Bernie Sanders says his 2016 team saw effects of Russian anti-Clinton campaign

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment detailing the Russian social media campaign to aid Donald Trump, undermine Hillary Clinton and sow distrust in American politics describes behavior that aides to Bernie Sanders witnessed firsthand in the waning weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, the senator said Tuesday.

In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Sanders described how an aide handling his social media accounts noticed an uptick in “horrific and ugly things” directed at Clinton beginning around September 2016 — long after the Democratic nomination had been decided, and while Sanders himself was traveling the country campaigning on her behalf.

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“In many respects, what Mueller’s report tells us is not new to us,” Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, said. “We knew that they were trying to sow division within the American people. In my case, it was to tell Bernie supporters that Hillary Clinton is a criminal, that Hillary Clinton is crazy, that Hillary Clinton is sick — terrible, terrible ugly stuff — and to have Bernie Sanders supporters either vote for Trump or Jill Stein or not vote at all.”

Sanders, who ran for president as a Democrat in 2016, described the situation in response to a question about his impression of the indictment released Friday by Mueller, the special counsel investing Russian election meddling and possible collusion with aides to President Donald Trump.

The indictment details a raft of activities by a Russian organization known as the Internet Research Agency to inflame political divisions, spread lies about the presidential race and encourage confrontations among Americans, largely on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

On Tuesday, Sanders described one spike in anti-Clinton sentiment that he attributed to the Russian campaign. In September 2016, an aide noticed hundreds of “new names” appearing on pro-Sanders Facebook pages to denigrate Clinton and her candidacy — despite the fact Sanders himself was campaigning on her behalf during that same period.

The influx of social media trolls was alarming enough that the aide approached the Clinton campaign to inform them of the situation, Sanders said.

Among the allegations in the special counsel indictment is a finding that the Russians bought Facebook ads accusing Clinton of committing voter fraud during the Iowa caucuses. Clinton narrowly won the caucuses over Sanders, and the candidates ended up splitting the state’s delegates to the national convention.

Sanders on Tuesday said his campaign did press immediately after the caucuses for the Iowa Democratic Party to release the raw vote totals showing participants’ candidate preferences. But he never alleged or believed the Clinton campaign had committed fraud.

“There was never, ever, ever any suggestion that Hillary Clinton quote-unquote stole the election,” Sanders said. “We ended up with almost the same amount of delegates as Clinton from Iowa and we felt very good about that race.”

Sanders offered steps he said the U.S. should pursue in response to the mounting evidence of Russian interference in 2016 and the potential for further meddling in the 2018 election.

In the absence of strong action from Trump, Sanders said, Congress must outline “strong repercussions” awaiting Russia if the country attempts similar tactics in 2018.

“We should lay out those repercussions to make it clear that there will be sanctions far more severe than what has already been passed,” Sanders said. “They’ve got to know that we regard this cyberwarfare against the most important aspect of American life, our democracy, as something that is very, very serious.”

Additionally, Sanders said, the federal government should provide additional election security resources to states and hold internet platforms like Facebook and Twitter accountable if they’re again used by hostile foreign powers to disrupt elections.