Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy slammed President Donald Trump’s discussion of a cyber security partnership with Russia Monday, joining a chorus of voices on both sides of the aisle.
In a recent tweet, Trump said he and Putin discussed forming “an impentrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded and safe.” The president later backpedaled after an outpouring of criticism, tweeting, “The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn’t mean I think it can happen. It can’t – but a ceasefire can, & did!” Trump referenced a ceasefire in parts of Syria that Russia and the U.S. worked out during the G20 summit.
Murphy called Trump’s foreign policy “dangerous and reckless” and described the pact as “an absurdly bad idea.”
“I am deeply troubled by the idea that there will be a cyber security pact, which is the equivalent of hiring the robbers who have burglarized your home to do an alarm system,” Blumenthal said.
Murphy added the proposal is an example of Trump’s inconsistent foreign policy.
“You are seeing a foreign policy improvisation that is making America the laughingstock of the world. It is hard to watch as the president’s foreign policy flip-flops on an hourly basis,” Murphy said.
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; are among Republicans who publicly rejected the cyber security pact.
Graham called the plan “not the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard, but it’s pretty close.” Rubio tweeted Putin cannot be trusted and “partnering with Putin on a ‘Cyber Security unit’ is akin to partnering with Assad on a ‘Chemical Weapons Unit.’”