GOP Presidential Candidates Criticize China, Russia During Debate for Purported Role in Cyberattacks

Several major Republican presidential candidates spent time during a Fox News debate Thursday criticizing recent Chinese and Russian cyberattacks against U.S. federal agencies, with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blaming Russia for a July data breach that hit the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s email system. Reports on the breach began surfacing in the hours before the Fox News debate. The Department of Defense didn’t comment on the attack’s origin. Cruz also went after China, saying that nation’s government is “waging cyber warfare against America.” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker referenced attacks attributed to Russia and China, saying the two nations’ governments “know more” about emails stored on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s private email server during her tenure as secretary of state “than does our U.S. Congress, and that’s put our national security at risk.”