If this wasn’t so serious it would be funny.  Is Harry Reid afraid Russia is going to beat the Democrats to the draw and mess up the Democrat’s cheating in the election ?  Or, is he trying to take the heat and highlight off Bill Clinton’s wife, Hillary, email and State Department and Clinton foundation scandals?

Harry Reid Cites Evidence of Russian Tampering in U.S. Vote, and Seeks F.B.I. Inquiry.  Wonder why Reid knows before the FBI?

The New York Times

By DAVID E. SANGER

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nev., left, speaks to reporters following a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 357 Hall, in Las Vegas, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016.

The Senate minority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, asked the F.B.I. on Monday to investigate evidence suggesting that Russia may try to manipulate voting results in November.

In a letter to the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey Jr., Mr. Reid wrote that the threat of Russian interference “is more extensive than is widely known and may include the intent to falsify official election results.” Recent classified briefings from senior intelligence officials, Mr. Reid said in an interview, have left him fearful that President Vladimir V. Putin’s “goal is tampering with this election.”

News organizations reported Monday that the F.B.I. warned state election officials several weeks ago that foreign hackers — the bureau did not say what country they were from — had exported voter registration data from computer systems in at least one state, and had pierced the systems of a second one.

In the notice, delivered on a confidential basis to state election officials, the F.B.I. did not name the two states. But Yahoo News, which first reported the F.B.I. warning, said the states were Arizona and Illinois, and a government official familiar with the notice confirmed that it was those two states.

The F.B.I. said the voter information had been “exfiltrated,” which means that it was shipped out of the state systems to another computer. But it does not mean that the data itself was tampered with.

It is unclear whether the hackers intended to affect the election or pursued the data for other purposes, like gaining personal identifying information about voters. The F.B.I. warning referred to “targeting activity” against state boards of elections, but did not discuss the intent of the hackers.

“That incident was only a small part of what disturbed me,” Mr. Reid said on Monday.

In his letter to the F.B.I., he offered no specifics about how Russian hackers could manipulate election data, an effort made harder by the varying vote-tallying procedures in each state.

But the prospect of election tampering has been discussed since the revelation that two Russian intelligence agencies, the F.S.B. and the G.R.U., were believed to be responsible for the hacking of the networks of the Democratic National Committee.

Emails published by a hacker who called himself Guccifer 2.0 — believed to be an alias for Russian hackers linked to the intelligence agencies — revealed that the committee had denigrated the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The disclosures led to the resignation of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida as the committee’s chairwoman.

Mr. Reid’s accusation that Russia is seeking not only to influence the election with propaganda but also to tamper with the vote counting goes significantly beyond anything the Obama administration has said in public.

While intelligence agencies have told the White House that they have “high confidence” that Russian intelligence services were behind the hacking of the Democratic committee, the administration has not leveled any accusations against Mr. Putin’s government.

Asked about that in the interview, Mr. Reid said he was free to say things that the president was not. “This is one of the strengths of Barack Obama,” he said. “He waits and waits and waits until all the evidence is in” before deciding how to respond.

But Mr. Reid argued that the connections between some of Donald J. Trump’s former and current advisers and the Russian leadership should, by itself, prompt an investigation. He referred indirectly in his letter to a speech given in Russia by one Trump adviser, Carter Page, a consultant and investor in the energy giant Gazprom, who criticized American sanctions policy toward Russia.

“Trump and his people keep saying the election is rigged,” Mr. Reid said. “Why is he saying that? Because people are telling him the election can be messed with.” Mr. Trump’s advisers say they are concerned that unnamed elites could rig the election for his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Mr. Reid argued that if Russia concentrated on “less than six” swing states, it could alter results and undermine confidence in the electoral system. That would pose challenges, given that most states have paper backups, but he noted that hackers could keep people from voting by tampering with the rolls of eligible voters.

Those old Democrats are getting worried!  How does Harry Reid know how you can cheat in an election – kinda makes you think he has done that before since he is so specific?

kommonsentsjane