It should not be this difficult for President Trump to acknowledge that Russian operatives interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Yet here we are.
You can ask Trump directly. You can even soften up the question so that he does not have to take too hard of a position against Moscow. He simply won’t do it.
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The most powerful man in the world on Monday not only declined again to affirm what U.S. intelligence agencies and the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate have already concluded, but he also came to the Kremlin’s defense.
Shameful stuff.
The moment began when Reuters’ Jeff Mason asked Trump during a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin to respond to a presidential tweet that read, “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”
Mason followed-up by asking, “Do you hold Russia at all accountable for anything in particular. And if so, what would you consider [that] they are responsible for?”
Trump responded, “I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish. We should’ve had this dialogue a long time ago, a long time, frankly, before I got to office. And I think we’re all to blame.”
He added in reference to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russia’s interference in the election, “I think that the probe is a disaster for our country. I think it has kept us apart. It has kept us separated. There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it.”
Trump wasn’t finished. He segued into his greatest hits, which, of course, included details about how he defeated Hillary Clinton for the White House.
“I beat Hillary Clinton easily and, frankly, we beat her and I’m not even saying from the standpoint – we won that race,” he said. “It’s a shame that there can even be a little bit of a cloud over it. People know that. People understand it.”
Later, when asked if he believes the U.S. intelligence community, which asserts the Russians interfered in the election, or Putin, who denies everything, Trump folded. Rather than answer with a simple, “Yes, I believe my own people when they say Russia interfered in the 2016 election, and I confronted Putin about it,” the American president came to the defense of Moscow.
“[The Director of National Intelligence] Dan Coates came to me and some others. They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the server,” Trump said.
“But I have — I have confidence in both parties,” he added. “I have great confidence in my intelligence people. But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
After 2012, I didn’t think it was possible for a sitting U.S. president to be more naive and willfully ignorant of the obvious geopolitical and economic threats posed to America by Russia, which Putin long ago put on the path towards reclaiming its former Soviet Empire glory. I did not think it was possible for Moscow to have a bigger useful idiot in the Oval Office.
Boy, was I wrong.
