Russia successful in discord, says Trump
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Russia was succeeding beyond its “wildest dreams” in sowing US discord but refrained once more from directly challenging Moscow on its election meddling.
In a flurry of tweets, Mr Trump blamed former president Barack Obama for failing to stop Russia while accusing the FBI of spending “too much time trying to prove collusion with the Trump campaign.”
But the president has made no move to take on Russia since indictments on Friday against 13 Russians that laid out aspects of an alleged covert effort to sway the 2016 US presidential election in Mr Trump’s favour.
US intelligence chiefs warned earlier in the week that Russian meddling has continued and poses a threat to the US mid-term congressional elections this year.
Speaking at a security conference in Munich on Saturday, National Security Advisor HR McMaster called the evidence of Russian interference in US democratic processes “incontrovertible.”
But Mr Trump glossed over Russian responsibility and offered no indication of what his administration would do about it.
“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems,” Mr Trump said in a tweet late on Saturday, making reference to his defeated Democratic Party challenger Hillary Clinton.
He followed that up on Sunday: “I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said ‘it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.’ The Russian ‘hoax’ was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia — it never did!”
Friday’s indictment was filed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between Mr Trump’s campaign and Russia.
“For anyone, including the president, who continues to call this a witch hunt … the evidence is now overwhelming and unequivocal and we need to move to protect ourselves from Russian interference in elections that are coming up,” said Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, speaking on CNN’s State of the Union programme.
Mr Trump, however, suggested that the problem lay with congressional and Department of Justice probes.
“If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the US then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams,” Mr Trump tweeted.