Congress Freaks Out Over Trump Administration’s Decision to Halt Cyber Operations Against Russia

Last week, The Record reported that Donald Trump’s new Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, had made the abrupt decision to pause all of the U.S. Cyber Command’s offensive cyber operations against Russia. A sudden departure from what has long been the U.S.’s posture towards its geopolitical foe, the decision has inspired a wave of backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle, many of whom don’t seem to know what to make of the decision.

Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who is the senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, seemed caught off guard when he was asked about the decision on Face the Nation on Sunday. “I’m unaware of that. I don’t believe—there are too many, I’m certain, considerations there for that to be an accurate statement so blanket,” Turner said.

“But they have ordered Cyber Command to halt cyber operations,” host Margaret Brennan countered.

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Turner cut her off: “Considering what I know, what Russia is currently doing against the United States, that would I’m certain not be an accurate statement of the current status of the Unites States operations.” CNN and other outlets have since confirmed the reports with government sources, but at this point no one has gone on the record.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Florida) also seemed thrown off when he was asked about the decision on Fox News. “I’m sorry, who’s doing that?” Gimenez stammered. “I don’t know why he’s doing that,” he said. “The Russians are attacking us every single day, the Chinese are attacking us every single day; I don’t think you signal to the Russians that, hey, we’re gonna unilaterally withdraw from this space. If they can keep attacking us, and they do every single day,  they should be fearful of our capacity to inflict damage on them. So I really don’t understand where that’s coming from.”

BREAKING: GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez is stunned live on Fox about the Trump admin stopping all offensive cyber against Russia. "I don't know why he's doing that" — adding that they are still constantly attacking us. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/gkJsQaf9yt

— Really American