Florida lawmakers want DOJ to brief them on Russian interference in Florida's 2016 election

Two Florida lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr asking him to brief them on cyber intrusions the Mueller investigation found that Russia had committed against Florida election officials.

Here's what we know

On April 18, special counsel Robert Mueller released a 448-page report on his investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. While he did not find evidence of collusion, he did cite multiple examples of Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election.

According to this report, hackers associated with the GRU, Russia's intelligence agency, "sent spearphishing emails to over 120 email accounts used by Florida county officials responsible for administering the 2016 U.S. election" [volume 1, page 51]. These emails had Trojan software "that permitted the GRU to access the infected computer." The FBI concluded that using this tactic, the GRU was then able "to gain access to the network of at least one Florida county government."

The bipartisan letter, written by U.S. Reps. Stephanie Murphy (D) and Michael Waltz (R), calls on Barr to have the Department of Justice brief Florida's state Congress on this hacking incident. They argue that lawmakers need more information about how these intrusions happened in order to safeguard against such attacks in the future.

"The FBI needs to brief the Florida delegation on exactly what Russia did and which counties were involved so we can protect our elections and the voters," Waltz said in a statement.

Murphy echoed this sentiment, adding, "As the country's largest swing state, we cannot allow the integrity of our democratic process to be compromised."

What else?

The FBI is already planning on discussing this cyber intrusion with Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who was governor during the 2016 election.