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=IwAR06RXI7cvdtl4oAYYnYhkRoxv-jV69h3_ZyLd0E4TywY8JM1Y1YP8HCN9I
"Every day that he remains president will mean that he is putting Russia’s interests ahead of America’s. The latest revelations that emerged this weekend in the Trump/Russia investigation only bolstered this notion. First, via The New York Times, we found out that the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation after he fired FBI Director Jim Comey to determine if he was working on behalf of the Russian government. Then, the next day, The Washington Post revealed that Trump has gone to “extraordinary lengths” to keep the substance of his talks with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, hidden from his own aides, “including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials.” Both stories are, of course, blockbusters — but they aren’t all that surprising. 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."