Kerry: Russian interference had ‘profound impact’ on election

Secretary of State John Kerry weighed in on Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election in an interview Wednesday, saying purported email hacking had a “profound impact” on the electoral process.

The release of emails obtained from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta dogged Clinton’s presidential bid. A secret CIA assessment reported by The Washington Post found it likely that Russian hackers obtained and disseminated the emails to help Donald Trump win the presidency.

“I think all of the cyberattacks taking place, particularly the Russian one, had a profound impact on our system, on our political process,” Kerry said in interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.

“It invaded the space of our election,” he continued. “The releasing on a regular basis of one party’s stolen emails had an impact, and I think that other things also had an impact.”

{mosads}Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been calling for a special Senate committee to investigate Russia’s attempt to interfere in the U.S. election, while others have rejected a new probe and believe it should be handled by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

On Tuesday, the Post reported that President Obama’s administration is finalizing a package of sanctions against Russia, and an announcement about the public elements could come as early as this week.

Kerry noted that other countries are also concerned by the occurrence of cyberattacks and urged new solutions for preventing future ones.

“It’s a new form of political engagement that we all need to be extremely wary of and we need to find new methods of protection and new ways of fighting back against it,” Kerry said.

During the Wednesday interview, Kerry said he had a “good conversation” with President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of State pick, Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, and said that they plan to find another time to meet in the future.