Russia and other countries are actively trying to influence the 2018 midterm elections in the United States despite what President Donald Trump says, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Thursday morning.
Durbin spoke with MSNBC and contradicted what Trump said regarding continued Russian meddling in U.S. affairs just one day earlier.
"The Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, former Republican senator from Indiana, has said clearly twice within the last week that we have a blinking red light," Durbin said.
"The Russians, and perhaps others, are doing everything they can to undermine this election. But because the president and this administration are in complete denial, they're refusing to take the steps necessary to fortify our election system despite this effort by others to make a cyber attack on voters."
Trump drew criticism this week when he failed to publicly stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their Monday press conference in Helsinki. He changed his tune on Tuesday and said he accepts the U.S. intelligence community's finding that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election.
On Wednesday, Trump said Russia is not still trying to interfere in the U.S. election process. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said a short time later that Trump believes Russia is still doing so.
"In terms of ultimately what is going to happen with this president and the information that he's given the public, he changes his mind every other day," Durbin told MSNBC. "He restates the obvious every other day and muddles it every time."
Durbin added that he would like to see Republicans join together and confront Trump for what he feels are "lies, corruption, [and] deception."
"I wish these Republican senators would gather in a group, meet with this president, and really lay it down on the line in terms of their position and opposition to the way he's running this office," Durbin said.
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