Russia Hacking Led Obama Administration To Call Kremlin On The 'Red Phone'

The Russian cyber attacks during the 2016 U.S. election were far wider in scope than originally reported to the public, including incursions into voter databases and software systems in almost forty states, prompting the Obama administration to directly call the Kremlin, according to a report in Bloomberg on Tuesday.

An investigator from Illinois said that evidence showed hackers attempted to delete or alter voter data in 39 states. The cyber attackers accessed software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day, a campaign finance database in at least one state and compromised the records for as many as 90,000 voters.

READ: Senators Reach Deal To Restrain Trump From Lifting Russia Sanctions, Impose More For Election Meddling

The news came on a day after senators drew up a new round of sanctions against Russia. The sanctions were drawn with bipartisan support, with Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) both signing off on the mandate.

In a statement, Mr. Schumer called the new sanctions “a powerful and bipartisan statement to Russia.”

Additionally, the mandate also stripped President Donald Trump of his power to ease the penalties on Russia by providing "a mandated congressional review” of any unilateral changes to the sanctions. The sanctions were added onto an amendment connected to sanctions against Iran, which the president has shown support for.

This would likely force Trump to either sign or veto the measure. Trump has, up to this point, dismissed the Russian involvement in the election as a "hoax" or "witch hunt."

Similarly, the Kremlin has denied involvement with the hacking, with Putin saying in an interview with NBC's Megyn Kelly that American intelligence agencies have been "misled" and that reports the Russians have damaging information on Trump are "nonsense."

READ: Trump Considers Lifting Sanctions On Russia Amid Investigation: Report

The attacks concerned the administration of former President Barack Obama so much so that they took an unprecedented step of calling their counterparts in Moscow directly over a modern-day "red phone," which was set up in 2013 by Obama and Putin to de-escalate "cyber incidents." Obama used the direct line to present evidence of the attacks and warn Putin that the intrusions could trigger a larger conflict between the US and Russia.

This report has been bolstered by the National Security Agency analysis recently leaked by contractor Reality Winner which also suggested that the hackers gained access to software used by poll workers to check voter eligibility.

The gravity of the concern was expressed with a warning by former FBI Director James Comey, who testified at a Senate Intelligence Committee last Thursday that the Russians would be back. “They’re coming after America,” Comey said of the Russian interference in the election. “They will be back.”

These sanctions were in addition to the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats from compounds in New York and Maryland by the Obama administration as punishment for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee during the election. The diplomats were given 24 hours to vacate the compounds.

Earlier in June, it was reported by the Washington Post that the Trump campaign was considering whether to lift those sanctions.