Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who is currently leading the polls, denounced Russian interference in the US presidential campaign on Friday after reports from the Washington Post about Moscow supporting his candidacy. According to the newspaper, American officials informed the candidate of Moscow's interference in his favor. Elected members of Congress were also briefed by the intelligence services on these interventions, according to the daily, which first revealed these facts on Friday.
“Frankly, I don't care who Putin wants as president. My message to Putin is clear: stay away from the US elections and when I am president, I will make sure of it, ” Bernie Sanders said in a statement. "In 2016, Russia used Internet propaganda to sow division in our country, and I understand that they will start again in 2020," he added.
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The revelations on a new Russian interference in the elections, via a manipulation of messages on social networks, have multiplied for two days in the United States. American intelligence services also informed congressional officials that Moscow was seeking, as in 2016, to promote the victory of Republican President Donald Trump.
No link was formally established Friday between the alleged attempts to interfere in favor of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Many analysts believe that a nomination of Bernie Sanders could help Donald Trump because his program is very marked on the left and it would therefore be less likely to gather voters broadly than other more centrist candidates.
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The Democrats began at the beginning of the month the long process of the primaries which must make it possible to choose their candidate for the presidential election of November 3. The third act of these primaries is held on Saturday in the state of Nevada (west).
In the 2016 election, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia had sought to interfere in the process at the expense of Democrat Hillary Clinton. This was later confirmed by the judicial investigation by special prosecutor Robert Mueller. The latter had however estimated that there was no collusion between Russia and Donald Trump's campaign team.