Updated Feb 23, 2020 - Politics & Policy

O'Brien rejects intelligence report of Russia effort to re-elect Trump

Axios

NSA Advisor Robert O'Brien on "Face the Nation" in Washington DC February 20 — National security adviser Robert O'Brien. Photo: Chris Usher/CBS via Getty Images

White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien repeatedly rejected on ABC's "This Week" an assessment from a congressional briefing led by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election to help President Trump get re-elected.

Why it matters: The report put the Trump administration under fresh scrutiny in regard to steps it has been taking to combat the kind of interference that the U.S. encountered in 2016.

But O'Brien contradicted the intelligence officials' findings, telling ABC's George Stephanopoulos the report was a "nonstory" and that he has not seen any intelligence or analysis to support these claims.
He did not, however, dismiss a similar finding that Russia is working to help Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, saying: "That's no surprise, he honeymooned in Moscow."

What he's saying: "I haven't seen any intelligence that Russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump re-elected," he told Stephanopoulos. "We've been very tough on Russia and we've been great on election security."

He doubled down on his claims in an interview with CBS News' "Face The Nation." Trump implied in a tweet that congressional Democrats were behind the nonpartisan briefing by the intelligence officials.

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O'Brien rejects intelligence report of Russia effort to re-elect Trump

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