--- title: Florida Official Disputes Clinton's Election Claim description: Florida's Secretary of State disputes Hillary Clinton claim that every Florida county's election system was hacked during the 2016 election. canonical: https://time.com/5578267/florida-election-interference-russia-clinton/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-25T21:07:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:23:35.773Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Said Russia Infiltrated All Florida Election Systems. A State Official Disputes That og:description: Florida's Secretary of State is disputing Clinton's claim at the TIME 100 Summit og:url: https://time.com/5578267/florida-election-interference-russia-clinton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11186453a3116410/6989490c8fd2ee4f6a35e2eb/hillary-clinton-and-edward-felsenthal.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Hillary-Clinton-Edward-Felsenthal og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Said Russia Infiltrated All Florida Election Systems. A State Official Disputes That twitter:description: Florida's Secretary of State is disputing Clinton's claim at the TIME 100 Summit twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11186453a3116410/6989490c8fd2ee4f6a35e2eb/hillary-clinton-and-edward-felsenthal.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Said Russia Infiltrated All Florida Election Systems. A State Official Disputes That > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Hillary Clinton on Mueller Report and 2016 Election [Watch (HLS stream): Hillary Clinton on Mueller Report and 2016 Election](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FdD4PJHn.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2019-04-23. Hillary Clinton on Mueller Report and 2016 Election_  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Apr 25, 2019 9:07 PM UTC  Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the TIME 100 Summit on April 23, 2019 in New York City. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the TIME 100 Summit on April 23, 2019 in New York City. Spencer Platt—Getty Images  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Apr 25, 2019 9:07 PM UTC Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report said that Russian spies attempted to hack into many of Florida’s local election systems, succeeding in penetrating “at least one” county government network. But Mueller did not say any more than that. At Tuesday’s TIME 100 Summit, Hillary Clinton went much further, claiming that the government had said that every Florida county election system was hacked during the 2016 election. [Discussing Russian interference](http://time.com/5574159/hillary-clinton-edward-felsenthal-time-100-summit/) in the election, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee told TIME Editor in Chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal that the federal government recently “acknowledged that the Russians were in the county election systems of every county in Florida.” But Laurel Lee, Florida’s top elections official, says that’s not true. “I spoke with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security when the [Mueller report](http://time.com/5567077/mueller-report-release/) was released and they assured me that Florida’s 2016 election results were not compromised in any way,” Lee said in a statement. Lee, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, added that federal investigators have not provided the state with any information to “support Hillary Clinton’s claims” that all of the election systems were infiltrated. Russian targeting of Florida election systems was mentioned both in the Mueller report and [an indictment of Russian officials](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article216326550.html) who allegedly plotted to interfere in the election. The Mueller report said that Russian officials who were members of the Russian intelligence agency GRU sent “spearphishing” emails to more than 120 email accounts “used by Florida county officials responsible for administering the 2016 U.S. election,” succeeding in penetrating at least one county. Meanwhile, the indictment said that the Russian officials sent “over 100 spearphishing emails to organizations and personnel involved in administering elections in numerous Florida counties.” The indictment did not say whether any counties had been infiltrated. In a separate statement last week, Lee said that the FBI had declined to say which county was accessed. A representative for Clinton did not immediately respond to a request for further comment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5578267/florida-election-interference-russia-clinton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5578267/florida-election-interference-russia-clinton/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Said Russia Infiltrated All Florida Election Systems. 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