Rubio knew about election hacking but was restricted in what he could say in Nelson’s defense

When U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson was castigated by his Republican challenger, Gov. Rick Scott, last year for saying Russian hackers had broken into Florida voting systems, Nelson’s colleague, Marco Rubio, was aware of the breach.

But Rubio couldn’t defend Nelson because he wasn’t allowed to divulge classified information, a spokesman for the senator said.

Rubio, R-Miami, declined to be interviewed for this story.

Nelson, D-Orlando, warned last year about successful hacking attempts in 2016 but said he could not identify which county or counties had been penetrated, saying the information was classified.

The emails contained an attached document with malicious “Trojan” software that would have permitted Russian intelligence to access the infected computer, the report stated.