WASHINGTON
(AP) — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said he’s
seen no intelligence to show that Russia is interfering in the U.S.
presidential campaign in hopes of reelecting President Donald Trump.
Robert
O’Brien’s comments come after conflicting accounts emerged from a
recent closed-door briefing by intelligence officials, who spoke to
lawmakers about Russian interference in the 2020 campaign. One
intelligence official said that lawmakers were not told that Russia was
working to directly aid Trump.
But
other people familiar with the meeting said they were told the Kremlin
was looking to help Trump’s candidacy. The people spoke on condition of
anonymity to discussed the classified briefing.
“The
national security adviser gets pretty good access to our intelligence,”
O’Brien said. “I haven’t seen any intelligence that Russia is doing
anything to attempt to get President Trump re-elected.”
O’Brien’s comments were released Saturday in a transcript of an interview with ABC’s “This Week” set to air on Sunday.
A
nearly two-year investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller
concluded there was a sophisticated, Kremlin-led operation to sow
division in the U.S. and upend the 2016 election by using cyberattacks
and social media as weapons. Intelligence officials have warned Russia
is doing the same in 2020.
But
it’s a sore subject for Trump, who has played down the findings and
said they are an attempt to de-legitimize his victory. And Sen. Bernie
Sanders acknowledged Friday that he was briefed last month by U.S.
officials about Russian efforts to boost his chances for becoming the
Democratic presidential nominee — something that could be seen as
beneficial to Trump’s reelection prospects.
O’Brien
claimed he had not seen any intelligence or analyses indicating that
Russia was aiding Trump and neither had top leaders in the intelligence
agencies.
“All
I know is that the Republicans on the side of the House hearing were
unhappy with the hearing and said that there was no intelligence to back
up what was being said,” O’Brien said. “But here’s the deal: I don’t
even know if what’s been reported as being said (by the briefers) is
true. You know those are leaks coming out of that hearing.”
O’Brien
also denied reports that Trump became angry when he was told about the
briefing and that he confronted former acting national intelligence
director Joseph Maguire and subsequently replaced him with the U.S.
ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell.
O’Brien
said Trump was not angry with Maguire and would have liked Maguire to
stay in government in a different role. He said Maguire’s time as acting
director of national intelligence was up in early March and the White
House needed an individual — someone who had already been confirmed by
the Senate — to temporarily replace him.
“Ambassador
Grenell is there for a temporary period of time,” O’Brien said, adding
that Trump was expected to announce a nominee to be quickly confirmed by
the Senate as full-time director. The president has said he is
considering three or four candidates.
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