Trump casts doubt on Russian cyberattack warning from DNI Coats
President Trump says he doesn't know if he agrees with a warning from Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats about the "critical" threat of potentially devastating cyberattacks targeting U.S. systems.
In public remarks at the Hudson Institute last week, Coats said the country's digital infrastructure is "literally under attack" and warned that among state actors, Russia is the "worst offender."
Following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Mr. Trump cast doubt on the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections. In response, Coats issued a statement saying U.S. intelligence has been "clear in our assessments of Russian meddling" and that the intelligence agencies "we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security."
"CBS Evening News" anchor Jeff Glor asked the president about the warning during an interview in Scotland on Saturday.
Jeff Glor: Speaking about hacking, your DNI, Dan Coats, said that America's digital infrastructure's at a critical point right now.
President Donald Trump: Yeah.
Glor: Similar to what it was like in some ways, before 9/11, and that is, we're susceptible to a, to a large scale attack. Do you agree with that?
President Trump: Well, I -- I don't know if I agree with that. I'd have to look. But I have a lot of respect for Dan. And that's where he is, and that's what he does. Again, we're working on it very hard. We're upgrading things at a very rapid pace. But, you know, President Obama, he was the president for eight years. I'm relatively new. And a lot of bad things happened during his administration. I'm here for a very short period of time.
Watch the full interview Monday, July 16, on the "CBS Evening News" with Jeff Glor at 6:30-7:00 p.m. ET.