U.S. Rep. Tom Reed said Tuesday he believes U.S. intelligence agencies assertions that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election, even if President Donald Trump does not.
Reed was asked by reporters how he reconciled Trump’s statements on Russia’s involvement in the campaign at the press conference after the Helsinki, Finland summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“There is clear evidence that the Russians meddled in our election in 2016 and that they had done so previously,” Reed said.
By mid-afternoon Tuesday, Trump had attempted to walk back his comments, saying he misspoke when he said, “I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia with regard to foreign interference in the election.
Trump later said he meant to say “why it wouldn’t be Russia,” although he added on Tuesday it could have been others as well.
Reed also renewed Republican calls for special counsel Robert Mueller to wrap up his investigation into Russian meddling in the election.
Mueller announced last week the indictment of 12 Russian military officers implicated in the theft of Hillary Clinton’s and Democratic National Committee emails plus providing the stolen computer data to Wikileaks. Also on Monday, a Russian national was arrested on charges of being a foreign agent and trying to set up back-channel communications for Trump and Putin.
Reed said no evidence of collusion has been presented by Mueller.
“Collusion is one matter, meddling is another matter,” Reed said. “It’s causing a tremendous amount of confusion and division in our country.”
Reed questioned why the Mueller probe is taking so long. An investigation into Russia’s involvement in the presidential election began in July 2016, with Mueller appointed as special counsel in May of 2017.
Reed said in the meantime, a lot of taxpayer dollars have been spent. According to budget reports released by Mueller’s office, $3.2 million was spent directly on the investigation between May and September 2017, with $6.7 million in total resources expended. Between October 2017 and September of this year, the office is budgeted to directly spend $10.4 million on the case.
“It’s time to bring its closure. They’ve had plenty of time and resources to do it,” he said.
Mueller’s office has pointed out that expenses such as investigators’ salaries — added to the total expenses reported — don’t amount to additional taxpayer expenditures, as those employees would be performing similar work whether or not the special council existed.
Reed said he has seen no integrity issue that would bring the president’s legitimacy into question.
Reed expressed some concern over Trump’s dismissive nature of the intelligence agencies assertions of Russian meddling in the election.”I believe the intelligence agencies,” he added.
Reed said he disagreed with comments by former CIA Director John Brennan Tuesday that Trump’s behavior with Putin at the summit was treasonous.
“I think there is clear evidence of meddling. There is no evidence of collusion. I see no treason on display here,” he said.
When asked why Trump appears to have treated Putin better than he has U.S. allies like Canada and the European Union, Reed said he would “defer to the White House on how (Trump) has taken his relationships forward with each one of those leaders.”
He added: “Putin is not a friend. He is an adversary. He is an enemy.”
On the other hand, Russia is a world superpower, Reed said.
“I don’t want to rule out any type of relationship with our adversary.”
The relationships with U.S. allies remains strong despite appearances, Reed said. “Whether it bothers me personally, I’ll defer to the White House.”
(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)
