Lawmakers slam Trump's Russia cybersecurity proposal: 'We might as well mail our ballot boxes to Moscow'
President Trump's early morning tweets proposing the U.S. "move forward in working constructively with Russia" by "forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit" with Moscow to prevent election hacking were met with swift condemnation Sunday among members of his own party.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) shared his response on Twitter, conceding "reality & pragmatism requires [sic] that we engage Vladimir Putin" and maintaining the U.S. has "no quarrel with Russia or the Russian people," but also dropping this line:
Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) gave his reaction during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press:
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"It's not the dumbest idea I've ever heard — but it's pretty close," Graham said. "When it comes to Russia I am dumbfounded, I am disappointed, and at the end of the day [Trump is] hurting his presidency by not embracing the fact that Putin is a bad guy."
The president also came under fire from across the aisle. If the U.S. is going to work with Russia on election hacking, "we might as well mail our ballot boxes to Moscow," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on CNN's State of the Union, calling Trump's idea "dangerously naïve."
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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