Trump vows to ‘counteract’ any Russian meddling

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday made his most forceful comments to date about Russia’s campaign to disrupt U.S. elections, warning Moscow that his administration would counteract any attempts to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections.

Though Trump has at times doubted that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, he said Tuesday that “certainly there was meddling” and that the U.S. government must be vigilant to prevent foreign intrusions in future elections.

“I think you have to be really watching very closely,” Trump said. “We won’t allow that to happen. We’re doing a very, very deep study, and we’re coming out with, I think, some very strong suggestions on the ’18 election. I think we’re going to do very well in the ’18 election, although historically those in the White House have a little bit of a dip.”

Asked at a news conference alongside Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven whether he worries about Russia interfering again, Trump said, “No, because we’ll counteract whatever they do.”

Trump’s comments came as the nation’s top intelligence official told senators that new sanctions against Russia will likely be unveiled “within a week” and will include measures against the 13 Russians indicted last month in the special counsel’s probe of election meddling.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “very shortly will be bringing out a list of sanctions on those individuals that had been complicit” in the cyber measures described in the charges announced by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, and that the list also would go beyond those 13 names in the indictment.

Coats added that he didn’t know what other names would be on Mnuchin’s list.

Trump’s comments a turnabout.

He initially rejected the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the election to help boost his campaign. During his first year as president, Trump held no high-level National Security Council meetings about combating Russian interference. He and his administration have sought to roll back or simply not enforce measures to hold Moscow accountable, such as sanctions passed by Congress.

Last week, Adm. Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command, testified to Congress that the government is “probably not doing enough” to convince Russia to change its behavior ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Rogers said Trump has given him no new authorities to strike at Russian cyberoperations. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin “has clearly come to the conclusion that ‘there’s little price to pay here and therefore I can continue this activity.’ ”

“If we don’t change the dynamic here, this is going to continue,” Rogers added. signaled