Horowitz: Trump Refuses to Shut the Door on Foreign Interference in Our Elections

Horowitz: Trump Refuses to Shut the Door on Foreign Interference in Our Elections

Given yet one more opportunity to demonstrate learning behavior and finally declare his strong opposition to foreign interference in our elections last week, President Trump took a giant step backwards, actually appearing to welcome it.

In an extended interview with George Stephanopoulos, which aired in segments all week on ABC News as well as in prime time on Sunday night, Trump falsely equated information supplied by foreign governments with standard opposition research routinely conducted by campaigns.  "It's not interference, they have information -- I think I'd take it," Trump said. "If I thought there was something wrong, I'd go maybe to the FBI -- if I thought there was something wrong. But when somebody comes up with oppo research, right, they come up with oppo research, 'oh let's call the FBI.' The FBI doesn't have enough agents to take care of it. When you go and talk, honestly, to congressman, they all do it, they always have, and that's the way it is. It's called oppo research.”

The president compounded this outrageous formulation, justifying allowing foreign powers to interfere in our democracy, by heatedly saying his FBI Director, Chris Wray was wrong, when he asserted that if a candidate was contacted by someone representing a foreign power offering electoral assistance, they should report it to the FBI.

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Trump’s comments received a deserved pointed rebuke from Ellen Weinstrab, Chair of the Federal Election Commission, who stated that what the president said he would do was illegal: “I would not have thought that I needed to say this. Let me make something 100% clear to the American public and anyone running for public office: It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election. This is not a novel concept.”

Reacting to nearly universal criticism of his seeming embrace of foreign interference, President Trump ham-handedly walked back some of his comments in a long telephone interview, conducted in the "Trumpian safe space" of Fox & Friends.  This awkward performance might have been more persuasive, if his comments to Stephanopoulos weren’t part of a broader pattern.

Simply put, President Trump has consistently refused to recognize the seriousness of Russian interference and meddling in the 2016 election, standing in the way of efforts to make sure that it never happens again.   His administration has worked to block common sense bi-partisan measures to make our election systems more secure, for example, ensuring that none of them get a floor vote in the US Senate. Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s (R-KY) blocking at the White House’s behest a vote on Senator Warner’s legislation, requiring political campaigns to report to the FBI and federal election authorities efforts by foreign nationals to offer services or information, in the wake of the last week’s uproar about the president’s comments, is only the latest instance.

While progress is being made in our ability to deter the kind of cyber warfare that took place in 2016, with the 2020 election drawing closer, the kind of all-out comprehensive and proactive federal initiative that takes on all facets of the problem has yet to be launched.  This kind of effort requires affirmative presidential leadership--not actions that put roadblocks in the way. In this critical matter of national security, President Trump is simply failing to do his job, continuing to do far more harm than good.  

Despite some of his media enablers and political supporters’ shameless attempts, this dereliction of duty cannot be easily explained away. It is long past time for President Trump to put our nation first and take the basic steps required to protect the integrity of our elections and democracy. That is the least we should expect and his supporters should demand.

 

Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.