President Donald Trump just says "no" to warnings about Russian threats.
Trump openly contradicted his own top intelligence officials on Wednesday, dismissing the ongoing threat that the Kremlin poses against America.
Asked directly by a reporter before a Cabinet meeting at the White House if Russia is still targeting the U.S., Trump responded with one word: "no."
The president's terse, off-the-cuff response runs counter to the repeated warnings and statements made by some of his top Cabinet officials.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen warned state officials just this past Saturday that the threat from Russia targeting U.S. elections has not dissipated.
Nielsen said the U.S. intelligence community does "consistently observe malicious cyber activity from various actors against U.S. election infrastructure."
Nielsen's comments came a day after the Justice Department indicted 12 Russian intelligence agents as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Kremlin's attempts to interfere in the 2016 election. The dozen military members are accused of engaging in a "sustained effort" to hack Democrats' emails and computer networks.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats also warned against the ongoing threat of cyberattacks from foreign powers, saying that the situation is at a "critical point."
The U.S. is "not yet seeing the kind of electoral interference in specific states and in voter databases that we experienced in 2016" by the Kremlin," Coats said at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. "However, we realize we are just one click of the keyboard away from a similar situation repeating itself."
The president's contradiction comes days after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and drew a firestorm of criticism by casting doubt on the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Russia attempted to sway the 2016 election in Trump's favor.
On Tuesday, the president claimed he misspoke when he stood next to Putin and said he didn't "see any reason why it would be Russia" regarding 2016 election meddling,
Trump on Wednesday insisted that no president has been tougher on Russia than him.
"There has never been a president as tough on Russia as I have been," Trump said, adding that his administration is "doing very well" in handling Moscow.
Even top members of the president's own party continued to question his comments.
"A BIG discrepancy between President Trump's statement and DNI Coates' warning," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., tweeted. "It's imperative we get to the bottom of what is going on so we can be prepared to protect ourselves in advance of the 2018 elections. My personal view: the Russians are at again."
