Tag: Putin

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Sen. John McCain On Trump: “The Most Disgraceful Performance By An American President In Memory”

Sen. John McCain of Arizona (R)

Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has issued a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump’s statements made at a joint press conference today with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During the presser, Trump publicly disregarded the reports of U.S. intelligence agencies and accepted the denials of Vladimir Putin on Russian election meddling.

McCain’s statement:

“Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.

“President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin. He and Putin seemed to be speaking from the same script as the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of a free press, and to grant Putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world.

“It is tempting to describe the press conference as a pathetic rout – as an illustration of the perils of under-preparation and inexperience. But these were not the errant tweets of a novice politician. These were the deliberate choices of a president who seems determined to realize his delusions of a warm relationship with Putin’s regime without any regard for the true nature of his rule, his violent disregard for the sovereignty of his neighbors, his complicity in the slaughter of the Syrian people, his violation of international treaties, and his assault on democratic institutions throughout the world.

“Coming close on the heels of President Trump’s bombastic and erratic conduct towards our closest friends and allies in Brussels and Britain, today’s press conference marks a recent low point in the history of the American Presidency. That the president was attended in Helsinki by a team of competent and patriotic advisors makes his blunders and capitulations all the more painful and inexplicable.

“No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. Not only did President Trump fail to speak the truth about an adversary; but speaking for America to the world, our president failed to defend all that makes us who we are—a republic of free people dedicated to the cause of liberty at home and abroad. American presidents must be the champions of that cause if it is to succeed. Americans are waiting and hoping for President Trump to embrace that sacred responsibility. One can only hope they are not waiting totally in vain.”

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Donald Trump Throws His Own Intelligence Agencies Under The Bus For Putin

Donald Trump is being heavily criticized for siding with Russia over U.S. intelligence agencies

Absolutely stunning display of anti-American behavior by a U.S. president.

Standing on the same stage as Russian President Putin, Donald Trump says he takes the word of Putin over his own intelligence agencies regarding the election interference in 2016.

Last week, the Special Counsel’s investigation indicted 12 Russian agents who were found to have hacked and interfered in the presidential race in 2016, but today Trump told the world that if Putin denies ordering the disruption into our democracy, then he believes the Russian president.

Stunning.

When a respected journalist like Anderson Cooper leads with, “You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader certainly than I’ve ever seen,” you know something astonishing has happened.

Even Fox News anchors were critical of the Donald’s performance today.

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Trump Blames U.S. “Stupidity” For Poor Relationship With Russia

Donald Trump (L) and President Putin of Russia (R)

Heading into his one-on-one summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump via Twitter blamed the Untied States’ “stupidity” for the poor relationship with Russia.

The Foreign Ministry of Russia actually chimed in saying, “We agree.”

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Senate Intelligence Committee: Russia Carried Out Putin’s Plans To Interfere In 2016 Election

Donald Trump (L) Vladimir Putin (R)

After a 14-month investigation, the Senate Intelligence Committee has found no evidence to dispute the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia, on orders from Putin, carried out an unprecedented election interference effort to help the Trump campaign and hurt the Clinton campaign in 2016.

Even Fox News is reporting the news:

Senate Intelligence Committee leaders on Wednesday backed the 2017 intelligence community report that formally accused Russia of trying to interfere in the U.S. presidential election to boost then-candidate Donald Trump.

Their statements followed a final closed-door interview on the matter with top Obama administration officials. The committee, led by Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., spoke Wednesday with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan and former National Security Agenda Director Michael Rogers (who retired earlier this year).

“Committee staff have spent 14 months reviewing the sources, tradecraft, and analytic work, and we see no reason to dispute the conclusions,” Burr said in a statement. “There is no doubt that Russia undertook an unprecedented effort to interfere with our 2016 elections. I look forward to completing the Committee’s inquiry and issuing our findings and recommendations to the American people.”

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Trump Threatens “Big Price To Pay” For Syrian Chemical Attack

For the first time in his presidency, Donald Trump called out Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection to a chemical gas attack in Syria that killed at least 70 dead and more injured.

From The New York Times:

President Trump on Sunday promised a “big price” to be paid for what he said was a chemical weapons attack that choked dozens of Syrians to death the day before, and a top White House official said the administration would not rule out a missile strike to retaliate against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

In a tweet, Mr. Trump laid the blame for the attack partly on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, the first time since his election that he has criticized the Russian leader by name on Twitter. Mr. Putin’s forces have been fighting for years to keep the Assad government in power amid Syria’s brutal civil war.

Mr. Trump also left no doubt that he believed the assessment of aid groups that Mr. Assad’s military had used chemical weapons to inflict the carnage on Saturday in Douma, a rebel-held suburb of Damascus.

The Times goes on to report that the White House has not ruled out a missile strike response among options available to the U.S.

The United Nations Security Council has announced it will hold emergency meeting Monday in light of the chemical attack.

According to reports, Trump has been mulling over pulling all U.S. military out of Syria. Observers are now curious to see if the Donald follows through on that considering these developments.

And, of course, war hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham wants to go to war so bad:

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Trump Slaps At Critics For Congratulatory Call To Putin

Donald Trump was feeling a bit defensive this afternoon as he took to Twitter to slap at critics (and his own national security team one supposes) about his congratulatory call to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his “reelection.”

Reelection, oh my sides… LOL

Trump wrote, “I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory (in past, Obama called him also). The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong! Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing. They can help solve problems with North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, ISIS, Iran and even the coming Arms Race. Bush tried to get along, but didn’t have the “smarts.” Obama and Clinton tried, but didn’t have the energy or chemistry (remember RESET). PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”

There’s no way Trump even knows what “excoriate” means…

The Twitterverse reacted:

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President Puppet Congratulates Russian President Putin After Being Warned Not To By National Security Team

Donald Trump

Even though his national security team told Donald Trump specifically not congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin on his election “win,” in that it was neither a free nor fair election, Trump went ahead and did exactly that, according to The Washington Post.

Trump also ignored the direction to chastise the Russian president for the recent poisonings in the U.K., including one earlier this month of an ex-Russian spy with a nerve agent.

Although several world leaders including Prime Minister Theresa May condemned Putin for the near-deadly attack, Trump did not mention the topic.

Nor did he bring up Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election or attacks on the U.S. power grid.

The president characterized his phone call with the Russian dictator as “very good call,” and added, “We’ll probably be meeting in the not-too-distant future.”

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John McCain: “We Are Doing Putin’s Job For Him”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

While Donald Trump continues to whine about “fake news” and “fake investigations,” and his followers all fall in behind him, Republican Sen. John McCain issued a statement that gets to the very heart of the Special Counsel’s investigation.

What’s important for Americans to understand is that our Intelligence agencies all agree Russia interfered in our 2016 election. Whether it was specifically to get Trump elected or not, the disruption that continues today was the point.

Russia is succeeding and Donald Trump is so busy screaming “no collusion” he’s not doing anything to protect future elections.

As McCain writes below, Trump’s continued protests against our own intel organizations only serves Putin’s interests.

Via press release:

“In 2016, the Russian government engaged in an elaborate plot to interfere in an American election and undermine our democracy. Russia employed the same tactics it has used to influence elections around the world, from France and Germany to Ukraine, Montenegro, and beyond. Putin’s regime launched cyberattacks and spread disinformation with the goal of sowing chaos and weakening faith in our institutions. And while we have no evidence that these efforts affected the outcome of our election, I fear they succeeded in fueling political discord and dividing us from one another.

“The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests – no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s. The American people deserve to know all of the facts surrounding Russia’s ongoing efforts to subvert our democracy, which is why Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation must proceed unimpeded. Our nation’s elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin’s job for him.”

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Donald Trump Believes Putin’s Denials Regarding Election Meddling, To Inquire Further Would Be “Insulting”

Donald Trump (L) Vladimir Putin (R)

After meeting privately with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Danang, Vietnam, Donald Trump said that he had asked whether Russia had meddled in last year’s presidential election.

According to Trump, Putin not only denied the allegation but appeared “insulted” by the issue.

From the New York Times:

“He said he didn’t meddle — I asked him again,” Mr. Trump told reporters traveling with him aboard Air Force One as he flew to Hanoi for more meetings. “You can only ask so many times. I just asked him again. He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they are saying he did.”

Mr. Trump did not answer a direct question about whether he believed Mr. Putin’s denials, but his account of the conversation indicated he was far more inclined to accept the Russian president’s assertions than those of his own intelligence agencies, which have concluded that Mr. Putin directed an elaborate effort to interfere in the vote.

“Every time he sees me he says, ‘I didn’t do that,’ and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Putin. “I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country.”

Mr. Trump heaped disdain on the former leaders of three American intelligence agencies — John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director; James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence; and James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he fired this year — appearing to suggest that they were less trustworthy than Mr. Putin.

“I mean, give me a break — they’re political hacks,” Mr. Trump said. “You have Brennan, you have Clapper, and you have Comey. Comey’s proven now to be a liar, and he’s proven to be a leaker, so you look at that. And you have President Putin very strongly, vehemently says he had nothing to do with that.”

So, to recap: Donald Trump believes a man who was trained as a KGB agent to lie successfully, and throws dedicated U.S. intelligence leaders under the bus.

Got it?

#Embarrassing