Russian meddling beyond doubt, says Trump’s adviser

Munich, February 18

President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser HR McMaster on Saturday said there was “incontrovertible” evidence of a Russian plot to disrupt the 2016 US election, a blunt statement that shows how significantly the new criminal charges levelled by an American investigator have upended the political debate over his inquiry.

The statement by McMaster at the Munich Security Conference stood in stark contrast to Trump’s often repeated claim that Russian interference in his election victory was a hoax. “As you can see with the FBI indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain,” McMaster said. 

The detailed document presented the most compelling public evidence to date that the Russian operation was elaborate, expensive and real.

Citing emails and conversations by the perpetrators of the plot, it also demonstrated that the ongoing probe may have access to explosive intelligence material gathered on the Russian operations.

McMaster also noted that special counsel Robert Muellers team had shown that the US was becoming “more and more adept at tracing the origins of this espionage and subversion.” 

Just minutes before, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had dismissed the indictment as “just blabber.” “I have no response,” Lavrov said when asked for comment on the allegations. “You can publish anything, and we see those indictments multiplying, the statements multiplying.” But Lavrov did not say what he specifically disputed in the indictment. Trump tweeted that McMaster’s mention of Russian poll meddling forgot to include that the election results were not changed by the Russians efforts.

And he said McMaster should have noted the only collusion was between Russia, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. Trump frequently has tried to turn the tables on who tried to work closely with Russians. McMaster and Lavrov addressed the annual conference of world leaders, defence officials and diplomats, giving more general back-to-back opening remarks. But both were immediately hit with questions about the US indictment and the broader issue of cyberattacks. “There are no official claims, there is no proof for this. That is why they are just children’s statements,” Russian envoy Andrei Kutskikh said. — AP