Wednesday on CNN’s “The Lead,” host Jake Tapper noted President Donald Trump was willing to “attack cable news anchors or “Saturday Night Live” comedians,” while a U.S. official told him it is “pulling teeth to get the White House to focus on the very real ongoing threat of continued Russian election interference.”
Tapper said, “A U.S. government official telling me today it’s like, quote, ‘pulling teeth’ to get the White House to focus on the very real ongoing threat of continued Russian election interference. Quote, ‘in general, senior white house staff felt it wasn’t a good idea to bring up issues related to Russia in front of the president,’ the official told me. You might recall senior officials told Robert Mueller and his team that President Trump worries that Russia’s 2016 interference undermines the legitimacy of his electoral win. Now, this government official told me the Department of Homeland Security tried repeatedly over the last year or so to set up more cabinet-level meetings leading up to the midterms and after the midterms, but that department, quote, ‘kept getting the Heisman from national security adviser John Bolton and others in the White House. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats shared these concerns, the official tells me, and felt the Trump Administration, quote, ‘was not being forward-leaning enough in notifying Congress and the American people.’ Critics say this is a stunning example of a president paying insufficient attention to a security threat. I’m told it’s an ongoing threat.”
He added, “The questions are why haven’t there been more coordinated response government-wide, and why is President Trump so willing to use his bully pulpit to attack cable news anchors or “Saturday Night Live” comedians? Why is he so unwilling to do so on this issue related to his job. related to national security?”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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