John Podesta, campaign chairman for presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, said “you can’t prove that it did affect the outcome, but it certainly seems likely that it had some impact." | AP Photo/Andrew Harnik Podesta: Trump a 'draft dodger' in war for democracy

John Podesta, campaign chairman for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, said Sunday that President Donald Trump “has failed in carrying out his duty as president” by not shielding the U.S. from Russian meddling efforts.

Podesta said that by undermining special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian election interference and failing to implement congressional sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump was relinquishing his responsibilities as commander in chief.


“He clearly, I think, has failed in carrying out his duty as president of the United States, which is to protect our democracy,” Podesta said during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

He added: “If this is information warfare, then I think he’s the first draft dodger in the war.”

Podesta, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, oversaw Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential bid. He pointed to the recent indictment of 13 foreign nationals in the federal probe into election interference as evidence that the Russians “likely” helped tip the election in Trump’s favor.

“You can’t prove that it did affect the outcome, but it certainly seems likely that it had some impact,” Podesta said.

"They were pushing votes, just to give one example, to Jill Stein," Podesta said, referring to the Green Party candidate. "Her vote in Michigan, in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin was greater than the gap between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in those states."

Podesta also slammed Trump for suggesting on Twitter that the FBI failed to follow up on tips regarding the suspected shooter who killed 17 at a high school in Florida last week because they were “spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.”

“He certainly can’t accept that this activity may have helped him," Podesta said, "and I think he just constantly tries to move the ball away, including what was, I think, really a despicable tweet about the fact that he’s blaming the FBI for investigating the Russia investigation, somehow relating that to the tragic killings in Florida."

Hillary Clinton was silent over the weekend in the wake of Mueller's Russia indictments, which detailed an elaborate campaign to influence the 2016 presidential race by 13 Russian nationals, but her longtime spokesman took to Twitter to criticize the president’s response to developments.

“Time will tell us more, but Russia went to great lengths to undermine our democracy, & the President won’t protect us,” spokesman Nick Merrill tweeted.

“No matter your politics, it’s un-American. We have an adversary that is laughing at us, who will act again.”