Retired Gen. Jim Jones: White House rhetoric on Russia creates confusion

President Obama’s former national security adviser Jim Jones on Monday said the White House’s rhetoric on Russia has created confusion, saying he thinks it is “interesting” that European countries seem to be more concerned by Russia than the U.S. does. 

“It’s interesting that the Europeans appear to be more concerned about Russia’s behavior. I mean, Russia doesn’t only meddle in our elections, there’s an actual ongoing campaign in France and other countries to meddle in their internal affairs,” Jones told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on “Rising.”

“So that’s a little bit odd. Usually, the U.S. is the champion of leading the fight against Russia, but the rhetoric from the White House is a little bit different, but over on the Hill and I think in the public opinion, that creates some confusion as to what the real message is,” he said. 

The comments from Jones come as President Trump faces bipartisan backlash for appearing to side with Russia over the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election. During a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Helsinki, Trump seemed to go against his own intelligence community’s findings. 

Trump later backtracked on his comments, saying he did believe the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment, but floated the possibility that other foreign parties could have been involved in election interference. 

The president on Sunday shifted blame for Russian rhetoric to the Obama administration for its response to Russia’s election interference in 2016. 

“So President Obama knew about Russia before the Election,” Trump tweeted. “Why didn’t he do something about it? Why didn’t he tell our campaign?”

“Because it is all a big hoax, that’s why, and he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win!!!” 

  — Julia Manchester


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