Mattis: Russia tried again to meddle in elections

WASHINGTON: Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to interfere in the US midterm election in November, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis charged.

“There is no doubt that the relationship has worsened,” Mattis said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California. “He [Putin] tried again to muck around in our elections this last month. And we are seeing a continued effort along those lines.”

“We are dealing with someone that we simply cannot trust,” Mattis added. The US intelligence community largely believes Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Robert Mueller, the former head of the FBI, is investigating the meddling, including any potential ties to the Trump campaign.

Trump has become increasingly belligerent towards Mueller, whose investigation has netted several people tied to Trump.

The president’s former personal lawyer admitted this week he lied to Congress about business dealings in Moscow which had continued on well into the 2016 campaign. Mattis said that Putin was harming Russia’s interests with his continued aggressive stance on Ukraine, arguing that Moscow was effectively pushing Nato to arm itself and unify.

Putin has continued to express hopes that he will meet Trump again soon. They last met in July in Helsinki, where the US president caused outrage by refusing to say that Russia had interfered in the US presidential election.