In a new twist, President Donald Trump has voiced his new concerns surrounding Russian collusion, and it might not be what you’d expect. This is what he expressed in a morning tweet, according to CNBC .
“I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats. They definitely don’t want Trump!”
So now, Trump is back to accepting Russian collusion as a reality. The new twist is that he believes that his own campaign would be targeted.
This comes after a strange week of Trump flip-flopping between saying he didn’t think Russia interfered in the last election to saying that he believed they did. Trump also said he agreed with U.S. intelligence that alleges Russians meddled in the elections, but then called the Mueller probe a “witch hunt.”
The new tweet also claims that Trump is taking a hard-line stance with Russia, which is what many hope is true. However, due to the private nature of the summit with Putin in Singapore, it’s hard to know for certain. In an earlier tweet, Trump said that he “gave up NOTHING, we merely talked about future benefits for both countries.”
Days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he wanted Donald Trump to win the presidential election in 2016, the United States president claimed that Russia wants Democrats to win in the upcoming midterm elections. https://t.co/eSmURgcpqO
— Linda Hill (@bulldoghill) July 24, 2018
In the meantime, the Mueller probe is ongoing. The Trump team and Mueller investigators are still hashing out the terms of the interview. In the latest update, Trump only wants the interview to be about Russian collusion, with no questions allowed on obstruction of justice, detailed Bloomberg . The purpose of this proposal is to ensure that Trump would not be left vulnerable to perjury charges.
Already, the NSA and Cyber Command are working on ways to combat possible Russian interference in the 2018 midterm elections, according to the Washington Post . Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats reiterated the potential dangers, saying that “Today, the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack.”
The efforts are being reinforced by the FBI, CIA, and Department of Homeland Security. All of the different government agencies are seeking to put an end to potential meddling. They even admit that during the 2016 election that the government had “no agency, no plan or strategy to counter such a threat.”
As more details are divulged on the election meddling, it becomes important not just to address past problems but also prevent future ones from happening in the first place.
