Russians In The White House

  • The very next day, on May 10th, after Trump fired Comey Trump then met with Russian diplomats in the White House.  Trump met with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak because, as Trump claimed, Putin asked Trump to meet with them.  But only photographers for a Russian state-owned news agency were allowed into the Oval Office, no American photographers.  But some former US intelligence officials raised questions that cited the danger that a listening device or other surveillance equipment could have been brought into the Oval Office while hidden in cameras or other electronics.  And anything incriminating discussed between Trump and the Russians could be used to blackmail Trump.  Some may be wondering why Trump would allow that.  The answer is that first Trump is too ignorant to think that Putin, the dictator, would blackmail him and second, since Putin controls his media people then Trump thinks that they can be trusted to not report what Trump and the Russians are talking about.  But Trump has yet to be able to control the American media, not from a lack of trying though, so they would have reported whatever they heard Trump and the Russians talking about.  While the Russians were in the Oval Office Trump told them “I just fired the head of the FBI.  He was crazy, a real nut job,” according to the document read to The New York Times by an American official.  Trump added “I faced great pressure because of Russia.  That’s taken off.”  Trump also said “I’m not under investigation.”  The White House document that contained Trump’s comments was based on notes taken from inside Oval Office and circulated as the official account of the meeting.

Then the Washington Post reported that Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador during this White House meeting.  The information that Trump relayed had been provided by a US partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the US.  The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia.  Is this really surprising anybody?  We have tried, in the past, to share information with the Russians, they are not trustworthy and they used the information against us.  Trump can not be trusted with anything, period.  And now that our allies know that Trump can not be trusted we may not get anymore information shared with us again from any ally because the sources and methods of that information can be traced back to that ally and that can endanger our allies and that can endanger the US and US lives.

Of course one of Trump’s people, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, came out with a carefully worded denial about Trump revealing the classified information saying “At no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed.  And the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known.” and “I was in the room, it didn’t happen.”  Well, 1st of all, the Washington Post did not report that Trump revealed “intelligence sources or methods”, so McMaster is just talking around the issue.  And 2nd, as I already explained, the “intelligence sources or methods” can be traced back from the information that Trump did discuss.  Then it came out that Israel was the source of the secret intelligence that Trump gave to the Russians.  Russia could pass the information on to Iran, Iran is Russia’s close ally and Israel’s main threat in the Middle East.  Trump said that he had the “absolute right” to share information in the interest of fighting terrorism.  I do not know what terrorism Trump thinks he is fighting by telling Russia, whose allies are Iran and Syria, Israel’s secrets but Trump screwed over Israel in favor of Russia.  And Trump, the Hypocrite-In-Chief, had the gall to blame Hillary for mishandling classified emails during the campaign, well at least Hillary was not so stupid or nefarious as to purposely tell the Russians classified information that was not even our information to tell.  And here Politico offers General McMaster some advise, “Step down and let Trump Be Trump.  Save your reputation while you still can.  The country will be fine.”

And in addition to Trump’s meeting with the Russians Trump also met with Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, who had arranged a secret meeting which took place around January 11th, 9 days before Trump’s inauguration, in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean, between one of Trump’s people, Blackwater founder Erik Prince, and a Russian close to Putin in an effort to create a back channel line of communication between Putin and Trump.  Though Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or Trump’s transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, according to the officials, who did not identify the Russian.

Now the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race, has asked President Trump’s political organization to gather and produce all Russia-related documents, emails and phone records going back to his campaign’s launch in June 2015, according to two people briefed on the request.  They are asking for everything.  The request, which was bipartisan and was in letter form, was signed by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the Senate committee’s chairman, and Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), the committee’s ranking Democrat.  The request to Trump’s political operatives represents the first time that Trump’s official campaign structure has been drawn into the Senate committee’s ongoing bipartisan investigation.  That investigation is separate from the federal probe being led by the Justice Department’s special counsel, former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III.

Once Trump returned from his overseas trip, the White House planed to launch its most aggressive effort yet to push back against allegations involving Russia and his presidential campaign, tackling head-on a scandal that has threatened to consume his young presidency.  Trump’s advisers planed to establish a “war room” to combat mounting questions about communication between Russia and his presidential campaign before and after November’s presidential election, while bringing new aides into the White House, administration officials and persons close to Trump told Reuters.

 

 

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DemV

Just a Democrat with an opinion and enough insight to share my 2 cents.