Tag: Trump putting Russia over USA

Trump again reverses course on Russian interference, calls it ‘all a big hoax’

The following article by Felicia Sonmez was posted on the Washington Post website July 23, 2018:

Over the course of three days, President Trump commented on Russian election interference in ways that repeatedly contradicted his own intelligence officials. (Video: Peter Stevenson/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

After a week of tortuous statements, walk-backs and clarifications on whether he believes the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign, President Trump appeared to have come full circle on Sunday night, dismissing the issue as “all a big hoax.”

In an evening tweet shortly after taking off for Washington following a weekend spent at his golf club in New Jersey, Trump questioned why President Barack Obama did not inform his campaign or the public about alleged Russian interference before Election Day.

“So President Obama knew about Russia before the Election,” Trump said. “Why didn’t he do something about it? Why didn’t he tell our campaign?”

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Russia continues to shape narrative of Helsinki summit

The following article by Karen DeYoung was posted on the Washington Post website July 20, 2018:

President Trump and Russian President Putin arrive Monday for a press conference in Helsinki, Finland. Credit: Chris McGrath, Getty Images

Russia provided additional details Friday of what it said were agreements made at the presidential summit in Helsinki this week, shaping a narrative of the meeting with no confirmation or alternative account from the Trump administration.

Not surprisingly, the Russian story line tended to favor the Kremlin’s own policy prescriptions, at times contradicting stated administration strategy.

Russia already has sent formal proposals to Washington for joint U.S.-Russia efforts to fund reconstruction of war-ravaged Syria and facilitate the return home of millions of Syrians who fled the country, following “agreements reached” by President Trump and Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, the three-star head of the Russian National Defense Management Center, said Friday.

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Trump Doubles Down on Russia. The Spies Shake Their Heads in Disbelief. Image

The following article by Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt and Katie Benner was posted on the New York Times website July 20, 2018:

Pres. Trump’s pursuit of warmer relations with Russia is increasingly at odds with his administration’s policies of isolating Moscow. Credit: Al Drago for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — When President Trump directed aides to ask President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to the White House this fall, the invitation was his latest attempt to use personal diplomacy in the pursuit of better relations with the Kremlin.

But it was also at odds with moves by the rest of the Trump administration that served as blunt reminders that the national security establishment appears to be following a radically different Russia policy than the commander in chief.

The Pentagon declared on Friday that it would provide $200 million in assistance to Ukraine to help fight the Russian-controlled separatists in the country’s east. “Russia should suffer consequences for its aggressive, destabilizing behavior and its illegal occupation of Ukraine,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in a statement.

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White House defends Putin for asking Trump to hand over US citizens

The following article by Kaili Joy Gray was posted on the ShareBlue.com website July 19, 2018:

National outrage and horror forced Trump to reverse himself and say he will not hand U.S. citizens over to Russia for interrogation. And yet, the White House is still praising and defending Putin for asking.

Trump horrified the country when he said he was considering Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s request for Trump to hand over top U.S. diplomats for interrogation.

Now the White House is belatedly saying Trump “disagrees” with it.

“It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Thursday. “Hopefully President Putin will have the 12 identified Russians come to the United States to prove their innocence or guilt.”

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Trump accuses Obama of rigging Russia investigation

The following article by Frank Dale was posted on the ThinkProgress website July 16, 2018:

The president also praised Putin and told Hannity that the Mueller probe is hurting U.S.-Russia relations.

Pres. Trump during a Sean Hannity interview. Credit: Fox News screengrab

President Trump accused his predecessor, President Obama, of rigging the ongoing Russia investigation against him and instructing an FBI agent to carry out the task, during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity Monday night.

FBI agent Peter Strzok, a former member of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation team, has long been a target of conservatives, who claim his previous anti-Trump texts to a colleague with whom he was having an affair prove the Russia investigation is nothing more than a political witch-hunt. Trump has repeatedly echoed those claims, suggesting Strzok wanted to prevent him from winning the presidency and that the investigation is baseless, despite the numerous indictments Mueller’s team has handed down over the past year.

On Monday night, following his diplomatic summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, Trump took things a step further by implying his predecessor had directly ordered Strzok to rig the investigation against him.

View the complete post on the Think Progress website here.

Trump’s extraordinary press conference was not normal

The following article was posted on the Axios website July 16, 2018:

Credit: Yuri Kadobnova, AFP/Getty Images

President Trump today, at a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he didn’t see “any reason” why Russia would interfere in the 2016 election, in response to a question on whether he believed Putin or U.S. intelligence agencies.

Our thought bubble from Jonathan Swan in Helsinki: “I just have no words. As press in this room, we are all sitting in here speechless and stunned. Trump cast doubt over the U.S. intelligence community and endorsed Putin’s denial. Trump was given an opportunity to denounce the meddling and he didn’t; he just pivoted to lines about the missing server and Hillary’s emails. While Putin spoke forcefully, lying, Trump nodded along. There’s no way of sugar coating or spinning this.”

Why it matters: This comes just days after Trump’s own administration indicted 12 Russians for hacking the DNC with the intent of interfering with the election. The U.S. intelligence community has repeatedly concluded that Russia actively sought to interfere in the election, and plans to again.

View the complete article on the Axios website here.

Trump meets Putin after blaming US for bad relations

The following article by Jordan Fabian and Brett Samuels was posted on the Hill website July 16, 2018:

President Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of 20 Summit in Hamburg in 2017. Credit: Evan Vucci, AP

President Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than two hours in a one-on-one setting Monday in Helsinki, Finland, hours after blaming the United States for the bad relationship between the two countries.

As the two sat down in front of photographers before heading into their meeting, Trump said he and Putin would discuss trade, arms control and China, but made no mention of hot-button issues that have created tensions between the U.S. and Russia, such as Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, Syria, Ukraine and nerve-agent attacks in the United Kingdom.

“I think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship,” Trump said. “I really think the world wants to see us get along.”

View the complete article on the Hill website here.

Trump hands Putin a diplomatic triumph by casting doubt on U.S. intelligence agencies

The following article by Philip Rucker, Anton Troianoski and Seung Min Kim was posted on the Washington Post website July 16, 2018:

Both President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about Russian interference in U.S. elections at a news conference on July 16 in Helsinki. (The Washington Post)

HELSINKI — President Trump handed Russian President Vladimir Putin an unalloyed diplomatic triumph during their summit here Monday as he refused to support the collective conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Trump’s warm rhetorical embrace of Putin, who he said had given him an “extremely strong and powerful” denial that Russia assaulted U.S. democracy, marked an extraordinary capstone to the first formal meeting between the current leaders of the world’s nuclear superpowers and sparked trepidation and horror among many in Washington and around the globe.

At a remarkable 46-minute joint news conference inside the Finnish presidential palace, Trump would not challenge Putin’s claim that the Russian government played no role in trying to sabotage the U.S. election, despite the Justice Department’s indictments Friday of 12 Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking Democratic emails as part of a broad subterfuge operation to help Trump win the election.

View the complete post on the Washington Post website here.