Louie Gohmert Says Russian Interference Caused Truman’s 1948 Win

Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert admitted Russian interference in presidential elections is a problem, but it has been happening before the election of President Donald Trump. The Texas Rep. said he appreciated Democrats’ concerns about Russian interference in elections. “It’s been going on for 70 years,” he said. “It helped Truman get elected in ’48. Eisenhower called the Russians on it in ’56 and manipulation there.” Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev bragged about throwing the election to President John F. Kennedy in 1960 and Russia helped Jimmy Carter’s election in 1976,Gohmert said. “So I am thrilled that we are going to get help across the aisle to get to the Russian input stopped,” he said. The House Judiciary Committee was holding a hearing about Facebook, Google and Twitter and whether they filtered content. Many other conservative members of Congress asked officials from the companies about whether conservative voices like Diamond & Silk and the Gateway Pundit, which has pushed multiple conspiracy theories, were having their content suppressed. Gohmert then asked Facebook’s Monika Bickert if North Korea or China had tried to influence elections in the U.S. “I would note Congressman that we are not in North Korea or China,” said Bickert, who is head of global policy management for the company. Bickert also said the company had a robust security team to prevent targeting, but Gohmert said that was not what his question was. “You don’t have to be in North Korea to be in North Korean intelligence,” he said. “We have foreign governments’ intelligence in this country.” Bickert said she did not have the details. “I know we definitely work to detect and repel,” Bickert said before saying she could follow up about other countries. Gohmert asked if she didn’t know. “You sure seemed anxious to answer the Democrats’ questions about Russia influence and you don’t really know of all of the groups that inappropriately used your platform, you don’t know which were Russians and which were other foreign entities?” Bickert said they certainly saw attacks from other entities but said she would have her team follow up again. Gohmert accused Bickert of coming “prepared to help the Democrats establish about Russia. But you can’t point to any other country?” Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.