Hillary Clinton Suggests Posting Russian Propaganda Should Be A Crime

Hillary Clinton has suggested that Americans who spread Russian-backed pro-Trump “propaganda” should be charged with a crime.
Speaking on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show on Monday, Clinton was asked whether she believed the U.S. government was taking the issue of illegal interference in the U.S. election seriously enough. The question came in the wake of Attorney General Merrick Garland accusing the state-controlled news outlet Russia Today of implementing “a nearly $10 million scheme to fund and direct a Tennessee-based company to publish and disseminate content deemed favorable to the Russian government.”
Clinton responded that she thinks there is “a far distance to go” to uncover the extent of interference from Russia and other countries into U.S. elections.
“I think it’s important to indict the Russians, just as Muller indicted a lot of Russians who were engaged in direct election interference and boosting Trump back in 2016,” Clinton said, referring to 2018 indictments against Russian individuals and companies accused of election tampering to boost support for Trump in the 2016 election.
“But I also think there are Americans who are engaged in this kind of propaganda. And whether they should be civilly or even in some cases criminally charged is something that would be a better deterrence, because the Russians are unlikely, except in a very few cases, to ever stand trial in the United States.”
While discussing the extent of the influence of Russia on American media to try to sway the election, she also said that “Republicans go to the floor of the Congress and they parrot Russian talking points.”
U.S. officials have said that Russia is turning to social media influencers in the U.S. to sway voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Reuters reported that one senior intelligence official said in a briefing earlier this month, “What we see them doing is relying on witting and unwitting Americans to seed, promote and add credibility to narratives that serve these foreign actors’ interest. These foreign countries typically calculate that Americans are more likely to believe other Americans’ views.”
During the segment, Clinton also addressed media coverage of Trump’s comments and said she thinks Americans are becoming “desensitized” to his rhetoric, although she added that she believes people are beginning to reject the “chaos that he represents.”
Clinton and Trump’s spokesperson have been contacted by Newsweek for comment.
The former secretary of state was the first woman to face Trump on a debate stage, and has frequently criticized him while endorsing Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election cycle.
She is currently promoting her new book, titled Something Lost, Something Gained, published September 17.
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