[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 79 (Monday, May 8, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2786-S2787]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      French Presidential Election

  Mr. President, yesterday, the people of France took part in a time-
honored tradition of a democratic people: the election of a new 
President. We here in the Senate congratulate Emmanuel Macron on his 
win and look forward to the continuing deep and longstanding friendship 
between our two countries.
  Unfortunately, the elections in France were victim to a malicious 
attempt to distort the results through a coordinated cyber attack on 
one of the candidates, much as Hillary Clinton's campaign was targeted 
in our elections. In the waning days of the French election, according 
to reports, Macron's emails were hacked and leaked to the public, 
potentially with some altered information included, by agents believed 
to originate in Russia. The hack was then promoted and spread by far-
right activists around the globe, some of whom reside here in the 
United States. It was deja vu all over again. Russia elevated old 
school propaganda tactics and techniques using new school methods, 
spreading misinformation with an army of paid ``trolls'' and computer 
bots, aided and abetted by far-right activists here in the United 
States.
  It seems that Putin and the international far right have formed an 
unholy alliance. The goal of this alliance is not necessarily to 
promote one candidate over another, one party over another, though that 
is part of it. Their true goal is to destabilize and subvert democratic 
societies, to cast doubt on the outcome of free and fair elections, to 
hobble democratically elected leaders before they even take office, and 
to degrade the alliances and international regimes that have created so 
much stability, strength, and shared prosperity in the post-World War 
II era.
  Despite Macron's win yesterday, we would be foolish to think that 
this unholy alliance will not use the same tactics again in upcoming 
European elections and, even more important to those of us in this 
country, in upcoming American elections.

[[Page S2787]]

  Make no mistake about it--Mr. Putin has no loyalty to any one person 
or President. Whatever is good for Russia at the moment, whatever hurts 
the United States the most, that is what he will pursue. This is an 
issue that should provoke grave concern in both parties. He may favor 
one party one day and another party the next. It should compel us, 
together--Democrats and Republicans--to take action against this new 
threat.
  This afternoon, the Judiciary Committee will hear from former Deputy 
Attorney General Sally Yates and former Director of National 
Intelligence James Clapper. Later this week, the Intelligence Committee 
will hold its annual worldwide threats hearing. I sincerely hope these 
two committees will cover these issues in their hearings and beyond.
  We should begin an extended bipartisan discussion about how to combat 
foreign information operations campaigns and safeguard the integrity of 
democratic elections all over the world and, most importantly, in our 
own country. It is no less serious than this: The integrity of our 
democracy, which has thrived, blessedly, for over 240 years could well 
be at stake.