National security adviser John Bolton says Russia is just one of four countries that could try to interfere in November’s midterm elections.
In an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” Bolton said the United States is also concerned about election interference by China, North Korea and Iran.
“I can say definitively that it's a sufficient national security concern about Chinese meddling, Iranian meddling and North Korean meddling that we're taking steps to try and prevent it. So all four of those countries, really,” he said, adding: “Looking at the 2018 election, those are the four countries that we're most concerned about.”
On Saturday, President Donald Trump suggested in a tweet that investigators should expand the scope of election meddling beyond Russia, writing, “All of the fools that are so focused on looking only at Russia should start also looking in another direction, China.”
Bolton wouldn’t comment directly on whether the United States will conduct offensive cyber operations ahead of the election.
“What we want is not war in cyber space. We want peace in cyber space,” he said. “And to do that, I think you need to establish structures of deterrence so that our adversaries who have conducted cyber operations against us or who are contemplating it come to understand they will pay a much higher price if they do that than if they simply refrain.”
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