Former President George W. Bush weighed in on whether Russia interfered in the U.S. election while speaking at a summit in Abu Dhabi Thursday.
“There’s pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled,” Bush said, according to Reuters. “Whether they affected the outcome is another question.
“It’s problematic that a foreign nation is involved in our election system,” he continued. “Our democracy is only as good as people trust the results.”
Bush's statement was in contrast to current President Donald Trump, who has denied any involvement by Russians, and even argued that they would have wanted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to win instead.
The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia had attempted to meddle in the election.
Bush described Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin as “zero-sum," meaning his world view was that Russia's greatness was inversely related to the greatness of other nations like the United States.
“He’s got a chip on his shoulder,” Bush added. “The reason he does is because of the demise of the Soviet Union troubles him. Therefore, much of his moves (are) to regain Soviet hegemony.”
Bush continued to describe Russia as “pushing, constantly pushing, probing weaknesses."
"That’s why NATO is very important," he concluded, in another contradiction to Trump's policies.
The former president also said that there must be a solution found for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, recipients whose deportation deferrals would end in March because of an order by Trump.
“There are people willing to do jobs that Americans won’t do,” Bush said. “Americans don’t want to pick cotton at 105 degrees, but there are people who want to put food on their family’s tables and are willing to do that. We ought to say thank you and welcome them.”
