- Russia’s pay back for helping Trump get elected were actions to benefit Russia such as “Side line Russian intervention into Ukraine as a campaign issue” in other words remove giving Ukraine weapons from the Republican platform (that was the only item in the whole Republican platform that Trump cared about at all). Little by little Trump is giving the Russians everything they wanted.
- Gutting the State Department which is an action to benefit Russia and is what Tillerson is already doing. Putin was afraid of and hated Hillary when she was Secretary of State because in 2011 she called the Russian elections basically fake which they were then and still are and his people started protesting and that was the closest that Putin has ever come to loosing power so Putin doesn’t want the US especially the State Department to have that much power. The White House is trying to get GOP (Grand Old Party) Republicans to water down a Russia sanctions bill. The White House is quietly lobbying House Republicans to weaken a bill overwhelmingly passed by the Senate that would slap tough new sanctions on Russia for its meddling in the 2016 election and allow Congress to block any future move by Trump to lift any penalties against Moscow. And, if possible, removal of sanctions against Russia altogether will be coming A.S.A.P. (As Soon As Possible) and there may be much more coming because Putin is basically running the US government.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Nahal Toosi, foreign affairs correspondent for Politico, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about why Rex Tillerson is resisting utilizing tens of millions of dollars allocated for countering Russian and ISIS propaganda.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow updates the story of Americans working in Cuba suffering “symptoms” after “incidents” with the additional detail that apparently Canadians also experienced “symptoms,” but the State Department has not offered any greater clarity.
- As reported by Yahoo News in the early weeks of the Trump administration, former Obama administration officials and State Department staffers fought an intense, behind-the-scenes battle to head off efforts by incoming officials to normalize relations with Russia, according to multiple sources familiar with the events. Unknown to the public at the time, top Trump administration officials, almost as soon as they took office, tasked State Department staffers with developing proposals for the lifting of economic sanctions, the return of diplomatic compounds and other steps to relieve tensions with Moscow. These efforts to relax or remove punitive measures imposed by President Obama in retaliation for Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and meddling in the 2016 election alarmed some State Department officials, who immediately began lobbying congressional leaders to quickly pass legislation to block the move, the sources said. “There was serious consideration by the White House to unilaterally rescind the sanctions,” said Dan Fried, a veteran State Department official who served as chief US coordinator for sanctions policy until he retired in late February. He said in the first few weeks of the administration, he received several “panicky” calls from US government officials who told him they had been directed to develop a sanctions-lifting package and imploring him, “Please, my God, can’t you stop this?” Here 6/1/2017 on the 11th Hour with Brian Williams veteran DC reporter Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News details the Trump administration’s alleged plan to ease Russian sanctions as soon as Trump took office. MSNBC’s Brian Williams gets reaction from his panel.
- But on July 25th 2017 The House of Representatives passed a sanctions bill on Tuesday (July 25th 2017) which, if passed by the Senate, represents the first major attempt by the Republican Party to tie Trump’s hands on Russia. And in the past few days, it’s apparent that the White House doesn’t seem to know what to do about it. The issue is about to come to a head.
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that would impose new economic sanctions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea and establish a policy that would prevent the president from unilaterally lifting them. The measure passed by an eye-opening 419-3 margin, and the Senate might end up voting on it as early as this week. Given the ease with which the bill passed in the House and the fact that a similar, earlier version of this bill passed the Senate 98-2, supporters of the new legislation are likely to have more than enough votes to override a Trump veto.
If a veto-proof majority does in fact form in Congress, Trump will effectively be forced to sign the bill — if he refuses to sign it, he’ll look weak as his own party overrides him. The bill would take Obama-era sanctions against Russia that are in place under executive orders — that is, directives that only the president has authority to enact and rescind — and officially enshrine them in the law. It would also establish a new congressional review process that would allow Congress to block the White House from taking steps to ease sanctions if it wanted to.
July 27th 2017 The Senate on Thursday (July 27th 2017) passed sweeping legislation slapping new sanctions on Russia and rebuking President Donald Trump in a bill that now will head to the President’s desk. The bill, which gives Congress new powers to block Trump from easing sanctions against Moscow, passed the Senate 98-2. It passed the House on Tuesday 419-3. The measure is one of the first major bipartisan pieces of legislation passed during Trump’s presidency, and it effectively ties the hands of the President when it comes to easing Russia sanctions. The bill also includes new sanctions on Iran and North Korea, and was a product of lengthy negotiations between the House and Senate that devolved into finger-pointing between the two parties and chambers several times before an agreement was finalized.
Rejecting the bill would have further galvanized resistance against the President and deepened concerns about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. And Congress would have quickly overturned a veto — a public repudiation that would underscore the President’s impotence in this situation.
Signing the bill into law will send an inexperienced and undisciplined White House into an escalating confrontation with Russia at a time when safeguards to reduce tensions have eroded and domestic pressure in both countries will make it hard to reverse course. Russia will likely retaliate in ways that go beyond the expulsion of US diplomats and the seizure of American diplomatic recreation areas that took place Friday, said George Beebe, a former director of Russia analysis at the CIA, and others. Russia is likely to more actively work against US interests on the international stage. “He is in a lose-lose situation here,” Beebe said. “There really are no good options for him on this.”
Russia announced that it was expelling American diplomats and seizing property after Congress passed the bill. Trump has repeatedly said he wants better relations with Moscow and, according to his communications director Anthony Scaramucci, still doubts Moscow’s involvement in the election campaign. But there was “very little political space or rational for Trump to veto,” said Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Wilson Center, said prior to the White House announcement Friday night. He pointed to the FBI investigations into Russia’s ties to the campaign, Putin’s actions in Ukraine and Syria, and Friday’s actions against US diplomats. “There’s no rationale, no excuse for a veto,” Miller said. “None. It would be a form of political suicide.”
Russia’s move against US diplomats is delayed payback for an Obama administration decision in December to expel Russian envoys and seize their holiday compounds, a response to Moscow’s interference in the presidential election campaign. Moscow said Friday that the US must reduce the staff at its embassy and consulates to 450, the same number Russia is allowed to have in the US. Moscow is also barring Americans from using two diplomatic facilities.
Russia had greeted Trump’s election victory with “euphoria,” confident it would usher in a new era of close cooperation and an easing of sanctions, said Angela Stent, director of Georgetown University’s Center for Eurasian, Russian and Eastern European Studies. With that in mind, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia wouldn’t retaliate after the December sanctions, preferring to wait until the Trump administration moved into the White House.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams POLITICO’s Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent Michael Crowley explains how actions in the House & Senate have made it much more difficult for him to take action on sanctions against Moscow.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Michael McFaul, former US ambassador to Russia, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about the Donald Trump administration’s odd silence in response to Russia expelling an unprecedented number of people from the US embassy.
- August 2nd 2017 as reported in The Washington Post Trump on Wednesday (August 2nd 2017) signed a bill that imposes new sanctions on Russia, ending immediate hopes that he might be able to reset US relations with the Kremlin as Congress overruled his opposition to the provisions’ curb on his executive power.
Trump’s reluctant signing of the legislation came nearly a week after it was approved by an overwhelming, bipartisan majority in the Senate and after a similarly large majority in the House. The president issued two statements outlining his concerns with the bill, which he called “seriously flawed,” primarily because it limits his ability to negotiate sanctions without congressional approval. “By limiting the Executive’s flexibility, this bill makes it harder for the United States to strike good deals for the American people, and will drive China, Russia, and North Korea much closer together,” Trump said in a statement on Wednesday morning. “The Framers of our Constitution put foreign affairs in the hands of the President. “This bill will prove the wisdom of that choice,” he added.
The signing statement, long a controversial tool of past presidents, expresses their concern with legislation but it does nothing to halt or amend it. Trump had the ability to veto this bill, but it would likely have been overridden by majorities in Congress. Lawmakers’ solidarity in tying Trump’s hands on this issue reflects a deepening concern about the administration’s posture toward Russia, which critics have characterized as naive. The new Russia sanctions expand on measures taken by the Obama administration to punish the Kremlin for its alleged efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. But Trump has continued to doubt that Russia was responsible and he has called the investigations in Congress and by the special counsel into Russian meddling a “witch hunt.”
The administration’s lobbying of lawmakers in public and private to pull back the bill’s requirement that Congress review any attempt by the president to amend sanctions against Moscow ultimately fell on deaf ears. The measure imposes a 30-day review period to give Congress a chance to vote down any of the president’s proposed changes to Russia sanctions before they can be implemented.
Despite Trump’s considerable objections, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) praised the bill becoming law. “Today, the United States sent a powerful message to our adversaries that they will be held accountable for their actions,” Ryan said. “These sanctions directly target the destructive and destabilizing activities of Iran, Russia, and North Korea. “We will continue to use every instrument of American power to defend this nation and the people we serve,” he added.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Donald Trump campaigned as a tough guy candidate, but he’s proven to be a weak president — especially with Russia. Lawrence O’Donnell examines Trump’s behavior with Vladimir Putin culminating in the reluctant signing of the sanctions bill.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Ambassador Michael McFaul and Jill Wine-Banks discuss the latest in the Russia investigation and the sanctions bill.
On All In with Chris Hayes Several Republican members of Congress swiftly responded to Trump’s tweet accusing them of being responsible for the United States’ relationship with Russia being ‘at an all-time and very dangerous low.’
- The Washington Post reported that Trump even announced July 9th 2017 on Twitter that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin were talking about forming an “impenetrable Cyber Security unit” to prevent election hacking in the future. “Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded..” Instead of setting up dialogue, Trump wants to engage in true cooperation. He wants to set up a joint “unit” that would handle election security issues so as to prevent hacking. This unit would, furthermore, be “impenetrable.”
(Seriously? Putin would absolutely love being in a Cyber Security unit with the US then Russia would not even have to go through the trouble of hacking us they would be able to get in whenever they want, like giving a burglar keys to the door.)
Other US politicians, including Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), have reacted with consternation. Rubio suggests that partnering with Putin on cybersecurity would be like partnering with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on a “Chemical Weapons Unit” (Assad is widely believed to have carried out chemical weapons attacks on his own people). Critics in the United States have unsurprisingly interpreted this proposal as a transparent ploy by Trump to sideline accusations that Russian hackers helped him win the presidential election. However, even if Trump’s proposal is taken at face value, it doesn’t make much sense.
If the proposed cybersecurity unit were to work effectively, the United States would need to share extensive information with Russia on how U.S. officials defend elections against foreign tampering. The problem is, however, that information that is valuable for defending US systems is, almost by definition, information that is valuable for attacking them, too. This is one reason US officials have not previously proposed any far-reaching arrangement with Russia on cybersecurity. Providing such information would almost certainly give the Russians a map of vulnerabilities and insecurities in the system that they could then exploit for their own purposes. It would not only provide the fox with a map of the henhouse, but give him the security code, the backdoor key, and a wheelbarrow to make off with the carcasses.
US officials have determined that Russian hackers have probed US election systems, presumably to discover vulnerabilities that they could exploit. Although there is no evidence that Russia actually manipulated machines to alter the vote in the 2016 election, there is excellent reason to believe that Russia has carefully considered the pros and cons of direct intervention, as well as the hacking and leaking that it did engage in. Furthermore, when Trump says that this unit would be “impenetrable,” he implies that Russia and the United States would cooperate on making it secure against outside hacking by third parties. Again, such cooperation is wildly unlikely to work well. To make it work, the United States would have to share sensitive methods with Russia, as well as vice versa. Neither side is going to want to do this, because again it would provide potential adversaries with a deep understanding of protective measures, which might allow those adversaries to penetrate them.
In short, the kind of cooperation that Trump is proposing would be very hard to accomplish between close allies with deeply shared security interests (the United States shares a lot of secrets with select allies — but it does not share everything, for the same reasons that they do not share their deepest defensive secrets with the United States). It is more or less impossible to carry off with a state that not only is often an adversary but has recently demonstrated its desire to hack US elections, if only it could get away with it.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Brendan Boyle introduces legislation to block funding for Trump’s suggested cybersecurity unit with Russia. Trump is already backpedaling as another Russia story breaks. Representative Boyle and Evelyn Farkas join Lawrence O’Donnell to react.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow notes that Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak is stepping down with a tremendous record of success as Russia’s wish list from America is seeing favorable progress under Donald Trump.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, talks with Rachel Maddow about how Donald Trump, Jr.’s admission of collusion with Russia hurts his father’s image and the United States by proxy.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow updates the show’s running list of what Russia would likely want to get out of a pliant US leader, including weaker election security and cyber policy.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Richard Engel talks with Eugene Kaspersky, whose Kaspersky Lab anti-virus software is widely used around the world, including the United States, and who has come under increasing scrutiny and suspicion for his ties to Russian intelligence.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Richard Engel reports on the long history of espionage and agent recruitment between the United States and Russia.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Richard Engel reports on how, regardless of whether collusion with the Trump campaign is ever proven, Russia’s goal of sowing chaos and doubt in the American system is already working.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Richard Engel reports on how Russia was quick to arrest people who may have had knowledge of, or involvement in, interfering in the 2016 US presidential election.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Richard Engel talks with Russian Senator Andrey Klimov about why Russians feels US sanctions are unfair, unjust, and illegal.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Marc Johnson, former CIA officer, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about how Russia’s new interest in crypto-currencies like BitCoin may be a sign that they see it as a way for oligarchs to get around international sanctions.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell It took Donald Trump nearly two weeks to speak about Putin’s order to expel 755 Americans from the U.S. embassy in Moscow. Instead of condemning the act, Trump thanked Putin for helping “cut our payroll” and again criticized the special counsel’s investigation.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Responding to Trump thanking Vladimir Putin for ousting U.S. diplomats from Moscow, MSNBC National Security Analyst said Trump favored the Russian leader over his own diplomats.
