Senators from both parties knocked the Trump administration for not working quickly enough on election security in advance of the upcoming election season, while also questioning the missteps that occurred during the Obama administration's response to Russian hacking in the 2016 election. Nielsen said 20 state officials — out of a possible 150 — had received clearances to date, saying they were working with other agencies to speed up the process. Warner said it was "extremely troubling" that Trump did not bring up election security when he called Russian President Vladimir Putin this week and congratulated him on his election victory. But he said the state reaction on a conference call with state officials "was neutral to negative." "I would call one of you and say would you please call your governor, would you please call your secretary of state," Johnson said.

Source: CNN March 21, 2018 14:42 UTC