During an appearance on MSNBC on Monday night, Hillary Clinton, the former first lady and failed Democratic presidential nominee, advocated for the criminal prosecution of Americans who employ “Russian talking points.”
After being asked by host Rachel Maddow if she now believed that the US government now has a handle on the problem of alleged Russian misinformation, Clinton responded:
“I think there’s a far distance to go. I applaud the actions taken by the Justice Department and the State Department. I think that they’re very important. But truly, we are just at the beginning of uncovering everything that Russia, but not just Russia, other countries, have done and are doing to influence our election,”she said.
“They are using Americans, both those who are witting and willing and those who are unwitting, and are just so surprised they’re getting, you know, $400,000 a week or $100,000 a podcast to parrot Kremlin propaganda. And we know from what even Republicans have said, the chairs of the Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee and other Republicans who are currently in office have said that Republicans go to the floor of the Congress and they parrot Russian talking points.” Clinton continued.
“So I think it’s important to indict the Russians, just as [Robert] Mueller indicted a lot of Russians who were engaged in direct election interference and boosting Trump back in 2016. 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.” she added.
[READ MORE: Would be Trump Assassin Was Democrat Donor With Long Criminal History]
