2016 ELECTION/OBAMA/RUSSIA/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Former US Ambassador to NATO and Bush administration State Department official Nicholas Burns accused President Donald Trump of a ‘dereliction of the basic duty to defend the country’ for his apparent disinterest in Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US election.
Testifying before the Senate intelligence committee Wednesday, Burns criticized both the Obama and Trump administrations for their response to Russia’s election-related hacking.
He said the Obama administration ‘should have acted earlier and more vigorously’ to respond to Russia’s hacking, but he saved his most stinging criticism for Trump.
‘I find it dismaying and objectionable that President Trump continues to deny the undeniable fact Russia launched a major cyberattack against the US,’ Burns said. ‘President Trump has taken no action whatsoever, and that’s irresponsible.
‘It’s his duty to investigate and defend our country against a cyberoffensive because Russia is our most dangerous adversary in the world today,’ the former ambassador added. ‘And if he continues to refuse to act, it’s a dereliction of the basic duty to defend the country.’ “
-Jeremy Herb, David Shortell, and Reid Shafran, “Former NATO ambassador: Trump, Obama should have done more to combat Russia hacking,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 28, 2017 01:01pm