It was unwise for President Donald Trump to question intelligence reports concerning Russian meddling in the 2016 election while speaking during a joint press conference Thursday, former Ambassador Nicholas Burns said.
It was « unwise » for President Donald Trump to question intelligence reports concerning Russian meddling in the 2016 election while speaking during a joint press conference Thursday, former Ambassador Nicholas Burns said.
« The U. S. intelligence community is rarely united on any issue, » Burns, now a professor of diplomacy and international relations at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, commented during a CNN « New Day » panel discussion. « They’ve been united for six months on this issue in their public report to the American people. »
Trump’s comments came during a joint news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Poland on Thursday, where Trump opened his second visit to Europe. The trip next takes him to Germany for the G-20 summit, where he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The president’s comments also were not wise politically, said Burns, as the Senate voted just two weeks ago, by a 97-2 vote, to impose new sanctions on Russia. That effort was led by Senate Republicans, Burns pointed out.
« He’s out of step with his own political party, » the former ambassador said.
Trump also « is not defending the United States, » said Burns, and that is one of the basic duties of a president.
« Russia launched a cyberattack on the American election, » said Burns. « They got into the databases of 21 American states … he gave a gift to Putin here on the eve of their meeting. »
Instead, Putin needs to learn there will be repercussions and tangible steps by the United States to penalize Russia for its actions, Burns said.
« If you don’t do that, think about what Putin might do to our 2018 midterms or the 2020 presidential election, » said Burns. « I think it’s dereliction of a basic duty of the president to defend the United States. He’s out of step with the rest of the country. Very unwise to say what he did this morning. »
Burns, also appearing on MSNBC Thursday, said Trump is planning to meet with South Korea President Moon Jae-In and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, and he is right to meet with the two countries, as they are treaty allies of the United States.
« It is good to start with this, » he said. « It also makes sense for the three countries to coordinate on our strategy because clearly the Chinese are not going to help strategically » with North Korea … hopefully the Europeans will be able to help push on the Chinese and Russians to be much more critical of the North Korean ballistic missile test this week. »
