Very real threats

Dear Friend,

Tomorrow, I will participate in a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing to examine foreign influence operations and their use of social media platforms. Russia's efforts to divide our country by weaponizing social media is full-on information warfare. I hope you can take a moment to watch what I said on MSNBC this morning about the threats we face.

Russia's use of social media and other online forums to influence our elections and undermine public confidence in our democratic institutions and processes means we need companies like Facebook to be part of the solution. I'm pleased that Facebook announced today how they are stepping up by removing fake accounts and pages that were connected to Russia's disinformation campaign. But we need every platform working closely with the government to coordinate efforts to counter these very real threats.

The President's inability to consistently confirm the Intelligence Community's assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and his utter lack of interest in learning how to prevent similar, ongoing attacks on our nation's democratic institutions make it all the more difficult to take the steps we need to take. But I remain determined to do all I can to inform the American public about the threat and to work with my colleagues to find solutions.

We all have a critical role to play in defending our country.