Russia Helping Trump Win In 2020 Election? President's Top Security Aide Says No But Intel Reports Say Yes

National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien has said there is no intelligence to support the idea that Russia is helping President Trump in his reelection campaign.

“The national security adviser gets pretty good access to our intelligence,” O’Brien said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week.” “I haven’t seen any intelligence that Russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump re-elected.”

U.S. intelligence officials told lawmakers on Feb. 13 that Russia is attempting to interfere in the 2020 election and sway the results to re-elect Trump.

Trump reportedly grew angry when he was told about the briefing, and made the decision to replace then-acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire with Richard Grenell, the current U.S. Ambassador to Germany and a Trump loyalist.

O’Brien disputed reports about Maguire’s dismissal.

“I was in that meeting and the president was not angry with Joe Maguire. He thinks very highly of Admiral Maguire and would've liked him to stay in government in a different role,” O’Brien said in the interview.

“Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa," Trump has said in response to the reports of Russian interference.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has also been briefed by U.S. officials that Russia is trying to help his campaign. Sanders strongly condemned Russian interference efforts on Friday, and said the briefing occurred “about a month ago.”

“Unlike Donald Trump, I do not consider Vladimir Putin a good friend,” Sanders said in a statement. “He is an autocratic thug who is attempting to destroy democracy and crush dissent in Russia. Let’s be clear, the Russians want to undermine American democracy by dividing us up and, unlike the current president, I stand firmly against their efforts, and any other foreign power that wants to interfere in our election.”

Concerns about Russian interference during the 2016 election led to the Special Counsel investigation, led by special prosecutor Robert Mueller, which sought to determine whether the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia. The investigation was conducted from May 2017 to March 2019, with Trump frequently calling it a “witch hunt” or a “hoax.”

The Special Counsel’s final report determined that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia during the election but it did not exonerate Trump from wrongdoing. The Special Counsel left it up to Congress to determine whether Trump obstructed justice during the investigation.