On Sunday's Reliable Sources, CNN analyst (and former Obama national-security aide) Samantha Vinograd arrogantly denounced President Trump as a "tool" of Russian disinformation. But during Friday's extended edition of The Lead With Jake Tapper, the CNN host actually confronted Vinograd with the Obama administration's record. After Robert Mueller handed down his latest indictments, Vinograd said the intelligence keeps getting better, that the Russian GRU "was sanctioned back in 2016; we know that they were up to no good."
Tapper came back with a classic devil's advocate question, something too few TV hosts do:
JAKE TAPPER: I have to say and it’s unfair, I suppose, to like hold you responsible for the entire Obama Administration, but you really, you read this indictment and you think, boy, the Obama Administration they really kind of missed the ball on this. I mean, yes, they issued that report, but President Obama said…what did he say, he told Putin to cut it out or knock it off, it wasn’t particularly strong. And then there was all this hesitation about warning the American people for fear of looking partisan. In retrospect, doesn’t it seem to you that perhaps the Obama Administration was at least to a degree asleep at the switch?
For her part, Vinograd tried to spin "don't blame me, I was gone" -- but wait, didn't she just say "we" knew they were up to no good in 2016? Then she tried to claim no president has figured this out -- but wait, isn't Obama supposed to far smarter than Trump?
SAM VINOGRAD: Well, I’m not here to be an apologist for the Obama Administration, I was gone when this, when this happened....And we’re still ineffective; we know from various sources, public and private, that this attack hasn’t stopped, there’s bipartisan agreement on that. And not one President, whether it be Obama or President Trump, has figured out how to deter Vladimir Putin. So it’s not a question in Helsinki about whether Donald Trump raises election meddling. He can raise it is… has he prepared enough to figure out how to deter President Putin from continuing doing what he’s doing?
Of all of the people at CNN, Tapper has perhaps more consistently shown a willingness to buck the popular trend and go after Democrats, as evidenced by his recent confrontation with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) over his ties to the controversial Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan in addition to calling out the leaders of the Women’s March and members of the Congressional Black Caucus for failing to condemn Farrakhan’s anti-semitism.
The Lead With Jake Tapper
07/13/18
03:37 PM
JAKE TAPPER: I want to bring in CNN National Security Analyst Samantha Vinograd, who is also a former Senior Advisor to the National Security Advisor in the Obama Administration. And to the left side of our screen there we see live pictures of President Trump arriving in Glasgow, Scotland. Samantha, you dealt with Russians under President Obama. Is there anything in the indictment today that surprises you or is that pretty much what the Obama Administration suspected was happening?
SAMANTHA VINOGRAD: Well, I think what we learned from the indictments today is that intelligence collection gets better over time, and not worse. These indictments contain so much information, much more detailed information on these individuals and on the reach of the GRU. Remember, the GRU, the Russian military intelligence unit, was sanctioned back in 2016; we know that they were up to no good. The intelligence community referenced the GRO, GRU in the January intelligence assessment that they issued. And what we’re learning in these various indictments is exactly what the GRU did and the intelligence is building on itself, so that we get even more information over time.
TAPPER: I have to say and it’s unfair, I suppose, to like hold you responsible for the entire Obama Administration, but you really, you read this indictment and you think, boy, the Obama Administration, they really kind of missed the ball on this. I mean, yes, they issued that report, but President Obama said…what did he say, he told Putin to cut it out or knock it off, it wasn’t particularly strong. And then there was all this hesitation about warning the American people for fear of looking partisan. In retrospect, doesn’t it seem to you that perhaps the Obama Administration was at least to a degree asleep at the switch?
VINOGRAD: Well, I’m not here to be an apologist for the Obama Administration, I was gone when this, when this happened. But I think we have two separate things here. We have, one, what intelligence did we have when this attack started so, 2016, 2015, 2014, when did we start to know what the Russians were up to, that’s question number one. Question number two is why were we ineffective in deterring that ongoing attack? And we’re still ineffective; we know from various sources, public and private, that this attack hasn’t stopped, there’s bipartisan agreement on that. And not one President, whether it be Obama or President Trump, has figured out how to deter Vladimir Putin. So it’s not a question in Helsinki about whether Donald Trump raises election meddling. He can raise it is… has he prepared enough to figure out how to deter President Putin from continuing doing what he’s doing?
TAPPER: What would you have him do, President Trump, if you could? What would you have him say to President Putin in Helsinki?
VINOGRAD: I can tell you what I would not have him do and that is to approach this as an easy meeting. President Trump described this as easy a few days ago. He said that he’s going to be loose with President Putin. And history has shown that a charm offensive with President Putin doesn’t work. He does not respond to flattery. We know that President Trump does. So, if you’re in Russia and you’re prepping Putin, you’re telling him to flatter Donald Trump, to talk about his successes. But being nice to Putin is not a recipe for success. It is what Donald Trump has done to date. It’s not deterring him. We know that President Putin cares about remaining economically strong, having a military that’s able to invade countries like Ukraine and Crimea. So I would lay out costs for President Putin on the financial side and even on the diplomatic stage of continued misbehavior.
TAPPER: All right, Sam Vinograd, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
