About 12 hours after tweeting about possibly working with President
Vladimir Putin and Russia on cybersecurity, President Donald Trump
tweeted that he does not expect it to actually happen.
"The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit
doesn’t mean I think it can happen. It can’t-but a ceasefire can,&
did!,” the president tweeted Sunday night, referencing a cease-fire that
was negotiated for part of Syria. As of Sunday night, the ceasefire was
still in place.
Trump did not explain his rapid-fire flip-flop.
Earlier Sunday, amid a flurry of tweets related to the G-20 summit in
Germany, Trump had said: "Putin & I discussed forming an
impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many
other negative things, will be guarded.. …and safe.”
Trump’s suggestion that he would work with Russia was met with
widespread skepticism, including by suggestions that it was akin to
hiring a burglar who had broken into your house as your security guard.
"It’s not the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard, but it’s pretty close,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on NBC’s "Meet the Press.”
Trump’s nighttime clarification drew some interesting reactions Sunday night.
Former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara on Twitter criticized a statement
Steven Mnuchin made Sunday morning, in which the Treasury secretary
called the Cyber Security Unit a "very significant accomplishment” for
Trump.
"Oops. @realDonaldTrump just tweeted that the super-duper
Impenetrable Cyber Security Unit "can’t” happen, but he appreciates your
loyalty,” he wrote on Twitter.
