The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday the Kremlin cannot be a “credible partner” in the type of cybersecurity pact floated by President Trump after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia meddled in last year’s political campaign, prompting Mr. Trump’s critics to wonder why Americans would team up with the alleged suspect.
“If that’s our best election defense, we might as well just mail our ballot boxes to Moscow. I don’t think that’s an answer at all,” Rep. Adam Schiff, California Democrat, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
White House officials say Mr. Trump took a hard line on Russian meddling during his meeting with Mr. Putin. Kremlin officials offered a competing version, saying Mr. Trump appeared to accept Mr. Putin’s denials, although White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told Fox News on Sunday that was not true.
Democrats say Mr. Trump has undermined his claims, however, by insisting that actors beyond the Kremlin meddled in U.S. elections, while pitching a cybersecurity partnership with Russia.
“Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded,” Mr. Trump said Sunday on Twitter.
Democrats weren’t the only ones left scratching their heads over the plan.
“It’s not the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard, but it’s pretty close,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Mr. Graham said Mr. Trump has assembled a good national security team and is holding the line in Afghanistan and against North Korea and the Islamic State, but he has “blind spot” when it comes to Russia.
“To forgive and forget when it comes to Putin regarding cyber-attacks is to empower Putin and that’s exactly what he’s doing,” he said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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