Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) pledged Tuesday not to use “stolen hacked” materials during her 2020 presidential campaign.
In an email to reporters, Gillibrand’s campaign called on other 2020 candidates to join the pledge in response to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
“Russia is a foreign adversary of the United States, and we all must learn serious lessons from their cyber attack on our election systems in 2016. Russia will be back, and it is troubling that President Trump and his top aides are not only failing to hold them accountable but actually normalizing the idea of ‘taking information from Russians’ for political gain,” Gillibrand said in a statement.
{mosads}”For my part, I vow that our campaign will not seek out stolen hacked information from foreign adversaries or knowingly weaponize such materials, and I urge my colleagues in the 2020 field to join in signing this pledge. Together we can send a clear message to those who seek to harm our democracy — at home and abroad.”
Gillibrand promised not to “participate, aid, or encourage hackers or foreign actors” in attempts to influence American election.
Her pledge also says “foreign actors attempting to negatively influence, participate in, or contact the campaign will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report last week detailed the “sweeping and systematic fashion” with which the Russian government interfered in the last election with the goal of electing Trump.
Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani said on Sunday that he thought there is nothing wrong with a campaign taking information from Russia.
“There’s nothing wrong with taking information from Russians,” Giuliani said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He added, however, that he would have urged Trump’s campaign to reject help from Moscow.
A campaign advisor for former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, who is also running for the Democratic presidential nomination, on Monday pledged not to spread disinformation from hackers.
“This campaign will not knowingly spread disinformation or reference materials that come out through criminal means like hacking,” Jennifer Fiore tweeted.