'Our Democracy Itself Is in the Crosshairs': Trump Intel Officials Directly Call Out Putin on Election Meddling

Top Trump intelligence officials put on a united front at the White House Thursday to show their concerns about upcoming elections.

They said Russia is posing a sustained threat to American elections with its influence operations, saying "democracy itself is in the crosshairs."

"We continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by Russia to try to weaken and divide the United States. These efforts are not exclusive to this election or future elections but certainly cover issues relevant to the election," said Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

The briefing showed the administration is renewing its public commitment to combat the Russian threat. The news comes just weeks after President Donald Trump faced broad and bipartisan criticism for initially appearing to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin's denial of meddling during their summit in Helsinki, Finland.

But National Security Adviser John Bolton, in a new letter to senators, said Trump has directed a "vast, government-wide effort" to protect US election integrity.

"A single attack can have widespread and cascading consequences. ... It's not just a risk to prosperity, privacy and infrastructure," Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen warned. "Our democracy itself is in the crosshairs."

FBI Director Chris Wray added, "Any moment is just a moment before the dial can be turned up one, much as we saw in 2016 – not in terms of affecting the vote count, but in terms of voter registration, voter databases or something like that."

Coats said the threat is "real" and "continuing" and "we're throwing everything at it."

"Our focus today is simply to tell the American people we acknowledge the threat," Coats said. "It is real. It is continuing. And we're doing everything we can to have a legitimate election."

While the upcoming midterm elections are certainly a target for Russia and other nations with influence capabilities, Wray stressed that "this is not just an election cycle threat."

Coats said that current Russian efforts are not as "robust" as during the 2016 election cycle, but that Moscow has taken on "numerous" other strategies to influence public opinion – through media, social media, bots and proxies – "with the intent to ... drive a wedge and undermine our democratic values."

They shared a laundry list of what America faces, from attempts to suppress voting to illegal campaign funding to cyber attacks.

The warning comes just days after Facebook shut down dozens of fake accounts, like those targeting hot-button social issues – part of a sophisticated campaign to influence Americans.

Coats pointed straight at Russia, adding the orders often come from President Vladimir Putin himself.

Officials stressed the importance of the government intelligence community partnering with social media and technology companies, providing them classified briefings so they can better monitor their platforms and protect our democracy.