February 16, 2019

Donald Trump has been compromised by Russia

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/01/15/donald-trump-has-been-compromised-russia/V66kiNZWtOE8T9UrfNYJwK/story.html?fbclid=IwAR2rklwAloj9PYe67mVVqutTpZPozv2auwBODERjmdlx0uBMZOIHNj9tWxQ
"After all, as former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and, currently, lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government Juliette Kayyem said to me, “Everything Trump has done to date is consistent with the notion that he is compromised by the Russians, and the corollary to that is that he has done nothing to convince us otherwise.” The evidence that Trump has acted as an agent of the Russians — either wittingly or unwittingly — is overwhelming. We can start with the 2016 presidential campaign in which Trump not only refused to criticize Russia or Putin directly, but also openly and publicly asked for their assistance in finding Hillary Clinton’s missing e-mails. There is also the Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr., the dalliance with WikiLeaks, and the 101 contacts between Trump’s campaign team and individuals linked to Russia. But perhaps even more telling is Trump’s consistent refusal to acknowledge Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election — which of course continues to this day. As president there has been the repeated refusal to fully impose congressionally mandated sanctions on Russia – sanctions that his administration opposed. There’s the repeated turning of a blind eye to Russia’s actions toward its neighbors, as well as its human rights abuses. There are Trump’s persistent attacks on NATO and criticisms of the European Union, (the destabilization of both organizaitions being a key policy objective of Vladimir Putin), and his cozying up to Putin at their summer summit in Helsinki. In recent weeks, there’s been Trump’s bizarre recent parroting of not just Russian, but Soviet-era rhetoric defending that country’s decision to invade Afghanistan four decades ago. Above all, there are the persistent efforts to impede, obstruct, and block the Mueller investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election — and his continued refusal to hold Moscow accountable for their actions during the campaign."