Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., claimed President Trump openly doubting that Russia interfered in the 2016 election was a “betrayal of our brave intelligence professionals.”
“The President’s performance yesterday in Helsinki was nothing short of shocking,” Rogers tweeted Tuesday morning. “To ignore the conclusions of our entire intelligence community and simply accept the word of a former KGB officer is a betrayal of our brave intelligence professionals.”
The President’s performance yesterday in Helsinki was nothing short of shocking. To ignore the conclusions of our entire intelligence community and simply accept the word of a former KGB officer is a betrayal of our brave intelligence professionals.
— Mike Rogers (@RepMikeRogers) July 17, 2018
“To embrace Vladimir Putin as openly as the President did, and in the face of clear Russian provocations, is to fundamentally cede our global leadership to the very person that wants to see America fail,” he added in a separate tweet.
To embrace Vladimir Putin as openly as the President did, and in the face of clear Russian provocations, is to fundamentally cede our global leadership to the very person that wants to see America fail.
— Mike Rogers (@RepMikeRogers) July 17, 2018
Rogers served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from 2011 to 2015.
Trump told reporters during a joint press conference in Helsinki on Monday that he had no reason not to believe Russian President Vladimir Putin, who stressed to him that the Russian government was not to blame for interference in the election.
“I have President Putin. He just said it is not Russia,” Trump said. “I will say this: I do not see any reason why it would be.”
Trump’s reluctance pin election meddling on Russia stands in contrast to a January 2017 report from the U.S. intelligence community that found Russian agents were responsible for interfering in the election.
Trump also repeated his assertion that there was “no collusion” between his campaign with the Kremlin.
Trump’s press conference performance sparked a wave of backlash from political figures on both sides of the aisle.
Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats defended the intelligence community’s assessment. “We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security,” he said in a statement.
While he didn’t walk back his comments, In a tweet following the press conference Trump noted that he has “GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.”
[John Brennan: Trump’s press conference performance ‘was nothing short of treasonous’]
As I said today and many times before, “I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.” However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along! #HELSINKI2018
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2018
Coats warned on Friday that cyber threats against the U.S. could harm elections in the future, including the upcoming 2018 midterm elections.
