National security adviser John Bolton
Iran Press- America/ “This is intended to be a very broad effort to prevent foreign manipulation of the political process,” John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, told reporters during a briefing Wednesday.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats
The move comes less than two months before the 2018 midterm elections, and just weeks after Dan Coats, Trump's director of national intelligence, warned of a "pervasive messaging campaign by Russia to try to weaken and divide the United States" before Americans go to the polls in November.
The executive order could blunt momentum in Congress for legislation that would impose harsher and more direct penalties on Russia for any future election meddling. Several senators said Wednesday that the White House order was a good first step but fell short of what's needed and could give Trump too much wiggle room.
"While the administration has yet to share the full text, an executive order that inevitably leaves the President broad discretion to decide whether to impose tough sanctions against those who attack our democracy is insufficient," said Sen Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate investigation into Russia, USA Today reported.
“If we are going to actually deter Russia and others from interfering in our elections in the future, we need to spell out strong, clear consequences, without ambiguity," Warner said.
Coats and Bolton said the president's action was not aimed at short-circuiting congressional action.
The order will help ensure the administration is "doing every possible thing we can" to prevent and assess election meddling, Coats said. "And if we see something has happened, then there's going to be an automatic response to that."
The forceful rhetoric stands in sharp contrast to Trump's own statements about Russia's efforts to undermine American democracy. Trump has called the federal investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election a "witch hunt."
Russian President Vladimir Putin
And after a closed-door meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in July, Trump said he believed Putin when he said Russia did not try to sway the 2016 election, despite the U.S. intelligence community's public findings implicating the Kremlin.
Bolton denied that Wednesday's executive order was an effort to reverse the damage from Trump's remarks after the summit with Putin, which prompted outrage among lawmakers in both parties.
"The president has said repeatedly that he is determined that there not be foreign interference in our elections," Bolton told reporters. "I think his actions speak for themselves."
Coats said the new executive order is a response to Russia's actions in the 2016 election and "to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
The order sets up a high-level process for the U.S. intelligence community and other law enforcement officials to investigate and evaluate possible election meddling.
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