U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he
and Russia's president had discussed forming a cyber security unit, an idea
harshly criticized by Republicans who said
Moscow could not be trusted after
its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
Tweeting after his first meeting with
President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Trump said now was the time to work
constructively with Moscow, pointing to a ceasefire deal in southwest Syria
that came into effect on Sunday.
"Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable
Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things,
will be guarded and safe," he said following their talks at a summit of
the Group of 20 nations in Hamburg, Germany.
Three Republican senators - Lindsey Graham of
South Carolina, John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida - blasted the
idea.
"It's not the dumbest idea I have ever
heard but it's pretty close," Graham told NBC's "Meet the Press"
program, saying that Trump's apparent willingness to "forgive and forget"
stiffened his resolve to pass legislation imposing sanctions on Russia.
"There has been no penalty," McCain,
who chairs the Senate armed services committee, told CBS' "Face the
Nation" program according to a CBS transcript. "Vladimir Putin ...
got away with literally trying to change the outcome ... of our election."
"Yes, it's time to move forward. But
there has to be a price to pay," he added.
Rubio, on Twitter, said: "Partnering with
Putin on a 'Cyber Security Unit' is akin to partnering with (Syrian President
Bashar al) Assad on a 'Chemical Weapons Unit'."
Trump argued for rapprochement with Moscow in
his campaign but has been unable to deliver because his administration has been
dogged by investigations into the allegations of Russian interference in the
election and ties with his campaign.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is
investigating the matter, including whether there may have been any collusion
on the part of Trump campaign officials, as are congressional committees
including both the House and Senate intelligence panels.
Those probes are focused almost exclusively on
Moscow’s actions, lawmakers and intelligence officials say, and no evidence has
surfaced publicly implicating other countries despite Trump's suggestion that
others could have been involved.
Moscow has denied any interference, and Trump
says his campaign did not collude with Russia.
Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat
on the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN's "State of the Union"
program Russia could not be a credible partner in a cyber security unit.
"If that’s our best election defense, we
might as well just mail our ballot boxes to Moscow," Schiff added.
Separately, U.S. government officials said
that a recent hack into business systems of U.S. nuclear power and other energy
companies was carried out by Russian government hackers, the Washington Post
reported on Saturday.
'TIME TO MOVE FORWARD' WITH RUSSIA
Trump said he "strongly pressed President
Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election. He vehemently denied
it."
He added: "We negotiated a ceasefire in
parts of Syria which will save lives. Now it is time to move forward in working
constructively with Russia!"
In Trump's first attempt at ending the
six-year Syrian civil war, the United States, Russia and Jordan on Friday
reached a ceasefire and "de-escalation agreement" for southwestern
Syria. The ceasefire was holding hours after it took effect on Sunday, a
monitor and two rebel officials said.
In another tweet, Trump contradicted his
Secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, by saying "sanctions were not discussed
at my meeting with President Putin. Nothing will be done until the Ukrainian
& Syrian problems are solved!"
The United States has imposed sanctions on
Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Tillerson on Friday told reporters Trump had
told Putin U.S. lawmakers were pushing for additional sanctions against Russia.
The Senate has passed legislation which would
put into law sanctions, including on mining and other industries, previously
established via former President Barack Obama's executive orders. The bill must
pass the House of Representatives before it could go to the White House for
Trump's signature or veto.
McCain criticized Tillerson for having said
about Syria, "by and large, our (U.S. and Russian) objectives are exactly
the same. How we get there, we each have a view. Maybe they have got the right
approach and we have got the wrong approach."
Russia, and Iran, have backed keeping Assad in
power. Trump, like his predecessor Barack Obama, has focused on fighting
Islamic State, leaving for later the question of Assad's fate.
"The Russians knew that Bashar al-Assad
was going to use chemical weapons. And to say that maybe we have got the wrong
approach?" McCain said. Asked if he regretted voting for Tillerson as
secretary of state, he replied: "Sometimes I do."
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