To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t41W7MNCm24
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on Tuesday suggested that President Donald Trump was sending “signals” to Russian President Vladimir Putin by continuing to equivocate over whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
Commenting on a recent interview in
which the president once again suggested there was a debate over whether Russia
interfered in the election, Whitehouse said Trump’s comments were completely at
odds with the actions of his own administration, which has added sanctions
against the country over its interference.
“I don’t know if he’s sending a flare into the sky to show Putin and the Russians that he’s still trying to lean their way wherever he can to provide them a little bit of signaling, but it’s hard to tell,” he said.
“The only thing that makes sense is
signaling and letting Putin and his crew know he’s still trying to be helpful.”
Whitehouse went on to give Trump’s
national security team credit for continuing to call out Russia for trying to
interfere in American democracy, despite the strange statements that the
president regularly makes.
“I think the institutions of
government are responding quite well to the Russian threat, notwithstanding all
this bizarre signaling and bizarre behavior from the president,” he said.
