Ex-DHS official: Trump appeared to side with Team Russia

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/19/miles-taylor-dhs-trump-russia-election-398414



By BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN
08/19/2020 10:00 AM EDT

In the eyes of a former top official at the department that handles election security, President Donald Trump appeared to side with Russia on the matter.

Miles Taylor, who worked at the Department of Homeland Security during the first two years of Trump’s presidency, including a stint as the department’s chief of staff, told POLITICO it often felt like his office had to fight against the president to secure U.S. elections from foreign meddling. 

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In particular, Taylor said Trump appeared to take Russia’s side when the president would criticize administration officials for talking about the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that concluded the Kremlin meddled to help Trump.

“The president thought it was a political document that undermined the legitimacy of his election, and he’d be really angry when officials would talk about it,” he said.

Taylor said Trump’s then-chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, once told him not to bring up election interference with the president.

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Taylor said his biggest regret from his time at DHS was that they couldn’t do more to secure U.S. elections from foreign interference.

“We did a lot in that space but we had to do it despite the president, not because of the president,” he said.

Earlier this week, Taylor became the first former senior Trump administration official to endorse Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Some others, including former national security adviser John Bolton, have said they will not vote for Trump.

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