Outgoing US Ambassador to Russia Saw Evidence Russia Hacked US Election

John Tefft, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Russia, says he believes Russia engaged in cyberattacks during the 2016 presidential election.

Tefft, a career foreign service officer who came out of retirement in 2014 to serve as U.S. ambassador to Russia, is being succeeded by Trump appointee Jon Huntsman, a former U.S. ambassador to China.

In a joint interview in Moscow with the Russian Services of VOA and RFE/RL, Tefft left no doubt he’s convinced Russia meddled in the U.S. election.

VOA’s Danila Galperovich asked Tefft, “Do you personally believe that Russian cyber involvement in U.S. elections is a proven thing?”

“Yes, I saw some of the evidence myself when I was in Washington,” Tefft responded. “And I’ve spoken to very many senior officials who’ve read the entire thing and they’re absolutely convinced that this is absolutely true.”

Tefft added, “I would say to you that most of the members of our Congress, senators and representatives, have also been briefed and when the question of putting sanctions on Russia because of cyber-attacks came up, you had huge majorities — 98, I think, in the Senate out of 100, and 415 or so in the House of Representatives. You wouldn’t get that kind of vote if there was any question about whether this was correct or not.”

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