Russia expert: Asking Putin for help on hacking is 'putting an arsonist in charge of the fire brigade'

An expert on Russian spycraft and diplomatic tricks told CNN on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has executed a slam dunk in gaining the upper hand with regards to his country's effort to meddle in U.S. elections.

"Putin is taking a deep bow," said investigative reporter Michael Weiss. "One of the smartest Russia specialists in Congress has said that this is Putin's metier: create a problem, pretend to solve it, then take a deep bow."

By agreeing to "work together" with the Russians on the cyber assault issue, Weiss explained, the U.S. has essentially agreed to carry out a meaningless bureaucratic maneuver engineered by the Russians to distract and immobilize U.S. efforts to stop the meddling.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) mocked the proposal as "not the dumbest idea" he'd ever heard, "but close."

"It's insane," said Weiss. "It's like putting an arsonist in charge of the fire brigade."

Watch the video, embedded below: