The director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, last week said that Russia and other countries are continuing to target American businesses, the government and other institutions.
“The warning lights are blinking red,” Coats said, characterizing Russia’s aggression as persistent and pervasive, and that Moscow’s aggression is “meant to undermine America’s democracy on a daily basis, regardless of whether it is election time or not.”
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham immediately cited the apparent gap between Trump’s and Coats’ views of Russia. The member of the armed services subcommittee on cyber-security, tweeted: “A BIG discrepancy between President Trump’s statement and DNI Coates’ warning. It’s imperative we get to the bottom of what is going on so we can be prepared to protect ourselves in advance of the 2018 elections. My personal view: the Russians are at (it) again.”
Another Republican, Susan Collins, who is a member of the Senate’s intelligence committee, tweeted: “The Russians continue efforts to undermine Western democracies, including ours. The President is wrong and needs to heed the warnings from our Intelligence Community, including DNI Dan Coats.”
A more concise reaction to the president came from a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency.
Retired Air Force General Michael Hayden tweeted: “OMG. OMG. OMG.” (Repeating the acronym for “Oh my God”).
During the day’s earlier exchange with reporters in the Cabinet Room, the president asserted, “There’s never been a president as tough on Russia as I have been.”
Trump said he thinks Russian “President [Vladimir] Putin knows that better than anybody,” adding that the Russian leader is “not happy about it.”
The U.S. president has faced a barrage of criticism from lawmakers of both parties, retired high-level intelligence officials and diplomats for his performance at Monday’s news conference in Helsinki following his meeting with Putin.