Rep. Joaquin Castro: Trump Gave Russia 'Green Light' to Meddle With Midterms
*By Christian Smith*
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) is calling on Donald Trump and Congress to pass legislation after the President's controversial summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.
"We really need a law that establishes a basic level of election security protections so that the American people can have complete faith that our election systems are not being interfered with," Castro told Cheddar on Tuesday.
His comments came a day after the summit in Helsinki, Finland, where President Trump broke with the American intelligence community. During a press conference, he said he believed Putin's claims that Russia did not intercede in the 2016 U.S. election. The Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, has since released a statement reiterating the intelligence community's view that Russia did, in fact, interfere in the election.
In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the President's comments drew the ire of both Democrats and Republicans. With the near-universal outcryーand serious pressure from Washington aidesーTrump issued an unusual retraction on Tuesday, claiming he misspoke at Monday's presser.
“While Russia’s actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election, let me be totally clear in saying — and I’ve said this many times — I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” Trump said. “Could be other people also. A lot of people out there.”
Still, Trump's original words, Rep. Castro said before the retraction, present a real danger for future elections in America.
"Donald Trump has given Vladimir Putin a green light to interfere with the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential elections," Castro said.
U.S. federal law has no precedent for election security, which Castro says should be a priority for both the president and Congress ーotherwise election tampering will continue.
"If Russia thinks that there's no cost to interfere with our elections, then they're probably going to do it again," Castro said.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/rep-joaquin-castro-weighs-in-on-president-trumps-summit-with-putin)
A bipartisan group of 43 representatives joined forces in a letter to President Joe Biden to remind the executive branch that it must seek the approval of Congress before authorizing a war — whether or not its in Ukraine as Russia continues its invasion. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore. 4th District) led the effort and joined Cheddar News Wrap to explain. "It's time for Congress to get back the authority, which is vested to us in the constitution, not in the executive branch," he said. "The president. once we're at war, we speak with one voice with the commander in chief. But before that, it's up to the American people and Congress whether or not we're going to become engaged in a war."
Chris Konstantinos, Chief Investment Strategist at RiverFront Investment Group, explains why he remains encouraged about the S&P and the state of the market despite the major indexes closing mostly lower on Monday.
President Joe Biden will be delivering his first State of the Union address on Tuesday night, and with so many issues from Ukraine to inflation, everyone will be focused on what he might say. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y. 11th District) joined Cheddar News to discuss what she thinks the president should address. "I think what he hasn't done yet is go after the gas, the oil, the minerals, the mining industries, that is incredibly important," she said. "There's still some banks there that are not sanctioned. He needs to go after all the banks, but I also think that providing the equipment that Ukraine needs to continue to protect its capital and its country are incredibly important."
As Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, one of its few big allies remaining appears to be China. Gordon Chang, Asian affairs expert and author of "The Coming Collapse of China," joined Cheddar News to discuss what might be behind China's support for Putin's current strategy. “I think China is looking at what Putin did yesterday, which is to raise his nuclear forces on a higher alert level,” Chang stated, “If they see that Putin gets away with his nuclear threats, which he's been making over the last three or four days, then I'm sure that Beijing is going to ramp up its threats as well, and it could ramp them up against any number of different countries with which it perceives it has a problem with"
Joel Rubin, president of the Washington Strategy Group and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, joins Cheddar News to discuss the Russia-Ukraine tensions and the new sanctions President Biden placed on Russia.
Officials from Ukraine and Russia have begun meeting along the Belarus border to discuss a potential end to the ongoing invasion, even as the fighting continues to drag on. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas 9th District) joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, what to expect from President Joe Biden's State of The Union Address, and the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court. "I'm still hopeful, and I hope that Mr. Putin will understand that he has united the world against him," Green said of the new round of peace talks.
Within hours of Russia's first attack on Ukraine, President Joe Biden addressed the nation by stating that the White House will impose wider sanctions on Russian banks. These sanctions could result in damage to the Russian economy. Host of "Oh My World" on Youtube and Former Spokesperson for the U. S. Mission to the U. N. Hagar Chemali, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
