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The sources said the goal was to work with the FBI to investigate claims that Venezuela had hacked voting machines in Puerto Rico, but added the probe did not produce any clear evidence of Venezuelan interference in the U.S. territory's elections. Reuters first reported the investigation.
Gabbard's office, in a statement to Reuters, confirmed the May investigation but denied a link to Venezuela, saying its focus was on vulnerabilities in the island's electronic voting systems. Her team took an unspecified number of Puerto Rico's voting machines and additional copies of data from the machines as part of its investigation, a spokesperson for Gabbard's Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.
The Puerto Rico operation appeared to be part of an effort by Trump administration officials to pursue unproven allegations of voting fraud, the sources said
"What’s most alarming here is that Director Gabbard’s own team acknowledges there was no evidence of foreign interference, yet they seized voting machines and election data anyway," U.S. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence panel, told Reuters on Thursday.
"Absent a foreign nexus, intelligence agencies have absolutely no lawful role in domestic election administration. This is exactly the kind of overreach Congress wrote the law to prevent, and it raises profound questions about whether our intelligence tools are being abused,” Warner added.
Domestic election security matters are typically handled by law enforcement agencies, say current and former U.S. officials, not the nation’s intelligence services.
Gabbard's office, in a statement to Reuters, confirmed the May investigation but denied a link to Venezuela, saying its focus was on vulnerabilities in the island's electronic voting systems. Her team took an unspecified number of Puerto Rico's voting machines and additional copies of data from the machines as part of its investigation, a spokesperson for Gabbard's Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.
The Puerto Rico operation appeared to be part of an effort by Trump administration officials to pursue unproven allegations of voting fraud, the sources said
"What’s most alarming here is that Director Gabbard’s own team acknowledges there was no evidence of foreign interference, yet they seized voting machines and election data anyway," U.S. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence panel, told Reuters on Thursday.
"Absent a foreign nexus, intelligence agencies have absolutely no lawful role in domestic election administration. This is exactly the kind of overreach Congress wrote the law to prevent, and it raises profound questions about whether our intelligence tools are being abused,” Warner added.
Domestic election security matters are typically handled by law enforcement agencies, say current and former U.S. officials, not the nation’s intelligence services.
