Tag: Trump putting Russia over United States

Questions mount over Trump-Putin discussions

The following article by Morgan Chalfant was posted on the Hill website July 20, 2018:

Credit: Yuri Kadobnova, AFP/Getty Images

The White House is facing mounting pressure to disclose details of President Trump’s discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin from this week’s summit in Helsinki.

The one-on-one meeting between the two leaders has been shrouded in controversy ever since Trump, standing beside Putin following the meeting, cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment of Russian interference in the election in favor of Putin’s own denials.

Trump administration officials have said little specifically about any agreements reached or proposals made during the meeting.

Instead, they’ve had to bat down queries about whether Trump was going to go along with a Putin plan to have Russian officials interview U.S. citizens, including former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. Putin also floated the possibility of a referendum to determine whether Crimea would be part of Ukraine and Russia, an idea the administration did not immediately shoot down.

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Trump demoralizes his own team with dizzying Russian moves

The following article by Jordan Fabian and Morgan Chalfant was posted on the Hill website July 20, 2018:

Andrea Mitchell and Dan Coats Credit: ABC Screen Capture

President Trump’s bungled effort to warm up to Russian President Vladimir Putin has driven a wedge between him and his own administration as it seeks to crack down on Moscow’s hostile activities.

Rank-and-file intelligence and national security officials feel demoralized by the president’s failure to publicly call out Putin for interfering in the 2016 election, according to sources inside and outside the federal government.

“It’s just another day in paradise,” said one former White House official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “Russia narratives have been a daily ordeal for two years. Nobody knows what the president will do or say and nobody knows what they don’t know.”

View the complete article here.