During a press conference on Friday, President Donald Trump dismissed the U.S. intelligence community’s findings pertaining to foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election, Mediaite reported. The intelligence community determined that the Russian government is looking to “denigrate” Joe Biden , the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, in order to help Trump win reelection.
When asked to weigh in on the findings, the commander-in-chief argued that he has been “tougher” on the Kremlin than any of his predecessors.
“I think the last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump because nobody’s been tougher on Russia than I have ever,” he said.
When a reporter pointed out that the intelligence community’s findings suggest otherwise, Trump responded, “Well, I don’t care what anybody says.”
He then pointed to his administration’s actions to strengthen the U.S. military and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“Nobody with any common sense would say — look at what we’ve done with our military and what we’ve done in exposing the pipeline with billions of dollars going to Russia,” Trump said. “Look at all of the things we’ve done with NATO I’ve raised $130 billion a year from countries that were delinquent and now they’re paying all of this money.”
The findings Trump commented on were revealed by William Evanina , the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. Evanina warned that several foreign nations are looking to meddle in the upcoming election. One of them is apparently backing Trump’s candidacy. The other two, China and Iran, appear to be more supportive of Biden.
According to Evanina, official Moscow and Kremlin-linked actors are hostile toward the Democrat because he backed Ukrainian efforts while serving as Barack Obama’s vice president. Ukrainian officials supportive of Vladimir Putin’s policies have reportedly sought to “undermine” Biden’s White House bid.
The commander-in-chief has been accused of welcoming the Kremlin’s help in the 2016 election when he competed against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
As Evanina explained, Trump is viewed as “unpredictable” by the Chinese government, which remains staunchly opposed to his administration’s efforts in Hong Kong. Furthermore, Chinese leaders are reportedly unnerved by the administration’s policies regarding 5G technology and TikTok.
As for Iran, Evanina said that its leaders believe Trump’s victory would result in more pressure on their country and possibly result in regime change.
Biden has long warned of looming election interference. As reported by Politico , the Democrat has vowed to hold hostile foreign powers accountable if he wins in November.
