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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWill Trump Be Meeting With His Counterpart -- Or His Handler?
Will Trump Be Meeting With His Counterpart Or His Handler?A plausible theory of mind-boggling collusion.
New York Magazine 7/8/2018
On June 14, 2016, the Washington Post reported that Russian hackers had broken into the Democratic National Committees files and gained access to its research on Donald Trump. A political world already numbed by Trumps astonishing rise barely took notice. News reports quoted experts who suggested the Russians merely wanted more information about Trump to inform their foreign-policy dealings. By that point, Russia was already broadcasting its strong preference for Trump through the media. Yet when news of the hacking broke, nobody raised the faintest suspicions that Russia wished to alter the outcome of the election, let alone that Trump or anybody connected with him might have been in cahoots with a foreign power. It was a third-rate cyberburglary. Nothing to see here.
The first intimations that Trump might harbor a dark secret originated among Americas European allies, which, being situated closer to Russia, have had more experience fending off its nefarious encroachments. In 2015, Western European intelligence agencies began picking up evidence of communications between the Russian government and people in Donald Trumps orbit. In April 2016, one of the Baltic states shared with thenCIA director John Brennan an audio recording of Russians discussing funneling money to the Trump campaign. In the summer of 2016, Robert Hannigan, head of the U.K. intelligence agency GCHQ, flew to Washington to brief Brennan on intercepted communications between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The contents of these communications have not been disclosed, but what Brennan learned obviously unsettled him profoundly. In congressional testimony on Russian election interference last year, Brennan hinted that some Americans might have betrayed their country. Individuals who go along a treasonous path, he warned, do not even realize theyre along that path until it gets to be a bit too late. In an interview this year, he put it more bluntly: I think [Trump] is afraid of the president of Russia. The Russians may have something on him personally that they could always roll out and make his life more difficult.
While the fact that the former CIA director has espoused this theory hardly proves it, perhaps we should give more credence to the possibility that Brennan is making these extraordinary charges of treason and blackmail at the highest levels of government because he knows something we dont.
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http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/trump-putin-russia-collusion.html
Gothmog
(145,171 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)President Trump and the GOP have failed to protect the United States of America, implicitly supporting Vladimir Putin's interests while President Trump continues to denigrate long standing relationships with Western allies.[1]
The United States Intelligence Agencies have confirmed that a foreign nation interfered with the 2016 American election process.[2]
We know two dozen state's election systems came under attack.[3]
The Intelligence Agencies heads unanimously agree that the Russians will attack the 2018 election.[4]
The cyber security head of the Department of Homeland Security has stated that the Russians had successfully penetrated voter registration rolls in several states before the 2016 election.[5]
President Trump's administration has retaliated to these attacks on America's institutions and infrastructure by penalizing Russians, unfortunately President Trump did not mention the sanctions nor the election meddling during his statement on the nerve agent attack in Britain.[6]
President Trump has repeatedly called the Russian election interference a hoax.[7]
1) Foreign Policy - RIP the Trans-Atlantic Alliance, 1945-2018
2) New York Times - Trump Misleads on Russian Meddling: Why 17 Intelligence Agencies Dont Need to Agree
3) NPR - 10 Months After Election Day, Feds Tell States More About Russian Hacking
4) Washington Post - The nations top spies said Russia is continuing to target the U.S. political system
5) Washington Examiner - DHS official: Russians 'successfully penetrated' voter registration rolls in several states before 2016 election
6) New York Times - White House Penalizes Russians Over Election Meddling and Cyberattacks
7) New York Times - Indictment Makes Trumps Hoax Claim Harder to Sell