Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld agreed Friday that the Russians tried to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election but said he did not see any evidence of collusion.
“I assume you agree that the Russians attacked our election via false news and cyber hacking and all that,” conservative host Hugh Hewitt asked.
“Sure. I mean, in that the Russians and other countries have an interest in what goes on in the United States. And to the extent they have the kinds of capabilities the Russians do, they have the ability and capability of engaging in things that are disruptive and harmful to other countries, including the United States,” he replied.
As far as evidence of collusion, Rumsfeld said he hadn’t seen any.
“These people who are, I suppose, they’re running around trying to compare what’s going on today to Watergate, which I think is ridiculous,” he said. “I was in government during those years, and I, thus far, I haven’t seen any there there, so to speak. The press is, maybe they have a lot of folks who want to run around and be the new Woodward’s and Bernstein’s, and they’re trying to create the kind of event that will put them on the map. But thus far, at least, I haven’t seen anything that would even begin to compare.”
