Thread: President Donald Trump

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

You want to speak about corruption? Congress is far worse, the conflicts of interests is everywhere, with lobbies running the show, and Congress men taking allowances from big corporations

All made legal by a conservative supreme court. Corporate influence in politics is a huge problems but it is not the same as the criminal corruption demonstrated by Trump and his family. You have blinders on when it comes to Trump. You deflect and make excuses like most of the sheeple who love him no matter how much he lies and destroys institutions which have protected America. People like you are the problem but you get a pass because you are not a citizen and your opinion is only so much hot air.

US spies say Trump's G7 performance suggests he's either a 'Russian asset' or a 'useful idiot' for Putin



Current and former spies are floored by President Donald Trump's fervent defense of Russia at this year's G7 summit in Biarritz, France.
"It's hard to see the bar anymore since it's been pushed so far down the last few years, but President Trump's behavior over the weekend was a new low," one FBI agent who works in counterintelligence told Insider.
At the summit, Trump aggressively lobbied for Russia to be readmitted into the G7, refused to hold it accountable for violating international law, blamed former President Barack Obama for Russia's annexation of Crimea, and expressed sympathy for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
One former senior Justice Department official, who worked closely with the former special counsel Robert Mueller when he was the FBI director, told Insider Trump's behavior was "directly out of the Putin playbook. We have a Russian asset sitting in the Oval Office."
A former CIA operative told Insider the evidence is "overwhelming" that Trump is a Russian agent, but another CIA and NSA veteran said it was more likely Trump was currying favor with Putin for future business deals.
Meanwhile, a recently retired FBI special agent told Insider that Trump's freewheeling and often unfounded statements make it more likely that he's a "useful idiot" for the Russians. But "it would not surprise me in the least if the Russians had at least one asset in Trump's inner circle."
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
"It's hard to see the bar anymore since it's been pushed so far down the last few years, but President Trump's behavior over the weekend was a new low."

That was the assessment an FBI agent who works in counterintelligence gave Insider of President Donald Trump's performance at this year's G7 summit in Biarritz, France. The agent requested anonymity because they feared that speaking publicly on the matter would jeopardize their job.

Trump's attendance at the G7 summit was peppered with controversy, but none was more notable than his fervent defense of Russia's military and cyber aggression around the world, and its violation of international law in Ukraine.


Trump repeatedly refused to hold Russia accountable for annexing Crimea in 2014, blamed former President Barack Obama for Russia's move to annex it, expressed sympathy for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and castigated other G7 members for not giving the country a seat at the table.

Since being booted from the G8 after annexing Crimea, Russia's done little to make up for its actions. In fact, by many accounts, it's stepped up its aggression.

In addition to continuing to encroach on Ukraine, the Russian government interfered in the 2016 US election and was behind the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy in the UK. US officials also warn that as the 2020 election looms, the Russians are stepping up their cyberactivities against the US and have repeatedly tried to attack US power grids.

"What in God's name made Trump think it would be a good idea to ask to bring Russia back to the table?" the FBI agent told Insider. "How does this serve US national-security interests?"


Trump's advocacy for Russia is renewing concerns among intelligence veterans that Trump may be a Russian "asset" who can be manipulated or influenced to serve Russian interests, although some also speculate that Trump could just be currying favor for future business deals.

Read more: DOJ watchdog finds James Comey violated FBI policy by sharing memo with The New York Times

'We have a Russian asset sitting in the Oval Office'
Donald Trump Sergey Lavrov Sergey Kislyak
Trump with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.Russian Foreign Ministry Photo via AP
A former senior Justice Department official, who worked closely with the former special counsel Robert Mueller when he was FBI director, didn't mince words when reacting to Trump's performance at the G7 summit: "We have a Russian asset sitting in the Oval Office."


"There is no fathomable explanation for why the president said these things," the former official said. "Letting Russia off the hook for bullying smaller countries and then blaming Obama for it? It's directly out of the Putin playbook."

While arguing for Russia to be invited back into the G7, Trump said the country would be helpful in addressing hot-button issues like Iran, Syria, and North Korea and that the alliance was better off with Russia "inside rather than outside."

But Russia is a staunch ally of Syria's Assad regime, and it's also cozied up to Iran in recent years. US military and intelligence officials view Russia as one of the US's foremost rivals and believe it generally stands in opposition to American interests.

Glenn Carle, a former CIA covert operative and frequent Trump critic, told Insider there's been "no question" in his mind for years that the president is behaving like "a spy for the Russians."

"The evidence is so overwhelming that in my 35 years in intelligence, I have never seen anything so certain," Carle said, adding that he's spoken with several intelligence veterans about the matter in the four years since Trump first launched his presidential campaign, many of whom believe Trump's actions are a threat to national security.

"Intelligence assets become convinced to be spies for multiple reasons," Carle, who specialized in getting foreign spies to become turncoats when he was at the CIA, said in an earlier interview with Insider. "It might start with kompromat or financial hooks, and the asset may be convinced he is acting as a patriot until he becomes accustomed to his role."

"Trump clearly responds favorably to praise," he said. "And over the years, the handling officer - Putin, in this case - realizes what the asset wants, and that's what they provide. Trump wants to be told he's the greatest, so that's what you tell him, over and over again, until he comes to believe that is the motivation for his actions."


Frank Montoya Jr., a recently retired FBI special agent, told Insider "it's hard not to think the Russians have an asset in the White House." But he added that Trump's erratic behavior and his freewheeling and often false statements imply he's "not playing with a full deck on any matter of state these days."

"Still, those same delusions are what give me pause when conclusions are reached about the likelihood he is a Russian asset," Montoya said. "Useful idiot is more like it."

But given the abundance of meetings and contacts between Trump associates and Russians before, during, and after the election, Montoya said "it would not surprise me in the least if the Russians had at least one asset in Trump's inner circle."

Robert Deitz, a former top lawyer at the CIA and the National Security Agency, agreed that Trump was catering to Putin's interests, but he disagreed on why.

"I think what's going on right now is an Occam's razor scenario," he told Insider, referring to the philosophical theory that the simplest explanation for an event is often the correct one.

"Trump wants to do deals with Russia when he leaves the presidency," Deitz said. "We already know he was interested in building a Trump Tower in Moscow before and during the election. The best way of doing a deal with Putin is to be nice to him, so I think what Trump is doing is currying favor."

He emphasized, however, that regardless of Trump's motives for being subservient to Putin, "it's still harmful" to US interests.

"When Trump goes to bed each night, what do you think his last thoughts are: the welfare of the United States, or the size of his bank account?" Deitz added.
shows how he's living in a totally different reality and isolating the US from the rest of the world


Trump's defense of Putin at the G7 summit didn't go unnoticed in Russia.

According to The Washington Post, one show on the state-run Rossiya-1 network played a celebratory soundtrack as it showed six video clips of Trump demanding that Putin be given a seat at the table.

The Russian media analyst Julia Davis said that Kremlin-controlled media reacted to Trump's G7 performance with laughter and mockery.

One anchor rejoiced that "Trump is dancing to Putin's tune," while others were amused by the "maniacal persistence" with which Trump was lobbying for Russia.

This isn't the first time the president has been accused of working to advance Russia's interests ahead of the US's.

Perhaps the sharpest example of this was when Trump and Putin held a bilateral summit in Helsinki last year. After the meeting, Trump stunned the US national-security apparatus and foreign allies when he sided with Russia over the US intelligence community, blamed "both sides" for the deterioration of US-Russia relations, and praised Putin as being "extremely strong and powerful."

In 2017, Trump refused to accept the US intelligence-community finding that Moscow meddled in the 2016 race to propel Trump to the presidency.

That May, he fired FBI director James Comey, who was overseeing the FBI's investigation into Russia's election interference and cited "this Russia thing" as the reason. Two days after firing Comey, Trump shared classified intelligence with two Russian officials in the Oval Office and told them firing Comey had taken "great pressure" off of him.

Shortly after, the FBI began investigating whether Trump was a Russian agent.



http://www.businessinsider.com/spies...n-asset-2019-8

Not that we didn't know it already
What a bizarre character to be leader of America.

(By 'faking' they mean 'lieing about', why don't they just say that?)


Aides Admit Trump Was Faking Those “Phone Calls” With China
The president was reportedly “eager to project optimism that might boost markets,” which should hearten the Chinese.



At last weeks G7 summit in Biarritz, Donald Trump gave an entire network of world leaders whiplash when he declared, contrary to weeks of threats, that not only did the Chinese seem amenable to a trade deal, but that he’d actually heard from Beijing’s top officials that very week. “China called last night our top trade people and said, ‘Let’s get back to the table.’ So we will be getting back to the table and I think they want to do something,” the president told reporters. “They have been hurt very badly but they understand this is the right thing to do and I have great respect for it. This is a very positive development for the world. I think we are going to have a deal.”


At the time, China’s Foreign Ministry claimed to have no idea what Trump was talking about—the implication being that he’d fabricated the call to calm a panicked market. And on Thursday, CNN reported that this was basically the case:

Though Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin insisted there had been “communication,” aides privately conceded the phone calls Trump described didn’t happen they way he said they did.

Instead, two officials said Trump was eager to project optimism that might boost markets, and conflated comments from China’s vice premier with direct communication from the Chinese.

This should come as something of a relief to the Chinese, who were flummoxed by Trump’s initial claims. “Regarding the phone call in the weekend, I am not aware of that,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters last week. “I can tell you clearly that I haven’t heard of such a thing.” And it may indicate why the president was so hesitant to offer any detail on said calls, instead telling reporters, “We have had calls at the highest level, but I don’t want to talk about that.” Could it be that Trump was genuinely confused about communications coming from China? Sure. Could it also be that he’s desperate for a win after virtually an entire presidency of failures? Seems likely!


Per CNN, Trump is increasingly aware that he’s done little to entice voters in 2020—and failed to follow through on many of his promises in 2016. For example, instead of beating China into submission through the art of the deal, he’s sparked an international trade war that is actively hurting consumers. Obamacare still exists. And he has yet to build a wall at the southern border and make Mexico pay for it. His response to the wall issue has reportedly been to assure aides he’ll pardon them should they break the law in the process of building the thing—something he’s urged them to do as quickly as possible. Who’s to say his solution to an ostensible stalemate with China wouldn’t involve a little fabrication? Just to grease the wheels.

[url]https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/08/donald-trump-china-call-fake[/url