President Donald Trump’s comments last week that he would welcome foreign assistance to his campaign, and not be prompted by such an offer to call the FBI, raised a firestorm of outraged commentary. True to form, Trump then retreated from those comments and was unclear whether he would alert the FBI. But Trump has once again succeeded in diverting the public from what really should matter when it comes to foreign election interference.
As documented by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Trump and his 2016 campaign welcomed assistance from the Russian government and hid that from the FBI. Then, Trump repeatedly lied about that assistance, even after being elected president and taking the oath of office. He not only lied, he has defended Russia’s actions and tried to obstruct the investigation into its theft of Americans’ emails and its attack on our democratic system. There can be no doubt that he would do so again, if he thinks he can get away with it. Unfortunately, given the response to his comments last week by both parties in Congress, he has little reason to be worried.
The above excerpt was originally published in Just Security.
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