On June 13, 2018, Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 12 officers of the GRU, the Russian intelligence agency, with committing “large-scale cyber operations to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.” Three days later, President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. Speaking at a press conference beside Putin, Trump absolved Russia of any hacking.
“He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Trump said. “So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. And what he did is an incredible offer. He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators, with respect to the 12 people. I think that’s an incredible offer.”
The remarks forced Trump’s approval rating, politicians’ pretenses, and jaws to drop. Republicans who’d been reluctant to criticize the president were horrified to see him taking the Kremlin’s word over that of his own aides and the U.S. intelligence community.
David A. Graham: Trump refuses to defend the United States
Trump repeated the sin in an hour-long phone call with Putin on Friday. Two weeks after Mueller’s report laid out even more detail about the dimensions of Russian interference in the election, Trump didn’t bother to condemn Putin or complain about the interference. He didn’t even bring it up. But don’t expect this reprise to elicit the same reaction as Helsinki. Whereas Trump’s refusal to defend U.S. elections against foreign interference was once shocking, it’s now become expected.