Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said President Trump hasn’t been tough enough on Russia in the wake of the Mueller report.
“I think he should have said, we’ve had this discussion. The evidence is in. And don’t ever do this again, or there will be consequences for Russia. I think he very much should have raised it with him,” Gates said in a CBS interview.
Gates, who was appointed by President George W. Bush and continued to serve under President Barack Obama, said that while the administration has been tough in the sanctions it has imposed on Russia, the United States hasn’t reacted strongly enough to its interference in the 2016 presidential election.
[Related: Trump: Obama did ‘nothing’ about Russian interference]
“I think there are ways we can do that, not military, but it’s perhaps a certain set of sanctions. It’s also using some of our own capabilities to go back into Russia and let’s say inform the Russian people at the magnitude of corruption of Putin,” he said. “And I think we can make a case about that. I think we can create more problems for him. We have the capabilities to do that.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report revealed the Kremlin was involved in efforts to disseminate disinformation and sow division among voters ahead of the 2016 effort, but did not conclude the president or his campaign participated.
Gates, who also served as director of central intelligence under George H.W. Bush, said lawmakers should take action on the report’s findings.
“The piece of the Mueller report about Russian interference is not case closed. And frankly, I think elected officials who depend on honest elections to get elected ought to place as a very high priority measures to protect the American electoral system against interference by foreigners,” Gates said.
