Print Version (PDF)

AP19:046

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2019
CONTACT:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla Statement on Mueller Comments

SACRAMENTO, CA – California Secretary of State Alex Padilla issued the following statement in response to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s comments to the media today.

“Robert Mueller ended his comments this morning with a clear, direct warning that should be heard by every American — there was a systemic effort by Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. Whether it was the spread of misinformation or attempts to find vulnerabilities in election systems, our democracy was under attack.

Mueller’s sobering reminder stands in stark contrast to the complete failure of President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to take action to further secure our elections. McConnell has effectively killed all federal legislative proposals that would provide new funding to replace aging voting systems, or would require a national standard of paper ballots with a voter verified paper audit trail and post-election audits of election results. And Trump has repeatedly undermined the work of Mueller and U. S. intelligence agencies to expose the threats to our democracy. It will be up to thousands of state and local election officials from across the political spectrum to defend our system of free and fair elections.”

###