Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said Friday that President Donald Trump should meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin but should be tough on election interference after the indictment of 12 intelligence officers by special counsel Robert Mueller.
"This is your chance, Mr. President," Hayden, who also headed the NSA, told Jake Tapper on CNN. "You have evidence, which the intelligence community couldn't roll out in that community intelligence assessment.
"We have solid, forensic, detailed evidence that the president can make use of.
"So, as a citizen, I would say, 'Let's do it,'" he said. "Then, I would want to watch to see what the president does."
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced that the 12 Russian military intelligence officers were charged with hacking into the accounts of the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton's campaign and other party operations during the 2016 election.
The Russians then released the stolen data through fake accounts — WikiLeaks, DC Leaks, and Guccifer 2.0, among them — in the weeks before voters went to the polls.
The 29-page indictment did not allege that Trump campaign associates were involved or that any Americans were knowingly in contact with the Russians.
Rosenstein disclosed the charges before Trump's meeting with Putin in Finland — and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the summit would proceed as planned.
Hayden noted that while the indictments say "we take no view on whether Americans were involved, it doesn't say no Americans were involved.
"We are not talking about that now," he told Tapper. "The longer this goes on, the more I believe we are going to see a widening circle.
"I would not be surprised if, in the last indictment, we see that it doesn't mention an American."
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