Former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks slammed President Trump late Monday after he appeared to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin on his denial of interfering in the 2016 election.
“It’s just as serious to me as the Cuban missile crisis in terms of an attack or the 9/11 attack,” Wine-Banks said during an appearance on MSNBC hours after Trump delivered remarks alongside Putin at a joint press conference in Helsinki.
“The president is taking the side of the people who attacked us instead of trying to prevent a future attack. He has done nothing to make sure that the elections four months away are going to be safe and I would say that his performance today will live in infamy as much as the Pearl Harbor attack or Kristallnacht,” Wine-Banks continued, referring to when Nazis in 1938 marched through towns in Germany and Austria destroying Jewish businesses, synagogues and homes. She added that the president’s performance is a “really a serious issue we need to deal with.”{mosads}
The president drew condemnation from the media and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle after he downplayed the Russian government’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and slammed the special counsel’s investigation.
“The probe is a disaster for our country. I think it’s kept us separated. There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it,” Trump said alongside Putin, just days after 12 Russian nationals were indicted on charges related to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee.
When asked during the press conference whether he would condemn the Russian government for election meddling, Trump also said he didn’t “see any reason why it would be” Russia that hacked Democrats during the 2016 election.