CNN cybersecurity reporter Sean Lyngaas says President Donald Trump is desperate to blame a recent cyberattack on 30 Minnesota water systems on the state government and Democrats. But Trump can probably thank his own government cuts for the nation’s growing system vulnerabilities.
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“I don’t know, I think Minnesota is behind it. You know who’s behind it? Minnesota, because they’re grossly incompetent. I think the governor is behind it. I don’t think there was an Iranian cyberattack. I think that Minnesota ought to get its act together,” Trump said a recent cabinet meeting.
Nope. That’s not the case, said Lyngaas.
“It was not [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz who did this,” said Lyngass patiently. “Our reporting shows that Iran is a suspect. U.S. officials haven’t nailed it down with certainty, but given the geopolitical environment we’re in [It’s very likely.]”
Trump’s flailing foreign strategy is becoming more and more evident as his so-called “short-term excursion” drags into its sixth month. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth claims the war has so far cost $37.5 billion but a Telegraph analysis puts the “true bill” at $151.3 billion.
“The president seems to think it is the [governor],” pointed out a CNN anchor. “Just so we can rule everything out. Is Minnesota even on their list of possibilities?”
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“It’s not. They’re not blaming Minnesota,” repeated Lyngaas flatly. “They’re trying to help Minnesota. And I spoke with the top cyber official in Minnesota earlier this week. And he told me that he really wants to raise awareness. They were sort of the first victim. But there are a number of victims in other states. People like to focus understandably on who did it, which matters, of course, for the politics. But in terms of recovering from it and making sure there’s no ill effects, that doesn’t really matter if you’re trying to just get things back online.”
But Lyngaas added that Trump is the only recent president striving to undermine the federal government’s strength against cyberattacks.
“I’ve covered election security since the 2016 with the Russian influence campaign. And we first saw this big increase in [federal] staffing after that and a focus from the Department of Homeland Security in helping support election officials. That was actually under Trump’s … first administration, and they won bipartisan praise for that,” said Lyngaas. “But since he returned to power, Trump has fired a lot of those experts. And what we’re seeing now is with less than 100 days to the midterms, when election season is already in full swing and it’s kind of too late to take a lot of federal support because election officials have their plans in place. Now, the Trump administration is saying, ‘let’s try to essentially fix what we broke.’”
“Obviously, they wouldn’t phrase it like that, but that’s a way that a lot of credible folks in the community see it,” Lyngaas added. “They’re unveiling this plan that follows up on Trump’s speech from the other day, … to basically say, ‘we’re here to support you. We want to build trust.’ The problem is that is that trust has been shattered by the last several months.”
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