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House Speaker Backs Probe of Cyber Threats on U.S. Election Process | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., walks from an elevator to address the press in the lobby of Trump Tower after his meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, Friday, Dec. 9, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)


The United States House Speaker Paul Ryan said that he supported effort by the House Intelligence Committee to examine cyber threats posed to the American democratic process by foreign governments, but that such efforts should not cast doubt on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.

“Any foreign intervention in our elections is entirely unacceptable. And any intervention by Russia is especially problematic,” Ryan said in a statement on Monday.

On the other hand, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a partner at one of the world’s largest venture capital funds and a former deputy commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is being considered by Trump to run the agency, according to sources close to the transition team.

Gottlieb, 44, a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank based in Washington, is well known in health policy circles and is a frequent commentator on television and in print.

Gottlieb is being considered alongside Jim O’Neill, a self-declared libertarian and colleague of Peter Thiel, the co-founder of Mithril Capital Management who was an early Trump supporter and is now advising his transition team. Bloomberg News first reported that Trump was looking at O’Neill. Trump takes office on Jan. 20.