CLEVELAND ��Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said possible Russian meddling in the U.S. election is a serious threat that must be addressed quickly and firmly.
While saying it's "almost unthinkable" that a foreign adversary would attempt to manipulate the American political system, Clinton said it appears that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his aides believe they will get some benefit.
"We have to make very clear we're not going to let anyone interfere," she said between campaign events Sunday in the Midwest.
Clinton didn't outline any specific steps she would take to warn Russia or block the nation from interfering. She cited President Barack Obama's remarks that the U.S. has extensive capabilities, both for defense and offense, and that all nations should guard against igniting a cyber cold war.
The Washington Post reported Monday that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials are investigating a potentially broad and covert operation by Russia to sow voter distrust in the presidential election and U.S. political institutions. The effort involves hacking and spreading disinformation, the Post reported, citing unidentified officials.
U.S. officials previously said signs pointed to hackers guided by the Russian government as responsible for the attacks on Democratic National Committee servers earlier this year that resulted in WikiLeaks publishing about 20,000 private emails just before the party convention in July.
Putin, in an interview last week, denied accusations that Russia's government had anything to do with the hacking, but characterized the release of the documents as a public service.
"Listen, does it even matter who hacked this data?" Putin said. "The important thing is the content that was given to the public."
