Release: Tillerson failed to make Russian interference in US elections central to his mtgs w/Lavrov, Putin

“Based on his statements in his Moscow press conference this afternoon, Secretary of State Tillerson failed to make the issue of Russia’s interference in US politics and its ongoing efforts to disrupt the politics of our European allies central to his meetings with Russian President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov today. In his opening statement describing the talks he did not mention these ongoing and serious aggressions by Russia. They only came up when Tillerson was queried by a reporter, and his exact words were “we touched on it briefly.”

A direct Russian attack on the American homeland is not peripheral to the US-Russian relationship. Failure by Tillerson to make this far-ranging interference campaign central to these talks and to publicly condemn Russia for their aggressive actions here and in Europe is a tacit sign of approval of these efforts by the Trump Administration. It is also an invitation for Russia and other nations to attempt these kind of interference campaigns again in future elections here and abroad.

I for one reject the argument that what is happening in Syria and North Korea is more important than Russian’s extensive and ongoing efforts to undermine democracy in the US and Europe. These efforts should have been given equal weight to these other global challenges, and should have been central to the talks today. It is another disturbing sign of how Donald Trump’s admiration and relationship for Russia is interfering with his ability to be an effective President for the American people.

A few days ago NDN called on the White House and The Department of Homeland Security to release their plans to prevent the kind of interference we saw in 2016 from happening in this upcoming election cycle, including the special election in Georgia next week. The apparent failure of Tillerson to make these matters central to the talks today makes the production of such a go-forward strategy by the WH even more urgent.”

-Simon Rosenberg, President, NDN