Congressional leaders knew before the November election that Russia was attempting to interfere with the process, House Speaker Paul Ryan said in an interview that aired Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader "Mitch McConnell, [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer, [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi and I sent a letter to the secretaries of states before the election saying 'Heads up, be on the watch out, something is happening. Guard your data,'" Ryan told CBS News' Norah O'Donnell on "CBS This Morning."
"So we all knew this before the election, we all knew, Russia was trying to meddle with our election," he said, "and we already know right now they are trying to do it with other countries."
Thursday morning, however, during a panel moderated by CNBC, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied accusations that Russia interfered in U.S. elections, calling the claims "lies" used for "domestic American politics."
Ryan, speaking to O'Donnell on Wednesday and before Putin's comments, agreed that Russia had conducted overt and covert operations to meddle in the elections in Europe, including Germany and France, as well as in the United States.
"This nation, the world superpower, the American government needs to do everything we possibly can, not only to undercut what they are trying to do but to uncover what they are trying to do and help our allies prevent this from happening," said Ryan.
"Russia trying to influence elections in Eastern Europe and Europe, around the globe, I think we have a special responsibility given our capabilities, to make sure we help our allies guard against this meddling by Russia in their elections, just like they tried to with our election."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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