House Intelligence chair on election meddling: ‘What’s missing here is a response from the administration’

House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) hit the Biden administration for “not holding Iran accountable” after U.S. officials warned earlier this month that Iran was trying to influence the U.S. election.

“I think what’s missing here is a response from the administration,” Turner said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” when asked if he was “satisfied” with the U.S and social media companies’ efforts to combat potential election interference by Iran.

The FBI confirmed last week that it was launching an investigation after the Trump campaign said it was hacked and some of its internal documents were leaked. A report from Microsoft earlier this month blamed Iran for the attack but did not list the Trump campaign as the target.

Turner also hit the Biden administration for not responding to Iran’s attempt to spread misinformation and for the attempted assassination of former President Trump. A Pakistani national with alleged ties to the Iranian government was charged with plotting to carry out political assassinations on American soil earlier this month.

“The administration is both on the hacking side, on the misinformation side, and on the alleged attempt on Donald Trump’s life is not holding Iran accountable. There’s no red lines,” Turner said.

He also suggested that more needs to be done to deter Iran.

“I’m saying that … there is not a response that impacts Iran or that has a deterrent effect, or even holds them accountable and that, of course, results in increased activity and an increased emboldening of Iran to meddle in our elections and to … have people at risk in our country,” he said.

John Kirby, the White House’s national security communications adviser, told reporters last week that they have raised concerns about potential Iranian cyber actors.

“This is something we’ve raised for some time, raised concerns that Iranian cyber actors have been seeking to influence elections around the world, including those happening in the United States,” he said.

“These latest attempts to interfere in U.S. elections is nothing new for the Iranian regime, which from our vantage point has attempted to undermine democracies for many years now,” he added.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.

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