WASHINGTON: Former New York City mayor and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg's campaign has seized on reports that Russia has sought to interfere in the 2020 election to boost the campaign of his Democratic presidential rival Senator Bernie Sanders.
The former New York City mayor's campaign tweeted a post in Russian on Friday (local time) that roughly translated to "feel the burn," a play on words of the Sanders catchphrase "feel the bern."
The remarks by Bloomberg's campaign came after reports emerged in American media, including The Washington Post and The New York Times, that Russia is intending to meddle in the 2020 US presidential elections to support both Sanders, according to The Hill.
Bloomberg, who made a late entry into the 2020 race last November, has for months insisted that Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, would be a weak contender to face President Donald Trump in November, this year and that only a centrist like himself can win.
"This is a no-brainer for the Russians," Bloomberg's campaign tweeted Friday.
"They either nominate the weakest candidate to take on their puppet Trump, or they elect a socialist as President," the thread added.
Earlier on Friday, Sanders confirmed that he was briefed by the US intelligence officials about Russian attempts to interfere in the election, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "thug" and maintaining that he stands "firmly against" Moscow's interference efforts.
"The ugly thing that they are doing, and I've seen some of their tweets and stuff, is they try to divide us up. That's what they did in 2016," he said in a statement.
Trump, meanwhile, dismissed reports that lawmakers had been briefed on Moscow's efforts to boost his own campaign, saying earlier Friday that Democrats were responsible for spreading a "misinformation campaign."
"Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa," he tweeted.
The President at a rally in Nevada later in the day accused Democrats of trying to start a "rumor" about Russia interfering in the election on his behalf.
"I was told a week ago. They said, you know, they're trying to start rumours. It's disinformation. That's the only thing they're good at. They're not good at anything else. They get nothing done," Trump said, referring to Democrats.