President Donald Trump will “do the right thing” if offered foreign dirt on an opponent in 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday, without specifying what the right thing might be.
Trump told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos last week that if he were to receive foreign help in an election, he would probably hear it out and might not report it to the FBI. The remarks ricocheted across Washington, drawing condemnation from across the political spectrum. Trump later somewhat rolled back his remarks on “Fox & Friends,” saying that he would “of course” notify the FBI, but only after first reviewing the information.
As many in Washington reminded the president last week, receiving substantial help from a foreign entity is illegal in U.S. elections.
Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Pompeo assured host Margaret Brennan that Trump would act appropriately, but he would not explicitly say that Trump would call the FBI.
“Listen to this very closely,” Pompeo said. “The president made very clear he is going to do the right thing. I have enormous confidence. I’ve watched him do it.”
Pompeo added: “I have watched him do the right thing every time we have had an important national security decision to be made.”
Pompeo was asked a similar set of questions on “Fox News Sunday” but was not nearly as polite in responding, mocking host Chris Wallace for a question on opposition research and foreign powers. “Chris, you asked me not to call any of your questions today ridiculous,” Pompeo said. “You came really close right there.”
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Later, Pompeo got snippy with Wallace again. “I came on to talk about foreign policy and I think [this is] the third time you’ve asked me about a Washington piece of silliness,“ he said. Pompeo also insisted the president had been consistent the whole time in his remarks about foreign campaign help.
Brennan asked Pompeo about foreign election help in the light of a recent New York Times report revealing U.S. efforts to infiltrate Russia’s cyber infrastructure on an unprecedented scale. Pompeo, citing his past as a former CIA director, refused to comment on the report, but did say that the U.S. government was deeply concerned about Russian attempts to influence U.S. elections.
The Times reported that Trump was not briefed in detail on the program out of fear the president would share information with Russian officials as he did in 2017.
Shortly after the Times report was published, Trump lashed out at the news organization on Saturday, calling the report both false and paramount to treason. He called The New York Times “THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”
Pompeo reiterated that Trump made smart foreign policy decisions and that the U.S. was committed to stopping Russian malfeasance.
“You should know and your viewers should know that the United States of America under President Trump has taken enormous effort to ensure that our elections are not interfered with,” Pompeo said. “If only with the previous administration had been so serious about preventing election interference.”