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.<\/b>
\nIt was \u00ab\u00a0unwise\u00a0\u00bb 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.
\u00ab\u00a0The U. S. intelligence community is rarely united on any issue, \u00a0\u00bb Burns, now a professor of diplomacy and international relations at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, commented during a CNN \u00ab\u00a0New Day\u00a0\u00bb panel discussion. \u00ab\u00a0They’ve been united for six months on this issue in their public report to the American people.\u00a0\u00bb
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.
\u00ab\u00a0He’s out of step with his own political party, \u00a0\u00bb the former ambassador said.
Trump also \u00ab\u00a0is not defending the United States, \u00a0\u00bb said Burns, and that is one of the basic duties of a president.
\u00ab\u00a0Russia launched a cyberattack on the American election, \u00a0\u00bb said Burns. \u00ab\u00a0They got into the databases of 21 American states … he gave a gift to Putin here on the eve of their meeting.\u00a0\u00bb
Instead, Putin needs to learn there will be repercussions and tangible steps by the United States to penalize Russia for its actions, Burns said.
\u00ab\u00a0If you don’t do that, think about what Putin might do to our 2018 midterms or the 2020 presidential election, \u00a0\u00bb said Burns. \u00ab\u00a0I 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.\u00a0\u00bb
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.
\u00ab\u00a0It is good to start with this, \u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0It also makes sense for the three countries to coordinate on our strategy because clearly the Chinese are not going to help strategically\u00a0\u00bb 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.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

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