DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen: I ‘Haven’t Seen Any Evidence’ Russia Meddled to Help Trump

At the Aspen Security Forum Thursday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen did not deny that Russia interfered in the 2016 election—but claimed she has yet to see evidence that those efforts were specifically intended to get President Donald Trump elected. “I haven’t seen any evidence that the attempts to interfere in our election infrastructure was to favor a particular political party,” she said. Her comment directly contradicted the findings of the intelligence community, which has said that Russian meddling was “designed to help Donald Trump win.” Later in the panel discussion, Nielsen said she agreed with the intelligent community’s assessment “full stop.” “Any attack on our democracy which is what that was whether its successful or unsuccessful—is unacceptable,” she said. During a Monday press conference in Helsinki, Russian President Vladimir Putin said himself that he wanted Trump to win in 2016 because he “talked about bringing the US-Russia relationship back to normal.”