Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star Army general, said he was shocked that President Trump hasn’t done more to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government’s threats to U.S. interests.
‘The situation is simply astonishing,’ McCaffrey said Sunday during an appearance on MSNBC. ‘There is no question that Mr. Putin, in particular, is an active threat to U.S. national security as well as those of our NATO allies.’
McCaffrey made headlines Friday for calling President Trump a threat to U.S. national security due to the president’s inaction against Putin.
General Barry McCaffrey (left), a retired four-star Army general, told MSNBC’s Joy Reid that the ‘situation is simply astonishing’ that President Trump won’t do more to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin
On Friday, retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey sent out this tweet, dubbing President Trump ‘a serious threat to U.S. national security’ for refusing to protect the United States from the Russia threat
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, at a speaking engagement in 2008, said he couldn’t figure out why members of Trump’s team could take a harder line with Russia, but then Trump didn’t. He suggested Friday that Trump is ‘under the sway of Mr. Putin’
‘Reluctantly I have concluded that President Trump is a serious threat to US national security. He is refusing to protect vital US interests from active Russian attacks,’ McCaffrey wrote on Twitter Friday afternoon.
‘It is apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the sway of Mr. Putin,’ McCaffrey added.
On the MSNBC show AMJoy on Sunday, McCaffrey wouldn’t hazard a guess as to why Trump wasn’t acting.
‘I don’t know what’s going on,’ the retired four-star general said.
McCaffrey pointed out how other Trump administration officials, including U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, seem to be able to take a tougher approach with Russia.
‘The other voices in the administration have been sensible, but I cannot understand why President Trump simply won’t respond to this guy,’ McCaffrey said, as he charged Putin with running an ‘active criminal oligarchy’ that is hostile to U.S. interests.
McCaffrey pointed to the latest disturbing episode – the nerve agent attack in Britain on a former Russian spy and his daughter.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was ‘overwhelmingly likely’ that Putin personally ordered the attack against Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England.
Both the father and daughter remain critically ill in the aftermath of the March 4 attack, in which they were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury.
‘That was a signature assassination,’ McCaffrey commented. ‘Putin is apparently saying to the world I’ll come kill you wherever you are if you oppose me.’
In light of that, McCaffrey said the U.S. ‘must confront Russian threats to U.S. national security.’