakers have introduced several bills in both the House and Senate attempting to address digital privacy rights, but the gulf remains. Eshoo, who introduced a privacy bill in the House last year with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., is already looking past the current legislative session for her digital privacy bill.

Iran and Russia have both obtained information about American voter registrations and are trying to influence the public about the upcoming U.S. presidential election, national security officials said Wednesday night. "Iran and Russia have taken specific actions to influence public opinion related to our elections," said Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe at a hastily scheduled press conference. "First we have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran and separately by Russia," Ratcliffe said at the briefing, which comes less than two weeks before Election Day. "Although we have not seen the same actions from Russia, we are aware that they have obtained some voter information just as they did in 2016," Ratcliffe said. This action I do not believe was aimed ... at discrediting President Trump," Schumer said in the interview.

Top intelligence officials announced Wednesday evening that Iran and Russia have taken actions to try to compromise the U.S. election and have obtained some voter registration data. Get Breaking News Delivered to Your InboxRatcliffe said Iran had also distributed other video content implying people could cast fraudulent ballots, "even from overseas." The information in the video is not true, Ratcliffe emphasized, adding that Americans can be assured the election is secure. "These accusations are nothing more than another scenario to undermine voter confidence, & are absurd." Ratcliffe said the intelligence community had not seen Russia take the same actions as Iran, even though Moscow has obtained U.S. voter information as it did in 2016.

In a state where Confederate monuments have stood for more than a century and have recently become a flashpoint in the national debate over racial injustice, Virginians remain about evenly divided on whether the statues should stay or go, according to a new poll. The poll conducted this month by Hampton University and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 46% support removal of Confederate statues and 42% oppose removal. The poll conducted this month by Hampton University and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 46% support removal of Confederate statues and 42% oppose removal. The 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville that left a counterprotester dead had its origins in a city debate over whether to remove Confederate statues. On another topic, the poll found only about 1 in 4 Virginians support keeping schools in the state completely closed to in-person learning.

It was the first that Schiff, then the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, had ever heard of it. Two years later, Schiff says that breakdown is still emblematic of the disjointed effort among government agencies, Congress and private companies as they try to identify and address foreign election interference. Most of the hacking attempts by Russian, Chinese and Iranian agents were halted by Microsoft security software and the targets notified. The current director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, a close Trump ally, tried to end most in-person election security briefings — a decision he later reversed after criticism from lawmakers from both parties. Lawmakers say that in restricting what's given to Congress, the administration is effectively restricting what it tells the public about election security and misinformation.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has agreed to provide in-person briefings on threats to the November election to key members of Congress, backing down from a decision last month to provide that information only in writing. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has agreed to provide briefings to the Senate and House intelligence committees, according to the heads of those panels. A person familiar with the briefing said Ratcliffe’s office had accepted an invitation to brief the panel behind closed doors. Democrats said that would prevent members from asking followup questions and allow the administration to limit what information it allows. He said in the statement that he had shared with them his proposal on how the intelligence community will share election updates in the future.

The goal, part of the Russian playbook for decades, was to sow chaos by posting content on both sides of the racial divide. Indeed, no single group of Americans was targeted by IRA information operatives more than African-Americans, concluded a report from the Senate intelligence committee. They fear the Trump administration's decision to limit what it tells Congress and by extension the American people about election threats will allow the propaganda to spread. The intelligence statement did not offer specifics about what tactics Russia is using, but the past provides important clues. What people need to be looking for is stuff that is seemingly trying to get a rise out of them, Jankowicz said.

NEW YORK As the Nov. 3 presidential vote nears, there are fresh signs that the nations electoral system is again under attack from foreign adversaries. There is no evidence that America's enemies have yet succeeded in penetrating campaigns or state election systems, but Democrat Joe Biden's presidential campaign confirmed this week that it has faced multiple related threats. When asked directly, the Trump campaign refused to say whether it had accepted materials related to Biden from any foreign nationals. Contrary to their narrative, the Democrats efforts to tear these safeguards apart as they sue in 18 states across the nation would open our election system up to foreign interference, Morgan said. Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, a Republican, described Trump's warnings about mail voting absurd and ridiculous.He should be far more forceful and far more direct in condemning foreign interference, Ridge said in an interview.

The Democrats did not detail exactly what they want the administration to say. The Democrats' letter Friday was in response to a statement earlier in the day by William Evanina, the government's chief counterintelligence official. The statement said adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran are seeking to compromise U.S. private communications and infrastructure in campaigns. The statement was from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence panel. Democrats, including members of the Senate intelligence panel, have voiced concerns that an ongoing Republican probe into Bidens son, Hunter Biden, and his work in Ukraine would amplify Russian disinformation.

WASHINGTON Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he is putting Russia and other foreign governments on notice that he would act aggressively as president to counter any interference in U.S. elections. The statement came hours after Democratic leaders issued a new warning that Congress appears to be the target of a foreign interference campaign. Biden said last week that he had begun receiving intelligence briefings and warned that Russia, China and other adversaries were attempting to undermine the presidential election. In the end, former special counsel Robert Mueller charged 25 Russian nationals for their roles in foreign interference and influence during the campaign. Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump, said Monday she was glad Biden was speaking up.

WASHINGTON Democratic leaders said Monday they are concerned that Congress appears to be the target of a concerted foreign interference campaign to influence the 2020 presidential election and have asked FBI Director Christopher Wray for a classified counterintelligence briefing. The letter to Wray from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees contains no details about the threats, though they describe them as serious and specific. They requested the briefing for all members before lawmakers leave Washington for their August recess. Democrats, including members of the Senate intelligence panel, have also voiced concerns that an ongoing probe into Bidens son, Hunter Biden, and his work in Ukraine would amplify Russian disinformation. That probe is being led by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis.___Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

6/21: Mark Warner, Chad Wolf, Scott Gottlieb This week on "Face the Nation" alarming new increases in the number of COVID cases around the world as President Trump struggles to get the country — and his campaign — back on track.

WASHINGTON Sen. Marco Rubio, the new Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is warning that foreign actors will seek to amplify conspiracy theories about the coronavirus and find new ways to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. Rubio is taking over the chairmanship just as the committee wraps up a three-year investigation into the Russian interference. The panel has publicly released its endorsement of a 2017 assessment by intelligence agencies that Russia interfered and favored Trump, a conclusion that Trump has disputed. I think our report will be one of now several inquiries or investigative efforts that have led to the same conclusion, Rubio said. Rubio has shown little interest in criticizing Trumps response to the coronavirus, including his refusal to wear a mask in public.

WASHINGTON A sharply divided Senate confirmed John Ratcliffe as director of national intelligence on Thursday, with Democrats refusing to support the nomination over fears that he will politicize the intelligence community's work under President Donald Trump. At the same time, Trump has viewed the intelligence agencies with distrust and ousted or fired multiple officials. But senators warmed to him as they grew concerned about the upheaval in the intelligence community and wanted a permanent, confirmed director. Maine Sen. Angus King, an Independent who caucuses with Democrats and a member of the Senate intelligence panel, said he has concerns that Ratciffe has limited experience in the intelligence community yet extensive experience in politics. Still, the position carries unique challenges, given the presidents seeming inclinations to politicize intelligence and bend intelligence agencies to his will.