CNN NatSec Analyst: Trump, GOP Undercutting Intelligence Community by Pushing Russian Propaganda on Ukraine
CNN national security analyst Samantha Vinograd today said President Donald Trump and Republicans are “undercutting” the U.S. intel community by pushing “Russian propaganda” on Ukraine.
A recent report from the Washington Post said that the president said aloud once that “he knew Ukraine was the real culprit because ‘Putin told me.’”
When asked about that today, Trump said, “You’re putting words in somebody’s mouth. Who are you referring to, me? I never stated anything about it.”
Asked what Putin said to him to convince him Ukraine interfered in the election, Trump responded, “What did he say to me? About what?…You’re putting words in somebody’s mouth. Who are you referring to, me? I never said anything about it…Any other questions?”
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) December 24, 2019
Anchor Jessica Dean said today, “The Ukraine conspiracy in a nutshell protects Putin and Russia who did meddle in the 2016 election. We know this to be true. The rest of this is just dangerous lies.”
Vinograd said that Trump “parroting Putin’s propaganda” has a serious impact on the country:
“Putin is engaged in a massive disinformation campaign. He used to have to pay bots and trolls to spread lies, to divide the United States, spread confusion and spread divisions. Now all he has to do is have his guys retweet the president, retweet Kevin McCarthy, and really just continue feeding Russian propaganda to members of the Republican party through various means. Every time the president and his cronies and his allies in Congress spread this propaganda, they are helping Russia’s disinformation campaign. And when the president and members of the Republican party spread this Russian propaganda, they’re also directly undercutting their own intelligence community, who by the way is trying to protect our elections right now from actors like Russia, because our own intelligence community has reportedly gone up to Congress and briefed people like Kevin McCarthy on the fact that this is a Russia propaganda conspiracy theory that they’re spreading.”
She added it’s “undercutting confidence in our intelligence community” in addition to “fueling Russia’s attack on the American people.”
You can watch above, via CNN.