National security adviser Robert O’Brien said that he’s seen “no evidence” that Russia is seeking to aid President Donald Trump’s re-election, but said reports that Russia is trying to boost Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign were “no surprise.”
“I haven’t seen any intelligence that Russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump reelected,” O’Brien told ABC’s “This Week” on Saturday, calling the reporting from classified briefings “leaks.”
Intelligence officials briefed members of Congress earlier this month that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try and boost Trump’s re-election chances. The briefing had angered the president, who worried that Democrats would weaponize the information against him.
A former intelligence official briefed on the matter told NBC News that the briefing led to acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire’s ouster last week. He was replaced on a temporary basis by U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell.
O’Brien claimed reporting on the classified briefing amounted to “leaks,” saying “it’s the same old story we’ve heard before.”
“Our message to the Russians is stay out of the U.S. elections,” he said. “We’ve been very tough on Russia and we’ve been great on election security.”
At a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Friday, Trump said the reports were “disinformation” being promoted by Democrats.
O’Brien said he has not seen the intelligence or analysis that was shared with lawmakers by intelligence officials.
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Pressed by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on whether he has “asked” to see it, O’Brien said, “Look, I want to get whatever analysis they’ve got and I want to make sure that the analysis is solid.”
“From what I’ve heard, again, this is only what I’ve seen in the press, it doesn’t make any sense,” O’Brien said, pointing to the Trump administration’s foreign policy. “Why would they want him reelected? That doesn’t make any sense to me. But look, if there’s someone from the Intel community that has something different, I’d be happy to take a look at it. I just haven’t seen it.”
After the intelligence community concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to boost Trump, it has repeatedly warned about the need to counteract Russian efforts aimed at future elections.
Sanders, the Vermont independent who is leading the Democratic field, excoriated Russia on Friday after The Washington Post reported that he had been briefed by U.S. officials that Russia is trying to boost his campaign as part of an effort to interfere with the primary.
“The intelligence community has been very clear about it — whether Trump recognizes it not, or acknowledges it or not, they did interfere in 2016,” Sanders told reporters. “The intelligence community is telling us they are interfering in this campaign right now in 2020. What I say to [Russian President Vladimir Putin]: If elected president, trust me, you will not be interfering in American elections.”
On that, O’Brien said he wasn’t surprised Russia would seek to boost Sanders because he’s “honeymooned in Moscow.”
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short said it would be “hard to suggest … that Russia would prefer to have Donald Trump than a person, Bernie Sanders, who honeymooned in the Soviet Union and still seems to prefer marxism over capitalism.”
O’Brien and Short echoed remarks Trump made at that same Las Vegas rally.
“So, doesn’t [Putin] want to see who the Democrat is gonna be?” Trump said. “Wouldn’t he rather have, let’s say, Bernie? Wouldn’t he rather have Bernie? Who honeymooned in Moscow?”
Trump said Sunday that he was not briefed on the intelligence regarding Russia’s support of Sanders.
“I have not been briefed on that at all,” he told reporters outside the White House. “Nobody told me about it. They leaked it.”
Criticizing O’Brien’s commentary of Sanders, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Sunday that the national security adviser “should stay out of politics.”
“What we know is that the Russians never stopped interfering in American politics,” Murphy told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “They don’t just get involved in elections. They are involved every single day and analysis of what they have been doing on Twitter since 2016 has been pretty clear. They are weighing in over and over again in support of right-wing causes, in support of Donald Trump’s political agenda.”
The Sanders campaign claimed Friday that the revelation was part of a coordinated effort tied to Trump’s visit to Nevada.
“if you think this leak wasn’t designed to hurt Bernie, you’re not paying attention,” Mike Casca, the Sanders campaign’s communications director, tweeted: “it’s very clear Trump is nervous about facing him in the general election.”
