Russia and Putin Own Trump
09.17.20-FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told Congress on Thursday that Russia is still working to influence the U.S. presidential election, and hoping to “denigrate” former vice president Joe Biden because it sees the Democratic nominee as part of an American policy establishment antagonistic toward Moscow’s interests. The Russians are trying “to denigrate Vice President Biden and what the Russians see as a kind of anti-Russian establishment,” Wray said.
09.15.20-Trump Is Covering For Russia. A Homeland Security Whistleblower Adds To The Evidence.
Warnings from Democratic lawmakers and the latest revelations from a top DHS employee make it clear Trump doesn’t want the public to know what’s happening. Click for more.
09.14.20-Trump's former spy chief has 'deep suspicions' that Putin has blackmail on Trump, according to Bob Woodward's new book,
Dan Coats, the US's former top intelligence official, thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin may have blackmail on US President Donald Trump, the veteran journalist Bob Woodward's upcoming book says.
According to CNN, which obtained an early copy of the book, Woodward wrote that Coats "continued to harbor the secret belief, one that had grown rather than lessened, although unsupported by intelligence proof, that Putin had something on Trump."
"How else to explain the president's behavior?" Woodward wrote. "Coats could see no other explanation."
"Coats saw how extraordinary it was for the president's top intelligence official to harbor such deep suspicions about the president's relationship with Putin," Woodward wrote. "But he could not shake them."
09.14.20-Vindman: Trump is Putin's 'free chicken'
In his first interview since testifying against President Trump during the impeachment trial earlier this year and subsequently leaving the U.S. Army after what he described as "a campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation," retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman used some colorful, poultry-based imagery to describe how he views Trump's relationship to Russia.
The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg asked Vindman if he considers Trump a Russian intelligence asset. Vindman hedged a bit, instead labeling Trump as a "useful idiot" — which Goldberg notes is not a blunt insult, but a term commonly used to describe "dupes of authoritarian regimes" — and a "fellow traveler" of Putin, meaning he shares his Russian counterpart's "loathing for Democratic norms." That, Vindman said, "makes him an unwitting agent of Putin."
He also said that if Russia does have "dirt" on Trump, as some of his critics have theorized, the Kremlin probably isn't actively blackmailing him. "They have more effective and less risky ways to employ him," Vindman said, adding that Trump looks up to Putin and wants to emulate him. Therefore, Moscow doesn't actually have to exert much energy to get what they want out of the American president. "In the Army," Vindman notes, "we call this 'free chicken,' something you don't have to work for — it just comes to you. This is what the Russians have in Trump: free chicken." And not many people are going to pass up free chicken. Read more at The Atlantic. Tim O'Donnell
09.17.20-FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told Congress on Thursday that Russia is still working to influence the U.S. presidential election, and hoping to “denigrate” former vice president Joe Biden because it sees the Democratic nominee as part of an American policy establishment antagonistic toward Moscow’s interests. The Russians are trying “to denigrate Vice President Biden and what the Russians see as a kind of anti-Russian establishment,” Wray said.
09.15.20-Trump Is Covering For Russia. A Homeland Security Whistleblower Adds To The Evidence.
Warnings from Democratic lawmakers and the latest revelations from a top DHS employee make it clear Trump doesn’t want the public to know what’s happening. Click for more.
09.14.20-Trump's former spy chief has 'deep suspicions' that Putin has blackmail on Trump, according to Bob Woodward's new book,
Dan Coats, the US's former top intelligence official, thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin may have blackmail on US President Donald Trump, the veteran journalist Bob Woodward's upcoming book says.
According to CNN, which obtained an early copy of the book, Woodward wrote that Coats "continued to harbor the secret belief, one that had grown rather than lessened, although unsupported by intelligence proof, that Putin had something on Trump."
"How else to explain the president's behavior?" Woodward wrote. "Coats could see no other explanation."
"Coats saw how extraordinary it was for the president's top intelligence official to harbor such deep suspicions about the president's relationship with Putin," Woodward wrote. "But he could not shake them."
09.14.20-Vindman: Trump is Putin's 'free chicken'
In his first interview since testifying against President Trump during the impeachment trial earlier this year and subsequently leaving the U.S. Army after what he described as "a campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation," retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman used some colorful, poultry-based imagery to describe how he views Trump's relationship to Russia.
The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg asked Vindman if he considers Trump a Russian intelligence asset. Vindman hedged a bit, instead labeling Trump as a "useful idiot" — which Goldberg notes is not a blunt insult, but a term commonly used to describe "dupes of authoritarian regimes" — and a "fellow traveler" of Putin, meaning he shares his Russian counterpart's "loathing for Democratic norms." That, Vindman said, "makes him an unwitting agent of Putin."
He also said that if Russia does have "dirt" on Trump, as some of his critics have theorized, the Kremlin probably isn't actively blackmailing him. "They have more effective and less risky ways to employ him," Vindman said, adding that Trump looks up to Putin and wants to emulate him. Therefore, Moscow doesn't actually have to exert much energy to get what they want out of the American president. "In the Army," Vindman notes, "we call this 'free chicken,' something you don't have to work for — it just comes to you. This is what the Russians have in Trump: free chicken." And not many people are going to pass up free chicken. Read more at The Atlantic. Tim O'Donnell
