2016 ELECTION/NSA/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The former Director of the National Security Agency, retired Admiral Mike Rogers, said Tuesday [9-11-18] that he thought President Donald Trump should have taken the opportunity to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly in Helsinki, Finland over Russia’s election meddling…In July, Trump met one-on-one with Putin, a meeting he did not ask his top intelligence officials — including Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats — for advice on, Coats later revealed. During a press conference with the Russian leader, Trump undermined the US intelligence community’s universal conclusion that Russia had made attempts to attack the 2016 US presidential election, through digital interference and other methods…Speaking at George Mason University, Rogers went on to say that Trump ‘opted to go in a different direction and that certainly is his right as the President,” adding, “but I wish we had taken advantage of that opportunity.’ The former NSA chief said a public push back ‘could have sent a very powerful message.'”
–Jenna McLaughlin and Jamie Crawford, “Ex-NSA chief wishes Trump had pressed Putin on Russian election attacks,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, September 12, 2018 7:44 pm