China capable of accessing political figure emails, Marco Rubio warns
'The Chinese are a much graver threat over the long term,' the Florida senator said
The threat posed by China is being understated at the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told "Mornings with Maria" Thursday.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee member warns the Chinese have "sophisticated operations" and pose a much greater threat than Russia in the long term.
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"It's a very dangerous time," Rubio said, "the Russians and Putin, they've been doing it a long time. They're good at what they do, but they're largely focused on getting us to fight with each other and weaken us internally."
"The Chinese are a much graver threat over the longterm," he explained. "They are better at it. They have more capabilities. They're larger. They have more money. The Chinese threat is being understated here. They are going to continue to mess with American politics to try to shape both our elections and our policy debates in the direction, that's favorable to them, and, you know, accessing the e-mails of a political figure are most certainly something they have the capability of doing."
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Responding to the allegation that Hillary Clinton emailed back-and-forth with former President Barack Obama on her private server, Rubio said, "I think you have to assume if you are sending e-mails and you are a high-target figure from a private server, the Chinese have access to it and they can use it in a couple ways."
The Chinese "can use it to know what you're thinking or they could potentially use it in a hack and leak operation," Rubio added. "They can use it frankly to manufacturer e-mails, put it on your server, and then leak that stuff, and use it for interference."