Trump Backtracks On Cybersecurity Partnership With Putin

WASHINGTON, DC — Should the United States form a cybersecurity unit in partnership with Russia to help prevent, in part, exactly the kind of election-based hacking the American intelligence community believes the Kremlin perpetrated in 2016? Many observers seem to think this was a bad idea.

One person who liked the idea? President Trump. That is, he seemed to like it at first.

"Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded," Trump tweeted Sunday morning, referring to his private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit on Friday. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

But then, shortly before 9 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, Trump changed his tune: "The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't-but a ceasefire can,& did!"

What happened to elicit this sudden about-face? It's hard to know for certain, but the initial reports of the proposed partnership on cybersecurity drew ridicule, even from many within Trump's own party.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was particularly harsh:

Sen. Lindsey Graham was not much kinder.

"It's not the dumbest idea I've ever heard, but it's pretty close," the Republican lawmaker of South Carolina said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, also a Republican, expressed bafflement at the suggestion of such a unit:

Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia filed an amendment on Monday to a defense spending authorization bill that would prevent any partnership with Russia on the proposed unit or any other intelligence sharing operations with the country.

Yet Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin defended the plan Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

"This is a very important step forward," he said. "What we want to make sure is that we coordinate with Russia, that we're focused on cybersecurity together, that we make sure they never interfere in any democratic elections."

He continued: "This is like any other strategic alliance, whether we're doing military exercises with our allies or anything else."

The president has cast doubt on the the findings of the CIA, FBI, NSA and the office of the director of national intelligence, which have all said that Russia intentionally engaged in cyberattacks against the United States to influence the 2016 election and help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. At the summit last week, Trump said of the hacking, "I think it was Russia, but I think it was probably other people and or countries. I see nothing wrong with that statement. Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson later said that Trump "pressed" Putin forcefully on this topic in their meeting. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, however, said that Putin denied the charge and that Trump accepted his denial.

The United States, Russia and Jordan did successfully negotiate a ceasefire between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and those of the rebels in Syria in a part of the country, as Trump mentioned in his tweet. The U.S. and Russia continue to have conflicting goals in the region.

"Syrian ceasefire seems to be holding," Trump tweeted Sunday night. "Many lives can be saved."

Photo by BPA via Getty Images