Fox host grills Sarah Sanders over Russia: 'The American people need to know the meddling will be dealt with'
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders insisted on Wednesday that President Donald Trump was not ignoring Russian election interference like she claimed President Barack Obama had.
During an interview with Sanders on the White House lawn, Fox News host Bill Hemmer noted that Trump had recently promised to "counteract" any Russian interference in the 2018 midterm elections.
"What is happening at [the Department of Homeland Security]?" Hemmer wondered. "The American people need to know that the meddling will be dealt with."
"There are a number of things that are happening," Sanders replied defensively. "DHS is certainly taking a huge lead on this process. But it's an interagency process. We've got people -- a lot of people from the intelligence community that are working on this. The president is committed to making sure that not just Russia -- but particularly Russia -- but any country or any outsider doesn't have the ability to influence or impact our elections."
"Is that security on the technology front?" Hemmer pressed. "What is that?"
"There are a number of different things," Sanders replied. "It's certainly security on the technology front, it's backing up systems, it's making sure that we have integrity when it comes to the voting systems, it's helping the states. I mean, we have to remember that the states own these elections."
"But it's March," the Fox News host noted. "When do we know?"
"Look, it's not a one-day process," Sanders stuttered. "This is something we're going to continue working on. We've had a number of these meetings with state and local officials. We're going to continue working with states to secure their systems."
"I can assure you that this administration across the board, agency wide is taking this very seriously," she added. "And taking very big steps to make sure that we don't repeat the mistakes of the previous administration and ignore this problem and not take big and bold action."
Watch the video below from Fox News.