When Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit last week, the U.S. president reportedly accepted Putin’s denial that Russia was involved in meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The Russian president even said at his press conference Saturday that Trump had agreed with him.
On Sunday morning, Trump responded by saying he was looking forward to working with Russia on global cybersecurity.
I strongly pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election. He vehemently denied it. I've already given my opinion…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
…We negotiated a ceasefire in parts of Syria which will save lives. Now it is time to move forward in working constructively with Russia!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
Sanctions were not discussed at my meeting with President Putin. Nothing will be done until the Ukrainian & Syrian problems are solved!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
Trump said last week he believed Russia had interfered in the presidential election, but he also claimed “Well, I think it was Russia, and I think it could have been other people and other countries. Could have been a lot of people interfered.”
At least one person on Twitter said Trump’s desire to work with Russia on cybersecurity was like the FBI wanting to form a joint taskforce with the Mafia.
Considering the Washington Post reported on Saturday night that Russia’s government has hacked into U.S. nuclear power and other energy companies, Trump’s enthusiasm at working with Putin is an interesting position to take.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)—the former presidential candidate who’s been an occasional critic of Trump—put it another way.
Partnering with Putin on a "Cyber Security Unit" is akin to partnering with Assad on a "Chemical Weapons Unit". 2/3
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 9, 2017
This was how the New York Times characterized the meeting between Trump and Putin and what kind of discussion they had about Russia’s hacking.
.@nytimes: Trump began meeting w/ Russia's Putin by saying, “I’m going to get this out of the way: Did you do this?” https://t.co/VeXSAsxX2i pic.twitter.com/iGjKCQpqar
— Evan Rosenfeld (@Evan_Rosenfeld) July 9, 2017
Trump, unlike most other world leaders at the G20 Summit, did not participate in a press conference, but he did save plenty of vitriol for Democrats on his Twitter account on Sunday morning.
…and safe. Questions were asked about why the CIA & FBI had to ask the DNC 13 times for their SERVER, and were rejected, still don't….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
…have it. Fake News said 17 intel agencies when actually 4 (had to apologize). Why did Obama do NOTHING when he had info before election?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
Trump is still under several federal investigations to determine if his campaign colluded with Russia to sway the presidential election.