McMaster: Russian Election Meddling a ‘Sophisticated Subversion’

President Trump’s National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster on Tuesday accused the Russian government of engaging in a “sophisticated subversion” in meddling with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. “I believe that Russia is engaged in a very sophisticated campaign of subversion to affect our confidence in democratic institutions, in democratic processes—including elections,” he said in a BBC interview. McMaster’s comments contradict Trump, who has repeatedly dismissed the Kremlin’s election interference as a “hoax” or a “made-up story” despite overwhelming bipartisan evidence to the contrary. “We have to look at what Russia’s actually doing,” McMaster added in the interview. “Of course we have to counter Russia's destabilizing behavior, and the sophisticated campaigns of propaganda and disinformation... One of the most important things is to pull the curtain back on this activity, and to expose it.”