Tag: Putin

Putin rejects Donald Trump’s criticism of Biden family business

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that he saw nothing criminal in Hunter Biden’s past business ties with Ukraine or Russia, marking out his disagreement with one of Donald Trump’s attack lines in the U.S. presidential election.

Putin was responding to comments made by Trump during televised debates with Democratic challenger Joe Biden ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Trump, who is trailing in opinion polls, has used the debates to make accusations that Biden and his son Hunter engaged in unethical practices in Ukraine. No evidence has been verified to support the allegations, and Joe Biden has called them false and discredited. Continue reading.

Admitted Russian spy bragged about connecting Trump campaign to Putin

Maria Butina, Credit: Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, PA-EFE, Shutterstock

Maria Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as a foreign agent years after she openly bragged about it.

Admitted agent of the Russian government Maria Butina previously bragged about connecting Trump’s presidential campaign to Russia.

Butina pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to act as a foreign agent on behalf of the Russian government.

In her plea the Russian admitted she was part of a conspiracy against the United States.

View the complete December 13 article by Oliver Willis on the ShareBlue.com website here.

‘Dictator envy’: Trump’s praise of Kim Jong Un widens his embrace of totalitarian leaders

The following article by Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website June 15, 2018:

President Trump’s praise Friday for Kim Jong Un’s authoritarian rule in North Korea — and his apparent envy that people there “sit up at attention” when the 35-year-old dictator speaks — marked an escalation of the American president’s open embrace of totalitarian leaders around the world.

Reflecting on his impressions of Kim following their Singapore summit, Trump told Fox News: “He’s the head of a country, and I mean he’s the strong head. Don’t let anyone think anything different. He speaks, and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.” Continue reading “‘Dictator envy’: Trump’s praise of Kim Jong Un widens his embrace of totalitarian leaders”

Is Trump’s Attraction to Russia About Shaping the U.S. Version of Putin’s 21st-Century, Postmodern, Authoritarian, Kleptocratic Regime?

The following article by Timothy Snyder was posted on the AlterNet website July 3, 2017:

Yale historian Timothy Snyder asserts that Trump’s ties to Russia are far deeper and more dangerous than campaign collusion.

The links between President Trump and Russia will prove to be deeper and darker than many Americans now believe. This is according to Timothy Snyder, a noted historian of the 20th century’s tyrannical regimes in Eastern Europe, who said the U.S. is now moving down a cultural and political path that has much in common with Russia under Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian and oligarchic rule. Continue reading “Is Trump’s Attraction to Russia About Shaping the U.S. Version of Putin’s 21st-Century, Postmodern, Authoritarian, Kleptocratic Regime?”

Putin-linked think tank crafted plan to swing election for Trump: report

The following article by Nikita Vladimirov was posted on the Hill website April 19, 2017:

Putin-linked think tank crafted plan to swing election for Trump: report
© Getty Images

A Moscow-based think tank linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin created a plan to swing the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Three current and four former U.S. officials told Reuters that two confidential documents obtained from the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies justify the conclusion reached by the U.S. intelligence community about Russia’s interference in the U.S. election. Continue reading “Putin-linked think tank crafted plan to swing election for Trump: report”

The right’s jarring drift toward Russia

The following column by E.J. Dionne, Jr., was posted on the Washington Post website April 2, 2017:

(Don Emmert/Agence France-Presse; Natalia Kolesnikova/Getty Images)

It is jarring to see pro-Trump conservatives indifferent or even hostile to investigations of Russian intervention in the 2016 campaign. Just a few years ago (it feels like an eternity), conservatives were jumping all over President Barack Obama for his Russian “reset” and his first-term eagerness to negotiate with Moscow.

Even further back, conservatives hailed President Ronald Reagan’s description of the Soviet Union as “an evil empire.” Reagan ran a brilliant ad during his 1984 reelection bid that showed a bear roaming through the woods. Without mentioning the words “Russia” or “Soviet Union,” an announcer intoned: Continue reading “The right’s jarring drift toward Russia”

Fresh evidence Trump’s Russia headaches are not going away

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch was posted on the Washington Post website March 24, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: The drip, drip, drip of damaging Russia revelations continues, as White House efforts to change the narrative backfire.

— CNN reported late last night that the FBI has information that indicates associates of Donald Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to Clinton’s campaign: “This is partly what FBI Director James Comey was referring to when he made a bombshell announcement Monday before Congress that the FBI is investigating the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. … The FBI is now reviewing that information, which includes human intelligence, travel, business and phone records and accounts of in-person meetings.” Three nuggets from the CNN report: Continue reading “Fresh evidence Trump’s Russia headaches are not going away”

Trump adviser Flynn paid by multiple Russia-related entities, new records show

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger was posted on the Washington Post website March 16, 2017:

Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign as national security adviser amid controversy over his contacts with Russia’s ambassador, collected nearly $68,000 in fees and expenses from Russia-related entities in 2015, a higher amount than was previously known, according to newly released documents.

The records show that the bulk of the money, more than $45,000, came from the Russian government-backed television network RT, in connection to a December 2015 trip Flynn took to Moscow. Flynn has acknowledged that RT sponsored his trip, during which he attended a gala celebrating the network’s 10th anniversary and was seated near Russian President Vladi­mir Putin. His speakers bureau took a cut of the fee. Continue reading “Trump adviser Flynn paid by multiple Russia-related entities, new records show”

Like the Cold War’: Minnesota Russian community worried

The following article by Jean Hopfensperger was posted on the Star Tribune website February 20, 2017:

Mark Stipakov, second from right, second row, a real estate agent in Plymouth, went to grade school with Russian President Vladimir Putin, third from right, front row.

Mark Stipakov went to grade school with Russian President Vladimir Putin and consulted with him in the 1990s when Putin worked in the St. Petersburg’s mayor’s office. Watching the barrage of news about his old classmate’s possible influence on the Trump administration, Stipakov worries.

Yes, Putin is a former top spy, he said, but he’s also not a guy who would jeopardize relations with a superpower. Continue reading “Like the Cold War’: Minnesota Russian community worried”

Trump on alleged election interference by Russia: ‘Get on with our lives’

The following article by John Wagner was posted on the Washington Post website December 28, 2016:

President-elect Donald Trump answers questions from the media during transition team meetings at Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Wednesday. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

President-elect Donald Trump distanced himself Wednesday night from the Obama administration’s plans to punish Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, telling reporters that “I think we ought to get on with our lives.”

Trump, appearing at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., was asked what he thought about the Obama administration’s plans to sanction Russia for what U.S. intelligence officials say was state-sanctioned hacking of Democratic organizations, the targeting of state election systems and meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Continue reading “Trump on alleged election interference by Russia: ‘Get on with our lives’”