CNN’s Tapper Presses Chad Wolf on Russian 2020 Election Interference: ‘You’re Not Really Answering the Question’

CNN’s Jake Tapper grilled Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf on whether President Donald Trump really accepts the intelligence that Russia is trying to interfere in America’s elections again.

In a broad-range interview for State of the Union, Tapper asked Wolf what is the DHS doing to counteract Russia’s ongoing attempts to launch disinformation campaigns and infiltrate America’s election infrastructure. Wolf answered that the department is aware of the disinformation campaigns being conducted by Russia and other countries, but also, “we don’t have any intelligence that says they are attacking election infrastructure specifically.”

After Wolf said he could not see any indication that foreign powers are trying to falsify mail-in votes, Tapper moved the conversation toward Miles Taylor, the former DHS official who has called out Trump’s disinterest in Russia’s interference efforts. Wolf denied Taylor’s negative comments about the president’s approach to homeland security, and he chalked up Taylor’s revolt against Trump as “politics and nothing more.”

“So President Trump does recognize that Russia is trying to interfere in the election and you don’t have any trouble introducing that subject to him when you talk about it and the president is engaged and wants to make sure that it doesn’t happen?” Tapper asked.

“I don’t have any issue with bring up any subject with President Trump on a wide variety of DHS issues,” Wolf responded. “And we discuss a lot of those issues every week. So, no, there’s never been any issue from my perspective.”

Tapper continued from there by grilling Wolf on whether he ever brought Russia’s interference up with the president. Wolf dodged around the matter of Russia’s interference specifically, which prompted Tapper to remark, “You’re not really answering the question.”

Watch above, via CNN.