CBS’ Brennan Repeatedly Confronts NatSec Adviser O’Brien on Foreign Interference ‘Happening on President Trump’s Watch’: What Are You Doing to Stop It?

CBS’ Margaret Brennan repeatedly confronted White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien on Face the Nation over election security and foreign interference in the 2020 election.

A top U.S. counterterrorism official put out a statement last week warning of foreign interference by Russia (against Joe Biden) and by China and Iran (against Donald Trump). Trump was dismissive of the Russia finding when asked on Friday.

Brennan brought up that warning to O’Brien and said, “That sounds an awful lot like what Russia did back in 2016, but now it’s happening on your watch. So what are you doing to stop it?”

“We’ve got our cyber teams in place. DHS is working very hard to track down those malign actors,” O’Brien said.

“is it Russia again?” Brennan asked.

“We know it’s China. We know it’s Russia. We know it’s Iran,” O’Brien said.

“Tampering with election infrastructure?” Brennan asked.

O’Brien said yes and added they’re trying to “collect data on Americans and engage in influence operations, whether it’s on Tik Tok or Twitter or in other spaces.”

On Russia specifically, Brennan brought up Trump’s recent call with Vladimir Putin and asked if he told Putin to “knock this off.”

“The president has told the Russians, and we’ve told the Russians, our counterparts, many, many times not to get involved in our election,” O’Brien said.

“But did President Trump tell that to President Putin?” Brennan pressed.

“You know, what I don’t get involved in, unlike perhaps some of my predecessors or others who leaked documents, I don’t get into the- the conversations that the president has with foreign heads of state, whether it’s Russia or France or the UK, for that matter. Those are private conversations,” O’Brien responded, before insisting they’ve been “very clear” to the Russians.

“But they’re doing it again, which is what you’re saying, so the message clearly wasn’t received,” Brennan noted, asking again about the president’s call with Putin.

O’Brien insisted “there’s almost nothing we can sanction left of the Russians” and that “we put so many sanctions on the Russians that, by the way, that the prior administration didn’t do.”

“But the intelligence community is saying that the interference is also happening on President Trump’s watch,” Brennan followed up, “which is why I’m specifically asking you, you know, what are you doing to stop it?”

“We’ve made it very clear to our adversaries, whether it’s China or Russia or Iran, stay out of our election. And we’re taking steps across the board to harden our election infrastructure,” O’Brien responded.

You can watch above, via CBS.