Democrats furious Trump didn’t tell NSA chief to fight Russian meddling

by Adam Edelman
Feb. 27, 2018

A top intelligence official said Tuesday that the U.S. is "probably not doing enough" to combat Russian attempts to interfere in American elections — prompting the fury of several Democratic lawmakers — and acknowledged that he'd not been directed by President Donald Trump to do more to stop such meddling by Moscow.

At a U.S. Cyber Command hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Adm. Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, said he had not been given the authority by Trump, or Defense Secretary James Mattis, his direct boss, to strike at Russian cyberoperations against the U.S.

Rogers admitted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had likely concluded there was "little price" to pay for trying to disrupt U.S. elections.

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Later Tuesday, the White House, responding to Rogers' assertion that Trump has not directed him to combat Russian meddling, said the administration didn't stop him from doing anything, either.

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